Canadian insurers fare poorly in Willis Group survey

Canadian carriers scored lowest in terms of quality of underwriting, policy administration and service when compared to carriers in the United States, London and Bermuda, according to Willis Group’s inaugural Carrier Evaluation Survey.

In terms of claims, Canadians nudged ahead of Bermuda-based carriers for third place.

The survey asked 2,500 Willis associates from around the world to rank carrier groups on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) in four categories.

Underwriting takes into consideration commerciality, coverage and responsiveness. Policy administration represents timeliness, accuracy and quality of information systems. The claims category covers attitude, settlement and technical support. And by ‘service,’ the survey means loss control, risk assessment and post-placement services.

Overall, Canadian firms received a score of 6.82 for underwriting, 6.41 for policy administration, 6.32 for claims, and 6.45 for service.

“The least positive views were expressed by Willis associates from our Bermuda and Canada offices, who provided some of the lowest scoring results for claims worldwide,” the report noted.

But when compared with the rest of the world, carriers scored on average slightly higher in North America in all categories with the exception of claims.