Operations

How Canada’s tourist boom creates a big opportunity for brokers

Insurance brokers seeking to grow their travel line of business should ask their clients if they are expecting friends or family to visit Canada in the future and, if so, whether they would be interested in purchasing “visitors to Canada” insurance on behalf of their guests. “Visitors to Canada” insurance is not a new segment […]

By David Gambrill | June 25, 2018

3 min read

Operations

The thinking behind BFL’s ‘turnkey solution’ for cyber clients

Brokers looking to sell cyber insurance to commercial clients should be looking to partner with non-insurance firms specializing in security and risk assessment, one Quebec-based broker advises. “Brokers need to look at not just selling insurance but partnering, and how they can provide clients with more of a turnkey solution on cyber risk,” Brian Kelly, […]

By Greg Meckbach | June 25, 2018

2 min read

Operations

Why does the P&C industry still issue paper cheques?

Why are brokerages and carriers still heavily reliant on sending out paper cheques, even when most of their clients likely don’t even own cheque books anymore? It all boils down to data. As inefficient and costly as they may be to administer, paper cheques currently have more data points associated with them than electronic fund […]

By David Gambrill | June 22, 2018

3 min read

Operations

“Hey Broker, I need a quote.” Voice technology for brokerages arrives.

Alexa, ask Excalibur Insurance for a car insurance quote. That possibility is just around the corner, as Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company announced Thursday that it had opened an Innovation Outpost lab in Kitchener, Ont. that will connect customers with brokers through voice technology. One of the first projects out of the lab is a new […]

By Jason Contant | June 21, 2018

3 min read

How a $3-million brokerage increased its premium volume by 2,133% in five years

Fear of technology is preventing many brokerages from reaching their strategic objectives, a digital broker said last week at Gore Mutual’s Fast Forward event in Toronto. And it’s a myth, he added, that only large companies can afford to use the latest tech wizardry. Lance Miller, CEO of digital broker SurexDirect, told delegates Thursday that […]

3 min read

Western Financial moves into central Canada with brokerage acquisition

Western Financial Group Inc. has acquired its first non-western Canadian brokerage, Axion Insurance Services Inc. Completed on June 19, the deal will allow Western Financial to add 10 Ontario-based locations and approximately 60 insurance experts to its existing network. Kenny Nicholls, Western’s president and CEO, said in a press release that the company was “excited […]

1 min read

Why this broker takes exception to usage-based auto insurance app

Usage-based insurance has raised the profile of insurers on consumers’ electronic devices, and this could be bad news for some brokers. Several auto insurers are using UBI to offer discounts based on data gather from telematics. That technology lets insurers gather data from the insured vehicles, such as distance, location, speed, sudden acceleration and hard […]

2 min read

Quebec places number on brokerage distribution agreements with insurers

The Quebec National Assembly has adopted Bill 141, which will require brokerages in the province to have at least three distribution agreements in place for personal lines with insurers “that are not in the same financial group.” Hypothetically, brokerages could have distribution agreements from Intact and RSA, but an agreement with any of their subsidiaries […]

2 min read

Are independent brokerages in Canada adopting digital technology?

While independent brokerages in four countries (including Canada) are not fully embracing digital technology in 2018, Canadian brokerages are showing an increased adoption of cloud hosting, according to a new annual report from software vendor Applied Systems. Applied released Tuesday the results of its 3rd annual Applied Digital Brokerage Survey, which found that the average […]

2 min read

The key for brokers to stand out from the competition

For property and casualty insurance brokers, providing “exceptional customer service” is at least as important as the insurance products themselves, suggests one underwriter. “There are a lot of people out there who sell insurance,” Jenny Hallahan, manager of underwriting for Listowel, Ont.-based Trillium Mutual Insurance Company, told Canadian Underwriter Friday. So one challenge, if you […]

2 min read