What’s New: In brief (June 21, 2005)

On June 16, 2005, the newly formed company Assured Automotive representing the recent merger between Imperial Collision Centres and Oaktown Collision Centres held a charity boat cruise to raise money for Erinoak a charitable organization that aids children with physical disabilities. The charity cruise, held at the Toronto harbor, garnered support from more than 400 industry guests who helped raise money through the purchase of Mardi Gras themed beads. The evening reached its climax when director, insurance relations and business development Des Browne announced that Assured Automotive had raised $5,000 for the Erinoak foundation.

General Electric Co. and CNA Financial Corp. recently received subpoenas from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York concerning their use of finite risk products. The insurance arm of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE’s GE Insurance Solutions of Kansas City, Mo. has “made limited use of reinsurance with finite characteristics to manage the risks of catastrophic events such as storms or hurricanes and to protect itself and GE shareowners from the volatility that is inherent in its business.” Chicago-based CNA, recently announced its subpoena in an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. CNA also noted that the SEC is seeking additional documents related to its recent earnings restatement and its accounting for reinsurance contracts with Hamilton, Bermuda-based Accord Re Ltd.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. also recently received an additional subpoena from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office regarding the insurer’s broker compensation arrangements in connection with the sale of group annuity products. The Conn.-based insurer previously stated it received subpoenas from Spitzer and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal requesting information relating to the company’s group annuity products.

The Government of Alberta is expanding a disaster recovery program to help compensate Albertans for uninsurable damages to essential items resulting from recent severe weather events. The disaster recovery program covers damage for which insurance is not readily and reasonably available insurance policies do cover damage from causes such as sewer backup but do not cover flooding resulting from water entering through basement windows. The new funding is announced in addition to the $55 million recently allotted by the province for disaster recovery. The program is now expanded to cover all affected municipalities and residents including Edmonton and all communities south of Edmonton which are west of or border the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. The program will also include all municipalities along the Red Deer River and North Saskatchewan River systems from the Queen Elizabeth II Highway corridor to the Saskatchewan border. Details of the disaster recovery program are available on the Municipal Affairs website at www.municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca.

Crawford Adjusters Canada’s employees recently assisted their customers manage claims stemming from flooding in southern Alberta. The firm enacted its catastrophe plan by calling in more staff to its CLAIMSALERT call center and alerting branch offices in Alberta to the spike in volume. Crawford’s Calgary branch office immediately opened its doors over the weekend to begin responding to the claims caused by the heavy rainfall. “We have a large number of employees based in Alberta that were able to establish a catastrophe center and begin responding to claims as they were received over the weekend,” chief executive officer Glenn Gibson says. “As a precaution, we have placed a team of Crawford adjusters, managers, and support staff from across Canada on standby to be deployed into Calgary and surrounding areas on short notice should the need arise.” No official damage estimates have been released.