Insurance-Canada.ca - Where insurance and technology meet

MAY 9, 2017

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INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Startups Flood Into Small Business Insurance
In its inaugural Quarterly InsurTech Briefing, Willis Towers Watson Securities highlights the potential for the small business insurance market to experience transformational digital disruption. Read more.

Collaboration Key To Fintech Sector Growth
Financial regulators and industry agree that they must work together to get policy and regulations right for innovation to flourish in Canada's emerging, technology-driven financial services (FinTech) sector, says a Competition Bureau summary highlighting discussions at its recent workshop. Read more.

MKA Canada Announces New Drone Services
MKA Canada, Inc., is pleased to announce the debupt of UAV services capturing unique, high level overviews of properties and construction projects. Aerial drone images help convey the complete overview of projects including points not easily accessible. Read more.

Guidewire Announces InsurancePlatform 2017.1
Guidewire Software, a provider of software products to Property & Casualty insurers, has announced the 2017.1 release of Guidewire InsurancePlatform, which includes enhancements to Guidewire's Core, Data, and Digital product families enabling Guidewire customers to be smarter, faster, and more connected. Read more.

Intact to Acquire U.S. Specialty Insurer OneBeacon
Intact Financial Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which it has agreed to acquire OneBeacon Insurance Group, Ltd., a leading US specialty insurer, in an all-cash deal. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is subject to approval by OneBeacon's shareholders. Read more.

SCM Expands into United States With Acquisition
SCM Insurance Services, Canada's largest independent, privately-owned insurance services provider, is pleased to announce that it has made its initial entry into the United States by acquiring Nixon & Company, Inc.
Read more.

Andrew Agencies Purchases Waggoner Insurance
Scott Andrew, President and CEO of Andrew Agencies Ltd and Ed Waggoner, President and CEO of Waggoner Insurance are pleased to announce that Andrew Agencies has acquired Waggoner Insurance located in Winnipeg effective May 1, 2017. Read more.

Brokerlink Attracts Four Brokerages
Two Ontario brokerages, Reddick & MacDonald Ltd. and Banks Insurance Services, and two Alberta brokerages, Godfrey-Morrow Insurance and McFarlane and Company Financial Group, have announced they will join BrokerLink. Read more.

Pen Canada Reaffirms D&O Sector Commitment
Pen Underwriting Canada is pleased to announce its continued commitment to the not-for-profit D&O (directors and officers) sector in the face of difficult market conditions. Read more.

Berkshire Hathaway Launches Employment Practices Liability Insurance in Canada
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has expanded its Executive First policy suite in Canada with the launch of its new Employment Practices Liability Policy.
Read more.

Aviva Canada Investigation Leads To Conviction
Aviva Canada praises the recent sentencing of a former Aviva customer and Québec police officer, Mr. Jean Barbeau, in connection with a staged vehicle theft.
Read more.

Protect Your Car With The Hail Protector System
Aviva Canada and Hail Storm Products are teaming up to keep customers' most prized possessions safe – Aviva customers can now take advantage of an exclusive discount on the Hail Protector Automobile Hail Protection System. Read more.

Keep Motorcyclists Safe By Sharing The Road
Sixty per cent of motorcycle crashes in B.C. involve other vehicles, so ICBC is urging everyone to share the roads safely with motorcycles and yield the right-of-way at intersections. Read more.

New FireSmart Home Development Guide
FireSmart Canada, in partnership with The Co-operators, has developed a new resource to help residents make their homes more resilient to wildfire: the FireSmart Home Development Guide. Read more.

What's going through the Intersection
of insurance and technology?

Notes On the Path to Insurance 2.0
In our last post, we noted the impact of derisking on the current insurance model. As technology lowers the probability of risks (with an attendant reduction of rates and premiums), we see insurance seeking new exposures and developing more engagement with consumers. This post turns to different elements in the new world.

Speaking at the Canadian Insurance Accountants Association, Mukul Ahuja, Senior Manager at Deloitte Canada, said insurers should consider the opportunities that exist in “episodic insurance.” But what is episodic insurance?
Read more.

“Tales of Machine Learning,
Analytics at the Edge, and Deep Learning”

In this webinar on demand, Kelly Southall, Senior Analytics Solutions Architect & Data Scientist at SAS, will explore emerging areas of innovation within the insurance industry as a result of today's proliferation of data, affordable storage options and processing capabilities. Case studies will cover examples of:

Machine learning applications in P&C insurance via image recognition analytics;
Edge based analytics and the client experience;
Deep modeling and impacts on pricing.

Watch now.

From Doug

The weather remains topsy-turvy, but “wet” seems to be the simplest description across much of Canada. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by flooding.

We applaud those leading the move toward greater resiliency. The current activity is heartening, and a lot has been accomplished, but much remains to be tackled.

Like the pelting rain, the arrival of new technology – with more than 1,000 Insurtechs identified – must be like a flood to those managing companies in the insurance business today, who must identify threats and opportunities and make decisions with an eye to what insurance may look like three, five, and ten years from now.

Like those experiencing flooding today, some businesses will come through fine, others will focus on rebuilding, and others will simply be swept away.

Is agility the key – not only in technology, but in the insurance business itself?

Doug Grant, CIP
Partner
Insurance-Canada.ca

The Chronicle weekly newsletter features news, events, and general information relating to insurance, technology, and innovation in the Canadian insurance industry and the marketplace. Subscribe here or view past issues.

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