What’s New: In brief (November 08, 2005)

Canada’s home, car and business insurers and Ontario Safety League (OSL) are joining forces with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) to implement a province-wide community-driven program to help motorists get home safely during the holiday season. The vice-president of federal affairs Mark Yakabuski and the president of OSL Brian Patterson will unveil details of this innovative safety initiative at an upcoming news conference alongside a number of Ontario police representatives.

Risk modeler EQECAT, Inc. and independent reinsurance and risk intermediary Benfield Inc. (the U.S. division of Benfield Group Ltd.) recently signed a licensing agreement to use EQECAT’s U.S Wildfire model part of its WORLDCATenterpriseTM catastrophe management software suite. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “Managing exposure to wildfires is a growing industry concern,” Rick Clinton, president of EQECAT, says. “Increased exposure reflects population growth, forcing new commercial and residential development adjacent to wildfire prone areas.”