INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

InsureLine Launches Exclusive MGA
InsureLine is excited to announce the official launch of its new Managing General Agency called InsureLine Solutions. This MGA will be available exclusively to InsureLine franchisees. The intention is to help fill gaps in current coverages, and to also identify lines of high-risk or niche market business where InsureLine already has volume among its group and to provide tailor-made coverages and products exclusively for its brokers.
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Relay Enters Cyber Partnership With At-Bay
Relay Platform is pleased to welcome At-Bay to its thriving suite of carriers, MGA-MGUs, and reinsurers offering instant quotes (API) through their platform. The integration with Relay Platform offers brokers instant quotes, augmented communication, and seamless access to At-Bay's comprehensive Cyber Liability coverage and active risk monitoring services. Read more.

Billing Remains an Essential Part of Insurer Service Strategies: Aite-Novarica Group
The retail market has raised the customer service bar. Insurers want to create retail-like experiences and customers now expect ease of use and self-service even for complex transactions. In its latest Market Navigator, research and advisory firm Aite-Novarica Group provides an overview of the available stand-alone billing systems for US property/casualty insurers, as well as detailed profiles of 14 vendor solutions. Read more.

Porter Airlines Launches Travel Insurance Partnership With Allianz Global Assistance
Porter Airlines has partnered with Allianz Global Assistance as its new travel insurance provider, offering a variety of insurance products and options for customers. The new travel insurance plans can be included at the time of booking flights or Porter Escape vacation packages. Available plans may also be purchased after booking, through the Porter website or the Allianz call centre. Read more.

Messagepoint Announces OEM Agreement with Sefas
Messagepoint is pleased to announce that it has entered into a global OEM partnership with Sefas. Messagepoint will leverage Sefas Designer's communications composition capabilities in Messagepoint Composer, a new add-on module to the Messagepoint platform. Read more.

CFC Launches New Ransomware Cost Calculator
CFC, the specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and market leader in cyber, has released a new tool designed to help customers understand the potential cost of a ransomware attack to their business. Read more.

Canada Life Adds Dialogue’s iCBT To Consult+ For All Plan Members
The Canada Life Assurance Company and Dialogue Health Technologies Inc. are pleased to jointly announce that, effective immediately, Dialogue's internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) program will be made available to all Consult+ users across Canada. Read more.

Westland Insurance Acquires Church Eaton And Hook Lafrance
Westland Insurance Group Ltd., Canada's largest independent Canadian-owned brokerage, is pleased to announce the acquisition of two brokerages: Church Eaton Insurance in Calgary, and Hook Lafrance in Regina. Westland now has 195 locations across Canada. Read more.

Gallagher Completes Acquisition of Willis Towers Watson Treaty Reinsurance Brokerage Operations
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the treaty reinsurance brokerage operations from Willis Towers Watson plc. The combined businesses will trade as Gallagher Re from more than 70 offices across 31 countries and incorporate c2400 colleagues. This acquisition brings specialist expertise, underpinned by a portfolio of analytics capabilities including catastrophe modeling, dynamic financial analysis, rating agency analysis and capital modeling that will immediately provide exceptional value to insurance carriers and insurance capital providers around the world. Read more.

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From Doug Micromobility on the Rise by 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will reside in urban areas around the world. Increased density leads to gridlocked streets and dangerous levels of pollution, but micromobility could help with some of these challenges. Micromobility refers to short-distance transport, less than 5 miles. In the US, roughly 60% of all trips are 5 miles or less. More bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, pedestrians help service these short journeys, reducing pollution and gridlock. There are contrary pressures to downtown densification, such as government land use plans that continue to promote suburban sprawl – creating dependence on cars, increasing the time people spend commuting, and contributing to climate change. For municipalities, the cost of servicing a resident downtown is dramatically less than the cost for one in the suburbs. Ultimately, downtowns subsidize the suburbs; so cities don't like sprawl. In downtown Toronto, bike lanes have been expanding, traffic restrictions on core streets increasing, and more e-bikes, e-scooters and pedestrians. My car has not moved in 20 months, and I have only been in a car once in that time – a taxi home. When pandemic restrictions finally fade away everywhere, what lasting changes will they leave behind? Public transit and micromobility services will help make communities more liveable; no wonder these services are attractive to investors. The changes are fascinating to watch. Now what do they mean for insurance? Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca