INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Few Top Insurers Have Truly Digitalized: ACORD
Only one-quarter of the world's largest insurance carriers have truly digitalized the value chain, while more than 10 percent are not appreciably leveraging digital technologies within their current business process, and more than half are still exploring how digitalization can be applied against their business model, according to ACORD's latest annual Insurance Digital Maturity Study. Read more.

Staggering Rise In Fraud Across Canada: Aviva
From auto theft to AI-generated documents and beyond, fraud continues to be one of the more pressing issues facing Canadians, and new data from Aviva Canada reveals a significant increase in claim fraud detection and in fraud investigations. Advancements in AI and its use by individuals to falsify information are expected to be on the rise in 2025. Read more.

Manulife Boosts Workforce Engagement With GenAI
Manulife is pleased to announce that more than three-quarters of its global workforce are engaged with GenAI through learning, immersive experiences and tools, including ChatMFC, its proprietary GenAI assistant introduced in 2024. Read more.

Sedgwick Launches GenAI Feature To Expedite Claims
Sedgwick is pleased to announce the launch of a new innovative AI-generated claims summary feature in the viaOne portal, Sedgwick's digital hub that provides clients with real-time access to their data and visibility into every aspect of their claims. Read more.

Gore Mutual Earns CSIO API Security Standards Certification
CSIO is pleased to announce that Gore Mutual Insurance Company has achieved CSIO's API Security Standards Certification by successfully adopting CSIO's Application Programming Interface (API) Security Standards. With this certification, Gore Mutual builds on their commitment to CSIO Standards and dedication to continually improving broker operations. Read more.

Sinistar Named To Guidewire Insurtech Vanguards Program
Sinistar, a full-service insurance technology platform that connects insurers to a large and rapidly growing community of property owners ready to accommodate displaced policyholders, is pleased to announce that the company has joined Guidewire's Insurtech Vanguards program. This initiative is led by property & casualty cloud platform provider Guidewire to help insurers learn about the newest insurtechs and how to best leverage them. Read more.

Hub Acquires Drayton Valley Insurance Agency
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage and financial services firm, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Drayton Valley Insurance Agency, Ltd. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

Messagepoint Platform Makes Aspire CCM Leaderboard
Messagepoint Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as a leader in the 2025 Aspire Leaderboard™ for customer communications management technology vendors for the seventh year in a row. Messagepoint's AI-powered CCM platform earned a leadership position across multiple Aspire Leaderboards related to the CCM space. Read more.

Featured job opportunities:

Commercial Lines Underwriting Manager
Aviva Canada
Calgary, AB

Operational Underwriting Team Leader
Aviva Canada
Markham / Oakville, ON

In the InsurTech Spotlight this week:

AKA Broker
AKA Broker is an award-winning development agency and Canada's largest supplier of web development services to the brokerage industry. We are the Official Affinity Partner of the IBAO and IBAA Learn more.

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From Doug I was impressed to see Manulife's announcement last week that it has rolled out GenAI capabilities to 100% of its workforce. Manulife started a formal AI practice 10 years ago, and in 2024 introduced ChatMFC, with features including a skills-building program, for deployment across Manulife's global workforce. It has been implemented in 35 GenAI use case thus far with 70 more prioritized. Manulife's global AI strategy is based on scaling responsibly. Beyond ChatMFC, AI has been deployed to: • Address new ways of working; • Boost Revenue Growth by providing insights to advisors; • Improve CX by supporting call centre stuff. The release address some concerns about ROI: Manulife's digital capabilities, including AI-enabled enhancements, are expected to generate a threefold return on investment over five years through 2027 So why make a public announcement? Perhaps to: • Signify leading edge accomplishments – not staid old insurance; • Reassure customers/public in this day of some AI skepticism; • Put a competitive stake in the ground; • Attract new employees. You be the judge. In any case, I am sure businesses all across insurance in Canada are making good progress. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca