Insurance hard to obtain for this food processor
December 20, 2018 by Greg MeckbachProduct liability and recall insurance is expensive and hard to place, a large chicken processing firm reported Thursday. Sanderson Farms Inc. said its business carries several risks, including product liability claims, product recalls, property damage and injuries to people. “The…
Private equity firm to acquire 50% interest in western Canadian insurer
December 19, 2018 by Jason ContantAn Alberta-based private equity company announced Tuesday it has entered into a letter of intent to acquire a 50% interest in a western Canadian-based property and casualty insurance company for $2 million. The Western Investment Company of Canada, a publicly…
Flying cars may appear in urban skies by 2023
December 17, 2018 Christopher Reynolds - THE CANADIAN PRESSThe flying cars depicted in science fiction classics such as “Blade Runner” and “The Fifth Element” have long been seen as flights of fancy, but their arrival is closer than you think. At least a dozen companies are prototyping or…
CoreLogic takeover of Symbility approved by shareholders
December 14, 2018 by Greg MeckbachCanadian claims software vendor Symbility Solutions Inc. is a step closer to being acquired by data provider CoreLogic Inc. Calgary-based Symbility said Thursday an overwhelming majority of its shareholders have approved a $160-million deal originally announced Oct. 22. The deal…
Is 2019 the year of hyper-personalized, omnichannel insurance in Canada?
December 12, 2018 by Jason ContantMeeting consumers where they already are by moving towards an omnichannel strategy is one of the trends that will reshape the Canadian insurance industry in 2019, a market intelligence agency predicts. The application programming interface (API) mindset and integrated omnichannel…
What small business owners think of private auto insurance in B.C.
December 11, 2018 by Jason ContantAs debate rages on in British Columbia over public versus private ridesharing insurance options, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has released new survey results that show nearly three of four small business owners support private auto insurance. CFIB…
The hard part about making artificial intelligence work
December 11, 2018 by Greg MeckbachUsing artificial intelligence, brokers can gain valuable insights from data, but making decisions based on those insights might be easier said than done. “There is an issue that all companies struggle with. It’s one thing to gain insights out of…
Why Ozzy Osbourne is a factor for actuaries to consider
December 10, 2018 by Greg MeckbachProperly segmenting data within an “ocean” of information can make the difference between champ and chump, speakers suggested at KPMG’s recent insurance conference. “I think the biggest change that most people are grappling with is the amount of data that…
What could stop insurers from being ‘uberized’
December 7, 2018 by Greg MeckbachAmazon and Google may disrupt the insurance industry some day, but don’t expect either of these firms to start underwriting, suggests the head of one of Canada’s largest property and casualty insurers. “The Googles and Amazons of this world might…
Brokerage M&A deals heat up in Winter
December 5, 2018 by Jason ContantBrokerage mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are ramping up in Canada, with two separate deals in Ontario and Saskatchewan announced Tuesday. In Ontario, Burrows Insurance Group Inc., located in Peterborough and Oshawa, Ont., joined BrokerLink. In Saskatchewan, Andrew Agencies Ltd. acquired…
Why interest rates might not rise further
December 4, 2018 Craig Wong - THE CANADIAN PRESSOTTAWA – The pace of economic growth in Canada slowed in the third quarter as business investment spending fell and the growth in household spending slowed, raising questions about the future pace of interest rate hikes by the Bank of…
The ‘biggest hurdle’ to making artificial intelligence useful
November 28, 2018 by Greg MeckbachFiguring out what products your customers might buy next or what they are complaining about are two ways you could be using artificial intelligence now, the founder of a big data vendor suggests. “In the future you are going to…