Small or family-owned brokerages prioritizing digitization strategies will be in a better position to grow through a merger or acquisition, experts told Canadian Underwriter. But it may be easier said than done, given financial or resource constraints faced by many smaller brokerages. “On average, smaller brokers tend to be a little slower to adopt new […]
By Phil | November 28, 2022
3 min read
Definity Financial Corporation is interested in both P&C brokerage and carrier acquisitions, the insurer’s president and CEO Rowan Saunders confirmed during a recent virtual fireside chat with RBC Capital Markets. “Even though we’ve just recently done a significant acquisition in the distribution area, we’re still very, very focused on insurance companies,” Saunders said. “I mean, […]
By Jason Contant | November 28, 2022
3 min read
Canada’s ongoing hard market in cyber has seen most insurers capping their coverage at somewhere between $3-million and $5-million, experts observed in a Gallagher Talks session. “We’re seeing exclusions for known [software] vulnerabilities [and] capacity restrictions as well,” said Paige Cheasley, team leader and account executive of the knowledge-based economy division at Gallagher GPL. […]
By Alyssa DiSabatino | November 21, 2022
3 min read
Insurance companies are looking for truck fleets to manage their telematics data more proactively through the development of individual driver scorecard programs. “Insurance companies expect that [trucking fleets] don’t just have the [telematics] technology, but they’re doing something with the data,” Joe Palmer, senior vice president of transportation at Gallagher said Wednesday at Gallagher Talks. […]
By David Gambrill | November 17, 2022
3 min read
Employees were told during a 9 a.m. meeting, Pacific Time, according to the source, at which time the CEO spoke of a restructuring that would eliminate positions company-wide. The company acknowledged the staffing reductions (but did not confirm the 25% number) in a statement released Tuesday. “We have made some changes today to our team […]
By David Gambrill | November 16, 2022
2 min read
Insurers’ low-risk policyholders may still experience premium increases amid the hard market, but clients can take mitigating steps, said Ilan Serman, regional president of Ontario at Gallagher during yesterday’s Gallagher Talks session, Anatomy of the Canadian Insurance Market. “[I had] a discussion with the CFO of one of my clients recently, [who said] …’I am […]
By Alyssa DiSabatino | November 16, 2022
3 min read
Westland Insurance Group is looking to evolve its leadership and talent by bringing in different backgrounds and perspectives, the brokerage’s outgoing CEO, Jason Wubs, told Canadian Underwriter in a recent interview. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, Jamie Lyons will become president and CEO of Westland (in 2019, he was appointed president and chief operating officer). Wubs […]
By Jason Contant | November 15, 2022
3 min read
When it comes to risk, your clients can be full of excuses. That tendency to deflect is particularly acute when discussions turn to cyber coverage. “My favorite one was ‘We outsource everything,’” which implies someone else was taking on all the company’s risks, including cyber risk, said Morgan Grady, who works in business development for […]
By Phil | November 14, 2022
3 min read
A consistent stream of property and casualty brokerage acquisition announcements over the past few years likely has a lot of brokerage owners thinking about how they’ll eventually exit the business. For most sales transactions, there are three basic options. One common handover is for a brokerage owner to sell out to family and long-time staff […]
By Phil | November 11, 2022
3 min read
Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) must now develop a five-year plan to switch from its registered driver model to a primary driver model for auto insurance pricing — after previously stating such a switch would create large rate dislocation and require significant regulatory and IT changes. The change comes upon MPI losing a lawsuit against its […]
By Alyssa DiSabatino | November 9, 2022
3 min read