INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Small Life Insurer Transformation Challenged By Limited Resources, Aging Systems: Equisoft
New research from Equisoft, a leading global digital solutions provider to the financial services industry, reveals that customer experience is the main driver for digital transformation efforts within small and medium-sized insurers, yet more than half of organizations support just one or two communication channels for customer support. Read more.

Tips & Considerations Before Renting Out Your Cottage: Westland Insurance
Westland Insurance is sharing advice for Canadian property owners considering renting out a cottage or cabin this summer. Read more.

IBAO Launches Farm Insurance eLearning Course
The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario is proud to announce the launch of a foundational farm insurance course for insurance professionals. Designed to fill a long-standing gap in industry education, the course provides essential knowledge to effectively advise on farm insurance policies — an area known for its complexity and unique coverage challenges. Read more.

SSRU Launches In-House Claims Dept.
Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting is proud to announce the launch of its in-house claims department, a move that reinforces the company's commitment to self-governance, transparency, and operational excellence. This strategic transition is part of SSRU's continued investment in due diligence, ethical leadership, and best-in-class service for brokers, capacity partners, and policyholders. Read more.

McDougall Insurance Enters Atlantic Canada Market
McDougall Insurance Brokers Limited is excited to announce our successful combination with Keyes Insurance Brokerage Limited in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Keyes is McDougall's first Atlantic Canadian office, and represents a significant moment for our organization's national ambitions. Read more.

Weathervane Investments Acquires Xpera
Weathervane Investments and SCM Insurance Services are pleased to announce the acquisition of Xpera Risk Mitigation & Investigation by Weathervane Investments, a Canadian-based private equity firm. Read more.

Desroches Visser Insurance Brokers Joins KRG
RRJ Insurance Group Ltd, o/a KRGinsure, is pleased to announce that Desroches, Visser Insurance Brokers, located in Mississauga, Ontario, has joined our organization. Read more.

McDougall Insurance Announces Merger With Duliban Insurance
McDougall Insurance Brokers Limited is pleased to announce that we have merged operations with Duliban Insurance, an outstanding brokerage with offices across the Niagara and Haldimand regions. Read more.

Acera Welcomes Navigate Benefit Solutions
Acera Insurance Services is pleased to announce it has partnered with Navigate Benefit Solutions, headquartered in Calgary, as it continues to expand its specialty Acera Benefits division. Read more.

ClaimsPro Renames Internal Call Centre Solution
ClaimsPro, Canada's leading provider of independent claims adjusting services and an SCM company, has announced the renaming of its internal call centre service to 24-Hour Contact Centre. This new name is more aligned with the current call answering services being provided by this internal group, as well as several technological enhancements applied over the past 20 years of operation. Read more.

IBM Unveils First Mainframe Engineered For A.I.
IBM has announced the next generation of its iconic mainframe, fully engineered with AI capabilities across hardware, software, and systems operations. IBM Z is built to redefine AI at scale, positioning enterprises to score 100% of their transactions in real-time, and the new IBM z17 mainframe, powered by the latest IBM Telum® II processor, expands the system's capabilities beyond transactional AI capabilities to enable new workloads, enabling businesses to drive innovation and do more. Read more.

Featured job opportunities:

Senior Group Retirement Service Representative
The Burke Group
St. Catharines, ON (remote/virtual)

Director, Program Delivery (Insurance)
Agricorp
Guelph, ON

Licensed Insurance Associate
Ontario Medical Association
Toronto, ON

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

CompareHealth
CompareHealth is a Canadian-founded platform that simplifies how personal health insurance plans are quoted, compared, and researched by insurance advisors and Canadian consumers. Originally designed to support advisors in generating accurate, side-by-side comparisons of personal health insurance plans, CompareHealth expanded in 2025 to include a public, direct-to-consumer platform which allows Canadians to explore coverage options that match their preferences before connecting with an advisor or insurance provider. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug A current example of the insurance industry's migration toward a Predict & Prevent / Detect & Mitigate model, Swiss Re is deploying AI Agents to support IoT risk prevention for industrial clients (factories, logistics hubs, warehouses) to reduce losses from fire, water damage, machinery breakdown, and workplace accidents. Industrial IoT providers – partners – install sensors to monitor variables such as temperature fluctuations, vibration in machinery, air quality, humidity levels, human foot-traffic patterns, and electrical usage anomalies. AI agents continuously analyze this data stream looking for risk patterns associated with known loss events (e.g., an overheated motor preceding a fire) and then alert the client's facilities team, suggest preventive maintenance actions, or even trigger automatic shutdowns or safety protocols. Elevated risks are flagged to underwriting and risk engineering teams. This innovation serves to: • Move beyond predictive analytics dashboards with real-time autonomous AI agents actively intervening in risk management; • Enable dynamic risk scoring and pricing adjustments, based on actual risk exposure; • Position insurance as a risk prevention partner. Benefits for Swiss Re and customers: • Significant reduction in claims frequency/severity; • Enhanced underwriting accuracy; • Early detection of over 40% of incidents that previously resulted in mid-size claims. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca