This newsletter is for members of the Canadian Insurance Industry, and those who serve it. The newsletter is published weekly, and notes information mostly about the use of the Internet and related technologies in the industry. Some is international, where we feel it is relevant to Canada.
Consumer Information
Liability And The Horseman - By Don Vale.
So, your daughter is in love with horses (as most daughters seem to be at one time or another) and wants to take lessons and be a world class equestrian (let's use daughter rather than son because it's about 11 to 1, but applies to both). You are going to enroll her for lessons at the farm a few mites north of wherever you live, and you have just been handed something that probably says something like the following....
Transport Canada Encourages Canadian Youth To Get Hooked on Road Safety.
June 6, 2007 - OTTAWA — Transport Canada, in conjunction with a number of road safety partners, will host a national youth conference on road safety, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities announced today. The conference, to be held in Montreal from June 6-8, 2007, focuses on young road users and aims to increase their understanding of road safety issues.
Seniors who wait longer for hip fracture surgery tend to have worse health outcomes: CIHI Report.
May 30, 2007 - Almost two-thirds (65%) of hip fracture patients aged 65 and older had surgery on the day they were admitted to hospital or the next day in 2005-2006, but new indicators published today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) show that some patients have longer waits. For example, 8% of seniors admitted to Canadian hospitals outside Quebec with hip fractures (about 1,400 patients) spent four or more days in hospital before undergoing surgery.
Insurance claims expected to reach over $40 million after severe storm in Calgary: Insurance Bureau of Canada reminds consumers overland flooding not covered by insurance.
Calgary residents and insurers are now dealing with the damage caused by the storms and flash flooding that followed on Tuesday, June 5. Residents are reminded that damage caused by overland flooding and seepage cannot be covered by home insurance.
Policy and Product Management
FEMA Flood Zone Data Now Part of MSB's Comprehensive Hazard Data Services.
LOS ANGELES - June 11, 2007 - MSB, an MDA company and the leading worldwide provider of building cost data and estimating technology to the property insurance industry, announces that in response to numerous requests from insurance carriers throughout the United States, the company now offers a full range of FEMA-defined Flood Hazard Data.
Policy Administration Systems 2007: Personal Lines Vendors: Report Published by Celent.
May 22, 2007 - A new report from Celent, Policy Administration Systems 2007: Personal Lines Vendors, provides the most comprehensive data available about the players in this dynamic market. The report is designed to help insurers dramatically cut the time required to create a short list of vendors appropriate for their needs, providing nearly 200 pages of independent research findings.
Policy Administration Systems 2007: Commercial Lines Vendors: Report Published by Celent
May 22, 2007 - A new report from Celent, Policy Administration Systems 2007: Commercial Lines Vendors, provides the most comprehensive data available about the players in this dynamic market. The report is designed to help insurers dramatically cut the time required to create a short list of vendors appropriate for their needs, providing nearly 250 pages of independent research findings.
Product Announcements
Travelers Introduces Independent Review Committee Liability Coverage in Canada.
ONTARIO, CANADA, June 13, 2007 - Travelers today launched a major new enhancement to its SelectOne(SM) liability policy for investment advisors and funds in Canada. The company's new Independent Review Committee Liability Insuring Agreement will provide superior liability protection to Independent Review Committee (IRC) members.
Reference and Statistics
MIB Life Index Reports North American Life Insurance Activity Down 1.6% in April.
Westwood, MA. – (May 30, 2007) North American application activity for individually underwritten life insurance was off -1.6% in April year-over-year, according to the MIB Life Index. The year-to-date (YTD) decline of -4.6% over January-April 2006, compares less favorably to a -1.1% decline seen during the first four months of last year, January-April 2006/2005. Month-over-month, April's application volume was down -2.8% from March 2007 levels.
Voluntary Sales Growth Accelerates for Third Straight Year According to Eastbridge Study.
AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (June 7 , 2007) - Voluntary sales growth accelerated in 2006, the third straight year of increasing growth rates. Since detailed results were first published by Eastbridge in 1999, the industry has never had a year with declining sales and the annual sales growth rates have been growing rapidly.
Managing Relationships and Customer Service
Manulife Financial adds Member Progress Report to suite of leading retirement savings plan communications.
TORONTO, June 13, 2007 - Manulife's newest communication tool for pension plan members - the innovative Member Progress Report - will be introduced in July to members of group retirement savings plans with Manulife across Canada. This clear, member-friendly statement is another exciting addition to the services Group Savings and Retirement Solutions (GSRS) provides for plan sponsors and their members.
Educating Our People
Empire Life and Assumption Life Win LOMA Canada Awards for Best Practices in Learning and Development.
Toronto, Canada, June 14, 2007 – LOMA Canada presented Empire Life and Assumption Life with the 2007 National Corporate Awards for Best Practices in Learning and Development at LOMA Canada's Annual Conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre today. The Awards are dedicated to the memory of André Mailhot, 1942-1994, who was Vice-President and General Manager, Human Resources, Industrial-Alliance Life Insurance Company.
eBusiness and Technology
Gartner Says the Consumerization of IT is a Major Threat to Enterprise Security
STAMFORD, Conn., June 14, 2007 - One of the most-significant threats to enterprise security is the consumerization of IT, and as more consumer technologies enter the enterprise, security managers must prepare for, and manage, the security risks, according to Gartner, Inc. Employees expect to use more of their personal equipment and services at work, and enterprises are simultaneously adopting more consumer technologies in business operations.
Marketing and the Market Place
Search Advertising to Lose Importance, Strategic Threat to Google, Says IDC.
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 14, 2007 - Internet advertising in the United States continues to be both a major business in the Digital Marketplace as well as providing the funding for most of the Internet services consumer use. As U.S. marketers keep moving budgets from the traditional media onto the net, IDC forecasts that Internet advertising will grow about three times as fast as advertising overall during the forecast period.
Business of Insurance
Western Financial Group Agrees to Acquire Ubiquity Bank - and Combine it with Bank West.
High River, Alberta - May 22, 2007 - Western Financial Group Inc. announced today that it plans to acquire Ubiquity Bank of Canada from Prospera Credit Union. Immediately after closing of the acquisition, Ubiquity would be amalgamated with Bank West. The proposed transaction is subject to regulatory review and approval by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and the Minister of Finance (Canada).
A Majority of Japanese Insurers are Pursuing New Customer Strategies Due to the Emerging Role of Banks as Distribution Channels, According to Accenture Study.
TOKYO; May 25, 2007 - Most Japanese insurance companies are now pursuing new customer and product strategies due to regulatory reforms that are opening the banking sector as a distribution channel for insurance products, according to an Accenture (NYSE: ACN) survey of senior executives at one-third of the insurance companies operating in Japan.
from Doug:
Enjoyed a Sunday afternoon with my Dad, Mum and more family members. Since they left the farm when I was a teenager, they have enjoyed gardening. Although the garden is now confined to an apartment balcony, the pleasure it creates is large. In our garden, our first Loyalist Rose of the year blossomed this week. The wild rose root stock came with the Camerons, Scottish immigrants to New York's Mohawk Valley in 1773. With the same Camerons, this time as refugees of the American Revolution eleven years later, it came to Eastern Ontario. To most everything there is a story - in this case a colourful part of history.