With the growth of property and casualty insurance industry earnings having plummeted to almost a 20-year low on the back of poor investment returns and intense rate competition — which saw last year’s annual rate of premium growth clock in at a level last seen in 1983 — most company CEOs agree that the time […]
April 30, 2000
9 min read
The number of policyholders in the high-risk Facility Association pool continued to decline in 1999, reports president Stan Griffin at the association’s recently held annual general meeting. Although the combined ratio of the market rose by 10 percentage points year-on-year to close 1999 at 87% (the highest level since 1996), premium volume measured against that […]
April 30, 2000
1 min read
With the creation of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) in 1998, the province took on the task of reconciling the interests of consumers with a patchwork quilt of industries governed by almost a dozen different set of rules. That balancing act fell squarely on the shoulders of Dina Palozzi, first commissioner, now chief […]
April 30, 2000
6 min read
The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) has revealed plans to develop standards for the exchange of loss data between insurers, service providers and the risk management community. The results of a viability study were presented to RIMS last month. Although the RIMS’ data standard initiative is being driven from the U.S., the president of […]
April 30, 2000
1 min read
Underwriters Adjustment Bureau and the Insurers’ Advisory Organization have successfully completed ISO 9002 certification throughout the Ontario region, announced Fred Jacques, senior vice president of quality assurance for both groups. UAB/IAO provides claims handling loss control and risk information service to large insurers, municipalities, public utility companies and multi-national corporations. “The commitment that has been […]
April 30, 2000
1 min read
The repeal of the U.S. Glass-Steagall legislation toward the end of last year has opened what many in the property and casualty insurance industry see as a “Pandora’s box”. The legislation was replaced with the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which effectively allows for integration of business ownership across the financial services sectors. While […]
February 29, 2000
5 min read
Control over the distribution of insurance products is once again back on the property and casualty insurance industry’s radar screen as the federal government’s proposed white paper on financial services competition is set to go forward before parliament for legislative approval this March/April. Although the final version of the financial services paper is expected to […]
February 29, 2000
8 min read
When the “garage sale” begins and market players undercut one another, nowhere is the reverberations felt any stronger than the specialty lines business. Niche operators want the message to be clear: “Stay out of out of our business”. More to the point, it is not competition they fear but the disruption brought to the market […]
February 29, 2000
9 min read
Susan Meltzer, president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) for the 1999/2000 term, bridled in her opening comments in the panel discussion to a previous reference made by a seminar speaker at the RIMS’ “Operational Risk Management” conference recently held in Toronto. Meltzer’s objection was to a widely held belief in the corporate […]
February 29, 2000
8 min read
Queensway Financial Holdings Limited has announced the appointment of H. Anthony Arrell and Patrick Hodgson to Queensway’s board of directors. Arrell is the chairman and chief executive officer of Burgundy Asset Management Limited. Hodgson is the president of Cinnamon Investments Ltd. and chairman of Todd Shipyards Corporation in Seattle, Washington. The Allianz Group has announced […]
February 29, 2000
2 min read