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AIG Canada to stop underwriting new individual personal policies

March 28, 2019 by Jason Contant

AIG Canada is pulling out of writing personal lines business in Canada. AIG communications director Lynn Woodburn confirmed to Canadian Underwriter Wednesday evening that it would no longer underwrite new policies in personal lines. This confirmed speculation among brokers that

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Ontario ministry issues guidance on paying HST on accident benefits

March 27, 2019 by Jason Contant

Ontario’s Ministry of Finance has proposed regulatory amendments clarifying that harmonized sales tax (HST) is required to be paid in addition to accident benefit limits. If approved, the proposed changes to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) under the Insurance

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How environmental liability ruling could affect other insurance lines

March 27, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Environmental liability is not the only line of insurance that could be impacted by the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling on a trustee in bankruptcy’s obligation do deal with inactive energy assets such as oil wells. In Orphan Well

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How to get Canadian policyholders to share their personal information

March 22, 2019 by Jason Contant

Nearly half of Canadian consumers would be willing to share “significant personal information,” such as location data and lifestyle information, with their insurer or bank in exchange for lower pricing on products and services, according to a new report from

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How workers compensation claims impact directors’ liability

March 22, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

A corporate director in Alberta can be personally sued by a worker injured on the job even when that employee has workers’ compensation coverage through the province, the Court of Appeal of Alberta has ruled. Doug Stewart was a director

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What ransomware attacks cost your clients

March 21, 2019 by Jason Contant

Brokers selling cyber insurance may want to pay attention to a recent statistic: the average financial cost of downtime to a Canadian business following a ransomware attack is 7.5 times higher than the average ransom requested per incident. Canada not

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The challenges in navigating the ridesharing insurance minefield

March 20, 2019 by Jason Contant

Despite using a wholly-owned captive insurance subsidiary and third-party insurance, ridesharing company Lyft Inc. cannot ensure its coverage will sustain all of its business risks and costs, the company acknowledged in a recent stock-listing prospectus of risk factors. San Francisco,

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Economical clears major hurdle to demutualization

March 20, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Economical Insurance is a step closer to demutualization and becoming publicly traded on the stock exchange. An overwhelming majority (99%) of the insurer’s mutual policyholders voted Wednesday in favour of a demutualization proposal released in January. Several more steps are

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This Supreme Court ruling could drive environmental insurance sales

March 19, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Brokers could see more demand for environmental liability insurance because of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling in favour of the Alberta Energy Regulator, a Toronto underwriter suggests. In Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., the Supreme Court

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How this broker is binding Lloyd’s policies online

March 19, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

A Calgary-based Lloyd’s coverholder has re-launched its website to make it easier for brokers to bind policies for special events without having to deal with a lot of paper forms. PAL Insurance Brokers Canada Ltd. has allowed clients to apply

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Is Aviva-Desjardins fraud collaboration the dawning of a new era?

March 19, 2019 by Jason Contant

Could an insurance fraud collaboration between the second and third largest insurers in Canada herald the beginning of a broader trend across the industry? “Hopefully, this is laying the foundation for great, big things to come,” said Ashish Bhargava, vice

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What this study says about replacing windshields for vehicles with driver-assist safety features

March 15, 2019 by David Gambrill

Camera calibration – which is required after replacing windshields on cars that offer advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) – is just as efficient using aftermarket replacement windshields as it is with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) windshields, according to a new