The Chronicle: Issue 2011-34, August 23, 2011



The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca BlogWhat's Going Through The Intersection of Insurance and Technology, an Insurance-Canada.ca Blog.



Distribution

Brovada and Jevco Launch New Business Submission in Ontario and Quebec.
Montreal, QC - August 3, 2011 - JEVCO, in collaboration with Brovada Technologies, is excited to announce the launch of automated new business upload in Ontario and Quebec. Beginning in March 2011, Ontario brokers were given the ability to submit Personal Lines Automobile and Motorcycle new business directly from their broker management system. The Ontario release was followed in April 2011 by a Quebec launch of Personal Lines Automobile, Motorcycle, ATV and Snowmobile.

Brovada's NexExchange: Grenville Mutual Insurance Company Delivers New Business Upload.
August 18, 2011 (Spencerville, ON) - Grenville Mutual Insurance Company is pleased to announce the successful pilot launch of their new business automobile upload on July 8th (2011). This functionality provides Grenville's brokers with a significant efficiency gain allowing them to complete a new business submission in less than 3 minutes. Taking only 7 months to build, Grenville is extremely pleased with the speed at which Brovada and MCCG were able to take this phase to market.

Western Financial Group, leading provider of insurance services in rural communities, now targeting Calgary and Edmonton markets.
High River, AB, Aug. 17, 2011 - Western Financial Group, the leading provider of insurance services in rural communities across Western Canada, is now setting its sights on Alberta's urban markets. Western Direct Insurance, a new subsidiary of Western Financial Group, has begun offering direct home and auto insurance by telephone and over the Internet to consumers in Calgary, Edmonton and smaller Alberta cities, underwritten by The Personal Insurance Company.

IIABA: The Independent Agents' Opportunity to Take Back Personal Lines.
Sometimes an opportunity is staring you in the face, but it is invisible to you because you are so focused on what a particular competitor is doing and how you are going to compete on the same terms. Let's take personal auto insurance. I was so focused on what the direct carriers are doing with their massive amounts of advertising, online quoting and rapid market share growth, that I failed to see the incredible opportunity that independent agents have today to present consumers with a better business model than the direct carriers are offering and as a result, take business from them.

Aite Group Report: Insurer-Affiliated Advisors 2011: Key Attributes and Attitudes.
Boston, August 4, 2011 – A new report from Aite Group examines the specific class of financial advisors employed at broker-dealers housed within insurance firms. The report is based on a Q1 2011 Aite Group survey of 438 financial advisors, and specifically the responses of 32 advisors affiliated with brokerages that are part of a life insurance company.

Policy and Product Management

Guidewire Selection by Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company Adding Reinsurance Management.
NEENAH, Wis. and SAN MATEO, Calif., August 17, 2011 - Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company ("Jewelers Mutual"), the only company specializing exclusively in jewelry insurance in North America, and Guidewire Software®, a provider of core system software to Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers, today announced that Jewelers Mutual has extended its Guidewire InsuranceSuite™ implementation to include Guidewire Reinsurance Management™ to manage its ceded reinsurance processes.


Social Business

eMarketer: How Social Media Marketers Can Make the Most of Monitoring Tools.
August 18, 2011 - There is more than one way to monitor and measure social media outreach and online campaigns, and companies must find the right setup for them. Looking at how marketers are using monitoring tools and what benefits come from certain options can give companies insight into what works.

eMarketer: Most Who Read Tweets Also Write Them.
Twitter may continue to get outsize attention considering the true size of its user base, which eMarketer puts at 20.6 million in the US this year, but ongoing interest on the part of the media and many brands has made for a wealth of research into user behavior that marketers can absorb into their strategies for communicating on the social network.

Reference and Statistics

RIMS Benchmark Survey™ Indicates Soft Market May be Near Bottom.
New York (August 11, 2011) – A lack of substantive change in average renewal premiums for three of four lines tracked by the RIMS Benchmark Survey™ in the second quarter suggests that the soft commercial lines insurance market may be close to its bottom. General liability, property and workers' compensation all fell by less than 1 percent on average, while directors & officers liability policies renewed 4.5 percent lower.

Business of Insurance

Guy Carpenter Report: Terror Attacks at Historically High Levels, Still Pose Threat to Re/Insurance Industry.
New York, August 9, 2011 - A new report on global terrorism and the terror reinsurance market, released today by Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, finds that while recorded incidents of terror around the world remain at historically high levels and terrorism remains a serious risk to the re/insurance industry, the industry continues to meet the current demands for terrorism risk transfer. Guy Carpenter is the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies.

Claims

Aon Benfield study: global storm activity increases in July as Atlantic hurricane season approaches peak period.
Chicago, Aug. 4, 2011 -- Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corporation, today releases the latest edition of its Monthly Cat Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during July.

Consumer Information

BCAA warns summer heat can turn your car into a four-door furnace in a matter of minutes.
(Burnaby, B.C.): An unfortunate incident over the Canada Day long weekend in which a six-month old puppy died after being left alone in a hot vehicle in Burnaby serves as an example of how quickly temperatures inside a vehicle can rise to dangerous - and sometimes fatal - levels. What parents and pet owners may not know, and what the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) would like everyone to know, is that it only takes minutes for your car to become a four-door furnace.

CAA provides consumers with tool to calculate the costs of driving.
Ottawa, August 16, 2011 – The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has released an updated version of its Driving Costs interactive guide that provides consumers with a comprehensive look at the price of owning a vehicle. The 2011 Driving Costs brochure explains the overall costs of vehicle ownership, including fuel, maintenance, and depreciation.

IBAO Brokers Urge Ontario Travelers to Properly Secure their Homes before Last Minute Vacations.
(Toronto, Ontario - August 17, 2011) As we head into the final weeks of summer, the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) is urging Ontario homeowners to properly secure their homes before taking off on any last minute holidays. Properly preparing and securing your home can prevent an attempted break-in or robbery.

CAFC: National fire database project seeks to improve fire safety.
August 8, 2011 - A cheque for $149,500 was presented to the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) on August 8, 2011, kicking off research into a national database that could lead to fewer fires and more effective and efficient fire-service delivery across the country.

from Doug:

I knew it was just a matter of time. On Saturday morning for my daily (when the weather is fit) early-morning bike ride, I headed up the Don Valley bike trail to my usual turnaround spot. Not this day, but I usually spot a bunny or two, and a couple of goldfinches, whose yellow feathers really sparkle in that early sun. As I headed home, I ran over something other than a pebble and not long afterwards realized my rear tire was losing air. I struck out pushing the bike, taking the more direct route through our old neighbourhood, past the bike repair shop (which would not open for another two hours) and home. It didn't take as long as expected. Bike was repaired (other things fixed too) and back on the road again for Monday morning. Sure glad though that I didn't have an 8:00 business meeting!

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