Preventing loss and detecting fraud – if the formula for achieving these two goals could be found, the insurance industry would be out of business. However, the knowledge insurers gain from experience can be used effectively to help clients reduce the potential of loss. The technological advances of recent years only serve to increase the […]
February 28, 2001
3 min read
Specialty risk underwriter Queensway Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSE: QFH) has secured liquidation windup orders for its troubled U.S. subsidiaries Queensway Casualty Insurance Co. (QCIC) and International Indemnity Co. (IIC). Queensway recently disclosed a major financial loss primarily as a result of its Florida-based QCIC operation. The insurer says that both the Florida and Georgia departments […]
February 28, 2001
1 min read
Broker network consolidator Hub International Ltd. (TSE: HBG) has acquired a major U.S. brokerage, Kaye Group Inc. (Nasdaq: KAYE), for about US$118.6 million. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and the consent of KAYE shareholders, who will receive the equivalent of US$14 a share if they accept the combined cash and paper offer on […]
February 28, 2001
2 min read
A time of sweeping change. This is no understatement of the current regulatory, market and distribution conditions in the insurance industry. For the country’s brokers, this time of change means refocusing lobby efforts, translating the hardening of rates to their customers and forming alliances to take advantage of the Internet in their business. Bridging the […]
February 28, 2001
12 min read
Corporate takeovers. Plummeting stock prices. Falling profits. These used to be the primary fears of the corporate world. Today, enemy number one could be a fourteen-year-old sitting in front of a home computer with the power to bring business to a halt with the click of a button. Technology is dominating the way the world […]
February 28, 2001
11 min read
One look at his rapidly reddening face and I could tell that our vice president was not enjoying himself. Worse than that, he seemed ready to explode. As the senior broker representative in the center of the conference room continued with his tirade, our vice president was angrily shaking his head and showing clear signs […]
February 28, 2001
9 min read
Ask any one of two million grumbling Californians who were recently suject to power blackouts as to why they are not currently overly fond of their local politicians and civil servants, and you will find that the list of complaints of ineptitude and negligence are long. The short of the story is that the state […]
February 28, 2001
3 min read
Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd. has acquired global corporate risk specialist underwriter Winterthur International from the Credit Suisse Group for an undisclosed amount. Credit Suisse retains its holding in commercial insurer Winterthur Insurance which operates through The Citadel Assurance in Canada. A statement released by Credit Suisse and XL states that no jobs will be lost […]
February 28, 2001
1 min read
The federal government has taken an important step forward toward natural disaster mitigation with the creation of a new disaster handling agency, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP), says the Insurance Bureau’s president George Anderson. “This is a positive step by the federal government to build safer and more resilient communities.” […]
February 28, 2001
2 min read
Residents of B.C.’s Queen Charlotte Islands were reminded of the province’s risk to earthquakes when a shaker measuring a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale occurred on February 17, at 12:12pm. The “mini quake” was followed by another tremor of 5.2 at 1:19pm the same day. Neither of the quakes, which originated 109 kilometers […]
February 28, 2001
1 min read