Disaster Loss mitigation: Great Balls of Hail
August 1, 1999 Alan Pang, managing director at the Institute for Catastrophic LOver recent years the largest catastrophic loss payments of most insurers have resulted from prairie hailstorms. During the 1990s, there have been six major storms, each causing catastrophic losses in excess of $50 million. The National Hail Conference, recently held…
Developing Financial Supervision The Canadian Solution
July 1, 1999 Lawrie Savage of Lawrie Savage & Associates Inc.The 1990s saw considerable attention drawn to the global benefits of the so-called “hot” developing economies such as South America, Asia and the former Eastern Bloc countries. Most recently, we have seen plunging stock markets and economic uncertainty resulting in these same areas. Strangely, these have a link with trends in Canadian financial supervision.
Counting the PENNIES
July 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe numbers say it all. Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry suffered one of its worst year-on-year performances last year, posting a modest return on investment of 7.1% — nearly half of 1997’s rate of return. Heavy underwriting losses incurred…
Why CEOs are stuck on GLOBALIZATION
July 1, 1999 Robert Gunn, president of Royal & SunAlliance CanadaCecil Rhodes, the 19th-century British financier, colonial administrator and sponsor of Oxford’s prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, once said, “I would annex planets if I could.” A read through the financial pages of any newspaper would suggest that many corporate presidents and CEOs feel the same way.
the hot branding-iron of CONSUMERISM
July 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorThe new millennium is not only bringing Y2K exposures to the fore, but a sense of consumer branding. From companies, brokers through to reinsurers, the latest industry leader forums have all hosted an urgency to address consumerism. The property and…
99 Canadian Insurance Congress: Marching to new Drummers
July 1, 1999 Lowell Conn & Sean van ZylHeld against the backdrop of the nation’s capital, the 1999 Canadian Insurance Congress — seen as Canada’s premier reinsurer/primary company CEO forum — offered good news to insurers and risk managers on the treaty negotiation front. This year’s reinsurance rates,…
The right adjuster FOR THE JOB
July 1, 1999 Lowell ConnNational harmonization of the licensing and regulation of the adjusting profession has become a hot topic for regulators and the insurance industry in Canada. Alberta’s recent Insurance Act rewrite included a step-licensing structure as well as a provision for mandatory…
A.M. Best acquires TRAC
July 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterU.S.-based A.M. Best Company has announced it has acquired TRAC Insurance Services Ltd. — an independent Canadian insurance rating agency — and renamed it A.M. Best Canada Ltd. The acquisition of Toronto-based TRAC is the latest step in A.M. Best’s…
U.S. 1-quarter figures show investment boon
July 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterFirst-quarter results of the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry show signs of improvement; largely on the back of increased investment earnings derived from higher interest rates. The industry’s after tax income for the period clocked in at US$9.2 billion…
The Safety Equation
June 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorRecent months have seen increased pressure being brought to bear by the private property and casualty insurance industry to deregulate the monopoly positions of provincial government insurers. Due to its sheer size and control of one of Canada’s largest consumer…
Extreme Perils
June 1, 1999 Sean van Zyl, EditorNatural disasters such as extreme weather, a volcanic eruption or an earthquake, are often quaintly referred to in the insurance world as “Acts of God”, adverse events which are seemingly unexplainable or beyond man’s control. Noticeably, the economic and insurance…
Oklahoma tornadoes further catastrophe losses
June 1, 1999 by Canadian UnderwriterArecent tornado that hit Oklahoma has become the worst insured catastrophe in the state’s history, according to preliminary information released by the Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of Insurance Services Office (ISO). The storm system caused $955 million in insured…