The Chronicle: Issue 2012-13, March 27, 2012
What's Going Through The Intersection of Insurance and Technology, an Insurance-Canada.ca Blog.
- Mobile on the Move: Applications Growing in Sophistication, Users Growing in Numbers, Regulations Growing in Support
We identified Mobile Technology as one of the major technology trends impacting insurance practitioners in 2012. Applications are growing and governments are supportive but a standard approach is lacking. - Developing Social Media Strategies: Learning to Rake Leaves During A Windstorm
An old saying suggests that trying to set strategy while dealing with a crisis is akin to trying to rake leaves in a windstorm while herding cats. Similar to the state of social media strategy and insurance. But help may be coming - from felines themselves.
Technology
CSIO - XML eDocs Standard Released!
March 1st, 2012 - The XML eDocs Standard is now available to all CSIO members. This standard provides the ability to transmit policy documents from insurers systems directly to broker management systems (BMS) using CSIOnet. It also allows brokers to store the transmitted documents automatically in their BMS without manual intervention.
IBAO Applauds CSIO Announcement.
March 22, 2012 (Toronto, Ontario) - Today, The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) is congratulating the Centre for Studies in Insurance Operations (CSIO) on their announcement of the new CSIO XML standard which will allow for electronic documents to be transmitted in broker downloads.
Product Announcements
Industrial Alliance Will Offer a Voluntary Retirement Savings Plan (VRSP) that's Easy to Set Up and Administer.
QUEBEC CITY, March 21, 2012 - Industrial Alliance is pleased to announce that, starting on the Quebec government's target date of January 1, 2013, it plans to offer the voluntary retirement savings plan (VRSP), the new retirement savings plan created by the government to encourage more Quebecers to save for retirement.
Creechurch International Introduces CyberPlus Privacy and Network Security Protection Insurance.
TORONTO, March 19, 2012 - Recently, the federal government introduced Bill C-12 that contains amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and will require organizations that have suffered a privacy breach to notify affected individuals. Further, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has publicly called for substantial fines against companies who fail to effectively protect Canadians' personal information.
Business of Insurance
Canadian Life and Health Insurers Welcomes Quebec's "Pooled" Pension Plans.
MONTREAL, March 21, 2012 - The Canadian life and health insurance industry applauds the Quebec government's leadership in committing in its 2012-2013 budget announcement to proceed with the introduction of Voluntary Retirement Savings Plans (VRSPs).
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Acquires BenefitLink Resource Group, Inc..
ITASCA, Ill., March 15, 2012 -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. today announced the acquisition of BenefitLink Resource Group, Inc., in Calgary, Canada. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 2001, BenefitLink Resource Group, Inc. is an employee benefits insurance broker and consultant that provides a full range of group employee benefits and pension products and services to their clients throughout Canada.
Towers Watson Survey Finds Commercial Insurance Prices Continued to Increase During Fourth Quarter of 2011.
NEW YORK, March 12, 2012 - Commercial insurance prices increased an aggregate 3% during the fourth quarter of 2011 - the fourth consecutive quarter during which prices for all standard commercial lines rose. Additionally, earned price increases are beginning to offset portions of reported claim cost inflation levels.
Marketing and the Market Place
Great West Life: Canadian employers are finding more ways to help their employees save towards achieving retirement income adequacy.
WINNIPEG, March 21, 2012 - Canadian employers are listening to their employees' concerns about achieving retirement income adequacy and are finding new and better ways to encourage retirement savings by streamlining investment options, building better default funds and embracing more sophisticated tools such as target date and target risk funds.
eMarketer: Marketers Struggle to Link Digital Data to 'Big Data' Picture.
MARCH 19, 2012 - Marketers are abuzz over "Big Data" for its promise to deliver a more complete understanding of each customer, who can then be targeted with advertising tailored exactly to the individual.
eMarketer: Top Websites Correlate with Influential Brands in Canada.
MARCH 15, 2012 - Five of the top 10 most influential brands among internet users in Canada are internet or tech companies, according to a November 2011 Ipsos Reid survey. Microsoft and Google came in first and second, respectively. Apple ranked fourth, Facebook seventh and YouTube ninth.
Distribution
IBAO President Rick Orr: Brokers Need to Bring Technology to Play at the March 5 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference.
March 9, 2012 – Direct writers continue to take broker market share, and there is a 40/60% split between the directs and the broker distribution channel respectively, it was revealed by SGI Canada at the Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference March 5. While brokers still hold the majority share, they cannot afford to ignore the use of technology in their business any longer, it was stated.
Brovada Selected by Germania Mutual Insurance for Their Broker Connectivity.
Toronto, ON - January 13, 2012 - Germania Mutual Insurance Company has selected Brovada Technologies to provide real-time connectivity to its brokers. Germania will begin with real-time PDF inquiry followed by New Business upload.
Eastbridge Confidence Index: Carriers and brokers are optimistic about growth in new voluntary groups in 2012.
AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (March 8, 2012) - The percent of respondents expecting to acquire more new groups in 2012 (as compared to 2010) was 88 percent in the year-end 2011 Voluntary Industry Confidence Index survey. The optimism was true for both brokers and carriers.
Policy and Product Management
SCM Risk Management Services Bolsters Service Capacity in Western Canada.
March 19, 2012 - Edmonton - SCM Risk Management Services (RMS), Canada's largest risk inspection company, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Syntech Associates. As an independent risk inspection company based out of Calgary, Syntech Associates has been delivering high quality residential inspections to Western Canadian clients for over twenty-five years.
Claims
Paul Davis Systems Canada announces new Business Development Director, Quebec Region.
Paul Davis Systems Canada, Ltd. (PDSC) is pleased to announce that Emmanuel Robitaille, Business Development Director, Quebec Region, has joined the PDS team. In his role, Emmanuel will be responsible for new business initiatives in both the insurance and commercial/corporate market sectors, as well as overseeing marketing and account management at the regional level.
Guidewire Solution for Claims Management Selected by QBE North America.
NEW YORK, N.Y. and SAN MATEO, Calif., March 22, 2012: QBE North America, a division of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the top 20 insurers and reinsurers worldwide, and Guidewire Software, Inc. , today announced that QBE North America has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims management platform. QBE North America will implement ClaimCenter for the majority of its lines of business, including standard and specialty lines across U.S. property/casualty business organizations.
Consumer Information
IBC - Ontarians recognize insurance fraud is a problem but they don't know where to report it.
TORONTO, March 22, 2012 - During Fraud Awareness month, organizations across the country have been explaining to their customers and the public what to look out for when it comes to fraudulent behavior. But, surprisingly, a recent Pollara Poll, commissioned for the insurance industry, suggests these same people still don't know where to report fraudulent activity.
IBC - Insurance Fraud Follies - What were they thinking?
TORONTO, March 20, 2012 - There's nothing funny about insurance fraud. After all, it costs insurance companies and their honest policyholders. But sometimes you can't help but laugh at some of the outrageous scams and schemes of would-be fraud artists.
Square One says BC residents paying for home insurance coverage they don't need.
VANCOUVER, March 15, 2012 - Nearly 90% of BC home insurance policyholders are paying for insurance protection they don't need or want, says Square One Insurance. The Vancouver-based home insurance experts found that out of 1,000 policyholders, 87% are paying for irrelevant protection with traditional home insurance policies.
IBC celebrates Canada Water Week 2012.
TORONTO, March 19, 2012 - This is Canada Water Week, a week-long celebration of water from coast-to-coast. While clean, abundant water is important, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reminds you that water can create damage to your property if left unchecked. With that, IBC has launched the Dry House Challenge iPad app to help Canadians learn how to prevent water damage to protect your property.
from Doug:
On Friday evening my wife had a spare ticket to the Toronto Consort, a group of musicians who specialize in music played on instruments from the Renaissance period, 16 and 17th centuries. The music has a timeless sense to it; I find it quite appealing.
Saturday evening I moved ahead in time to the late 18th century and in an appropriate location at Fort York. As Honorary Lieut. Col. of the King's Royal Yorkers, the recreated unit of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, a Loyalist Regiment in the American Revolution, it was a privilege to present the toast to the Queen and to present one of the awards at the annual regimental dinner. The event was a family affair with several young children, but then the reenactment group itself operates the same way, as the original group did in real life. A good evening for all - it is good to not only see history brought to life, but to be part of people living history. Maybe one day I will make enough time to do more than just be "honorary"!