INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Root, GasBuddy Partner On Safe Driving Insights
GasBuddy is set to add advanced new functionality to its travel and navigation app by partnering with Root, Inc. and their technology platform business, Root Enterprise, to better understand driver behavior. GasBuddy will now be able to provide its millions of users with individualized driving insights that can power cost savings at the fuel pump and on their auto insurance policies, all within the GasBuddy app. Read more.

Vetting Third-Party Data Providers: CIO Checklist
With dozens of third-party data providers that market to insurers, the ability to screen out poor data candidates with up-front criteria will quickly provide the insurer CIO a shortlist of suitable vendors. In a new report, Novarica provides a checklist for CIOs that focuses on efficiency, speed to market, and minimizing the impact on scarce and expensive human resources. Read more.

Solera Updates Qapter Automotive Claims Platform
Solera Holdings, a global leader in risk and asset management data and software solutions for the insurance and automotive industries, is pleased to introduce the next generation of Qapter, the company's innovative automotive claims workflow solution driven by artificial intelligence. Read more.

Farmers Edge, Palliser Insurance Partner To Offer Premium Crop Monitoring
Farmers Edge, a global leader in digital agriculture, is pleased to announce a new partnership with Palliser Insurance, the leading provider of hail insurance in Western Canada. This strategic alliance enables Palliser to simplify hail claims and provide superior coverage to growers using the industry's most comprehensive risk management platform, FarmCommand®. Read more.

Navacord Expands Reach With New Partners
Navacord Corp. is pleased to announce a series of partnerships with four prominent P&C brokers across Canada, solidifying Navacord's position as the country's fourth largest commercial broker. Navacord welcomes Blanket Insurance in Edmonton; Smiths' Insurance in Regina; The Hull Group in Toronto; and Cooke Insurance in the Maritimes. These latest additions are another step in realizing Navacord's vision of building the great Canadian brokerage. Read more.

McDougall Merges With Ritchie Insurance
McDougall Insurance and Financial have announced that they have merged with Ritchie Insurance, effective July 1st, and are pleased to welcome the employees of Ritchie Insurance into the McDougall organization. Read more.

Hub Acquires Certain Mga Assets Of ivari
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, is pleased to today that it has acquired the life insurance product managing general agent (MGA) business of Toronto-based ivari. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

Uptick In Paperless Solutions During Lockdown
Over the last several months, CSIO has seen a significant increase in insurance providers adopting My Proof of Insurance as their preferred solution to go paperless and send policy documents to end consumers. While the solution has already been successful as a way to electronically send and store eSlips (digital proof of auto insurance cards), the recent shift towards documents reflects the current safety and paperless climate of the pandemic. Read more.

CatIQ Updates Industry Exposure Database
Catastrophe Indices & Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) has released the annual update of its Canadian insurance Industry Exposure Database (IED), developed with the support of the Canadian P&C industry. The IED now contains 2019 year-end estimates of Canadian industry property sums insured. Read more.

Cybersecurity Response Planning Rising
While organizations have slowly improved in their ability to plan for, detect and respond to cyberattacks over the past five years, their ability to contain an attack has declined slightly during the same period, according to the results of a global cybersecurity survey by Ponemon Institute, sponsored by IBM Security, which found that security response efforts were hindered by the use of too many security tools and a lack of specific planning. Read more.

IBC Hails Ontario Towing Industry Oversight
Insurance Bureau of Canada applauds the Ontario government's announcement of the creation of a new task force to improve provincial oversight of the towing industry. The task force will help develop a regulatory model to increase safety and enforcement, clarify protections for consumers, and improve towing industry standards. Read more.

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

Foxquilt
Foxquilt is a leading Insurance Technology company focused on empowering small businesses and B2B networks to save on Small Business Insurance. Our Insurance-as-a-Service platform is complemented by a unique underwriting infrastructure. Foxquilt has partnered with multiple underwriting partners to become a full-service Insurance provider and co-creator of new, end-to-end insurance products and programs for small businesses. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug Revisiting my dentist situation, I wonder about the costs for all the personal protective equipment (PPE). What modelling was done by the dental association to develop recommended office policies and procedures? Was the insurer/broker involved? Dental claims have certainly evolved over my years with this office. My claim is submitted by the dental practice management system to my health benefits administrator and an adjudicated response comes back. It carries enough data that the dentist can submit to my wife's benefits provider for coordination. Meanwhile my provider deposits my claim reimbursement into my bank account and notifies me by email. The Explanation of Benefits is in my account. This was implemented in the earlier days of digital transformation – well before the term ‘InsurTech’ became common. Today, there is substantial innovation throughout the health insurance sphere. A big thrust is virtual and tele-health; COVID-19 has broken through many of the artificial barriers to progress. Another focus is mental health. The changes could be significant. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca