INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Sandbox Launches Digital Restaurant Package For Brokers On Quotey
Quotey and Sandbox Mutual Insurance are delighted to announce the addition of Sandbox's restaurant package in Quotey's marketplace. This is the first time that a product has been made available for Canadian insurance brokers to provide instant, bindable quotations for their restaurant clients. Read more.

Trufla, Vertafore Partner To Offer An Integrated Experience
Trufla, a leading AI and customer management solutions provider, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Vertafore® Canada, a leading provider of insurance management solutions, to offer brokers an integrated experience that will expand the capability of their shared clients across the country. Read more.

Zurich Uk Slashes Claim Times To Just 13 Minutes With WhatsApp
Waiting times for Zurich customers have been slashed dramatically after the insurer introduced video and WhatsApp messaging for customers making a claim. Claims times have been cut to an average of just 13 minutes for customers using a new WhatsApp messaging option, while Zurich has seen a five-fold rise in the number of customers using the insurer's new video messaging service, Hello Zurich. Read more.

Nearmap Announces Betterview Acquisition
Nearmap, one of the world's largest location intelligence and aerial imagery solutions providers, has signed an agreement to acquire Betterview, a leading property intelligence and risk management platform in the insurance industry. Read more.

Southampton Financial Acquires aha insurance
Southampton Financial, a private equity firm focused on the Canadian property and casualty distribution space, is pleased to announce it has acquired aha Insurance, a digital insurance brokerage headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario. Read more.

Aviva To Acquire Optiom Vehicle Replacement Insurance Business
Aviva plc is pleased to announce the acquisition of Optiom O2 Holdings Inc. from Novacap. Optiom, which operates as a managing general agent, is a leading provider of vehicle replacement insurance in Canada and offers flexible payment options to customers. Read more.

Intact, RSA To Sell UK Direct Personal Lines Operations To Admiral Group
Intact Financial Corporation and its subsidiary Royal & Sun Alliance are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement to sell RSA's UK direct Personal Lines operations to Admiral Group plc. Read more.

On Side Acquires Superior Disaster Services
On Side Restoration Ltd. is excited to announce the acquisition of Superior Disaster Services Ltd., effective December 1st, 2023. Welcoming Superior Disaster to the team as its 17th and 18th branches in Ontario, On Side will strengthen its capacity along Highway 401. Read more.

First Onsite Opens New Branch In Regina
First Onsite Property Restoration, Canada's leading property restoration company, has opened a new branch in Regina, Saskatchewan. This branch location represents the ninth capital city location for First Onsite in Canada and a deepening connection with commercial, insurance, and residential customers in western Canada. Read more.

Small Business Confidence Decline Continues
Small business confidence kept diving in November, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reporting its Business Barometer® 12-month outlook index reached a low point unprecedented except by readings recorded during the 2008 and 2020 recessions. Read more.

ChatGPT And Cyber Risks: Q&A
We are seeing breakthroughs in language models such as ChatGPT, but with the evolution of new technology comes risk. In this Q&A session, Zair Kamal, Director of Client Development and Cyber Specialist at HSB Canada, provides cyber security insights. Read more.

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

Slice
Slice Labs is the insurance engine leading tomorrow's cloud-based, on-demand digital services ecosystems for the new economy. We enable 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.

Featured job opportunities:

Underwriting Specialist
HSB Canada
Toronto, ON

Personal Lines New Business Marketer/Sales
KRGInsure, A Division of RRJ Insurance Group Limited
Toronto, ON

From Doug When the internet first began to disrupt communication and competition in the 1990s, the term “connected world” took on new meaning; one innovation after another followed. The traditional “insurance ecosystem” – with many providers of goods and services supporting insurance practitioners and their customers – is today largely digitally connected. This ecosystem has several layers, simplistically: • Underlying technology infrastructure: communications such as G5, cloud services, APIs, and common applications such as email. • Core business systems: Many businesses have implemented a suite of these developed by a technology provider. • Ancillary services: Specialized or niche services assisting in marketing, underwriting, claims etc. • Cross-industry collaboration, such as insurance embedded into the sale of another product – travel insurance with a trip, or in reverse, another service, such as road-side assistance provided as part of an insurance package. Each of these layers continues to grow, evolve, innovate. Some of today's articles illustrate the dynamics: Sandbox and Quotey, Trufla and Vertafore, Nearmap and Betterview. A “connected world” indeed – expanding services bring increasing complexity. I hope to see you at ICTF2024 on February 27, where we will explore some of these themes in greater detail. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca