The change to disaster mitigation funding that IBC is looking for
April 10, 2019 by Greg MeckbachThe insurance industry needs to ensure its own flood risk maps are widely available and the federal government needs to make it easier to spend money on disaster mitigation projects, says Insurance Bureau of Canada CEO Don Forgeron. The federal…
Where Canada’s largest insurer sits with board diversity
April 9, 2019 by Greg MeckbachWomen will comprise nearly half the boardroom of Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer if shareholders vote for Intact Financial Corp.’s recently-released slate of board nominees. Jane Kinney, a former global chief risk officer for Deloitte, is a new nominee…
The liability risk from climate change
April 9, 2019 by Greg MeckbachLarge companies face liability risk if they emit greenhouse gas emissions, and shareholders are asking directors and officers what they are doing about climate-related risks, a speaker suggested at a recent insurance conference in Toronto. Panelists at the Property and…
Two winter storms, one $70-million claims bill for insurers
April 9, 2019 by David GambrillThe busy catastrophe season in Canada thus far is continuing with no signs of slowing down. Two severe weather storms in Ontario this year, one in February and one in March, cost insurers more than $70 million in insured damage,…
How common are “snooping” privacy breaches?
April 8, 2019 by Jason ContantWhen it comes to privacy breaches in the healthcare sector, “snooping” is definitely a concern. Snooping, or unauthorized access, breaches occur when an employee (such as a hospital worker) has access to identifiable information and abuses their authority to look…
The downside risk of machine learning
April 8, 2019 by Greg MeckbachMachine learning and artificial intelligence can create liability risk if it makes decisions that would be inappropriate or even illegal if a real person made them, a risk expert warns. “If you train an algorithm with data that has underlying…
How will reputational harm coverage evolve?
April 8, 2019 by Jason ContantWill reputational harm coverage grow into its own coverage or will it remain sublimited, as is often the case? There is currently a lot of variance within the market in how this coverage is offered, if at all. Some insurers…
Early numbers from privacy commissioners on mandatory breach reporting
April 5, 2019 by Jason ContantThe federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has already seen a four-to-five times increase in the number of breaches reported to its office since the mandatory breach notification requirements came into effect last November. On Nov. 1,…
Some earthquake deductibles too high: IBC
April 5, 2019 by Greg MeckbachBrokers are telling the Insurance Bureau of Canada that for some homeowner clients, the deductible on earthquake coverage is so high that the clients could still end up broke after a major tremor. “Right now, the deductible on some of…
Long-range weather forecast: more flood claims for the P&C industry
April 3, 2019 by Jason ContantCoastal flooding is expected to increase in many areas of Canada, bringing with it increased risk of damage to coastal infrastructure, according to a report released Tuesday by the federal government. “Local sea level is projected to rise, and increase…
Over half of Ontario cannabis store openings delayed
April 3, 2019 Shawn Jeffords and Armina Ligaya - THE CANADIAN PRESSCustomers lined up at Ontario’s first brick-and-mortar cannabis stores on Monday, but fewer than half of the province’s government-licensed outlets were ready to open. The Progressive Conservative government had planned to have 25 private stores launch on April 1, but…
The case for scaling intelligent automation technologies
April 2, 2019 by Jason ContantThere is a direct correlation between scalability of intelligent automation (IA) technologies and financial performance, a new KPMG International study has found. Based on a survey of nearly 600 business leaders (including 100 top-level executives) across 13 countries, including Canada,…