Canadian Underwriter


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Canadian insurance earnings plummet

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

January ice storm losses, rate cutting and poor investment returns are the major culprits pointing to a 42% drop in property and casualty insurers’ earnings to $1.137 billion for 1998 compared with 1997’s earnings of $1.960 billion, says Paul Kovacs,

Growth in net written Premiums% increase in net written premiumsSources: A.M. Best. Projections by Guy Carpenter.
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U.S. Insurance Market Outlook

April 1, 1999 Sean Mooney, senior vice president at Guy Carpenter & Company In

Forecasting the U.S. insurance industry in recent years has been a rear view mirror exercise. The rate of growth in the industry has been in the same 2% to 3% range and profitability indicators have shown little change from year

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Banks will be hard to regulate, says Cooke

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

Property & casualty insurance is a pure risk product that must be kept separate from the financial, wealth management and investment-based services provided by life insurers and banks, George Cooke, president of Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, told a

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MINERS looking for global risk partners

April 1, 1999 Ken Fedosen and Eugene Iacob of Zurich Global Energy

Despite plummeting international commodity values — which over the last decade have made mining equities less than the darlings of stock markets — the Canadian mining industry is expanding at a healthy clip. It is estimated that 100 new mines

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Revenue drop grounds St. Paul

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

St. Paul Companies, an insurance and reinsurance group and the parent of St. Paul Canada — has released its yearend 1998 figures posting a dramatic decrease in earnings over 1997. Net income plummeted from 1997’s US$929 million to $89.3 million

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Transatlantic reports record 1998

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

Global reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings Inc. has reported record net income earnings for 1998, up 33.4% from 1997’s US$185.5 million to 1998’s $247.5 million. Net income diluted on a common share basis rose $1.76 from 1997’s $5.34 to 1998’s $7.10. Record

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D&O profit margins decrease

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

Intense competition, increasing litigation and the rising cost of claims is decreasing profitability in directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance market, a panel of executives told the D&O Liability and Issues Symposium sponsored by the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS).

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General Accident becomes CGU

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

This month, insurer General Accident will officially change its name to CGU Group Ltd. The Canadian operation will operate as CGU Insurance Company of Canada. According to head of corporate communications Diane Scott, the change harmonizes the Canadian name with

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Co-operators’ year end profit dented

April 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

Despite a $11.7 million decline in after-tax income for the financial year ended December 1998, the Co-operators General Insurance Company says it is encouraged by the 7.4% marketshare it notched up during the year. After-tax income for the year amounted

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Risk Management: It’s a Buyer’s Market

March 1, 1999 Lowell Conn and Sean van Zyl

Despite deteriorating conditions in the property and casualty insurance market, insurers continue to slash already low premium rates. Market observers forecast this trend to continue for at least 24 months as insurers prioritize marketshare over revenue prosperity. Simply put, the

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A turning point in professionalism

March 1, 1999 by Canadian Underwriter

The risk management profession is coming of age, says Susan Meltzer the incoming president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc. Meltzer will be the fifth Canadian president to take the reins of North America’s most prestigious organization representing the development of risk managers. She is also the first Canadian woman to occupy the presidency chair of RIMS, a task she does not find daunting in the least. Her message: it’s time for risk managers to look ahead.

illustration: gerald heydens
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A RISKY BUSINESS

March 1, 1999 Axiom

As I approached the first aisles of the “Exhibitors’ Showcase” it occurred to me for perhaps the sixth or seventh time just how technologically advanced our business had become. The three-day-long brokers’ convention had started, and half of the convention