INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Half of P&C Leaders Plan To Prioritize Investment In Claims Automation: Fiva Sigma
Five Sigma, an emerging leader in cloud-native insurance claims management solutions, has published the findings of a survey providing insight into the current state of claims intelligence, as well as insurers' views and future plans regarding innovation and modernization of their claims operation. Read more.

Coalition Releases Control 2.0 Platform
Coalition is pleased to announce the launch of the next generation of its cyber risk management platform, Coalition Control, to help organizations detect, assess, mitigate, and transfer cyber risk exposure. Coalition Control combines cyber risk monitoring, assessment, and quantification tools with third-party risk management and AI-powered assistance to provide unparalleled risk management capabilities to organizations of all sizes. Read more.

Wawanesa First Insurer To Attain Phase 2 Claims eDocs Certification: CSIO
CSIO congratulates Wawanesa on being the first insurer to earn CSIO's Claims eDocs Certification - Phase 2. By becoming certified, Wawanesa demonstrated their implementation of Claims eDocs meets CSIO Standards and increased the amount of claims-related information its broker partners can readily access in their broker management systems. Read more.

nowly Launches SmartLife Term Product Lineup
nowly, a division of Teachers Life, is pleased to announce its new SmartLife Product Lineup featuring a suite of instant issue and simplified underwriting renewable and non-renewable term life coverage offered in 10 to 25-year terms. Read more.

BrokerLink Acquires Icon Insurance Brokers, Faulkner Insurance
BrokerLink's momentum remains strong with the acquisition of Icon Insurance Brokers Ltd. and P. J. Faulkner Insurance Ltd., effective May 1ar. These acquisitions expand the company's service to additional customers in two vibrant Ontario communities. Read more.

Westland Acquires First Durham Insurance
Westland Insurance, one of Canada's largest independently owned brokerages, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of First Durham Insurance & Financial Ltd. Effective May 1st, this acquisition helps Westland expand its reach in the important Ontario market. Read more.

Koïos Intelligence Concludes Funding Round, Looks To Revolutionize Insurance Shopping
Koïos Intelligence, a Quebec-based start-up that provides insurance professionals with a conversational assistant powered by AI, is pleased to announce it has concluded a CAD$6.5 million financing round with the participation of Propulia Capital, Canada Economic Development, Export Development Canada, Caisse Desjardins des Technologies and other private investors, who believe natural language processing is poised to revolutionize the operations of organizations. Read more.

Gallagher Re Q1 Global InsurTech Report
Gallagher Re is pleased to announce its latest Global InsurTech Report for Q1 2023. With a focus this year on InsurTech funding lifecycles the Q1 report looks at early-stage incubation funding into InsurTech(s); it spotlights pertinent InsurTech companies, features knowledgeable experts and thought leaders in this space, and relays the latest InsurTech investment data. Read more.

CSSI Appoints Greg Purdy As CEO
Custom Software Solutions, a leader in real-time digital solutions and business process automation systems for the insurance industry, is pleased to announce Greg Purdy has joined the company's executive team as Chief Executive Officer. Read more.

Canadians Want To Be Rewarded For Healthy Behaviour
Manulife is pleased to announce it has expanded its industry-leading behavioural insurance program, Manulife Vitality, to its core product line, Manulife Par, increasing the access to Manulife Vitality for everyday Canadians to help people live longer, healthier, better lives. Read more.

IBC Hails Ontario Auto Theft Crackdown Funding
In the wake of the Ontario government's announcement of a new investment to help police in the province to crack down on auto theft, Insurance Bureau of Canada has issued a statement applauding the move. Read more.

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

RocketPlan Technologies
RocketPlan is a mobile-first platform for property restoration contractors and insurance professionals, built on the foundation that field technicians should be able to conduct all their business from a mobile device. All necessary data can be captured and uploaded onto RocketPlan. It integrates seamlessly into existing accounting software, and includes time-tracking features. Simply download and go.
Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug A.I.: Under Control? Especially since the arrival of Chat-GPT, the fear of artificial intelligence has escalated. Can the AI beast be tamed? Canada is a world leader in artificial intelligence. It is home to 20 public AI research labs, 75 AI incubators and accelerators, 60 groups of AI investors, and more than 850 AI-related start-up businesses. Just two months ago, the Canadian government tabled the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) as part of Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act. For insurance, our regulators are undoubtedly involved. In USA, insurance regulators via the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) are drafting a model bulletin on artificial intelligence use with the aim of guiding companies in establishing governance systems and regulatory expectations for such systems. Read more. The first state, Colorado, exposed the first round of draft rules for life insurers in February. As a model for best practices and possibly in anticipation of regulations, SwissRe put forward ten guiding principles – including protecting human dignity, fostering explainability, data protection, and establishing an independent control function. AI is powerful, no doubt. Controls are essential. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca