In the face of IFRS 17 reporting requirements, insurers should prioritize stabilizing and managing their balance sheets, noted a panellist during a recent Canadian Insurance Accountants Association (CIAA) webinar. They also should strive to ensure the company’s assets and liabilities complement each other. “Asset/liability mismatch could potentially cause a bigger impact than it would have […]
By Phil | March 29, 2023
3 min read
Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial government has announced it will permanently remove the 15% retail sales tax (RST) on personal property insurance, a move Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) says aligns with its “recommended approach after months of advocacy.” The issue of RST in Newfoundland and Labrador has been going on for years. In 2016, the […]
By Jason Contant | March 29, 2023
3 min read
Inflation took a small bite of out of global reinsurers’ generally profitable combined ratios, and rising interest rates made a 27% dent in the reinsurers’ shareholder equity, but overall the global reinsurance sector came out of 2022 in decent shape, a Gallagher Re report said. “Year-on-year premium growth averaged 12.1% for [fiscal year 2022], supported […]
By David Gambrill | March 23, 2023
3 min read
Despite an 8% increase in direct premiums written in 2022, and generally stabilizing—if not decreasing—loss ratios in several key business lines, Canadian P&C insurers’ net investment returns took a huge hit from the impact of rising interest rates last year, muting the industry’s underwriting profitability. Overall, the industry’s net underwriting profit for 2022 was $8.4 […]
By David Gambrill | March 21, 2023
3 min read
OTTAWA – Canada’s annual inflation rate continued to slow last month, reaffirming the central bank’s decision to hold its key interest rate steady. In its latest consumer price index report released Tuesday, Statistics Canada said the country’s inflation rate rose 5.2 per cent year over year in February, marking the largest deceleration since April 2020. […]
By Jason Contant | March 21, 2023
3 min read
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has further spelled out what he wants to see in a new body that would oversee monitoring and communications around pollution problems in the oilsands. In a letter dated March 16 to his Alberta counterpart Sonya Savage, Guilbeault said the new federal-provincial-Indigenous group would look at a wide variety of […]
By Jason Contant | March 20, 2023
3 min read
You know that star employee who left your organization a year ago? Now might be the time to ask them how it’s going and see if they might be interested in coming back, according to a blog post from Harvard Business Review. They’re called “boomerang employees,” and companies should consider about 20% to 40% of […]
By David Gambrill | March 16, 2023
3 min read
Lorie Phair, President, Canadian Broker Network Formalizing and institutionalizing mentorship, which includes training mentors within an organization, is key to supporting women and diversity in the Canadian P&C industry, said Canadian Broker Network President Lorie Phair. “I think everyone is intuitively and intellectually supportive of women and other minority groups, but unless there are formal […]
By Jason Contant | March 14, 2023
2 min read
Anna McCrindell, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (East), Wawanesa Mutual Insurance A campus recruiter was the P&C industry entry point for Anna McCrindell, senior vice president and chief operating officer (East) at Wawanesa Mutual Insurance. “A recession was starting, and I jumped into a commercial underwriter training program with an American company,” she said. […]
By Phil | March 14, 2023
3 min read
Alexandra Kindbom, Managing Director, Chief Client Officer, Risk Management and Corporate Segments, Marsh Canada Alexandra (Lexie) Kindbom, managing director and chief client officer for the risk management and corporate segments at Marsh Canada, came to insurance by way of commercial litigation. “I’m a lawyer by background, an insurance defense litigator,” Kindbom told Canadian Underwriter. “It was through that experience that I […]
By David Gambrill | March 14, 2023
3 min read