In the insurance industry, customer service is synonymous with success. In the current economic climate, insurers are focused on customer satisfaction and loyalty more than ever. But, delivering consistent and quality customer care is no small challenge. Companies need “anytime,…
You don’t have to be a mystic to predict that the next five years are going to be a time of change for Canada’s insurance industry, particularly the broker-based property & casualty sector. This should not come as a surprise,…
At the recently held Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) AGM, newly elected president Brian Gilbert used a humorous analogy between the geography of his home province, Manitoba, in outlining the association’s long-term political cause to protect the legislative rights…
XL Capital Ltd (NYSE: XL), today announced that it plans to integrate its reinsurance operations following the ratification in January this year of XL’s previously announced acquisition of a 67% majority shareholding in Le Mans Re. Le Mans Re is…
As insurance consumers we are inundated with offers and incentives to buy insurance or to switch companies. Most of us stay right where we are until we are given an incentive to leave, which all too often comes in the…
Take a moment and look at your insurance company from your customer’s perspective. They selected your product from a sea of competitors, perhaps having questioned brokers and waded through copious amounts of advertising. You likely managed to break through based…
Almost from the start of the Internet “boom”, pundits prophesied the death of the middleman. Everyone from high-profile technologists like Nicholas Negroponte to columnists in Wired and Fast Company declared that insurance brokers and other market intermediaries were stuck on the fast train to obsolescence. But those predictions are being proved wrong as the Internet promises to enable brokers as never before.
There is widespread industry agreement that claims costs are spiraling out of control. The industry’s economic woes cannot simply be tied to inadequate rates, or even catastrophic events such as September 11. At the recent Joint Claims Conference in Toronto,…
When Canada’s financial services industries caught wind of a government proposal to build a national ombudsman service geared at regulating customer service under the regal eye of Ottawa, companies from banks, investment dealers to insurers reacted swiftly with the creation of their own “all-in-one” countrywide ombudsman service. But, the question remains, will this private sector initiative hold up under political as well as consumer scrutiny?
The story of online insurance has been one of caution and, ultimately, missed opportunities in the past. But are things really changing? Are insurers starting to catch up to banks and other providers of financial services in the online realm? The answer, for the most part, is still “no”. So where does the industry go from here?
I would not want to be the CEO of an insurance company. Aside from traveling first class, CEOs have few luxuries. They face a dizzying array of problems with an equally large number of potential solutions from which to choose.…
“Hub power” is likely going to be the next big technology push in the North American property and casualty insurance industry, with the claims handling arena at the forefront of this advancement. Are you ready?