Industry
New York City-based Cybersettle.com, Inc. — an online company that resolves insurance disputes — has set up shop in Canada, settling its first Canadian dispute in late October. The website saves insurers and insureds the cost of court action, with both parties exchanging statements of claim and three different settlement offers. The website evaluates the […]
November 30, 1999
1 min read
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the federal government’s financial services watchdog, is unhappy with the current level of voluntary earthquake reserving committed by property and casualty insurers. OSFI special adviser Julie Dickson indicated at the recently held North American Conference (see our upcoming January issue for further conference details) that compulsory […]
3 min read
The November Women In Insurance Cancer Crucade educational breakfast educated hundreds of insurance professionals on the challenges of living with serious illness. Attendees at the breakfast watched a dramatic production entitled ‘Handle With Care?’, which was based on a study with metastatic breast cancer patients. The ‘Handle With Care?’ production translates the research into a […]
The proposed merger between listed broker consolidators Canada Brokerlink Inc. and Vector Intermediaries Inc. has hit some skids, both companies confess while asserting the merger will still carry on as planned. According to Jon Ouellette, Brokerlink’s vice president of operations, the hold-up in negotiations is not attributable to management or operational issues but to legal […]
2 min read
Taco Bell’s Chihuahua campaign, launched in late 1997, has become the pre-eminent brand recognition success of the late 1990s. The ad spots, featuring a talking Mexican dog whose only desire is to pursue Taco Bell food, has resulted in a North American-wide phenomenon which has seen restaurant sales increase since the campaign’s incarnation, not to […]
By Lowell Conn | October 31, 1999
8 min read
The term “globalization” has become yet another buzzword expression littering the field of industry jargon. Similar to other grand but ambiguous phrases like “business reengineering” and “corporate repositioning” (among a broad host too numerous to mention), the term globalization jumps out in polished conversations on a regular basis, yet when looking about there appears to […]
By Sean van Zyl, Editor | October 31, 1999
4 min read
While most of the public broker networks appear to have eased off on their acquisitional sprees, newcomer The Hub Group Ltd. has no intention of slowing down. In fact, the group's president Rick Gulliver has announced plans of a major thrust into the U.S. brokerage market in the year ahead, with the recent acquisition of a leading Chicago-based broker signaling the beginning of an ambitious campaign.
6 min read
Broker consolidator Equisure Financial Network Inc. (TSE: EFN) has in partnership with the ING group launched a new general insurance company to be licensed across Canada. Ownership of the new insurer, Northbrooke General Insurance Company of Canada, will be equally held by Equisure and ING Canada P&C Inc. Equisure president George Hutchison says Northbrooke will […]
October 31, 1999
Although the public broker networks almost overnight captured 5% marketshare of Canada’s property and casualty insurance market in a stunning succession of acquisitions, the recent poor results of many of the operators, combined with a more wary investor attitude to non-blue chip stock offerings, has left many industry observers wondering to the long-term viability of […]
5 min read
Celebrating the 79th year of its annual convention, this year's Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) event included a discussion panel of global senior executives of the property and casualty insurance industry, their frank views forewarning of a new world of distribution ahead.
By Lowell Conn AND SEAN VAN ZYL | October 31, 1999
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