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Insurance-Canada.ca - Where insurance and technology meet

MAY 21, 2019

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INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

World Insurance Report 2019
The 2019 World Insurance Report by Capgemini and Efma reveals policyholders are increasingly concerned their insurance coverage is insufficient for emerging risks, from cybersecurity to environmental threats. But a significant opportunity exists for insurers to leverage technology and partnerships to get ahead of macro trends and become more proactive partners to their customers. Read more.

Global Commercial Insurance Prices Up 3% In Q1
Marsh has released its Global Insurance Market Index for the first quarter of 2019, revealing average commercial insurance prices increased 3% in Q1 2019, the largest increase since the survey began in 2012. This year's Q1 also represents the sixth consecutive quarter of average commercial insurance pricing increases. Read more.

Accelerating The Transformational Journey
SMA's latest research report highlights what we have been talking about over the past year. It's all around the transformation journey and having a new lens. This new lens is having a clear future-state vision and using it to anchor both the outside-in lens (prioritizing the customer and their experience) and inside-out lens (prioritizing operational optimization) which together balance and propel the journey forward. Read more.

Business & Technology Trends: Specialty Lines
Technology priorities for specialty insurers span distribution, product development, underwriting, and claims, as changing technology continues to force carriers to evolve to compete. In a new report, Novarica provides an overview of specialty carriers' business and technology issues, data about the marketplace, and several examples of recent technology investments by specialty carriers. Read more.

U.S. Business Leaders Optimistic Over A.I.
A study of US CEOs and business leaders, conducted by EY, revealed that most senior executives (85%) classify themselves as artificial intelligence (AI) optimists, citing increased investment and trust in the technology. Eighty-seven percent say their company will invest in AI initiatives this year. Read more.

A.I. In Healthcare: 10 Essential Use Cases
Artificial intelligence is redefining what healthcare can look like. AI, machine learning, natural language processing, and cognitive learning are paving the way to better engagement with customers, more satisfying customer experiences, and automation of manual processes. Aite Group's latest report highlights use cases that offer compelling insights. Read more.

Partnership To Streamline Reinsurance Placement
The Reinsurance Solutions business of Aon plc and Guy Carpenter are pleased to announce a joint effort with The Institutes RiskStream™ Collaborative to bring greater efficiency to the reinsurance placement process through distributed ledger technology (DLT). Read more.

Munich Re, The Floow Enter Telematics Agreement
Munich Re, one of the world's leading reinsurers, and telematics provider The Floow have reached an agreement for a global partnership allowing The Floow's portfolio of solutions and capabilities to be provided to Munich Re's insurance clients around the world while strengthening its telematics consulting offering. Read more.

Act-On Software Selects Goose Digital to Support Strategic Marketing Automation Delivery
Goose Digital, Canada's leading marketing automation agency, has announced a best-of-breed digital marketing offering for insurance brokers to accelerate new sales, increase customer renewals and referrals, and improve multi-channel customer experiences. Read more.

Nest Wealth Acquires Razor Logic Systems
Nest Wealth, the leading B2B digital wealth management platform in Canada, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Alberta-based Razor Logic Systems, the makers of RazorPlan, one of Canada's leading financial planning software solutions. Read more.

BFL CANADA Acquires Summit Insurance Brokers
BFL CANADA is pleased to announce the acquisition of Summit Insurance Brokers Inc., located in Prince George, BC. Founded in the late 1990s, this firm has a strong reputation and a long history of providing exemplary service to clients in central and northern BC and brings expertise in industrial, commercial and farm risks to BFL CANADA. Read more.

Hub, Player’s Health Partner For Amateur Sports
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, and Player's Health, a risk management firm specializing in amateur sports, have announced a partnership to provide risk and compliance services to help organizations monitor and report injuries and abuse; establish protocols to mitigate risks; and improve the overall health and safety of athletes. Read more.

FIRST Canada Launches Payment Solution Suite
FIRST Insurance Funding of Canada, the industry leader in payment solutions, is pleased to announce it has launched FIRST Pay, a suite of APIs which enable brokers to offer a choice of insurance payment solutions directly via their portals, websites, and apps. Read more.

CCIR’s Fintech Advisory Hub Strategic Vision
The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) has shared with CSIO the strategic vision of CCIR's new Fintech Advisory Hub information centre. Expected to launch in Fall 2019, the Advisory Hub will help insurance providers and fintech businesses understand the licensing and regulatory environment for insurance in Canada. Read more.

U.S. Independent Channel Growth Strong
The new year is underway and organic growth remains solid among agents and brokers in the American independent insurance channel. But some “interesting subplots” are emerging that could mitigate the optimism, especially in the employee benefits sector, according to Reagan Consulting's Organic Growth and Profitability survey for Q1 2019. Read more.

Lightning Danger Emphasized As Weather Warms
With the summer storm season just ahead, building managers and owners must be ready to protect lives and property against lightning strikes, says the Lightning Protection Institute, a not-for-profit group dedicated to promoting lightning awareness, education and safety. Read more.

New Auto Theft Charges Laid In Project Ravin
In April, criminal investigators with the Ottawa Police began “Project Ravin” in relation to a series of motor vehicle thefts in the Ottawa area, for which four men from the Montreal area had been charged in August 2018 and additionally in February 2019. An Ottawa man was charged with 10 related offenses on Saturday, May 11, 2019. Read more.

Ontarians Abroad May Be At Risk Without OHIP
The Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance has warned that the Ontario government's decision to end OHIP coverage for Ontarians travelling outside Canada could result in many people travelling abroad without adequate insurance coverage if the change is implemented too quickly. Read more.


The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca Blog

What's going through the Intersection
of insurance and technology?

What Is AI First-Mover Advantage In Insurance?
By Charles Dugas, Insurance AI Lead, Element AI
As artificial intelligence reshapes the insurance industry, insurers that embrace AI early on will gain a key competitive advantage – but it may not be the advantage you think. By building the position and experience that accrue to adopting AI early, insurers can redefine intelligent decision-making for themselves and their industry. Read more.


InsurTech Spotlight

The InsurTech Spotlight features insurance practitioners and InsurTech(nology) providers which are – or are becoming – InsurTechs. In the spotlight this week are:

Plasmatic Technologies Inc.
Plasmatic Technologies extracts value from streaming Smart Home data by leveraging the growing adoption of Connected Home devices in the presence of insurance industry needs for homeowner data insights and stronger customer engagement. Learn more.

Slice Labs
Slice Labs is the insurance engine leading tomorrow's cloud-based, on-demand digital services ecosystems for the new economy. Using AI, machine learning, and Ph.D. behavioral science expertise in the Slice Insurance Cloud Services (ICS) platform and Slice Mind capabilities, the company is enabling insurers, technology companies, and other service providers to build truly intelligent and intuitive pay-as-you-go digital insurance products protecting the insured anytime and anywhere. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.


Insurance Works

Featured job opportunities:

Commercial Lines Broker
H.W. Hollinger (Canada) Inc.
Montréal, QC

Licensed RIBO P&C Broker
Harry Kihs Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Kitchener, ON


ICEF2019: “Insurance in the Platform Economy” – 7th annual Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum – Wednesday, August 28, 2019

“Insurance In The Platform Economy”

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

ICEF2019 will bring together industry thought leaders, pioneers who are taking advantage of new models and platforms, and solution providers with products and services to assist insurance practitioners. Topics and expert speakers include:

What Insurance Platforms Can Do for Insurers and for Platform Sponsors
Donald Light, Director - North America P&C Practice, Celent

Leadership & Speed to Accelerate a Path to the Future of Insurance
Denise Garth, SVP - Strategic Marketing, Majesco

An Industry Whose Time Has Come ... At Last
Chris Houston, CEO, The Change Alliance

Explore the new insurance horizon and pick up valuable insights into the platform economy.

Early-birds save $220, only until May 28!

Register now, or for more details, visit
insurance-canada.ca/icef.

ICEF2019: “Insurance in the Platform Economy” — 7th annual Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum — Wednesday, August 28, 2019, at the St. James Cathedral Centre, Toronto


From Doug

“Customer engagement” can have a range of meanings, but I like to think of it as an ongoing dialogue, rather than a short discussion around a single business transaction.

A high level of engagement can and should bring value to both sides. It can create a stronger relationship and in turn should enhance loyalty, benefitting both parties.

My favourite example is telematics and UBI for auto insurance. This is not new – Progressive first offered it roughly two decades ago.

Meaningful engagement comes when there is feedback from the insurer or representative about driving performance and the inclination on the part of the insured to improve habits based on the incentive of lower premiums. The feedback can be simple or rather sophisticated (for example, through gamification techniques).

My question: With IoT spreading to the home and individual, what other examples have real potential for meaningful engagement?

Doug Grant, CIP
Partner
Insurance-Canada.ca

Doug Grant

The Chronicle weekly newsletter features news, events, and general information relating to technology and innovation in the Canadian insurance industry and marketplace. Subscribe here or view past issues.

If you would like to recommend an item for inclusion – with a focus on technology in insurance relevant to the Canadian Property & Casualty insurance industry, please contact [email protected].

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