TORONTO – Canadians have started receiving emails from Marriott International, informing them of a recent breach of customers’ personal data held by their Starwood hotel properties. The U.S.-based hotel giant, which is also behind brands including W Hotels, St. Regis, Sheraton and Westin, says in the email that the breach may have impacted up to […]
By Jason Contant | December 6, 2018
1 min read
Recent backlashes against Statistics Canada and Facebook have prompted Ontario lawmakers to make it harder to share consumer banking information. “Financial data is especially vulnerable to hacking,” Stephen Crawford, Ontario MPP for Oakville, said Thursday at Queen’s Park in Toronto. “In the past 10 years, the number of attacks has increased greatly, including a data […]
By Greg Meckbach | November 30, 2018
3 min read
BETHESDA, Md. – A security breach at one of North America’s largest hotel groups, which includes the Sheraton, Westin, Starwood and Marriott brands, has exposed the personal information of as many as 500 million guests. Marriott International, Inc. said Friday that credit card numbers and expiration dates of some guests may have been taken but […]
By Greg Meckbach | November 30, 2018
4 min read
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) has posted a net loss of $582 million for the first six months of the current fiscal year. It’s also projecting a year-end financial loss of $890 million for 2018/19. This significant loss comes after ICBC reported a net loss of $1.3 billion for its 2017/18 fiscal year, […]
By Jason Contant | November 26, 2018
3 min read
Commercial clients who do business over the Internet can reduce fraud risk if they have more than one way of verifying people’s identity, a major credit bureau suggests. “Any industry that is in the online channel has an opportunity to become a victim of organized crime trying to perpetrate identity theft,” Anne-Marie Kelly, executive director […]
By Greg Meckbach | November 23, 2018
3 min read
Brokers placing commercial insurance for the risk of theft should pay close attention to exclusions. Exclusions on some policies covering crime losses for financial institutions may be leaving a gap in cover computer crime, a new paper from Marsh Inc. suggests. Financial institution bonds are first-party insurance policies that protect commercial clients “from a myriad […]
By Greg Meckbach | November 22, 2018
3 min read
IFRS 17 is an accounting standard that will result in a complete overhaul of an insurer’s financial statements, though finance alone cannot work through this complex change in isolation. Considering the significance of the impact across the organization, IFRS 17 program leaders must engage cross-departmental input and subject matter expertise including finance, risk, actuarial and […]
By Ad Ops | November 21, 2018
3 min read
The Ontario government announced Thursday it plans to “review how auto insurance rates are regulated” and confirmed the government will still run the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund. A review of rate regulation will be done “jointly with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario,” the government said in its 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook and […]
By Greg Meckbach | November 18, 2018
3 min read
The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has recommended a single insurance policy to cover driver negligence and automated technology to facilitate liability claims associated with autonomous vehicles. “The automated vehicle’s insurer would compensate injured people if the automated vehicle caused a collision, regardless of whether the human operator or automated technology was in control,” IBC […]
By Jason Contant | November 15, 2018
2 min read
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has voted to propose a one-year deferral of the effective date for IFRS 17 to 2022. Insurance companies globally have lobbied for the extension as they prepare their transition to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a new standard for reporting financial results. The date towards which companies have […]
By David Gambrill | November 15, 2018
3 min read