Claims

What’s New: In Brief (January 28, 2008)

TIC Travel Insurance Coordinators Ltd. raised more than Cdn$20,000 for charity this past holiday season, the result of the company’s second annual “Have a Heart” campaign. TIC donated to three charities on behalf of its travel agents and insurance broker customers: OneChild, Canadian Association of Food Banks and Canadian Diabetes Association.Throughout December and early January, […]

By Canadian Underwriter | January 28, 2008

1 min read

Claims

Postal codes can be key to hidden exposures

By taking the six digits of a postal code into consideration, rather than the first three digits, underwriters can determine risk levels of a particular area on a far greater detail, including whether or not a property is located in a flood plain or in an area with adequate fire protection, said Alan Pang, director, […]

By Canadian Underwriter | January 24, 2008

1 min read

Claims

IBC calls on governments to review critical infrastructure

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is calling on Canadian governments to review critical infrastructure to ensure the country is better able to deal with severe weather events in the future.IBC president and CEO Mark Yakabuski has called on all governments to work together to:reinforce/improve infrastructure;strengthen building codes and build in climatic design values;consider sweeping land […]

By Canadian Underwriter | January 22, 2008

1 min read

Claims

What’s New: In Brief (January 21, 2008)

Swiss Re’s voluntary initiative to become greenhouse neutral, “COyou2 reduce and gain,” completed its first year and more than 400 staff members around the world participated.The program offers Swiss Re staff financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The subsidized investments vary between regions, but 130 staff 116 of them in the United States received […]

By Canadian Underwriter | January 21, 2008

1 min read

UK brokers call on government to establish independent agency for flooding

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) is encouraging the UK government “to appoint one single body with the authority to take responsibility for the risk of flooding,” as well as to co-ordinate discussions with various stakeholders to reduce the risk of flood damages in the future. “The UK is one of the few member states […]

2 min read

Fire chief lobbies for mandatory residential sprinkler systems

Ontario should learn from the experience in Vancouver, where installation of residential sprinkler systems contained roughly 90% of fires, and reduced average property damage to a fraction of the average fire loss per unsprinkled incident (Cdn$1,065 from Cdn$13,937), Toronto fire chief William A. Stewart told the Insurance Brokers of Toronto Region luncheon. More than 300 […]

1 min read

2007 cat claims likely US$6.5 billion for P&C insurers

Property and casualty insurers in the United States are expected to pay US$6.5 billion to homeowners and business for property losses from 23 catastrophes in 2007, according to preliminary analysis by ISO’s property claim services (PCS) unit. This is the eighth-lowest cost and the seventh-lowest frequency in a decade, the ISO reports in a release. […]

1 min read

Ice Storm today may generate twice the losses than a decade ago

A recurrence of the 1998 Ice Storm today would result in total insured losses of between US$1 billion and US$3 billion potentially twice the US$1.3-billion cost incurred in 1998, according to a retrospective report by Risk Management Solutions (RMS).RMS released the report on the 10th anniversary of the storm that devastated portions of Ontario, Quebec […]

1 min read

Reinsurers’ rate discipline “dwindling,” Benfield report says

Another year of comparatively mild losses for the reinsurance market in 2007 means “any remaining post-loss caution from previous years is rapidly dwindling,” according to a report, ‘Changing the Game,’ published by Benfield, an independent reinsurance and risk intermediary. The report finds property catastrophe rates at the January 2008 renewals are continuing to decline. “Risk-adjusted […]

1 min read

Systemic financial risk tops list of threats in 2008

This year holds the highest levels of political and economic uncertainty for a decade, with systemic financial risk topping the list of greatest threats, according to the World Economic Forum’s report, Global Risks 2008.Diversification of risk may have strengthened stability in good times, but systemic financial risk remains acute, researchers warn. Changes in the financial […]

1 min read