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.
Consumer Information
Liability Insurance and the Horseman: Before You Have The Claim, by Don Vale
Any one of us can be Legally Liable, as an Individual, as a Club or Association for injuries to an outside party. Since participating in the sport of horses is considered to contain inherent, obvious and well known risks of injury beyond those normally created by life in modern society, it is necessary to take more precautions to protect yourself and those associated with you.
New website makes insurance information easy to access.
The Co-operators has launched its new fully bilingual user-friendly website. The new site is designed to be an easily navigable source of plain-language facts and advice about insurance and financial services that Canadians can use.
Top 10 travel tips for 2007 from RBC Insurance.
Whether you're planning to ski in Whistler or cruise the Caribbean, having fun on your next vacation is a top priority. Here are a few tips from RBC Insurance to help you stay safe and healthy during your trip.
Government home care spending reaches $3.4 billion in 2003–2004: CIHI.
March 22, 2007 Government spending on home care grew from $1.6 billion in 1994–1995 to $3.4 billion in 2003–2004, an average annual growth of 9.2%, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). In comparison, over the same time period, total government health spending increased by an average of 5.7% per year.
Aon warns management to brace itself for the riskiest year yet.
LONDON, 12 MARCH 2007 - Businesses should be preparing for what could be the riskiest year yet, according to insurance broker and risk management consultant Aon. In its 2007 Risk Report published today, Aon warns senior management to take the lead in stepping up their business continuity plans in the face of major risk challenges. Outlining the most prominent risks in 2007 from environmental liability to pandemics, the report underlines the growing importance of the single process that can mean the difference between business survival and collapse: business continuity management (BCM).
Managing Relationships and Customer Service
Manulife Financial ranks first for Canadians' statements on universal life, segregated funds: DALBAR survey.
WATERLOO, ON, March 20, 2007 - Manulife Financial is clearly a leader in providing Canadians with the best statements to help them understand their segregated fund and universal life plans, according to an industry survey by DALBAR Inc. Manulife Financial's universal life statement was the only one designated as "excellent" in a cross-country review of nine industry statements that explain Canadians' universal life insurance policies.
SunGard iWORKS Launches Premium Billing Solution.
Atlanta, GA - March 19, 2007 - SunGard today announced the launch of SunGard iWORKS Premium Billing Solution (PBS), an enterprise-wide billing system for the property and casualty industry. SunGard iWORKS PBS is the rebranded version of the recently acquired Maxim Insurance Software Corporation (Maximsoft) Ebenezer premium billing system.
Claims
Xactware Announces Xactimate 25.
Orem, Utah, March 20, 2007 Xactware announced today that it will unveil its latest estimating technology at PLRB's Claims Conference in Florida later this month. Xactware will be conducting demonstrations and training for Xactimate 25, the latest release of its flagship estimating product. This will be the first public presentation of the dramatically redesigned system.
Insurance Fraud Mitigation Technology: Beyond Red Flags: Report Published by Celent.
San Francisco, CA, USA - March 19, 2007 - In a new report, Insurance Fraud Mitigation Technology: Beyond Red Flags, Celent identifies the fraud mitigation strategies available to insurers, and the specific technology solutions that can make those strategies much more effective than the traditional red flags.
Reference and Statistics
Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds) Third quarter 2006: StatsCan.
March 15, 2007 Ottawa -- The value of retirement savings of 4.6 million Canadian workers with trusteed pension plans rebounded between July and September last year, following its first decline in seven quarters. Market value of assets amounted to $854.9 billion in the third quarter of 2006, up 4.4% from the second quarter
Policy and Product Management
MIB's Standards Based Customer Transactions Pass Milestone.
Westwood, Mass. (March 9, 2007) – MIB, Inc., the premier provider of fraud detection services to the North American insurance industry, reached an important milestone in December when more than 50 percent of all its customer inquiries came via the company's WEB-DIRECT interface. As of this press release, the percentage has grown to close to sixty percent. WEB-DIRECT is an internet-based interface that employs the ACORD TXlife standard, which MIB is using to replace older, proprietary communications technology.
Product Announcements
Guy Carpenter Introduces SelectCatT, Creating Access to New Market Capacity for Reinsurers Seeking to Hedge Property Catastrophe Exposures.
New York, March 13, 2007 Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), today announced the launch of SelectCatT, an innovative, index-based product that provides reinsurers with much needed capacity, flexibility and rational pricing for managing their property catastrophe risks. SelectCat's unique pricing and loss index is developed from a synthetic layer, structured for a basket of programs selected to act as a proxy for the portfolio that a reinsurer wants to protect.
Business of Insurance
MFC Global Survey: 53% of Canadian Defined Benefit Plans Expect to Significantly Shift Equity Mix in Next Two Years.
TORONTO, March 22, 2007 -- With caps on foreign investment lifted for Canadian registered plans, a significant percentage of Canadian defined benefit pension plan sponsors expect to make significant shifts to the equity allocations within their portfolios over the next two years, according to new survey by MFC Global Investment Management.
New sigma study by Swiss Re: below-average catastrophe losses in 2006.
8 Mar 2007 CET -- In 2006, natural catastrophes and man-made disasters claimed more than 31 000 human lives worldwide. Swiss Re's latest sigma study, "Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2006", recorded 349 catastrophes. Unlike in the two previous years, natural catastrophes affected mainly developing countries where property values are low, resulting in comparatively light economic losses of USD 48bn. Low insurance penetration in developing countries also meant that only one third of these economic losses in 2006 was actually covered by insurance.
Marketing and the Market Place
Online Ad Spend Growth Is Historic: eMarketer.
MARCH 20, 2007 -- These are flush times for online marketers. Internet ad spending grew by a third from 2005 to 2006, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers (IAB/PwC). Online ad spending revenues totaled $16.8 billion in 2006, up from $12.5 billion in 2005.
World Travel & Tourism Climbs to US $7 Trillion in 2007: Accenture.
Berlin, GERMANY – 8 March, 2007 – World Travel & Tourism is expected to generate in excess of US$7 trillion in 2007, rising to over US$13 trillion over the coming decade according to the World Travel & Tourism Council's (WTTC) Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) research, sponsored by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and prepared by Oxford Economics.
Towers Perrin Survey Shows Neither Employers Nor Employees Are Getting What They Need From Current Benefit Programs.
STAMFORD, CT, March 7, 2007 -- Neither U.S. companies nor employees believe that current benefit programs are fully meeting their needs, according to a new Towers Perrin survey conducted among both company executives and employees. Only 25% of the executive respondents agreed their programs are very effective at meeting cost control objectives, and fewer than half said their programs are very effective at meeting recruiting and retention objectives (42% and 46%, respectively).
from Doug:
It must be Spring. Our first garden flowers are blooming. I am not much of a gardener, but these are white like a snow-drop only a little bit taller and with a larger blossom than I recall a snow drop has. But then the shape, size and varieties of flowers seems to change faster than the weather. Maybe this year I get around to more native plants in the garden, which would probably be an improvement, as I don't do much to look after it anyway.