What’s New: In brief (August 22, 2005)

After serving the life and property and casualty insurance and reinsurance industry for almost 50 years, Pat King will retire from the position of chief agent and principal officer for Alea Canada. King spent 24 years with the direct writer as vice president and in 1987, King joined the Canadian Home Assurance Company as president and chief executive officer. He transferred to Canadian Insurance Management Inc., latterly Allianz Canada, in 1990, as executive vice president and chief operating officer. In 1995, King enjoyed an early retirement from Allianz and then joined the Canadian Branch of The Baloise Insurance Company Ltd., as chief agent and principal officer, writing P&C reinsurance. The Baloise business was assumed by Rhine Re Ltd., which became Alea Europe Ltd. Alea discontinued writing reinsurance in Canada in August 2003 and King directed the run-off operation until his retirement. The Alea run-off was transferred to an outside organization. King also served for several years as a director of the Insurance Institute of Ontario and as a member of the Board of Governors of the Insurance Institute of Canada. He was President of the Insurance Institute of Ontario during the 2003-2004 term. He was also a director of the Reinsurance Research Council of Canada and a member of the RRC executive committee for several years.

The Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) Canada-wide auto insurance premiums research reveals that rates vary between British Columbia and Alberta. The report however, did not examine the differences between policy coverages when comparing the rates. The association compared the “lowest” rate in B.C. quoted at $1,324, to the “average” rate in Alberta, quoted at $1,714. “Lowest” rates were compared to the “average”, as CAC concluded that consumers in Alberta would have a difficult time finding which insurance company would have the lowest rate for them, and felt the consumer would be unlikely to purchase the highest rate quoted.