INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Riding Out The Pandemic Storm: Swiss Re Sigma
The insurance industry is set to overcome this year's pandemic-induced global economic recession, according to the latest Swiss Re Institute sigma study. The economic contraction will lead to a slump in demand for insurance in 2020, but total premium volumes will return to pre-crisis levels in 2021, alongside more protracted recovery in the global economy. Read more.

The AI-Powered Enterprise: Capgemini
A new Capgemini report examining the pace of enterprise AI adoption reveals that the successful implementation of AI at scale delivers tangible benefits on the top line: Leaders continue to progress on their AI initiatives at the same pace as before COVID-19 (some have have even increased the pace of deployment), in stark contrast to the “struggling organizations,” many of which have pulled their investments or suspended all AI initiatives due to high business uncertainties related to COVID-19. Read more.

Thimble Launches API To Automatically Quote Small Business Insurance on Any Platform
Thimble, the InsurTech startup that helps small businesses succeed on their own terms, has released a new API for partners who serve the small business and professional services communities. SMB-facing marketplaces, SaaS companies and others can now deliver liability insurance quotes immediately to small business customers, delivering significant value to users while generating a new revenue stream. Interested parties can sign up for free online. Read more.

Lloyd’s Solutions To Fast-Track COVID-19 Recovery
Lloyd's, the world's leading specialist insurance and reinsurance market, has published a number of ways the insurance industry could fast-track global economic and societal recovery from the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19. These include three open-source frameworks that help build future resilience through innovative partnerships and products together with a Centre of Excellence to better understand, model and provide insurance for systemic catastrophic events. Read more.

Apollo Exchange Adds Realtors’ General Liability
Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd., Canada's largest online insurance marketplace, has partnered with AXIS Insurance, a business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, to add standalone General Liability Insurance for Realtors to the Apollo Exchange's rapidly growing catalogue of digital insurance products. Read more.

Applied Rating Index Q2 2020 Released
Applied Systems® has announced the Q2 2020 results of the Applied Rating Index™, the Canadian insurance industry's premium rate index. In Q2 2020, average premiums for both Personal Auto and Personal Property lines increased versus the same quarter in 2019. For Personal Auto, Alberta and the Atlantic provinces saw the most significant premium increase year over year for the second quarter in a row. Read more.

SkyWatch Revamps Drone Insurance Platform
SkyWatch.AI, the leading telematics-based drone insurance company, has released their new online policy management platform, which offers an advanced streamlined user experience and improved functionality for purchasing and managing drone insurance policies. The system was created to help drone pilots, fleet managers, brokers and affiliate partners easily control and manage their insurance online. Read more.

Canada's 4th-Highest Insured Damage Event
The hail, rain and wind storm that hit Calgary and surrounding areas on June 13 caused more than CAD 1 billion in insured damages, according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. The majority of the insured damage is to personal property and vehicles, with a smaller impact on commercial property. Damage caused by hail and wind is typically covered by home, commercial and comprehensive auto insurance policies. Read more.

PDA Launch Virtual Photo-Submission Solution
Property Damage Appraisers Inc., the leading U.S. independent damage estimating firm, provides clients with the fastest cycle times in the industry. As the pandemic has increased virtual estimates industry-wide, the firm is proud to announce its customer-driven, no-touch, virtual estimating tool, PDA Virtual. Read more.

Working From Home With Kids And A Pool?
This will be a summer to remember, with many Canadians at home due to the pandemic. After months of juggling work and homeschooling, many families are taking advantage of the warmer weather to relax and swim. In the lead-up to National Drowning Prevention Week, Allstate Canada and the Lifesaving Society are reminding Canadians to always stay attentive in and around the pool. Read more.

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

JAUNTIN’
An on-demand insurance platform that allows insurers to distribute short term health, liability and/or accident coverage down to the hour. Coverage can be distributed via mobile and/or web and can even be embedded in third-party gig platforms for seamless distribution. The quote, bind, and issue can all be done on the platform without the need to integrate with the insurer's legacy systems. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

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From Doug Political leaders face the challenge of keeping the population healthy while improving the economy. We have already seen a range of steps: lock-down and self-isolation, closed borders, PPE, management of hi-risk locations (LTC centres and seniors' residences, homeless shelters, etc.), testing, treatment, gradual easing and reopening, contact tracing, proactively identifying potential contact (IoT apps), and vaccine development is ongoing. This has happened with impressive speed, and a lot of international cooperation on research. Perhaps there is a parallel with P&C auto insurance, but in slow motion over a much longer time frame. In order to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents, we have built safer cars and made roads safer, we remove unsafe drivers (via demerit points, suspensions and other penalties for driving while intoxicated or distracted, etc.), and we create better drivers through education, testing, and increasingly through driver monitoring (IoT and the like). Although auto IoT began with vehicle tracking devices, it was soon followed by usage-based insurance (UBI), which in turn has morphed into a tool to improve and reward driver behaviour. Might tomorrow's Internet of Things become the next tool to manage the pandemic? Will it be a tradeoff balancing privacy and mandatory use against health and economy? Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca