Issue 2010-20 -- May 18, 2010
This newsletter is for members of the Canadian Insurance Industry, and those who serve it. The newsletter is published weekly, and notes information about the use of the Internet and related technologies in the industry, insurance products and the marketplace. Some is international, where we feel it is relevant to Canada.
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Participants and Sponsors:
Thanks to Strategic Resource Consultants (SRC) for renewing their annual Professional Section advertising program with a Banner Ad. Logo Ad and Listing in:
eBusiness and Technology
iter8 Earned an ICTA Honourable Mention in the Technology Provider - Insurer Solutions category.
iter8 earned this ICTA Honourable Mention for their products that address broker communications and underwriting excellence, as implemented at York Fire & Casualty
Saskatchewan Government Insurance signs an agreement with Canadian Business Intelligence leader SQLiaison.
MONTREAL, May 12 2010 - SQLiaison, the Canadian leader in Insurance Business Intelligence (BI), will be implementing a complete Insurance BI program with Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), Saskatchewan's self-sustaining auto insurance fund and fully competitive property and casualty insurance supplier. Besides using the FellowDSS(TM) suite of analytic applications for the insurance industry, SGI also partners with SQLiaison for its BI expertise in implementing and supporting large scale Insurance BI Programs.
Gartner Says Hybrid Thinking for Enterprise Architecture Can Help Organisations Embrace Transformation, Innovation and Strategy.
Egham, UK, May 13, 2010 - Most enterprise architecture (EA) initiatives remain trapped in the IT department, and a new approach ? hybrid thinking ? is required to break EA out and into the wider organisation, according to Gartner, Inc. Adopting hybrid thinking is an excellent way to meld design thinking, IT thinking and business thinking, and achieve transformative, innovative and strategic changes.
The Life Cycle of Forms - Part 1 - ACORD.
4/28/2010 - ACORD forms are known across industries, not just in the insurance world. All kinds of companies use ACORD forms and often train their industry members on how to use them properly. But where does it all start? How do forms get created? When are they updated and why? These are a few questions that we hope to answer in these articles.
Claims
Predictive analytics helps insurers cut costs, boost profits: Allegient.
Many insurance companies possess valuable claims, case, and invoice data from their service providers, such as law firms, independent adjusters, and accountants. But getting at it is another story; most insurers are not using this information to their best advantage because it is too difficult to extract for analysis.
Groupe JDL of Valleyfield Joins The Growing CDRG Team.
May 6, 2010 -- CDRG - Canadian Disaster Restoration Group, Canada's largest network of independent restoration specialists are pleased to announce that Groupe JDL of Valleyfield, Québec, has been awarded certified membership. Groupe JDL, led by Stéphane Lanthier has provided insurance restoration in the Salaberry - Valleyfield area since 1987.
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Distribution
Keal Technology - French Speaking Brokers to Benefit from Enhanced Bilingual Services.
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - May 5, 2010 - Keal Technology, leading software developer for Canadian insurance brokers, and the Canadian Signassure/sigXP User group (CSU), jointly announce they are expanding their partnership to better service their mutual clients, Keal users.
The key to financial literacy - Continued access to professional financial advice says Advocis to task force.
May 10, 2010 - Toronto - In its submission to the Task Force on Financial Literacy, Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, suggested that competition and choice in financial services is the most important way to ensure that Canadians can meet their financial goals.
Product Announcements
Aon Launches Industry's First Insurance Policy for Space Investors.
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 5 2010 -- Aon's International Space Brokers, the largest specialist risk adviser in the sector, today announced the launch of Investment Protection Insurance, a game-changing policy for space investors. IPI is the first policy strictly for investors, and is designed to cover the loss of an investment in a space satellite, launch failure and satellite assets.
Business of Insurance
Sun Life Financial creates mutual fund company to expand wealth offerings to Canadians.
TORONTO, May 13 2010 - Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX/NYSE:SLF) today announced it is expanding its wealth management capabilities by establishing its own mutual fund company and a new family of funds in Canada. The initiative includes bringing the investment capabilities of MFS Investment Management, Sun Life's U.S.-based asset manager, to Canadian retail investors.
Conning Research: Property-Casualty Forecast Through 2012 Released.
(Hartford, CT) April 20, 2010 - Results for the property-casualty industry over the next few years will be driven by the economic recovery, a return to a modest inflationary environment, and larger underwriting losses in 2010 leading to rate firming in 2011, according to the most recent Property-Casualty Industry Forecast by Conning Research & Consulting.
Policy and Product Management
Guy Carpenter - GC Securities, a Division of MMC Securities Corp., Announces Completion of 144A Catastrophe Bond - Johnston Re Ltd.
New York, May 10, 2010 - Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist, and GC Securities, today announced the completion of a USD305 million, two-class note issuance from a new 144A catastrophe bond program, Johnston Re Ltd., a Cayman Islands exempted company licensed as a Class B insurer, to benefit the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association and the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (collectively the NC JUA/IUA).
Marketing and the Market Place
CFIB Business Barometer ® National small business confidence downshifts.
Toronto, May 5, 2010 - After having roared out of the gates for the first quarter of 2010, confidence among Canada?s small and medium-sized businesses fell back in April, suggesting that the torrid pace of overall economic growth seen last winter is beginning to cool to more sustainable rates. According to the latest business confidence survey findings from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the Business Barometer® index dropped to 66.4 from its March level of 69.9.
eMarketer: Is B2B on Board with Social?
MAY 13, 2010 - Despite social media marketing's popularity, business-to-business (B2B) companies are still fairly new to it. According to a survey from Business.com, 73% of B2B respondents have less than two years of social media marketing experience.
Consumer Information
Growth in drug spending reaches lowest rate in a decade: CIHI.
April 22, 2010 - Total drug spending in Canada is estimated to have reached $30.0 billion in 2009, about $1.5 billion more than in 2008, according to a new report released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). This represents an estimated increase of 5.1%, the lowest annual growth rate observed in more than a decade. Drug Expenditure in Canada, 1985 to 2009 is Canada's most comprehensive annual report on spending trends in prescribed and non-prescribed drugs and includes breakdowns by province and territory and by source of funds, as well as international comparisons.
CIGNA Delivers for Healthy Babies, Adopts Innovative USA text4baby Program.
BLOOMFIELD, Conn., May 12, 2010 - CIGNA (NYSE:CI) has signed on as an outreach partner of the text4baby program, a national initiative to deliver vital health information via free text messages to pregnant women and new mothers, with the goal of helping women have healthy pregnancies and deliver healthy newborns. Text4baby is a program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB).
from Doug:
We picked up the keys to our new condo home on Friday. The transition from a larger house over the next few months as we move is going to be interesting - so many things change.
This Victoria Day long weekend is the first real beginning of summer. For many years we participated in a parade - one year we had snow flakes; another we sweltered in the heat. Wherever you are and whatever the weather, enjoy.
The Chronicle is for members of the Canadian Insurance Industry, and those who serve it. The newsletter is published weekly by Insurance-Canada.ca Inc., and notes information about the use of the Internet and related
technologies in the industry, insurance products and the marketplace. Some is international, where we feel it is relevant to Canada.
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