Issue 2008-38 -- October 7, 2008
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
Canadian Disaster Restoration Group Opens Regional Office in Quebec.
Canadian Disaster Restoration Group has recently opened a Fifth regional office in Sherbrooke, Quebec and has appointed Daniel Pellerin as Quebec Regional Director. Daniel has spent 6 years with Phoenix Disaster Restoration. Having a regional office in Quebec will help bridge the gap between the Maritimes and Ontario. This increases our reach as CDRG Red Teams can offer catastrophe support wherever the storm hits in Canada; becoming the first group of disaster restoration professionals that offers coast-to-coast disaster restoration expertise.
FINEOS Announces Development Alliance with Secure EDI.
Dublin, Ireland, September 29, 2008 - FINEOS Corporation, a global provider of innovative enterprise software solutions for insurance, bancassurance, and government, has formed a development alliance with Secure EDI, an information technology firm that focuses on the management of electronic transactions in the healthcare and dental care industries.
Consumer Information
Travel Insurance Mexico web site is launched: TFG Global Insurance.
Sep 01, 2008 – Travel Insurance Mexico.com is a new travel insurance web site that has been launched by TFG Global Insurance Solutions Ltd.. The new web site will offer travel insurance plans to people around the world, including those traveling to and from Mexico.
Insurance program combines Directors & Officers cover with an insured private healthcare treatment plan: Marsh Canada Limited.
TORONTO, Sept. 30 - Marsh Canada Limited and XN Risk, an operating division of XN Financial Services (Canada) Inc., recently announced the launch of an insurance solution for Canadian corporations and their directors and officers that combines comprehensive directors and officers liability (D&O) protection with an insured private healthcare treatment plan that provides key directors and officers with priority access to leading health care treatment.
eBusiness and Technology
Novarica ACE RankingsT Document "Average Customer Experience" to Help Insurers Evaluate Technology Vendors Based on Peer Experience.
September 8, 2008 (New York): Novarica, a division of Novantas LLC, today announced the launch of its Novarica ACE Ranking™ reports, which document the Average Customer Experience of insurers with various technology solutions.
Pitney Bowes MapInfo Introduces MapXtreme 2008, Newest Version of .NET-based Location Intelligence Platform.
Troy, NY-September 16, 2008 - Pitney Bowes MapInfo, the leading global provider of location intelligence, today introduced MapXtreme® 2008, the next generation of its Microsoft® .NET-based location intelligence platform. Leveraging applications developed with the MapXtreme software developer kit (SDK), organizations can integrate location intelligence with existing business systems, enabling them to make better strategic decisions and more effectively manage and protect assets.
Distribution
Keal Technology and Microdea Inc. Announce Integration.
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - September 23, 2008 - Today, Keal and Microdea are pleased to
announce they have entered into a contract to integrate Microdea's advanced document management and workflow product, Synergize with Keal's flagship Broker Management System, sigXP.
Applied Systems announces new agency management system.
ASCnet TENCon Special-Anaheim, CA-September 10, 2008 -- A new automated agency management system for the way agents do business now and in the future was unveiled today by insurance technology company Applied Systems Inc.
Survey Says That Over 95% of Financial Advisors Agree That The Link to Growing Their Business is Delivering a Deeper Client Experience: Univeris.
Toronto, ON – October 3, 2008 - "Today, having satisfied clients isn't enough for financial advisors to increase share of wallet or to get referrals from present clients," said Carmine Tullio, President and CEO, Univeris. "Research shows that the key to an advisor growing their practice is an organized and formal system of client management. Also, there appears to be a clear gap," said Tullio, "between the importance an advisor places on service delivery and what they are actually delivering against the client's goals."
New broker agreement supports plan to improve efficiency and convenience: MPIC.
September 23 , 2008 - Independent brokers and Manitoba Public Insurance have entered into a historic accord for a new compensation model that will support a more convenient renewal process and new product offerings for customers in the future.
Manulife Investments partners with finance experts to help Canadians plan for retirement.
TORONTO, Sept. 29 2008 - Manulife Investments is partnering with Dr. Moshe Milevsky, a renowned personal finance expert, and Toronto-based QWeMA Group to provide advisors with a new retirement income strategy focused on product allocation for their clients.
Standard Life takes the investment management of its funds online with "Focus on Funds" launch.
MONTREAL, Sept. 30 2008 - The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada announced today that its Retail Markets division has teamed up with Standard Life Investments to launch its "Focus on Funds" website. With this new video tool, advisors and investors will now be able to learn more about how mutual and segregated funds are managed by Standard Life Investments' portfolio managers in Canada and around the world. The Focus on Funds website leverages Standard Life Investments' global reach and expertise and is now live on Standard Life's Advisor Source site.
Advisor incorporation in PEI approved: Advocis' representations help win the day.
Toronto - October 1, 2008 – Financial advisors in Prince Edward Island will now be on a level playing field with their colleagues in most of the rest of Canada with the recent approval of advisor incorporation in the province. With this change, corporations controlled by an individual registered advisor may receive payments of commissions and fees from the advisor's registered dealer.
2009 P&C Insurance Technology Conference: "Leadership: The Business-IT Imperative"
The seventh annual Insurance-Canada.ca P&C Technology Conference Monday 23 February 2009 in Toronto.
Speakers and Topics include:
- An Insurance Perspective from the IBM Global CEO Study, "Enterprise of the Future"
Rick Hoehne, Director of Insurance Business Solutions, IBMFor early program information and event details, see the conference overview.
Business of Insurance
Regulatory approval granted for La Capitale's acquisition of York Fire & Casualty Insurance.
QUEBEC CITY, Sept. 30 2008 - On August 25, La Capitale Financial Group announced that its subsidiary La Capitale General Insurance had entered into an agreement to acquire the Mississauga, Ontario-based property and casualty insurer York Fire & Casualty Insurance. Today, La Capitale is pleased to announce that this acquisition has been given the green light following regulatory approval of the agreement.
Policy and Product Management
Aon Capital Markets Places Industry's First Transaction Utilizing WindX Parametric Index Solution.
CHICAGO, Sept. 22 2008 -- Aon Capital Markets today announced it has placed the industry's first transaction utilizing the WindX™ parametric index solution. The transaction provides coverage from named storms based on wind speed data at several wind stations in Florida.
Reference and Statistics
Towers Perrin Health Care Cost Survey Shows Average Annual Per-Employee Cost of $9,660 in 2009 -- And the Health Care Affordability Gap Widens.
STAMFORD, CT, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 - New data from Towers Perrin indicate that the business and social impacts of rising health care costs still loom large, but also that leading companies are successfully mitigating that threat through a variety of health-focused management techniques that are paying off in significant ways — and point toward broader solutions to the cost crisis.
from Doug:
We thoroughly enjoyed a long weekend at a friend's cottage converted to home, on a small lake, more than two hours north of Toronto, beyond the summer playground in country where cottages are mostly traditional. Three guys who for three years shared a Toronto apartment at the beginning of the 1970's. Two of us there with wives, the other with his two mid-teens. We had had minimal contact other than Christmas cards over the last twenty years.. It was a great reunion - good weather, wonderful fall colours and scenery, quiet (until we fired up the ATV, small motorboat or chainsaw), two moose swimming across the lake ....I just might have to quit working so much.
We wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.