Weathering the storm
March 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorThere are few leaders in the Canadian property and casualty insurance industry applying an optimistic view of business and earnings growth in 1999. In fact, premium growth across the lines is unlikely to exceed the country’s expansion of gross domestic…
The lights dim on
March 1, 1999 Ted Belton, director of research at RBC Underwriting ManagementThe fair-weather profit years which the property and casualty insurance industry has enjoyed since the mid-1990s is likely to run into a storm in 1999 with companies generating single digit returns on equity (ROE). Projections based on third-quarter StatsCan data…
Ice Storm Lessons learnt
February 1, 1999 Paul Kovacs, Executive Director, Institute for Catastrophic LossAt the time, it captivated Canadians across the country and even today is at the top of book best seller lists. The raw power of nature displayed by the ice storm which paralyzed south eastern Ontario, Quebec and parts of…
AutoRate Warning
February 1, 1999 Linda Matthews, COO of Royal & SunAllianceOntario’s auto insurance regulations under Bill 59, and the latest revisions under Bill 90, have created a unique legislative environment in the provincial governing of consumer insurance. So much so that several provincial insurance regulators have eyed the legislation as…
Financial MANAGEMENT LIABILITY
February 1, 1999 Shelley BoyesBugs, big deals, bad spills and a certain public official’s sexual high crimes and misdemeanors were all key factors driving the corporate insurance market throughout 1998. And the same scary financial exposures will likely be very much in the minds…
Third quarter data shows cat costs
February 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterThe U.S. property and casualty insurance industry posted US$23.2 billion in net taxed income for the first nine months of 1998, showing a 15% drop from the $27.4 billion made over the same period in 1997. The decline is attributed…
Bill 59 revised
January 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterThe legislative fine-tuning of Ontario’s auto insurance product under Bill 59, which carried through last month with the passing of Bill 90, was generally lauded by insurance, legal and medical professionals at a review seminar held by the Insurance Institute…
Claims management and the Environment
January 1, 1999 Cecil Jaipaul,In the early days of environmental underwriting companies were often unaware of the full risk involved. For many companies the risks they took on and subsequent claims were not foreseen. For others, while the possibility of large claims may have…
Insurer concerns taxi for take off
January 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorConsolidation and cost cutting became the corporate buzzwords of the 1980s and 1990s, with operators from insurance to retail-chains through to the aviation industry embracing downsizing and cheaper marketing and delivery systems. The aviation business emerged from this process, particularly…
CSIO SHAKEUP
January 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterLast month Howard Moran, in his capacity as board chairman of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), announced the resignation of Len Ashby as the organization’s president. Although an outspoken critic of the political dabbling of both companies…
Belton third-quarter predictions
January 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterDuring the third quarter of 1998, preliminary net earning returns of Canadian property and casualty companies were down $59 million in comparison to the same quarter in 1997, says the latest issue of The Belton Report. The combined impact of…
Insurance fraud: The Insider Job
January 1, 1999 Linden Rees, president of Underwriters Fraud Control Inc.Last November I provided a presentation in Boston, Mass. on “Automated Fraud Control” to an audience of senior American insurance executives. While all nodded in agreement with my salient points, that being internal fraud within the insurance industry is on the rise and needs to be addressed sooner than later, I was left with the feeling that most of the listeners were too aghast at the thought that their employees might be capable of stealing.