What’s new: In brief (January 11, 2005)

CIBC Insurance is providing quotes on p&c insurance from various other insurers, to clients in Ontario and Alberta, via the bank’s website. The site provides a link to online insurance marketplace Kanetix as a service to clients, although CIBC no longer sells auto and home insurance itself. CIBC sold its general insurance operations in 2000.

Despite posting US$1.2 billion in incurred losses for 2004, the ratings of Oil Insurance Ltd. should not be affected, says Standard & Poor’s. S&P notes that the structure of Oil Insurance which was created by a group of energy companies to meet their own insurance needs requires that member shareholders repay the losses. These losses will be paid back between 2005 and 2009.

Accident Support Services International Ltd (ASSI) is marking the 10th anniversary of their Collision Reporting Centres. The occasion is a doubly happy one because the company is also celebrating the renewal of their operational contract with the Toronto Police Service as of February 1. Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino says the program, which allows minor accidents to be handled through CRCs rather than wasting police resources, has put “an additional 50 officers back on the street”.