INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

How A.I. Can Humanize The Insurance Experience
Cake & Arrow, a UX Design and Product Innovation agency for the insurance industry, is pleased to announce it has released a new report exploring how artificial intelligence can transform insurance into a more human experience. Read more.

Shipshape Launches Private Label App Platform to Offer Custom-Branded Smart Home Solutions
– Shipshape Solutions Inc., a leading innovator in smart home management technology, is pleased to announce the launch of its new Private Label App Platform, enabling partners to offer custom-branded smart home bundles to homeowners. Read more.

Global Cyber-Attacks Doubled Since 2020
QBE Canada is pleased to announce the publication of its latest report, Connected Business: Digital Dependency Fuelling Risk, which projects that the number of disruptive and destructive global cyber-attacks taking place each year will increase by 105% to the end of 2024. Read more.

Flood-Protection Measures 10x More Cost-Effective Than Rebuilding
Economic losses caused by floods are likely to increase as climate change intensifies extreme weather events, while rapid urban sprawl has increased asset values in high-risk areas. A new Swiss Re Institute study reveals that the financial benefits of protective and preventive measures can exceed the alternative costs of rebuilding after a disaster by up to ten times, Read more.

Vertafore Acquires Surefyre
Vertafore is pleased to announce that it has further strengthened its industry leadership with the acquisition of Surefyre, an industry leading submission and underwriting workbench platform purpose-built to empower MGAs and wholesalers with its AI-enabled, low-code/no-code solution. Read more.

Hub Acquires Global Ag Risk Solutions
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage and financial services firm, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Global Ag Risk Solutions Corp. and Global Ag Weather Solutions Corp. known as Parametric Ag (collectively, Global Ag Risk Solutions). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

SCM Insurance Services Acquires MBC Group
SCM Insurance Services is pleased to announce that it has acquired MBC Group, a multi-disciplinary specialty engineering firm offering solutions from coast to coast in Canada. Read more.

Western Launches Severe Storms Lab
Western University has announced the launch of the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory to advance the study of atmospheric science – including thunderstorms, hail, and flash floods – with the goal of mitigating damage and improving the safety and well-being of Canadians. Read more.

Employee Wellbeing Is A Human Right: Workplace Values Index
Canadians are consistently drawn to employment that offers a sense of purpose and intrinsic rewards alongside traditional compensation, according to a new Workplace Values Index survey commissioned by First Onsite Property Restoration. Read more.

Featured job opportunities:

Underwriting Assistant (PL Mono) Non-Standard Auto
SGI CANADA
Toronto, ON

Practice Leader, Technology & Cyber
Cowan Insurance Group
Cambridge, ON

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

Curv Health
Curv Health's mission is to provide a more accessible, effective, and cost-savings option for individuals seeking virtual healthcare. Our digital platform allows health providers to earn more revenue, employer groups to offer high-quality health plans to its members with high visibility, and members to access cost-efficient, accessible care from the comfort of their homes. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug Artificial intelligence is developing quickly and in many directions; two trends illustrate the potential for insurance processing. Agentic AI (or AI Agents) focus on decision-making. An AI agent is a software program that can interact with its environment, collect data, and use the data to perform self-determined tasks to meet predetermined goals. Humans set goals, but an AI agent can independently choose the actions it needs to perform to achieve those goals. Robotic Program Automation (RPA) or even traditional programming tools have been used to improve process steps, such as ingesting certain documents and extracting data, filing them or triggering an action. Would an AI agent be an improvement? Agentic systems, powered by advanced AI and machine learning algorithms, consist of multiple autonomous agents. They interact with other agents and systems to achieve specific goals. For document ingestion, the agent could trigger another AI agent to perform an underwriting task (gather more information for an underwriter). These two agents forming a small agentic system could learn from each other, and improve. Nest week the second trend – underpinning AI Agents. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca