Moves (April 01, 2008)

Ted Belton, who dedicated half a century of his life to the Canadian insurance industry, died of a cardiac arrest in Toronto on Mar. 12. Belton is perhaps best known as the president and CEO of Edward F. Belton Enterprises Inc. and Forecast Publishers, the publisher of The Belton Report. The Belton Report, discontinued upon Belton’s retirement after 52 years in the industry, presented industry results and analyzed trends and issues shaping the country’s property and casualty industry. Belton’s career in the insurance industry began in 1949 at the Halifax Insurance Co. in Toronto. He worked at the Halifax Insurance Company until 1972, before leaving to join Safeco Ins. Cos. In 1974, Belton left Safeco to become the president and CEO of the Insurers’ Advisory Organization, where he worked until 1986. He served as president and CEO of Canadian Insurance Exchange in 1987. He also worked in a variety of senior executive positions at the Pafco Insurance Companies in 1987, held a consultant position at Tillinghast (a Towers Perrin Company) in 1990 and was the director of research for RBC Underwriting Management Services from 1994 to 2000. Those who wish to make charitable donations in his memory may do so to Providence Healthcare or the Parkinson’s Society of Canada. •

ING Insurance Company of Canada will continue its full partnership in the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC)’s Broker Identity Program. “The broker distribution channel is one that provides unchallengeable value to consumers of insurance in virtually every community across this country. We continue to support its goals,” said Derek Iles, president of ING Insurance. • Keal Technology has selected Alcatel-Lucent to integrate Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology with sigXP for Canadian brokers — a first-of-its kind integration for the Canadian marketplace. SSP Telecom, a national distributor for Alcatel-Lucent, will perform the distributorship, installation and support. This offer will see Keal’s flagship application, sigXP, integrate with the Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch Contact Center Premium Edition. sigXP acts as the CRM within an insurance brokerage. Incorporating the OmniPCX Enterprise infrastructure and Omni Touch CC Premium Edition will bring significant workflow enhancements to help brokers increase their customer service levels, says a Keal release. •

BMO Bank of Montreal and Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. (FMRP) have launched a joint financing program designed to assist with the perpetuation of independent insurance brokerages. “There will be increased demand for buyout financing as more and more of our brokers approach retirement age,” said Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario CEO Randy Carroll. Under the financing program, BMO Bank of Montreal would provide buyout financing to qualifying brokers; FMRP would assist with creative financing structures. The product is intended to appeal to individuals seeking ownership, as well as brokerages looking to expand through acquisitions. •

Monique F. Leroux has been elected president and CEO of Desjardins Group. She is the first woman elected as president and CEO of Desjardins Group, succeeding Alban D’Amours. “I am thrilled and, above all, honoured to be following in the footsteps of a man who has left a lasting impression on the destiny of this leading group of ours,” Leroux said. • Patrick G. Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Aon Corporation, has announced his intention

to retire effective Aug. 1, 2008. Ryan, 70, started a small insurance agency in 1964. After a few name changes, expansions, acquisitions and mergers, the small company evolved into the Aon Corporation in 1987. “The transition to a new management team under the sound leadership of Greg Case is complete,” Ryan said. “After 41 years as CEO and three years as executive chairman, it is time to retire from active involvement. I will of course continue to be a dedicated and interested shareholder.” •

Guy Carpenter & Company LLC presented a series of seminars on trends in the property and casualty market on a snowy February day in downtown Toronto. Presentations included Kevin Stokes, the global leader of Guy Carp’s specialty property initiative, discussing industry statistics for the U. S. property and casualty market, and Paul Brehm, a managing director with Guy Carp, talking about real-time catastrophe exposure modelling. •

Christopher Guidette is the new director of communications for XL Global Services in the Americas. Guidette is responsible for planning and executing internal and external strategic communications. His experience in communications spans 25 years and ranges from journalism to public relations in both the private and public sector. His foray into the corporate sector was to support Prudential Insurance Company’s nationwide campaign to reform civil justice. He later joined Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO) and became head of corporate communications.

• The Canadian insurance market can expect to see more consolidation in 2008, according to Philip H. Cook of Omega Insurance Holdings Inc. Speaking at a CIP Symposium breakfast meeting at the National Club in Toronto, Cook read off the names of about 22 players in the Canadian insurance industry that have disappeared over the past year as a result of consolidation. He predicted specialty underwriters in particular would continue to enter the Canadian market. He suggested the result might be a “polarized” market containing at least 10 major insurers doing most of their business in general lines, with another 30 smaller insurers doing most of their business in specialty lines. •

Collision Solutions Network has appointed Flavio Battilana to the newly created position of COO. In his role as COO, Battilana will lead the strategic planning process of the network including the marketing, insurance relations and operational divisions. His experience in the collision industry from his former roles as director of insurance and director of operations for a national collision franchisor model, compliments the organization’s future goals, a CSN release says. •

PPG CertifiedFirst network of collision repair centres now has access to the line of Mitchell management systems as part of a preferred vendor partnership between PPG Canada Inc and Mitchell International Inc. “PPG is pleased to be able to offer CertifiedFirst Members a great choice in management systems,” Jeffery Murphy, marketing programs manager at PPG, said in a press release. “Mitchell’s ABS and ABSe Collision Shop Management Software provides profit-enhancing functions that can turn any shop into a more productive enterprise, something that the CertifiedFirst collision repair centres are looking to do.” •

OARBIC Solutions Inc. will distribute, install and support Picom Software Systems Ltd.’s content archive and delivery solutions to the Canadian insurance marketplace and selected regions in the United States. Picom’s enterprise content archive and delivery platform creates centralized audit-proof repository with powerful search and retrieval capabilities to corporate documents, reports and images via portal technology. “I’m amazed at how deep and mature the software is, and it works with any legacy or modern system in place today,” Anthony Kumnick, founder and managing partner of OARBIC, said in a press release. •

XL Insurance Company Limited unveiled its new product recall insurance for the food and beverage industry on Mar. 18 in downtown Toronto. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and about five minutes to ruin it,” Ed Mitchell, senior underwriter for product recall at XL, told attendees. The coverage is intended to protect food producers against accidental contamination (contamination due to a manufacturer’s problem or associated with a supplier), a malicious contamination (bio-terrorism) or extortion. The program has a primary capacity of Cdn$10 million and an excess capac ity of Cdn$25 million (attaching above Cdn$10 million). It covers a risk size between Cdn$10 million through Cdn$5 billion. The new cover also includes pre-and post-crisis consultation to help a company mitigate damage to its brand name in the event of a recall. Steve Gruler, president of Global Quality Consulting Inc., observed some companies have actually seen their stocks increase after a product recall based on how they handled the negative publicity. “Insurance will only go so far in protecting against a product contamination catastrophe, but effective crisis management can mean the difference between brand damage and brand success,” Gruler noted. • Executive Risk Insurance Services announced the launch of a new type of insurance coverage at a February seminar in Toronto. Armed with an initial capitalization of Cdn$10 million, the company will offer coverage specifically geared towards risks associated with cyber-liability and privacy breaches. • In the latest online poll, we asked canadianunderwriter.ca readers if their organization has a dedicated Chief Risk Officer. As of press time, nearly half (46.3%) of respondents said their company does have an overseer of risk management. About 53% said there is no CRO at their organization. •

Integro Insurance Brokers has appointed managing principals Mark Rankin and John Haas to the firm’s partnership group in Canada. Rankin is client development sales leader for the Toronto and Vancouver offices. He has 23 years of experience in property and casualty insurance, with an emphasis on international placements and captives. Haas is in client development in the firm’s Toronto office. He has 19 years’ experience in international risk management experience across many industries and risk practice categories — including the manufacturing, automotive, energy, transportation and retail sectors. Also, Integro has promoted Patrick Bourk to be senior associate in the firm’s management liability and legal practices. •