Issue 2003-28:   July 15, 2003

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.

Managing Relationships and Customer Service

Manulife Financial launches e-enrolment for group savings plan members.

Manulife Financial Canadian Pension Operations has launched an electronic enrolment service to complement their already strong Internet support services. As one of the best financial services sites in Canada, this new electronic capability makes enrolment in a group savings plan simple and more convenient for client companies and their new employees. More...

Distribution

Canada Life's New Online Business Management Tool Helps Brokers Achieve More.

The Canada Life Assurance Company significantly enhanced its individual broker web site today, becoming the first insurer in Canada to provide its distribution partners with 24-hour real-time updates on their pending and in-force business for all individual insurance products. More...

Global IQX awarded nearly $1M in E-business funding by CANARIE Inc.

Global IQX Inc., developer of the ConnectInsure insurance portal that enables insurance professionals to conduct online quotations and enrollment transactions, has been awarded $987,940 in funding by CANARIE Inc. This funding will accelerate our entry into the greater financial services market and will strengthen our core business in the insurance industry,said Michael de Waal, President and Founder of Global IQX. More...

CSIO Insurance Portal Status Update

Week ending July 11: Summer doldrums and vacations, nothing new in the activities we report on.

Reference and Statistics

The new 2003 Annual Statistical Review, published by Stone & Cox Ltd, is now available.

This 172 page issue features the most complete summary available of underwriting results for both property & casualty and life insurance companies. Includes industry analyses, summaries, rank & growth tables and a lot more, making it simply the best statistical issue published! review

Business of Insurance

Great-West Lifeco completes acquisition of Canada Life.

Great-West Lifeco Inc. and Canada Life Financial Corporation announced today that Great-West Lifeco completed its acquisition of Canada Life. More...

Maritime Life Completes Assumption of Liberty Health.

Maritime Life today announced that it has completed the assumption of the insurance business of Liberty Health, a Canadian division of US-based Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. The C$140 million transaction is expected to add approximately $700 million in premiums and premium equivalents, primarily to Maritime Life's group insurance operations, and reinforces Maritime Life's position as one of the top group insurers in Canada. More...

Claims

Information is Key in Fight Against Insurance Fraud: IBC.

Insurance fraud costs Canadians $1.3 billion per year. To combat fraud, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has entered into an agreement with Crawford Adjusters Canada to exchange claims data in a common format. More...

New Insurance Consumer Information

Small business optimism drops significantly; Insurance costs, SARS and Mad Cow take toll.

The results of the quarterly survey of small and medium-sized firms by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) show that business confidence in the economy took a heavy hit in the second quarter of 2003. According to the survey findings, soaring insurance costs, SARS and Mad Cow disease (BSE) have taken a toll. As a result, the CFIB Quarterly Business Barometer decreased to 104.8 in June from 108.8 this past March. More...

Ontario Government Releases Auto Insurance Plan and Whitepaper; IBC Encouraged.

With the release of the white paper, Automobile Insurance Affordability Plan for Ontario: Next Steps, the Eves government has taken further steps to put in place an action plan that protects benefits for accident victims while also reducing the cost of automobile insurance. "We strongly support the government's intention to more closely align health care fees and utilization protocols with those of the workers' compensation system in the province," said Mark Yakabuski, IBC's Vice President, Ontario Region. More...

Pain and suffering cap announced in Nova Scotia a good step - IBC.

Insurance Bureau of Canada is encouraged by the Nova Scotia government's move to cap pain and suffering awards for less serious injuries at $2500, as announced today. "This model appears to be moving in the direction of the model just implemented in New Brunswick and we are already seeing positive results there," said Don Forgeron, Atlantic Vice-President, IBC. "Consumers of New Brunswick are seeing rate decreases and more available insurance as a result of caps in that province." More...

Technology and eBusiness

Gómez Multidimensional Online Experience Benchmark Debuts.

Gómez, Inc., the leading provider of Internet Channel Effectiveness solutions, today unveiled the Experience Benchmark, a comparative measurement of online customer experience that provides organizations with a holistic framework to gauge the efficacy of their Web offerings. For the first time, business and IT stakeholders can receive a holistic view of site functionality, usability and performance, providing historical and comparative metrics to prioritize improvements and boost ROI. More...

Insurance Data Mastery Strategies: Celent.

The ability to extract information from data is vitally important to the insurance industry. Few other industries are so rich in customer, product, and operational data, and so yet so poor in the ability to extract useful information from that data. Silo-ed systems and legacy environments make it very difficult for most insurers to extract even basic information from their databases in a timely and flexible way. More...

from Doug:

Since the heat broke a while back, it has been quite pleasant here in Toronto. Motorsport is not really my bag, but hearing from our house the roar of the engines from the Toronto Molson Indy on the weekend caught the imagination and brought back memories of long ago visits to Mosport. Some of the sport technology used even then contributed to our driving safety today. Enjoy your summer - drive safely!