INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Economical Introduces Vyne Commercial
Economical Insurance has introduced Vyne Commercial, a new digital platform and refreshed offering for brokers that will simplify the process for insuring small businesses. Broker partners can expect intuitive, modernized workflows, and a more customer-centric product solution from Vyne Commercial. Read more.

NFP Launches Digital Platform To Enhance CX
NFP, a leading insurance broker and consultant, is pleased to announce the launch of NFP Connect, an integrated, client-centric digital platform that facilitates the sharing of best practices, enhanced efficiencies, data aggregation and a streamlined organization of systems across its entire enterprise. Read more.

Ratehub Launches Its Own Insurance Brokerage
Ratehub Inc. is pleased to announce it has launched its own property & casualty brokerage, RH Insurance. This launch brings Ratehub Inc. one step closer towards achieving its goal of being Canada's go-to source for digital personal finance products across insurance, mortgages, credit cards, investing and banking products. Read more.

Majesco & Infosys Accelerate Digital Experience
Infosys and Majesco are pleased to announce a strategic collaboration, through which the companies will work together to help joint customers accelerate their digital transformation journey, enabling them to unlock new opportunities, address the demand for personalized customer experiences, operational effectiveness, and digital adoption across the insurance business value chain. Read more.

Intact And Tryg Complete Acquisition Of RSA
Intact Financial Corporation is pleased to announce that, together with Tryg A/S, it has completed the acquisition of RSA Insurance Group plc, having received all required approvals. With the acquisition of RSA's Canadian, UK and international entities, Intact is taking a significant step to accelerate its strategy and drive significant value creation. Read more.

Hub Acquires Salvatore Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Salvatore Insurance Brokers Ltd. Located in Sackville, Nova Scotia, Salvatore Insurance is a family-owned insurance agency providing commercial insurance to clients in Atlantic Canada. Read more.

Hub Acquires Global Credit Risk Management Inc.
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Global Credit Risk Management Inc. With a national presence and offices in Ontario and Alberta, GCRM is an independent broker of accounts receivable and political risk insurance. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

Consumers Don't Believe Digital Experiences Impact Purchase Decisions
More than half of customers believe that most brands' digital experiences have little to no impact on what they end up buying, according to Gartner. With roughly 9 in 10 brands prioritizing customer-facing digital experiences during the pandemic, it's imperative that CMOs and their teams rethink their digital experience strategy as they seek to reduce friction and build customer loyalty. Read more.

Specialty Insurers Look To Improve Underwriting
Specialty insurers have traditionally made less use of automation than insurers in other sectors. They are now differentiating themselves in a competitive marketplace through investments in distribution (especially new business submission), product development, underwriting, and claims. In a new report, Novarica provides an overview of specialty carriers' business and technology issues, data about the marketplace, and recent examples of technology investments by specialty carriers. Read more.

FIRST Launches Monthly Credit Card Payments
FIRST Insurance Funding of Canada, the industry leader in payment solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of monthly credit card payments, in collaboration with AcordPay. Read more.

Safety Focus: Seatbelts And Child Restraints
Three-year-old Kinsley Powell was in the back seat of her grandfather's SUV when an oncoming car lost control and slammed into them, almost head-on. The violent crash resulted in the death of the other driver and severe injuries to Kinsley's grandfather. But because she was properly fastened in her car seat, Kinsley was completely uninjured, with a couple of scratches from an airbag. Read more.

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

Onlia
Onlia was built to help make Canada safer by rewarding Canadians for safer driving behaviours. We believe in motivation over penalties, and we have integrated this philosophy into our suite of tech-driven safety products – developed and driven by data and behavioural economics. Using proprietary and award-winning technology, Onlia is rethinking the way Canadians approach safety and insurance.
Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

Featured job opportunities:

Account Executive
Agilus Work Solutions
Toronto, ON

Commercial Lines Account Manager
Law Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Sudbury, ON

From Doug Embedded Insurance: Cyber Risk? The challenge of digital security is growing in proportion to the proliferation of connected systems and devices – and the sophistication of cyber criminals. To minimize risk and potential loss, security tools and services help prevent a loss (a solid security system is essential in today's fast-evolving cyber environment), and insurance provides indemnification in case of an incident. An insurer with up-to-date details about a customer's security system has obvious advantages relative to underwriting and claims. Coalition, an ICTA 2021 runner-up, offers a set of free tools to monitor the customer's security. As a result, it has quality data for underwriting. It assists in risk management by offering data about new exposures. It helps to minimize the loss and to speed up recovery when an incident does occur. Is this embedded insurance? In this case, the free security monitoring services are part of the insurance and provide better risk and loss management. Could it be the other way round, i.e., security services embedding insurance? Possibly, but that might present a regulatory issue, depending on the jurisdiction. The line of demarcation is blurring. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca