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.
Claims
Xactware Announces The General Release Of Xactimate 25.
September 27, 2007Orem, Utah Xactware announced the general release of Xactimate 25, the latest version of the repair and restoration industry's number-one estimating software. Xactimate 25 has been significantly redesigned with a host of new features and a significantly simplified interface.
Automated Benefits Corp.: Symbility Solutions Inc. Announces Groundbreaking Partnership With Enservio Inc.
WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 24, 2007) - Symbility Solutions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Automated Benefits Corp., is pleased to announce a partnership with Enservio, Inc. (www.enservio.com), the leading provider of contents pricing and services to the property and casualty insurance industry.
NexgenRx and The Co-operators Sign Agreement.
REGINA and TORONTO, Sept. 24, 2007 - Co-operators Life Insurance Company and NexgenRx are pleased to announce that they have entered into a five-year agreement effective immediately. NexgenRx will provide Co-operators Life with the use of their state of the art Pharmacy Benefit Management and Health and Dental Claims Adjudication Services.
Distribution
The Insurance Brokers Association of Canada Announces its Board of Directors for 2007 - 2008.
September 25, 2007 – Toronto, ON. The Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of its Executive Committee as well as its Board of Directors for the 2007 – 2008 term at their recently held AGM in Whistler, British Columbia.
Cooke Insurance Acquires Hutchinson & Warren Insurance Services.
September 20, 2007 Charlottetown PE -- Jeff Cooke, President of Cooke Insurance, recently announced a new partnership between Charlie Cook Insurance Agency Ltd. and the well known Maritime brokerage, Hutchinson & Warren Insurance Services Ltd. In making the announcement, Mr. Cooke noted that the merger strengthens the combined operation by fielding Maritime wide resources that will benefit the clients of both companies.
New Eastbridge study looks at voluntary product sales and large commercial lines agencies.
AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (September 13, 2007) - Today over 90 percent of large commercial lines agencies sell voluntary/worksite products, according to a recent Eastbridge Consulting survey. For nearly two-thirds of them, voluntary is sold only occasionally or as a cross-sell to select, existing accounts.
Marketing and the Market Place
The Co-operators Launches National Television Campaign.
GUELPH, ON, Sept. 24, 2007 - Seeking to build upon the success of its recently concluded award-winning Heritage Brand Campaign, The Co-operators launched a new national television advertising campaign today. Two new 30-second commercials premiering today emphasize the breadth of financial security products and services offered by The Co-operators, the leading Canadian-owned multi-product insurance company.
Web 2.0 Users Go Shopping: eMarketer.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 -- Web 2.0 users spent about $27 billion online in the United States in the second quarter of 2007, according to comScore's "Web 2.0 in Retail Today" report. comScore reported that social networking site traffic rose 33% to 81 million unique visitors in August 2007 versus August 2006.
Reference and Statistics
StatsCan reports Domestic Travel for Third Quarter 2006.
Available today is a set of tables containing data on domestic travel for the third quarter of 2006 from the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC). The visits made by Canadian travellers in Canada totalled 64.9 million during that period. Almost a quarter of these visitors were accompanied by household members less than 18 years old.
USA P/C Insurers' Otherwise Strong First-Half 2007 Results Marred by Slippage in Underwriting Results and Overall Profitability: ISO, III and PCI News.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 25, 2007 The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry's net income after taxes rose 10.7 percent to $32.6 billion in first-half 2007 from $29.4 billion in first-half 2006. Fueled by the industry's net income, policyholders' surplus insurers' net worth measured according to Statutory Accounting Principles increased $26.5 billion to $512.8 billion at June 30, 2007, from $486.2 billion at year-end 2006.
eBusiness and Technology
Gartner Says CIOs Must Manage IT Risk as Business Risk.
Egham, UK, September 17, 2007 - While IT has become increasingly central to business success, many enterprises have not adjusted their processes for IT decision making and risk management, according to Gartner, Inc. In addition, increased dependence on the smooth functioning of IT has amplified the business impact of IT risk incidents.
Consumer Information
Over two million Canadians drive aggressively: poll by TIRF.
A new poll by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) has found that over two million Canadians display aggressive driving behaviours.
Royal & SunAlliance introduces mobile claims centre to help consumers deal with severe weather.
To help property owners cope with damage related to severe weather, Royal & SunAlliance is launching a mobile claims unit that will travel to communities coping with the after-effects of weather disasters.
Health Care in Canada 2007 - A new direction for a familiar health information resource: CIHI.
September 20, 2007 - Today, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released its eighth annual Health Care in Canada. This year's report offers a compendium focusing on key health care issues in order to serve as a helpful reference tool for health care decision-makers and Canadians. Health Care in Canada's new, more concise format provides an overview of key analytic work undertaken at CIHI and elsewhere as it relates to CIHI's priority research areas.
Insurance in the Community
Random House and Manulife Financial team up to deliver new John A. Macdonald biography to students across Canada.
TORONTO, Sept. 27, 2007 - Richard Gwyn's landmark new biography of Canada's first Prime Minister, John A: The Man Who Made Us, will be available to high school students across Canada, thanks to a cooperative programme between Manulife Financial and Random House.
Business of Insurance
Guy Carpenter Publishes Its Fifth Annual Review of the Lloyd's Market.
London, September 10, 2007 -- Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and a part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), today announced the publication of The Lloyd's Market in 2007, its fifth annual review of Lloyd's financial and operational performance. With record results reported for 2006 and underwriting capacity at an all-time high, the report finds Lloyd's in an increasingly strong competitive position.
Reinsurance Emerges as Lower Cost Alternative to Risk Financing as Credit Markets Become More Expensive: Aon Re Global Analysis.
MONTE CARLO, Sept. 9, 2007 - Aon Re Global, the world's largest provider of reinsurance brokerage and integrated capital solutions and services and a unit of Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC), today released its sixth annual Reinsurance Market Update at the insurance and reinsurance industry's Jan. 1 renewal season kickoff event, the Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo.
from Doug:
Our neighbour in the other half of our semi-detached Victorian house passed away yesterday. He had been in failing health since July, in and out of hospital. He was in his eighties, married for over sixty years. Always had a wry sense of humour. He was one who rose to the challenge of life's adversities, as he lost his sight at age six. Since we first met some thirty years ago, he worked at CNIB, and then after retirement did chair caning – customers, including the local hardware store, would show up at the door with chairs needing mending. The mailman often brought talking books for him to "read". Each year he and his wife took a bus trip; they enjoyed especially those to Nashville and Branson with their musical performances.
His wife and her sister who lives upstairs, have been in the house for seventy years since it was bought by their parents, who had been here a few years from England, in the Great Depression. They too lived in the same house when we moved here.
It is great to have good neighbours. He will be missed.