Issuu

April 2020

YOUR GUIDE TO INSURANCE SUCCESS. SINCE 1934

RISK REPORT

SHOCK THERAPY A GUIDE TO HELP COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OWNERS OVERCOME PREMIUM STICKER SHOCK

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION Your client’s business is interrupted by a new political threat. Is it covered?

Stéphane Lespérance

INTERVIEW

AON’S COMMERCIAL HEAD DISCUSSES PRICING, CYBER AND A.I.

B.C.’S MOVE TO NO-FAULT AUTO: WHO WINS?

THE STATE OF FIRE FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE IN QUEBEC

IS CYBER COVERAGE KEEPING UP WITH EMERGING CYBER THREATS?

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broker.caainsurance.com | Join the conversation! @CAAforbrokers ÂŽCAA trademarks owned by, and use is authorized by, the Canadian Automobile Association. Auto Insurance is underwritten by CAA Insurance Company.

CONTENTS Volume 87, No. 4 | April 2020 YOUR GUIDE TO INSURANCE SUCCESS. SINCE 1934

CANADIANUNDERWRITER.CA

FE AT U R E S

RISK REPORT

Shock therapy Risk experts in commercial property provide practical steps for companies to avoid premium sticker shock

BUSINESS, INTERRUPTED Companies are facing emerging business interruption threats. Which ones are covered, and which are not?

Stéphane Lespérance, President, Commercial Risk & Health Solutions, Aon Canada

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

Whatâ€™s inside a Chartered Insurance Professional designation?

PRINCIPLES DISCIPLINE ANTICIPATION Throughout the Canadian insurance industry, there are over 18,000 people who currently hold the Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation. CIPs undergo rigorous training and education, operate at a highly professional level and adhere to a strict code of conduct. Get your CIP through the Insurance Institute to enhance your skills and serve your clients better today and in the future. insuranceinstitute.ca/cip

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37 40

FROM THE EDITOR

RECOVERY

IN EVERY ISSUE

18 Stéphane Lespérance

37 Mind the gap

12 SURVEY SAYS

A primer on pricing, cyber trends, and the use of A.I., according to Aon’s head of commercial risk in Canada

Are brokers offering the right protection to align with new and increased cyber thr threats?

16 NEW OFFERS

40 Head injuries

17 SUMMARY

Whiplash can be confus confused with a concussion. What adjusters should look for in low-speed crashes

35 BY THE NUMBERS

Staging an intervention on

PERSPECTIVES 9

Readers respond to recent ecent stories on ICBC’s move to no-fault, Quebec’s auto insurance model, faulty toilets and more…

INTERVIEW

HANDBOOK 33 Claims probability

DECLARATIONS 11 Government insurance How B.C.’s move to no-fault auto insurance will affect drivers, brokers, and lawyers

15 Conflagration concerns A house fire happens as a result of a Quebec earthquake. Is it covered? A report from the province’s regulator

A broker tinkers with statistical probability and discovers a way to help explain hard market conditions to clients

PEER TO PEER 46 Be Bold Why risk managers need to take a risk to advance their careers

17 BIG MOVES

35 DEAL TRACKER

44 Losing faith How an insurer admitted coverage and still lost a bad faith claim launched by its client

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

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Staging an intervention

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s difficult as this may be for brokers to hear, market swings in the competitive environment of the P&C insurance industry are inevitable. During soft markets, when capacity is plentiful, companies will use that capacity to lower premium rates to gain market share. They make up for any underwriting losses through investment returns. Everyone in the business talks about “the importance of underwriting discipline.” But let’s be honest: In a soft market, you could find yourself out of business for pricing risk correctly; especially when all of your competitors have thrown pricing discipline out the window. Now the proverbial chickens have come home to roost. Insurers’ claims costs have exceeded premium revenue in certain commercial lines, and terrible investment returns are unable to make up for the inadequate pricing. To return to profitability, insurers have to charge consumers more and offer less. Consumers are not happy. Increasingly unable to find low commercial insurance rates for certain Canadian businesses, brokers are telling insurers, ‘Name your price.’ And now brokers are going back to their clients and saying something along the lines of, ‘Look, we know your insurance was $20,000 last year, but this year it’s going to be $60,000.” Is the industry incapable of preventing these kinds of hard market cycles, thus requiring public intervention? It seems clear that regulators will not step in without pressure from the politicians. Oh sure, solvency regulators generally frown upon rate-slashing. They don’t like it because it reduces insurers’ capacity, which the regulators feel should be reserved for claims payments. But are regulators truly in a position to complain about lower rates for consumers? Unfortunately, when politicans intervene, the knee-jerk reaction is to cap or reduce pricing artificially at the expense of private insurers’ bottom lines. That only makes unprofitable business even more unprofitable, which makes hard markets worse (and longer) for everyone. No, if governments feel compelled to intervene, they should consider more “financial backstop” arrangements in partnership with the industry. In other words, the government sets aside a pot of money for the general category of hard-to-place risks (e.g. condo, trucking, taxis, overland flood, or snowplow insurance). This way, even if pricing in the private market skyrockets, such unprofitable risks can still find some form of insurance protection.

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canadianunderwriter

The story behind ICBC’s bold change to auto insurance

The breach from the throne

February 12

February 19

The story: B.C. has moved towards a no-fault model for auto insurance. The province says this will remove $1.5 billion in costs from the system, reduce rates by 20%, and impose at least $7.5 million in care benefits.

The story: Faulty toilet supply lines are leading to subrogated claims against manufacturers, installers and others in the supply chain, an insurtech founder said.

Timmy says: The key phrase is “up to” $7.5 million and, as this article says, why stop there? You might as well make it unlimited because Insurance Corporation of B.C. [ICBC] will still exist to minimize your claim so that they can save money. If you want to see the true results of no-fault, just type in “Manitoba Public Insurance Reviews” into Google to read the horror show that is a so-called “unlimited care system,” with no access to the courts.

Dan says:

Nancy Germond says: Why insurers haven’t partnered with plumbing contractors to complete annual plumbing inspections is beyond me. Spending $159 or so a year would save insurers millions.

The problem with mentioning bad reviews for Manitoba’s system is simple: Google reviews for any insurance company in the world, and you will find horror stories. You don’t need to Google anything to know how expensive B.C. auto insurance is.

Michael says: The cost of our system is way too high and the only winners are the lawyers. If it is true [that] what [ICBC] pays out to lawyers will be eliminated, then that seems like a no-brainer.

Christie says: I am alarmed by this proposal. I do not trust ICBC to award the appropriate amount of money for people if they have been injured in car accidents....Without lawyers, we have no recourse. I do not agree to this proposal. I think it is very bad for the drivers in B.C.

Mark says: The problem is that ICBC treats people unfairly so that they need a lawyer. Why not force the majority of these [claims] through the Civil Resolution Tribunal to remove the lawyer cost and still give people a fair opportunity to seek compensation? The problem has always been ICBC making their own rules for claims handling.

Industry vet believes it’s time for Canada to adopt Quebec’s auto insurance model February 24 The story: A P&C industry consultant believes all provinces (including B.C., which just moved to a no-fault model) should look towards Quebec’s hybrid, public-private auto insurance model for guidance. Thomas Young says: The Quebec model came about through the implementation of regulations on the marketplace that drove insurers out of the province. Forcing insurers to provide coverage at prices that don’t cover the cost of doing the business will limit participation and competition in the market place very quickly. You only need to look to the current situation in Alberta, where rate caps on auto insurance were imposed for five years with no consideration for the costs of claims, and they have produced a very poor situation for the consumer.

How today’s rail blockades could change tomorrow’s policies February 19 The story: Commercial clients might not be able to make a claim for financial or product loss in connection with the recent rail blockades because their policies don’t cover such incidents, industry experts say.

Lee-Al Nelson says: I don’t think insurance companies would cover these losses. The industry is seeing a decline in markets and recordbreaking losses due to extreme weather. I don’t think they can afford to pay out these large losses. In fact, I think more coverages like flood will be cut from policies as companies try and curve losses. The industry is seeing dramatic changes in their underwriting guidelines. Some risks will be uninsurable as we are seeing in large strata buildings.

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

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declarations HIGHLIGHTS

Survey Says p.12 l Fire Following Earthquake p.15 l Big Moves p.17

AUTO INSURANCE

B.C.’s move to no-fault What the province’s changes to auto insurance mean for drivers, brokers, and the legal system B Y J A S O N C O N T A N T, Online Editor

ritish Columbia’s publicly-owned auto insurer is moving towards a no-fault auto insurance system. The Government of B.C. announced in February that it would be “removing lawyers and legal costs from the system,” with few exceptions, in a bid to reduce public auto insurance rates by 20% (or $400 per driver). At the same time, maximum care and treatment beneﬁts for anyone injured in a motor vehicle crash would increase to at least $7.5 million – 24 times higher than today. The changes would take effect by May 1,

ROAD RAGE | MAR 2

Pembridge Insurance Company of Canada has appealed to Canada’s top court to reverse an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that opened the door for a home insurance policy to be on the hook for a road rage incident.

2021, if the proposed legislation passes. “You shouldn’t need a lawyer to access the benefits you’ve paid for,” B.C. Attorney General David Eby said Feb. 6, when the new system was announced. The government anticipates the move will reduce the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC)’s costs by $1.5 billion in the first full year alone. The Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. (IBABC) hailed the move to the Enhanced Care system, saying it would result in “tremendous benefits” for consumers. “It puts the focus on helping

crash victims get back to health without having to go through the court system, and on helping bring premiums to an affordable level for British Columbians.” It’s certainly a debatable point. One P&C industry consultant, John McArthur, president of John C. McArthur & Associates, Inc., contends that the move to no-fault in Ontario did not achieve its intended purpose of lowering the cost of auto insurance. McArthur was chair of the claims committee for Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) during the implementation of

CONDO RISK | MAR 2 To reduce a 35% average spike in condo insurance premiums, Insurance Bureau of Canada has recommended mandatory education for strata board councils, building code changes, capping loss assessments on condo unit holders, and clearly defining condo units. canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

DECLARATIONS the no-fault Ontario Motorist Protection Plan in 1990. The province’s trial lawyers are expected to challenge the NDP government’s initiative. According to the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., the move to no-fault will reward bad drivers and represents a “deliberate taking away of the right of British Columbians to receive fair access to courts and fair settlement for those injured on our roads.” The government counters that customers who have complaints or disputes about their claim, benefit payments, or fairness issues will have recourse through the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), the B.C. ombudsperson, or the newly-created position of the ICBC fairness officer. Brokers are being briefed on the details of the announcement. “I think brokers are genuinely interested in knowing how this will affect their workflow and what training and support is required,” said Chuck Byrne, IBABC executive director and chief operating officer. Byrne acknolwedged a downside for brokers when premiums are reduced by 20%. “Let’s face it: If premiums are going to drop that dramatically, broker incomes are going to drop as well, and that’s something we will be keenly interested in,” he told Canadian Underwriter in early February. “We have a significant amount of time to get up to speed and think through that. That’s certainly going to be the focus of our meeting with our members in the next few weeks.” Why the no-fault model for B.C.? “I’d heard rumours for months that they were going to introduce a no-fault product,” said industry consultant Willie Handler, principal at Willie Handler and Associates. “The reforms they introduced last year were not bringing down costs enough. On several occasions, ICBC and government representatives said, ‘If this doesn’t work, we’re going to have to try another model,

SIPHONING PROFITS | MAR 2

B.C.’s NDP government is planning to ban futuree governments from using profits earned by the province’s public auto insurer to cover other expenses. The previous B.C. Liberal government re-allocated $1.2 billion in surpluses from Insurance Corporation of B.C. between 2009 and 2016.

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

SURVEY SAYS…

Impact of COVID-19 on P&C industry conferences Canadian Underwriter surveyed about 600 of its insurance professional readers about how novel coronavirus (COVID-19) could potentially affect the industry’s conference season. Here’s what they told us:

What impact do you believe COVID-19 this will have on industry conferences?

As of now (March 9), what is your level of comfort travelling to industry conferences within Canada?

34% 56% 6% 4% 0%

Severe Impact: Some impact: Don’t know/not sure: Little impact: No impact:

Very comfortable: Comfortable: Neutral: Not very comfortable: Not at all comfortable:

14% 29% 19% 27% 11%

Have you changed plans regarding the attendance of any conferences or events within Canada?

56%

21%

23%

Yes

Thinking about it

and that model was no-fault.” ICBC’s reforms last year included a minor injury cap of $5,500 for pain and suffering, an increase in accident beneﬁts to $300,000, and the availability of the CRT to deal with less complex claims. “Those were all well-founded and thought through and intended to bring stability in B.C., but they and other factors just aren’t going far enough fast enough,” Byrne said. For Handler, a key ﬁgure in the evolu-

tion of Ontario’s auto insurance system, B.C.’s auto insurance monopoly seemed destined to become no-fault. “I could never ﬁgure out why the government of British Columbia created a government-run insurance system [in 1973] to administer a tort-based product,” he said. “It never made any sense. The only reason you would introduce government-run insurance is because you want to go into no-fault.”

WINTER STORMS | FEB 28

The province absorbed its 22nd snow storm of the season, with winds up to 135 km/h and snowfalls of up to 55 cm in some areas of the northern peninsula. The province previously endured a record snowfall in January, when St. John’s received 76 cm of snow in one day.

Celebrate excellence Submit your nominations for the 12th Annual CIP Society National Leadership Awards. Recognized leaders join the prestigious Leadership Circle.

Nominations will be accepted until June 30 Over the years, the CIP Society Leadership Circle has welcomed 43 outstanding leaders from across our industry. With your help, weâ€™ll welcome many more. For more information about the leadership awards and how to nominate a leader, please visit the CIP Society website. insuranceinstitute.ca/nla

ON THE SCENE CatIQ Connect Feb. 3-5, 2020 Toronto, Ontario The fifth annual CatIQ Connect conference was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, focusing on topics related to catastrophes in Canada. Attendees took part in a Canadian Red Cross workshop before settling in to hear Cat experts discuss climate change, building resiliency, brokers and claims teams, mental health for clients, and the federal governmentâ€™s status on flood mapping.

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DECLARATIONS

FIRE INSURANCE

Afterburn Home insurers in Quebec may be on the hook for major ﬁre losses on their property policies in the aftermath of an earthquake B Y G R E G M E C K B A C H , Associate Editor

roperty insurers in Montreal, Que., could exclude ‘ﬁre following earthquake’ from home insurance policies, making such coverage part of an earthquake package, but many have not elected to do so. The result is that property insurers in Quebec may be on the hook for billions of dollars worth of ﬁre damage on their home insurance policies as a result of an earthquake. Fire following earthquake is an issue for insurers covering property in Montreal, wrote Charles Scawthorn,

CYBER AVAILABILITY | FEB 27

Capacity is still readily available to cover cyber risks, but clients’ applications for cyber coverage will need to clear more hurdles than they did before, Sophia Kudlyk of Purves Redmond Limited said at NetDiligence’s Cyber Risk Summit in Toronto.

president of SPA Risk LLC, in a report released last year by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). The ICLR report modelled ﬁre losses for three different scenarios in which an earthquake measuring around 6.5 to 7 on the Richter scale has its epicentre in or near Montreal. In one scenario, ﬁre following earthquake losses approached $30 billion. Actual losses are likely (but not certain) to be much lower, Scawthorn said during a panel discussion at CatIQ Connect in February in Toronto. Home insurance policies are not stan-

dard across the Canadian industry and each insurer’s policy has its own nuances, said Ari Krajden, a partner with litigation law firm Kawaguchi Krajden LLP. Chet Wydrzynski, partner with insurance defence firm Dolden Wallace Folick, reviewed four home insurance policies from his files. Of those four, three had different policy wordings regarding fire following earthquake. Within the earthquake exclusion of one of the policies Wydrzynski reviewed, there is an exception to the exclusion for ensuing loss or damage that

OSFI PREDICTION | FEB 27 Canada’s federal solvency regulator may take a principles-based approach to its new rule to limit P&C policy sizes, Marisa Coggin of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP predicts. The rule is designed to limit large exposure and concentrated counterparty risks. canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

NEW OFFERS results from fire, explosion or smoke. “The wordings themselves are varied,” Wydrzynski said. “However, it does tend to be pretty clear for the most part on a typical homeowner’s policy [that a] loss like that would be covered.” He added that insurers could write a policy that does exclude fire following earthquake if they wanted to. For example, a type of loss could be excluded if there are other concurrent causes. And so how do Quebec insurers handle fire following earthquake? This question was put to 90 insurers (representing 97% of the province’s personal property market) in a 2018 survey by Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), Quebec’s financial industry regulator. Some automatically include fire following earthquake, AMF senior director Nathalie Sirois said during CatIQ Connect. Some add an endorsement without any additional premium, while others charge a premium for such an endorsement. AMF survey results indicate that nearly 10% of locations in Quebec are not covered for fire following an earthquake. Huge conflagrations affecting multiple properties can follow earthquake for several reasons, including electrical shorts, gas releases, falling candles, and industrial processes, Scawthorn said at CatIQ Connect. Also, there can be a delay in reporting fires if no one is left in the building to detect the fire immediately and call 911. “People are confused, they run out of the building, they left the food on the stove or whatever,” Scawthorn said. After an earthquake, fires could grow out of control because 911 call centres may be overwhelmed by the volume of calls, all available firetrucks are busy, or watermains may be broken. ICLR has called on the Montreal fire department to evaluate its facilities and test for earthquake resiliency.

TOP CYBER CONCERNS | FEB 26

Canadian business leaders are concerned about cyber extortion and social engineering fraud such as business email compromise and email account compromise, Aon reported. “The last year has seen a tremendous increase in cyber-related claims in Canada,” said the company’s cyber leader.

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

AI-BASED TEXTING PLATFORM Vendor: Hi Marley Target Audience: Claims adjusters and policyholders of Peel Mutual Insurance Company What it Does: Connects carriers and customers through two-way texting

Peel Mutual Insurance is leveraging Hi Marley, a software provider that offers an AIenabled conversation platform specifically designed for the insurance industry, to assist in their auto, home and business claims teams. The goal is to “provide a seamless and simple texting solution for policyholders and offer modern-day technology advancements for claims adjusters,” Ontario-based Peel Mutual said in a press release. The Hi Marley platform addresses a major industry issue – e.g. clients and adjusters playing “phone tag” with each other – by connecting carriers and customers through two-way texting. The two parties can communicate and exchange pictures and documents, with the insurancespecific AI enabling the process. The platform has flexible application programming interfaces and requires no integration to get started. “We are proud to offer not just a texting solution for our insureds, but also a more simple and efficient way for our team to handle claims,” said Dan Heap, vice president of claims with Peel Mutual.

EVENT INSURANCE PACKAGE Vendor: CFC Underwriting Target Audience: Event organizers What it Does: Combines cancellation coverage, general liability, and commercial property under one policy

Specialist insurer CFC Underwriting has released a new package allowing event organizers to protect financial investments associated with their event. This includes everything from agreements with spectators, staff and performers to building and contents damage for which organizers may be held legally responsible. The product protects organizers from a broad range of liability exposures; the commercial property component includes cover for contents that have been lost or damaged in transit as well as additional expenses like temporary repairs. The policy will reimburse for costs associated with event cancellation, abandonment, curtailment, postponement, or relocation for reasons outside the organizer’s control, including the non-appearance of a participant. CFC says it is able to quote most policies within 24 hours and bind policies instantaneously.

MSA RESEARCHER PLATFORM ENHANCEMENTS Vendor: MSA Research Target Audience: MSA Researcher platform subscribers What it Does: Adds three new enhancements to its flagship MSA Researcher platforms

MSA Research has introduced several new features to its flagship MSA Researcher platforms covering the Canadian insurance industry. Now available to subscribers at no extra cost, the enhancements to the MSA software platform include: • Every licence of MSA Researcher now includes a new module with a searchable archive of MSA’s Quarterly Outlook Report articles going back to 2004 Q2 (click on the ‘Outlook’ tab on the platform). • MSA Researcher Lite: Every licence is now accompanied by a companion Lite licence for another user. It provides access to the software’s dashboard and the MSA Quarterly Outlook Report online. • MSA Researcher Unlimited: Corporate site licence subscribers of MSA Researcher can now provide the Lite software to an unlimited number of their staff, executives and board members.

BREACH COST | FEB 26 The Desjardins Group said last year’s theft of the personal data of its 4.2-million members ultimately cost the co-operative $108 million. The Quebec-based financial institution initially estimated the cost of a malicious employee’s breach at $70 million.

DECLARATIONS BIG MOVES

SUMMARY

Gore CEO Heidi Sevcik to retire Sevcik was vice president of claims at Gore Mutual when she succeeded Kevin McNeil as CEO in 2014

WHO: Heidi Sevcik CURRENT ROLE: CEO, Gore Mutual P&C EXPERIENCE: 40 years PROFILE: Worked for 26 years at Gore Mutual (five years as company CEO). Credited for repositioning Gore as a modern mutual insurer.

Heidi Sevcik, CEO of Gore Mutual since 2014, is retiring. Andy Taylor will succeed her as CEO effective July 1. Sevcik has worked in the Canadian property and casualty industry since 1979 and has been at Cambridge, Ont.-based Gore Mutual for 26 years. During her tenure as Gore’s CEO, the company acquired Howard Noble Insurance Limited, which operates Insurance Store Inc., as well as bricks and mortar offices in Alliston, Collingwood and Barrie, Ont. “Noble Insurance has been our business partner since 1946,” Sevcik noted at the 2017 Annual Convention of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario. She explained that the Noble acquisition was about continuing its existing partnership with the brokerage and keeping Noble in the broker channel. During Sevcik’s tenure as CEO, Gore elected to remain as a mutual (in contrast to Economical, which has started the demutualization process) and opted not to establish its own direct writer. “She successfully repositioned Gore Mutual as a modern mutual with investments in broker distribution, pricing sophistication, technology and people,” Gore Mutual said in a release last month announcing Sevcik’s retirement.

Joseph El-Sayegh (pictured) is no longer CEO of SCOR Canada, having left the French reinsurer this past February to pursue other career opportunities. Paul Christoff, managing director and CFO of the Americas Hub for SCOR, will succeed El-Sayegh, subject to approval.

RATES REPORT | FEB 25

Peter Keefe is now director of FirstOnSite’s operations in the Atlantic region. He has been with FirstOnSite since 2008, most recently in the dual role of operations manager of the Dartmouth region and project manager of complex claims.

Commercial rate increases gradually became steeper in 2019 and should continue like this for some time, said Prem Watsa, chairman and CEO of Fairfax. The company reported a 21.6% increase in net premiums written from insurance and reinsurance operations.

Adam McGeorge, until recently a Londonbased account broker for Aon plc, is now Aon’s National Centre of Excellence manager of mining, broking in Canada. Aon said he will provide strategic leadership and harmonize Canadian and global brokerage strategies.

TECH’S IMPACT ON P&C

Improving overhead EY CANADA Increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in Canada’s P&C insurance industry is one factor in improving operating overhead, EY Canada reported. Technologies such as telematics and mobile applications have helped Canadian P&C organizations to reduce their “administrative overhead” (e.g. staff counts), thus reducing operating expenses, EY Canada observed in its 2020 Canada Insurance Outlook. “While P&C insurers have been slower to digitize, telematics use has picked up sharply,” EY Canada’s report stated. “Similarly, mobile applications and web portals are more commonly used by brokers and consumers for efficient claims submission and processing. Ultimately, these technologies help reduce administrative overhead and improve customer experience.” Citing Insurance Bureau of Canada statistics, EY Canada noted the P&C insurance sector’s operating expense ratio lowered from 32.5% in 2017 to 30.0% in 2018. Improved data and analytics may also wind up being a side benefit of the industry’s transition to IFRS 17. Canadian P&C insurers have delayed adopting IFRS 17 accounting standards, as EY Canada notes. “IFRS 17 and 9 are expected to have less impact on P&C insurers that can apply the Premium Allocation Approach (PAA) and have short-term liabilities less sensitive to discounting changes than life insurers,” the report said. “The operational reporting impact, combined with a one-year deferral and the prevalent wait-and-see attitude, had resulted in P&C insurers delaying IFRS 17 implementation efforts.” However, once P&C insurers ramp up IFRS 17 efforts, they’ll likely start to make system changes. That may have positive knock-off effects. “As a result [of preparing for IFRS 17], P&C insurers are taking the opportunity to update older systems, strengthen databases, adopt automation, and deploy data analytics — focusing on ‘small wins’ that are economically and strategically valuable.”

SNOOPING AROUND | FEB 25

Cases of egregious employee “snooping” on other people’s health records in Alberta have exploded to the point where some affected individuals won’t even seek health treatment within their communities, reported Jill Clayton, Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner. canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

INTERVIEW

STÉPHANE LESPÉRANCE, President, Commercial Risk & Health Solutions, Aon Canada

COMMERCIAL LINES

RETURNING TO PROFITABILITY Stéphane Lespérance, president of commercial risk and health solutions at Aon Canada, gives his take on recent trends in pricing, cyber coverage and the use of artiﬁcial intelligence. By Greg Meckbach, Associate Editor

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

cu | Is commercial insurance in a hard market?

cu | How is Aon Canada changing the way it does business?

I would call it a market that is under correction. As many insurance companies would say, it is a market that is going back to disciplined underwriting. Return to proﬁtability is a must. A hard market for me is as we experienced after Sept. 11, 2001, when capacity was dropping everywhere. So there was a lack of capacity, or very limited coverage. Now, capacity does exist. However, it’s not been made available. In the end, it’s still the same issue for all of our clients. It’s not easy, but it’s a different set of issues.

We are becoming more of a consulting ﬁrm than a pure traditional insurance brokerage. What I mean by that is we operate solution lines in Canada and around the globe. So, our solution lines – commercial risk, health solutions, retirement and reinsurance – are all under one roof. In conducting discovery meetings with our clients, we are attaching the right solution to the clients’ needs to respond to their business requirements.

cu | Are you noticing new trends in pricing? The pattern is certainly different for most of the coverages available. For most of them, we are seeing increases. The speed at which the market turned around was very fast. In the ﬁrst quarter of 2019, we were seeing moderate increases or even small decreases. In a tough account to place in property lines, you would have seen increases of about 10% to 15% before the second quarter of 2019. Then, for the same account, during the second, third and fourth quarters of 2019, you were seeing increases above 30% for difficult accounts.

cu | Are some types of coverage harder to place now? If so, what are some examples? Yes. Large complex property for sure. Other examples are professional liability for architects and engineers, and directors’ and officers’ liability. An increasing number of claims are being settled and the settlements are getting bigger and bigger. So that is deﬁnitely something on the rise.

cu | Is Aon seeing a change in the proportion of revenues from fees as opposed to commissions? For us it’s been stable, in the sense that almost half of our clients are on a fee basis. Therefore, we haven’t beneﬁted from the lift as you would have expected. Obviously, we are capturing more premiums and capturing more commissions, no doubt about it, but it’s probably not as large of an increase as a brokerage that has 80% or 90% of their clients on a commission basis.

cu | Do Aon Canada’s brokers notice the use of artiﬁcial intelligence by insurers? An example would be software deciding whether or not to accept or reject a risk. If so, is it creating any issues? Unless we speciﬁcally ask the question, not all insurance companies will tell us whether or not they are using AI in the underwriting process. It is not as prevalent as you would think. Most of them, I would say, are now using AI to conduct policy reviews; AI is probably more predominant within the auto or personal lines areas.

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

INTERVIEW

But for large commercial risks, I see it being used to review existing policies. Essentially, you compare the wording from one year to another before renewing it. The document would then be submitted to a human to conduct further review. So, it just eliminates maybe one step and makes the process easier. I don’t think we are in the mode right now that the AI takes care of everything. From a large commercial perspective, it’s more of a tool to help facilitate the underwriter’s work. Aon is investing in that, and we’re streamlining our internal processes and automating more work to facilitate the work of our brokers. We started reviewing our operational model last year. I would say not many things are being done automatically. There is always the human element. It’s just that certain things are being more centralized; we are eliminating steps in between the various tasks. So, you are going to see less movement of, say, a client’s ﬁle from one broker to another. We are mapping our processes differently than we have before to get efficiencies, but we still rely on the competence and expertise of our employees. Will it be different ﬁve or 10 years from now? That is a different story. But if you are asking me at this point in time, that’s the way we do it.

cu | What are some of the biggest challenges brokers face when advising clients about cyber risk? There is one approach for large clients and a different approach for small or mid-market clients. For large, publicly-traded clients, the boards are spending a lot of time analyzing cyber risks. They’re more meticulous in mapping their risk and quantifying their risks prior to buying insurance. Then, they determine what coverages they need, what limits they need to buy, and their level of self-retention or their deductible. So, they are conducting analysis prior to buying and Aon is certainly helping them a lot with that. That’s an area where we have invested 20

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

a lot in quantifying and helping our clients determine their proper limits and retentions. Instead of just trying to sell a coverage that may not respond to their needs, the coverage is adapted to ﬁt their needs. For mid-market clients, I would say it’s been a harder sell over the past three to ﬁve years. Now it’s getting more traction, but the clients are buying coverage that is mostly off the shelf. So it’s potentially a little bit less tailored to what they would need, and that’s the trap that awaits insurers and brokers — selling something that may not respond to their clients’ needs. I think most of these entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of cyber because typically those entrepreneurs rely almost exclusively on their internal IT department, if they have one. It

PROFILE

STÉPHANE LESPÉRANCE Title: President, Commercial Risk & Health Solutions in Canada, Aon Past experience: Twenty-five years of experience in insurance broking and risk management; of these, 18 years were at Aon Canada, most recently as executive vice president for Eastern Canada. Background: Risk management and administration, including developing insurance strategies for large multinational corporations. Education: Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management); The University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Université du Québec à Montréal

is recommended to have an outside consultant testing internal controls.

cu | How is Aon Canada dealing with these challenges? Cyber issues are becoming more complex. That’s one of the reasons why we recently made the acquisition of Cytelligence, a Canadian-based cybersecurity ﬁrm that provides incident response advisory; digital forensic expertise; security consulting services; and cybersecurity training for employees. Together, these things will help organizations respond to cybersecurity threats and strengthen their security position. The Cytelligence acquisition will help us to expand its current coverages at a time when cyber claims are almost doubling year-over-year.

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COVER FEATURE l COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RISK

2020 RISK REPORT

STICKER SHOCK How will underwriters assess your organizationâ€™s commercial property risk? A guide to help risk managers avoid renewal surprises in a tough market environment By Greg Meckbach, Associate Editor

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RISKK l COVER FEATURE

f commercial property clients are hoping to bring their premiums down in this tightening market, experts suggest a host of measures that can help transform them into a good risk for u un n underwriters. Sound risk mitigation measures include running ni ng a solid occupational health and safety program, hiring professionals prof pr ofes of essi es siion onal a to inspect mechanical equipment and water pipes al on a regular reg egul ular ul a basis, ar bas a i and raising deductibles. “One “O One n o off th tthee bi bigg biggest gges gg e things you can do to reduce your premies um m — or or at least lea east stt keep kee eep p it in check — is make sure you stand out a best-in-class,” as bes e tt-in in-c in -cla -c lass la ss,” ss ,”” says sa Tina Gardiner, a Canadian member of the boar bo arrd of directors dir irec ecto ec tor of New York City-based Risk and Insurance to board Management Society (RIMS). Mana Ma n ge na geme m ntt S me Across Acro Ac ross ro sss C Canada, commercial brokers are experiencing a hard ha rd den e in i market, with both rate increases and capacity chalhardening lenges, le eng nges ess says Kent Rowe, St. John’s, Nﬂd.-based president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC). In nsu s “Pricing went down for years,” observes Dom Lopes, assistant vice president for ﬁrst party and risk control services at RSA Canada. “Then in the last 18 months, in certain segments — particularly real estate, some manufacturers, some of the service areas — the prices went down to a point where it was more difficult for customers to get reductions on their insurance.” Now that the price pendulum is swinging the other way, your clients need solid risk management programs in place and to sell their safety and business continuity programs to underwriters, suggests Gardiner, who served last year as RIMS Canada Council chair. She is currently the manager of insurance and risk management for the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Tell that underwriter your own story, Gardiner advises insurance buyers in the commercial property space. “Tell them what you are doing and all the programs you have in place. Tell them how you handle claims.” Risk management Commercial carriers are telling Canadian Underwriter that they take a close look at risk management when underwriting property. Some commercial property clients can mitigate risk by reinforcing the sprinkler system or having adequate management of hazardous materials, says Nancy Dorvil, head of property in Canada for Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty. For its part, RSA Canada will sometimes look at a commercial client’s occupational health and safety program, Lopes says. For example, is the client holding safety meetings regularly and is there adequate documentation? “We would rather get less [premium] money from somebody who really cares [about risk management] than more money from a company that doesn’t have strong risk pro-

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

COVER FEATURE l COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RISK

“Companies that are comfortable with increasing their deductibles will have a better opportunity to reduce some of their premiums costs.” tocols in place,” he says. “If you don’t have a good safety program, you tend to have more losses. A lot of documents show that companies that are not treating their employees with that kind of respect tend to have human errors in their operations.” Closely related to occupational health and safety is the equipment maintenance program. “Do they have a preventative maintenance program? Or do they have an ad hoc program, where if something breaks down, [only then do] they look after it?” Lopes asks. “You can ﬁnd out pretty quickly if you look at their documents. Are they looking at certain equipment every 30 days, 60 days, 90 days? Replacing certain elements of equipment on a regular basis? We like to see documented proof of that. It shows they are very proactive in having a strong comprehensive maintenance program.” In addition, clients should keep inspection records for all mechanical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems, says Lina Ferraro, team leader for the commercial lines department at Acumen Insurance Group, a Hamilton, Ont.-based brokerage. The client should maintain a record of repairs and keep a contact list of professionals who can help repair systems on short notice. Another way for a client to reduce premium is to have a well-written water prevention plan that can be shared with the insurer, Ferraro advises. This would include: • identifying areas of the building that are susceptible to having unusual 24

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

amounts of snow and rainfall; • regular roof inspections to ensure they are clear of debris; and • arranging for professional roofing maintenance providers to do follow-up roof assessments. A properly written water plan should stipulate that professionals inspect the sewage lines that take away the client’s wastewater. Storm drains should also be inspected, said Robert Sparling, senior vice president and practice lead, materials failure at 30 Forensic Engineering. “Storm drains can become clogged with debris over time and regular maintenance is required to ensure any blockages are identified and removed. This is especially problematic in commercial properties with catch basins in the parking lots and laneways,” he says. So if the client inspects and cleans storm drains periodically, this can reduce the risk of stormwater backing into the building. “Incorrect installation of both sanitary and storm drainage systems is a relatively common problem at commercial properties,” Sparling says. “Storm drains are often installed with insufficient support and bracing for the piping, which allows piping to separate during a storm event.” Moreover, he adds, some sanitary drains put the property at risk because debris can accumulate due to low points or an incorrect slope. Pipe problems Water losses caused by pipe problems generally fall into one of the following five categories, Sparling says: • incorrect installation; • lack of appropriate maintenance; • freezing failures; • design defects; and • manufacturing defects. Some manufacturing defects have been found in the apparatus that supplies water to the toilet tank. “Flexible toilet connector hoses with white plastic nuts are particularly a problem,” Sparling warns. “Toilet connects should be reviewed for the presence of white plastic nuts on the toilet side of the supply water connection. Where identified, these hoses should be replaced.”

Some white plastic nuts deteriorate when they come into contact with chlorine, said Paul Okrutny, a materials engineer who used to work for 30 Forensic and has since founded a Toronto insurtech known as Mitigateway. Property owners will often fail to notice the degradation of the nuts on the toilet supply line until it’s too late. But when that part fails, the supply line is no longer sealed. So instead of having a tight connection into the toilet tank, the supply line sprays water into the restroom like someone hooked a garden hose up to the sink and turned it on full-blast. Advances in sensor technology and data networking can help mitigate water risk. Devices are now on the market that can detect a drop in ﬂow through a supply pipe and notify someone in charge of property management. “Smart tech provides many opportunities to improve our risk management programs, but it also adds an element of unpredictability if you don’t understand the smart tech that you have in your building,” Gardiner says. “It’s really important for risk managers to grab that opportunity and understand what they have.” One simple way to reduce water damage risk is to ensure that whoever is in charge of facilities knows: 1) how to shut down the water; 2) where the valves are located; and 3) whom to contact in case of emergency, says Jeff Reitsma, vice president and practice lead for remediation at 30 Forensic Engineering. This also applies to those in charge of facilities after normal working hours. Water damage claims are hitting the multi-unit condominium market particularly hard. The average cost of strata insurance in B.C. has increased by about 35%, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has reported. And in Alberta, the situation is bad enough that IBC has recently announced that it is hiring its own risk manager, whose job will include advising condominium corporations on how to reduce their risk. Risk factors for the condo market include accidental overﬂowing of toilets and bathtubs, as well as burst pipes and supply line failures, IBC says. “People are stacked up on top of each other

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RISKK l COVER FEATURE

“Incorrect installation of both sanitary and storm drainage systems is a relatively common problem at commercial properties. Storm drains are often installed with insufficient support and bracing for the piping, which allows piping to separate during a storm event.” so the problems literally cascade,” said Scott Treasure, CEO of Edmonton-based Treasures Insurance and Risk Management and past president of IBAC. Cause and effect? So, let’s say that a commercial property owner does all the right things to manage their risk. By what percent should

their price drop on renewal? Not so fast. One large global commercial brokerage declined to comment for this article because the brokerage does not anticipate rate reductions for anyone — regardless of what it does to reduce risk. And Aviva Canada president and CEO Jason Storah said rate hikes in the “distressed” condo

segment would likely continue in 2020 and then “taper off in 2021 and beyond.” In this kind of market, not all insurers will promise discounts for following best-in-class risk mitigation. That said, “while every dollar spent on risk improvement many not translate into a dollar reduction on premium, there is certainly value in conducting risk mitigation,” Dorvil at AGCS Canada says. “It is important to remember that losses can have impacts that insurance cannot cover, such as loss of market share.” Over the next six months, as insurers get adequate pricing, underwriters will start to differentiate between strong and not-so-strong risks, Lopes says. “I think as clients continue to maintain strong risk management programs, everyone is going to win out in six months’ time, when prices start to become more stable and in some cases go down.” Zurich Canada was asked what commercial clients can do to get a drop in

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canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

COVER FEATURE l COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RISK price, or at least a lower price increase. “We are taking it a few levels deeper than that,” said Yvonne Steiner, head of property for Zurich Canada. For Zurich, a key question is: What motivates a client to reduce the propensity for disruption to a business? In Steiner’s eyes, there are three elements to this: • the size of the client, measured by revenue or market capitalization; • risk transfer tools; and • improving the delivery of the risk service side of the business. Suppose a client has a market capitalization of $50 billion, their deductible is only $250,000, and they have a high attritional loss load. This may not be a very efficient way to transfer risk, says Steiner. She would advise a client in this situation to look for alternative means, such as a captive structure or larger self-insured retention or deductible. “Companies that are comfortable with increas-

ing their deductibles will have a better opportunity to reduce some of their premium costs,” Lopes says. Brokers should meet with their clients once a year to ensure that coverage reflects any changes the business has made over the past year, Ferraro advises. “This will not only help to ensure you are still accurately covered, but could save money in certain aspects depending on the changes.” Clients should also look at the longterm impact of spending money now on their property to reduce risk. For example, Zurich Canada might advise some clients that their particular sprinkler system is unlikely to control a fire, says Chris Snider, Zurich Canada’s interim head of risk services. Let’s say the cost to improve the sprinkler’s firefighting performance to the level recommended by the underwriter is $85,000. When given that figure, the client may focus on the dollars

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April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

they need to spend. “What they might not be looking at is, ‘Let me have a conversation with my broker and Zurich,’” Snider says. In this conversation, the client may ask: “If I invest this $85,000 and become less risky, what that could look like for me the next year and the year after?” “Underwriters can have conversations with the customer and the broker about that,” Snider says. “And then the client can say, ‘Ah. It’s a possibility that, with that $85,000, I will get a return on that investment within five years by reducing my losses.’” Additional measures Commercial property clients also need to understand how business interruption affects their operations, AGCS Canada’s Dorvil points out. This means having a business continuity plan that shows what the employees should do if they can no longer work from a site, Gardiner explains. “Often, companies will practise that [plan]. They will have an emergency response workshop in which they say, ‘Okay, today we will practise this: We have had a wind storm with loss of site and this is what everybody has to do.” Property underwriters are also looking at how clients deal with their business partners, such as tenants and construction contractors. If a contractor is on site doing renovation work, they should inspect the property after they finish the work, Lopes says. Also, the client’s contractors should have their own insurance policies in place that will cover the client in case of property damage. “What are companies looking at when they have contractors come in and do renovation work?” Lopes says. “Maintenance work? Expansion work? Do they have very strong, documented contractor controls in place so we know exactly what they are doing and what their hazards are?” Right now, this is “the best time ever to be a risk manager,” Gardiner says of advising clients in the current market. “It’s definitely a time when we can show our value.”

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FEATURE l BUSINESS INTERRUPTION RISKS

EMERGING THREATS

Business, inter upted By Brooke Smith, Freelance Author

April 2020 | Canadia n Underwriter

BUSINESS INTERRUPTION RISKS l FEATURE

Businesses can lose revenue in any number of ways. Increasingly, they can be shut down for political risks that are beyond the company’s control. Examples of emerging business interruption risks include trade wars, armed conflicts, or political protests. As businesses become more exposed to these sorts of risks, the question arises: Are these types of risks insurable?

n the current age of political unrest and environmental catastrophes, business interruption (BI) ranks high on the list of risks for many organizations. According to Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey, BI was Number 4 on the list of the Top 15 risks for 2019 (up from Number 8 in 2017). The same survey indicated that one-ﬁfth of 2018’s news headlines involved natural disasters such as Hurricane Michael in the United States or political situations — the Yellow Vest protests in France, for example — that caused major disruptions to businesses. “In ever-increasing political uncertainty globally, BI has begun to take on more of a political role in terms of [actions taken by or within] countries,” Gary Hirst, Toronto-based president and CEO of CHES Special Risk, observes. By way of example, he cites an economic embargo by one country against another, or perhaps a political action taken by an organization’s home government or even a third-party government. The growing list While traditional BI and contingent business interruption (CBI) insurance cover perils like ﬁre, riots and violence that would damage a company’s or supplier’s premises, companies now have to consider further extensions of this type of coverage. “Nowadays, traditional property-based BI coverage is probably 10 years old,” Hirst says. “BI has moved on a lot further than that. Now it extends far greater than just perils and the physical location.” Extensions might now cover losses due to utility interruption, such as a power outage. “If you’re a business heavily reliant on electricity, then it’s possible to extend your BI to cover the downtime and loss of production as a result of the loss of electricity,” he says. Another is civil authority. Take, for example, the incidents of gun violence in recent years at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, where police closed down the mall. “That ‘loss of attraction’ is also something that can be covered, in my view, under a BI extension,” Hirst says.

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

FEATURE l BUSINESS INTERRUPTION RISKS

Nowadays, traditional property-based BI coverage is probably 10 years old. BI has moved on a lot further than that and now extends far greater than just perils and the physical location. These two interruptions are not necessarily political events, but they are examples of emerging risks in the BI world, in addition to losses due to strikes and riots. “Last year, we did see an increase in BI claims resulting from damage due to strike, riot, or civil commotion,” says Bernard McNulty, head of claims in Canada for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. These types of events are occurring globally and they’re challenging from the standpoint of coverage application and evaluation, he adds. In many cases, they simply slow down the operation or project “instead of completely shutting it down, [for] which would be almost easier to calculate [the losses].” Even with BI insurance, organizations can still find themselves covering their costs or purchasing more coverage. Consider the typical 12-month indemnity period: In a scenario involving a large, catastrophic loss, sometimes that typical period for BI is no longer sufficient. Scott Feasey, senior vice president of commercial insurance for the Prairie region with Gallagher, says this has been the case with certain classes of risk, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Imagine the catastrophic loss of a manufacturing plant with a paint line. After a large fire, all the production equipment needs to be replaced and commissioned properly. In this scenario, “the insured is using up their whole 12 months of indemnity and the claim’s not finished,” he says. “They’re having to foot their own bill.” The risk of losing talented employees is also affecting how clients buy their BI coverage. In a recent ManpowerGroup survey, 41% of Canadian employers say finding the skills they need is their main hiring challenge, and 58% of large companies (250-plus employees) reported talent shortages. Feasey has noticed that organizations are now asking that the entire employee base be insured for a full year, instead of the traditional 60-day, 90-day, or 180-day options. “Employees are trained and know how to do the job,” says Feasey. “[Businesses] don’t want to lose them, so they’re electing to insure them for a full year.” That’s something, he adds, that didn’t happen often a year or two ago.

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

Political and health risks Globally, the political and economic environment is increasingly volatile, but don’t expect BI and CBI to be much of a help for these emerging risks. It’s pretty much status quo from a coverage point of view: Political risk will not be considered. The blockades of CN Rail tracks by the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs provides one example. For almost a month in February, the blockades halted more than 1,400 freight and passenger trains. The protestors opposed construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline intended to cross Wet’suwet’en territory in northwestern B.C. “BI is triggered by an insured peril under the property policy,” as Feasey explains. “So things such as political issues are not something that would be an insured peril, and therefore not triggered under the BI.” In addition, the blockades wouldn’t trigger the follow-form BI coverage, he adds. “In covered losses, there’s a waiting period of 24 to 72 hours, which is meant to avoid losses — for example, at a shopping mall where there’s a water leak and the store shuts down for one to two days. The waiting period takes care of the potential lost business.” Or take a delay in the supply of raw goods or materials, which is topical in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that began in China. Shipping companies that carry goods from China to the rest of the world say they’re reducing the number of vessels. Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority — the largest seaport in Europe — reported that, at the end of February, the number of departures from Chinese ports is down 20%. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, China has seven of the world’s 10 busiest container ports. “A lot of companies, especially manufacturers, have two- to three-month supplies of these items,” says Feasey. “They’re running out; they are facing production delays and potential loss of contracts, which is not something covered by BI.” Some of these issues might be addressed through other insurance vehicles — stock throughput, for example, or ocean marine cargo — along with the appropriate endorsements. But at this point, McNulty doesn’t see these kinds of political events as part of standard BI and CBI coverage. At least, not right now. “These events are all happening at the same time that we’re experiencing a hard insurance market,” he says. “When pricing is increasing and terms and conditions are contracting, any limited coverage for these scenarios that we did provide is contracting further. Two or three years ago, we may have given a $10-million sublimit on a strike, riot or civil commotion peril, and that sublimit, depending on the risk, may be reduced to $5 million or $1 million.” Hirst agrees. “Insurers and managing general agents are fully able to provide these sorts of covers, but typically you don’t offer all the toys in the toy shop to the broker, because there’s an additional cost them and a lot of those additional covers are just not relevant.”

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INSURANCE CLAIMS

Putting psychology up against probability How a question on probability sent one broker down a rabbit hole — and ultimately gave him a way to explain the hard market to his clients B Y A D A M K E U N G , CEO, New World Insurance

few months ago, my daughter and her friends were playing a card game. It eventually dissolved into an intense debate regarding probability. The group of friends consisted of engineers, bankers, computer professionals, and lawyers. They were debating the probability of at least one of six players drawing a diamond card out of a regular deck of 52 playing cards. They became more interested in solv-

ing the question than in continuing the game. The group sought input from other friends, including math teachers and accountants. To their surprise, no one could articulate a simple answer to what seemed like a basic probability question. My daughter was 25 years old at the time. She fell back to her habitual solution when she needed help: She asked her parents. That’s how I got involved. Surprisingly, I did not get an answer

from Google right away. I asked more people about the question; their answers inspired me to learn more. I wondered how this probability question could help me to discover important insights relating to my insurance practice. Probability of a claim I began by surveying people. I asked two questions. The ﬁrst was: “If I am to write your auto insurance, what do you think

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

HANDBOOK is the probability that you will have a claim for the next year?” Many people responded, “Zero.” I used my skill as a broker to ask them to think about their responses again in a different way: “When was the last time, say in the past 10 years, you had a car accident? It doesn’t matter whether it was small or large; whether you were at

fault or not.” Many remembered having been involved in a car accident at least once within the past decade. I continued by asking, “From my experience, and according to many insurance companies’ statistics, there are on average 10 claims for every 100 policies. Can we use this yardstick to measure the probability of you making

a claim within the next year?” Most people I asked agreed to the 10% probability yardstick. To simplify this mathematical exercise, we assumed only one claim for any given year. A good number of people further commented, “That is still a pretty low chance, isn’t it?” 10-year window My next question was: “Let’s say I will write your policy for 10 years. What do you think is the probability that you will have at least one claim in the next 10 years?” I received a broad range of answers, ranging from zero to 100%. Most importantly, I found that a majority of the responses were 10%. This was supported by the rationale that since they only had one claim in the past 10 years, they are likely to have just a single claim in the next 10 years. Those who did not have a claim in the past 10 years typically responded 0%. Naturally, based on their past history, they did not expect to be involved in a car accident in the future. Here is what my high school teacher told me: • The probability of having a claim in one year is 10%, so the probability of having no claim is 90%. • The probability of being claim-free for 10 years is calculated as follows: Nine divded by 10, to the power of 10, which is equal to 0.348 or about 35%. • The probability of having at least one claim for 10 years will be the exact opposite of being claim-free for 10 years. That’s 1.0 minus 0.348, equalling .652, or about 65%.

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April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

The difference Here is the crux of the matter: 10% versus 65% is a huge difference. For those who believed the probability was 10% (representing half of my surveyed subjects), they believed the chances of having a claim was low to negligible. In fact, the math shows that their chance of making a claim is much higher. Now think about talking to customers about their claims experience. Assuming a 10% probability of receiving a

HANDBOOK claim from one customer, the probability of having at least one claim from ten customers is also 65%. This is important to bear in mind when explaining to clients that claims are more likely to happen than they think. It’s also important information for me when I’m training new brokers who need to understand how to handle the claims that fall on them. Finally, it’s important for insurance companies to think twice before jumping into writing certain classes of business: The probability is an aggregation when the numbers and years get higher. In its December 2019 issue, Canadian Underwriter predicted the hard market

cycle would continue for at least two years. Having experienced three major hard market cycles, I can say each one has its own deﬁning causes and characteristics. One common feature of them is increased claims costs. The probability model is by no means a complete way of reﬂecting the chances of loss in the complicated world of insurance matters. But maybe it will give you a way to navigate out of these hard market times.

Adam Keung is CEO of New World Insurance in Markham, Ont. He received his Ontario RIBO broker license in 1993.

BY THE NUMBERS

Gain with no pain? Forty-three per cent of Canadians secretly hope that something ng goes wrong in their lives so that their insurance will buy them something mething new, according to a survey of 1,200 Canadians by Finder Canada,, a group dedicated to helping Canadians make better decisions in theirr lives. But what kind of calamity would Canadians be willing to endure to get an insurance-paid upgrade?

What Canadians will endure for an insurance-paid upgrade Nothing A car accident (no one is hurt, but the car is totaled) A fire (no one is hurt, but the home is destroyed) A massive flood in your home or condo Someone stealing all of your valuables A car accident (bones broken, but no permanent damage) Bed bug infestation (all fabrics must be replaced)

57% 24% 16% 14% 14% 11% 8%

DEAL TRACKER

Latest acquisition news & activity Aon Willis Towers Watson Aon Plc and Willis Towers Watson plc will combine to form one of the world’s largest commercial property and casualty brokerages, subject to required approvals. The proposed deal is valued at about US$30 billion. Aon’s jurisdiction of incorporation is England and Wales, while Willis Towers Watson is incorporated in the Republic of Ireland. The plan is for Willis Towers Watson to become a subsidiary of Aon Ireland. The combined company would be called Aon, led by Greg Case and Christa Davies. Willis Towers Watson CEO John Haley would become executive chairman of Aon. The takeover was approved last month by both Aon and Willis Towers Watsons’ board of directors but still subject to approval by regulators, shareholders and the High Court of Ireland.

NFP

Indemnis

Indemnis Trade Risk Management Limited has been acquired by NFP of New York City. Toronto-based Indemnis places trade credit and political risk insurance. Indemnis principal Tom Leonard is now the practice leader of NFP’s trade credit and political risk division. In a separate announcement, Indemnis is among the Canadian brokerages that are moving to the NFP brand. Others include Ancaster, Ont.-based Dalton Timmis Insurance Group Inc.; Toronto-based McLean Hallmark Insurance Group Ltd.; Markham, Ont.-based Mass Insurance Brokers Limited; and Windsor, Ont.-based PBL Insurance Limited.

Western Financial Orr & Associates Western Financial Group of High River, Alta. has acquired Orr & Associates Insurance Brokers Ltd., which has two offices north of Toronto. The deal brought the number of brokerage offices Western Financial has in Ontario to 11. Orr & Associates is based in King City, less than an hour from downtown Toronto. Orr’s other office, in Schomberg, is about halfway between Toronto and Barrie. Orr & Associates partners Ken Orr and Keith Wilson served as president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Western is a subsidiary of Trimont Financial Ltd., which is owned by The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company.

Source: Finder Canada

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

Announcing the

QUARTER CENTURY CLUB 61st Annual Reception

Thursday, May 7, 2020 The Albany Club

91 King Street East Toronto, ON, M5C 1G3

Bar opens – 11:30 a.m. Lunch – 12:30 p.m. Cost - $75.00 61ST Annual Reception Committee: John Cherrie - 416-737-7525 John Sharoun - 416-957-5001

Send Contact Info and Cheque Payable to (or VISA, provide exp. date):

Featuring...

Lovel C.J. Vining, BA, CIP, CRM Sr. Vice President, National and Central Zones Claims Leader Marsh Canada Limited

Maeve Davis CRM FCIP CAIB Quarter Century Club ISB Global Services 8160 Parkhill Dr Milton, Ontario L9T 5V7 mdavis@isbglobalservices.com Phone: 905 875 0733

Thank you for the support of these generous event sponsors:

Once again this year, The Quarter Century Club plans to continue to make donations to Children’s Charities & the Insurance Institute Scholarship Fund. Design and Space Compliments of:

recovery HIGHLIGHTS

Head Injuries p. 40 l Bad Faith Claims p. 44

CYBER POLICIES

Mind the gap Is cyber coverage keeping up with the type, frequency and severity of attacks? B Y E M I L Y A T K I N S , Freelance Writer

ata breach losses are predicted to cost more than US$5 trillion in 2024, and at least 7.9-billion bits of personally identiﬁable information (PII) were exposed through cyberattacks in 2019 alone. These staggering numbers point to an alarming potential gap between insurance coverage and actual business continuity needs. Brokers may not be equipped to deal with the complexities of this new threat, and cybersecurity experts are warning that underinsurance is a big risk

for many of Canada’s smaller businesses. Katherine Kolnhofer, a cybersecurity expert and litigation partner at Bell Temple LLP, recently highlighted the coverage gaps that exist when a cybercrime incident occurs. She spoke about the topic at a recent Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association conference, where she suggested that brokers need to adapt to fully understand the issue. “The challenge is that cyber is now a specialty space,” Kolnhofer said in an interview with Canadian Underwriter.

“It’s an intimidating space. If you’ve done traditional property and liability work as a broker, the technology aspect of it is daunting. Brokers need to educate themselves on the technical aspects of cyber to be able to advise their clients on the proper limits and coverages.” Neal Jardine, cyber practice leader and a senior general adjuster at Crawford and Company (Canada), said that limits on policies are growing. Like Kolnhofer, he believes brokers need to evolve their understanding of cybersecurity. canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

RECOVERY l CYBER COVERAGE GAPS le, the association’s president, notes the group has added cyber as a key topic at many broker events to help ensure members have the latest information. “Many brokers and brokerages already specialize in cyber,” says Carnevale. “As with all lines of insurance, brokers only offer advice and sell insurance coverage they’re well-equipped to sell. Brokers active in the commercial space are well-versed to educate and sell cyber to their clients. Similar to other speciality lines, many brokerages have in-house experts to support their staff.” Dedicated, standalone cybersecurity “If you’re quoting a building in down- sional liability and property coverage coverage products are hitting the martown Toronto, brokers know that the may expect that the liability portion of ket, although many businesses rely on distance to a hydrant will determine their claims will be adequate to mitigate their existing corporate liability policies. the severity of a ﬁre loss,” he said. “The losses and cover the costs mandated “If businesses do not have an affirmachallenge we have today with cyber is we responses to cyber incidents. But that’s tive cyber policy, and they are relying don’t have the same experience as we do not often the case. on coverage for a cyber incident under a with ﬁre. We are still learning what are The Insurance Brokers Association of traditional property or liability policy, it the best risk mitigation techniques.” Ontario is working with brokers to cover could be the difference between survivBusinesses with traditional profes- the knowledge gaps. Joseph Carneva- ing a cyber attack and going under,” says

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

CYBER COVERAGE GAPS l RECOVERY Kolnhofer. â€œIf businesses have one of those silent-type policies, they may end up in a coverage dispute. But there are a lot of really positive initiatives by insurers to produce some clarity and certainty around these products,â€? she explained. Kolnhofer feels that the increase in affirmative, standalone policies â€” policies that are dedicated to protecting against cyber risk â€” represent a good step forward for the industry. Jardine agrees, saying that writing explicit policies will help to avoid confusion and solidify the insurance. A famous cyber insurance coverage dispute arose from the 2017 NotPetya ransomware attack, affecting dozens of major corporations, including Mondelez and Merck. In 2018, when the U.S. government declared the attacks the work of the Russian government, insurers â€” Zurich among them â€” triggered an exemption in their policies for acts of war. Mondelez and Merck are now in protracted legal disputes with their insurers over the incident, which cost them US$100 million and US$700 million, respectively. Those numbers are frightening; the risk they represent applies across the gamut of businesses. In our increasingly connected world, almost every business risks becoming collateral damage. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in any major industry run the risk of being caught in the digital crossďŹ re. SMEs are increasingly the target for ransomware attacks. â€œRansomware is going after SMEs and municipalities â€“ thatâ€™s where the money is for hackers because they donâ€™t have the same cybersecurity resources as large businesses,â€? Jardine said. Although many businesses consider themselves exempt from cybercrime because they donâ€™t use or hold valuable customer information, theyâ€™re still vulnerable, Jardine said. â€œItâ€™s not about the information you have, itâ€™s about how valuable that information is to you. The fact that you have designs for X-widget has zero value to most people, but your business depends on it. If all your data walked out the door tomorrow, how much would that cost? Buy that much coverage.â€? This is where generalist brokers might not see the full picture. Consider, for example, the differences between business interruption and extra expense coverage in the context of cybersecurity. â€œYou might be back up and running within a day,â€? says Jardine. â€œBut then there are costs for the extra server space, temporary drives, and additional software.â€? Jardine believes adjusters have a role to play in helping businesses and brokers understand the risks and protect against them. â€œPre-breach protocols are very important,â€? Kolnhofer agreed. She added that she still sees businesses that lack even a basic security protocol. â€œThey may not have a ďŹ rewall or a password policy in place. Itâ€™s not expensive to implement those basic levels.â€? A couple of years ago, it was common for an SME to take out a $50,000 cyber line. These days, however, Jardine is seeing limits that start around $250,000. Even then, it might not be enough. Older policies are inadequate when it comes to covering the obligatory response to a cyber attack under new regulations. â€œIt can be a $65,000 investigation for something as simple as a lost email,â€? he said. â€œThe clients I am working with in the SME space are taking out coverage in the seven-ďŹ gure range, especially where they

have a lot of PII,â€? Kolnhofer noted. She cited the example of a mid-sized ďŹ nancial services company that had the names and social security numbers of 200,000 affected individuals compromised. The total ďŹ rst-party loss to the ďŹ rm was $3.5 million. That covered the forensic investigation, the incident response (including notiďŹ cation to those affected customers), and two years of credit monitoring for each of them. Those costs would cripple even the most robust SMEs. â€œThere are all these specialty lines being written,â€? Kolnhofer said. â€œWith the quickly-evolving innovation of technology, the job of the underwriter to try and anticipate what sort of losses might arise from the result of a cyberattack is very challenging. As the space evolves, there will be increased standardization and certainty.â€? Carnevale is working to increase the level of coverage. â€œI personally have had many occasions to educate my clients on the need for cyber coverage,â€? he said. â€œMany still believe a breach isnâ€™t likely to happen, and most havenâ€™t budgeted for a cyber policy. But as more businesses experience cyber hacks, and receive negative publicity as a result, cyber coverage will become a staple for SMEs.â€? Emily Atkins is a freelance author based in Ontario. She is the past editor of Claims Canada.

ANNOUNCEMENT FIRST GENERAL CONTINUES TO EXPAND ACROSS CANADA! First General is proud to announce the opening of the Toronto East RIĆ“FH &KDG 9DQYDUL FRPHV ZLWK RYHU \HDUV RI H[SHULHQFH DV D FOHDQLQJ DQG UHVWRUDWLRQ SURIHVVLRQDO Chad began his journey in the industry in commercial carpet cleaning which exposed him to complex cleaning projects involving water DQG Ć“UH GDPDJH 7KLV H[SRVXUH OHG KLP WR WKH property restoration world and he has obtained H[WHQVLYH WUDLQLQJ FRXUVHV DQG FHUWLĆ“FDWLRQV WKURXJKRXW WKH \HDUV &KDG KDV H[WHQVLYH NQRZOHGJH DQG H[SHULHQFH LQ UHVSRQGLQJ WR Ć“UH water-related emergencies and has worked on property damage FODLPV RI DOO VL]HV LQFOXGLQJ ODUJH DQG FRPSOH[ ORVVHV +H KDV EHHQ DQ LQVWUXPHQWDO SDUW RI WKH FOHDQXSV IRU PDQ\ FDWDVWURSKLF Ĺ´RRG and wind events that have occurred throughout Southern Ontario DQG 4XHEHF LQ WKH ODVW WZR GHFDGHV +H LV DQ DFWLYH WHDP EXLOGHU focusing on continuing education and training, and his top priority is WR SURYLGH H[FHOOHQW LQWHJULW\ VHUYLFHV WR KLV YDOXHG FXVWRPHUV Ĺ?:H DUH YHU\ H[FLWHG DQG SURXG WR KDYH &KDG RQ RXU WHDP +LV expertise, background and attention to service culture aligns with )LUVW *HQHUDOĹ?V SULQFLSOHVĹ? )UDQN 0LUDEHOOL &(2 Should you require additional information about First General, please contact our EVP, Strategic Partnership Angela Veri at DQJHOD YHUL#Ć“UVWJHQHUDO FD

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canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

RECOVERY l HEAD INJURIES

HEAD INJURIES

Concussion v. whiplash What claims experts need to know about assessing low-speed motor vehicle impacts B Y S A M U E L H O W A R T H , Pario Engineering and Environmental Sciences

high-speed motor vehicle collision can often come with devastating consequences. However, even an accident at a reduced speed can cause injuries with long-lasting implications. Sometimes parking lot fender benders can create problems that can’t be ﬁxed with a paint job. Two common injuries reported after a collision (concussion and whiplash) are due to acceleration and/or deceleration. They result from either low-speed or high-speed collisions and have commonly-reported symptoms. That’s why a biomechanical expert is needed to carefully evaluate the accident in order to calculate the risk to a vehicle’s occupant(s).

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

These types of evaluations begin by Spotting the difference identifying the extent of an injury. Although concussion and whiplash share many of the same symptoms, key Determining diagnosis differentiators exist between the two diThere is a signiﬁcant overlap in symp- agnoses. Whiplash is principally a neck tomatology between concussion and injury, the result of rapid back and forth whiplash-associated disorders (pain, movement of the neck. A concussion is a disorientation, and dizziness can all re- traumatic brain injury often caused by a sult from either condition). This fact bump, a blow, or a jolt to the head. Whipcan complicate diagnoses for victims of lash and concussion can, therefore, occur low-speed collisions. The challenge for simultaneously (should the rapid movean adjuster/claims specialist is to deter- ment of the neck cause the head to strike mine, based on the information available an object or surface), but not always. to them, whether the conditions of the According to mayoclinic.org, cognitive incident were enough to have resulted in evaluations may determine if a concuseither type of injury. That is why it is im- sion has occurred. Imaging tools such portant to know what differentiates one as CT scans and MRIs are also used to condition from the other. determine the extent of brain injury or

HEAD INJURIES l RECOVERY

“There is a signiﬁcant overlap in symptomatology between concussion and whiplash-associated disorders (pain, disorientation, and dizziness can all result from either condition), which can complicate diagnoses for patients following low-speed collisions.” to diagnose post-concussion complications. Whiplash injuries are not apparent in these types of tests. Whiplash injuries, by contrast, are determined by evaluating ranges of motion for the shoulders and neck, tenderness in these areas, as well as conducting reﬂex, strength, and sensation testing in the limbs. With testing complete, physicians can diagnose either disorder. That leaves the biomechanics expert to analyze an accident scene for the likelihood of injury.

ample, data obtained from accelerometers (instruments used to measure acceleration) embedded within football helmets have been used to develop mathematical relationships between the severity of head acceleration and the risk of concussion. Determining the accelerations experienced by the occupant of a vehicle in a low-speed motor vehicle collision al-

lows the biomechanics expert to apply these risk curves. The result is a probability that the severity of the accident would have been sufficient to cause the occupant to sustain a concussion. The severity of the collision, then, often depends on the rate of speed of the vehicle(s) involved. Science of speed In a recent study using data obtained from low-speed rear impact sled tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, acceleration data was obtained from crash test dummies that were used as subjects for these sled tests. Concussion risk was assessed by inputting acceleration data into relevant equations. The conclusion was that there is a negligible risk of concussion in a low-speed rear-impact collision. The evidence presented above suggests it is more likely that symptoms reported

Biomechanics in evaluation The biomechanics expert works closely with the accident reconstruction engineer in the analysis of an accident. Particularly relevant to the biomechanics expert is information related to the severity of the impact, location of impact, direction of impact, and post-impact movements of the vehicle. This information allows the biomechanics expert to determine the movements and forces experienced by the vehicle’s occupants during and after impact. Derived movements and forces are compared against injury thresholds to arrive at a determination of likelihood for injury in the subject’s collision. With this information, the biomechanics expert factors in acceleration data to further determine the extent of the injury. Calculating the risk Contemporary biomechanical evidence indicates that concussion arises from the combination of linear and rotational accelerations imparted to the head. For excanadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

ON THE SCENE CICMA/CIAA Chapter Joint Conference Jan. 22, 2020 Toronto, Ontario Under the theme of A Claims Charcuterie, claims managers and independent adjusters from across the country gathered in Toronto for the one-day joint conference between the Canadian Insurance Claims Managersâ€™ Association (CICMA) and the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Independent Adjustersâ€™ Association (CIAA). Attendees heard about challenges in the claims manager/ independent adjuster relationship, challenges in handling #MeToo claims, and the role of artificial intelligence in insurance.

FIND MORE PHOTOS AT

CanadianUnderwriter.ca/gallery

HEAD INJURIES l RECOVERY

Increase the accuracy of your next biomechanics and accident reconstruction report. Provide copies of: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Motor vehicle accident report Collision reporting centre report Witness statements Statements of claim Video footage (traffic cameras, dashboard cameras) 6. Data from vehicle download 7. Ambulance report if available 8. Medical documents from before and after the incident

by occupants of the struck vehicle in a low-speed rear-end collision would be related to whiplash-associated disorders and not a concussion. That said, even at

severity of the collision was enough to produce concussion or whiplash. With increased speed the probabilities of both whiplash and concussion rise. However, the chances of contact between an individual’s head and the vehicle’s interior increases with more serious collisions, which is a major contributor to the potential for concussion. Biomechanics determine the extent and severity of an accident and, with the help of an accident reconstruction engineer, provide complete evaluation and analysis for adjusters. These conclusions affect all stakeholders involved in a motor vehicle accident, which is why all reports must be carefully detailed — and why it is critically important for qualiﬁed personnel to assess these incidents. low speeds, motor vehicle collisions can have a big impact. Subsequent assess- Dr. Samuel Howarth is senior director of ment from a biomechanical perspective research and innovation at the Canadian Memorial would evaluate the likelihood that the Chiropractic College.

canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

RECOVERY l BAD FAITH CLAIMS

CLAIMS HANDLING

Losing faith A defendant insurer admits coverage, so why did the court say its actions showed bad faith? B Y H A R M O N H AY D E N , Founder, Harmon Hayden Law

he law of bad faith and punitive damages for bad behaviour by insurers continues to evolve in Canada, as a recent case moves the law of good faith for insurers farther down the rabbit hole. The recent British Columbia Supreme Court decision in Stewart v. Lloyd’s Underwriters has the potential to change the course of business among underwriters, coverholders, claims administrators, and their legal counsel. Of particular interest in this case is that punitive damages for bad faith were awarded against the defendant insurers even when coverage was admitted prior to trial. The plaintiff was on vacation in Nevada in 2015 when he suffered a brief loss of consciousness (called syncope), fell to the ﬂoor, and suffered injuries to his neck. He suffered temporary partial paralysis, was treated with a pacemaker, and underwent surgery to his spine. Prior to his travel, he had purchased

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

travel medical insurance underwritten by Lloyd’s and Alliance Insurance and Financial Services. North American Air Travel Insurance Agents Ltd. was the coverholder. OneWorld Assist Inc. was the claims administrator, which was at all times the agent of the other defendants and acting within the scope of its authority. Health care bills totalled nearly US$300,000. The insurers initially took the position that the claims were excluded since the injuries were directly or indirectly related to alcohol intoxication, which was excluded under the policy. After three years of litigation, the insurers managed to settle the claims of the healthcare providers for approximately 21 cents on the dollar. One might think this was exemplary work. Instead, it led to exemplary damages. The insured had been drinking and had a blood alcohol concentration of .07% upon hospital admission. He de-

nied intoxication. The treating physicians noted in their records that alcohol was not a factor. Syncope can be caused by a temporary drop in the amount of blood that ﬂows to the brain and may be unrelated to alcohol intoxication. The claims administrators, however, appeared to have started the investigation with a bias towards intoxication as being the cause of the injuries. The trial judge concluded that, at the outset, the insurers were justiﬁed in questioning intoxication as being a factor. However, their records showed “a surprising willingness to deny coverage without adequate investigation.” A central issue was whether the syncope was caused by a cardiac condition or whether alcohol was a major contributing cause. The claims administrators didn’t ask trauma physicians why they concluded that intoxication was not a factor. They didn’t make adequate inquiries as to

BAD FAITH CLAIMS l RECOVERY whether there was a non-alcohol-related cause of the syncope. Indeed, they were alerted to other non-alcohol causes such as underlying cardiac problems. They were advised to undertake further investigation, which they did not do before denying coverage. Further, the insurers were opaque in their denial. They did not alert the insured that there were other possible causes of his syncope that were not alcohol-related. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barbara Norell concluded that there was bad faith in the investigation of the claim. This was an overwhelmingly inadequate investigation. The most egregious example of bad faith arose when the insurers decided to extend coverage and their handling of the health care bills. In summary, the judge noted: • The claims administrator belonged to a network of insurance companies that had contracts with U.S. health care providers and that negotiates dis-

counts on health care bills. • Discounts are standard in the industry and may typically be in the range of 20% • They had initially told the health care providers that coverage was being denied. They never advised them that coverage was being extended. • They were aware that further discounts may be available if coverage was denied. • In a ﬂurry of activity in the weeks before trial, claims valued at US$274,052.97 were settled for US$56,429.81, or approximately 21 cents on the dollar. • At no time did the insurers advise that their position on coverage was being reversed. While the investigation itself did not reach the level of malicious, arbitrary or highly reprehensible misconduct until the latter stages, the manner of “satisfying the health care bills” did. The settlements were motivated solely by the

economic interests of the insurers and this was “reprehensible and the most egregious of the circumstances.” The judge concluded that the breach of good faith should not go unpunished. Thus, punitive damages were awarded against the defendants for $100,000, plus $10,000 for mental distress. The defendants were also ordered to indemnify the plaintiff for any claims presented by the health care providers. Insurers and claims administrators would be well advised to ensure that their claims handling process is in accordance with their duties of good faith. This case is a cautionary tale that claims handling procedures must be reviewed and improved in response to increasing risks of punitive damages. Harmon C. Hayden is the founder of Harmon Hayden Law. He is vice chair of International for the International Association of Defense Counsel’s Insurance and Reinsurance Committee.

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franchise.steamatic.ca canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2020

peer to peer RISK MANAGERS

BE BOLD It’s time for risk managers to take some risks when it comes to their own careers. Laura Langone, Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) president, explains why – As told to Adam Malik

Risk managers are generally risk-averse when it comes to their jobs. But when it comes to our profession, we need to be bolder. Our profession aligns with, “Be conservative. Don’t be too hasty. Think before you act.” These are some of the fundamental elements of risk. But it’s also time to ask where the career opportunities lie. Our opportunities have traditionally been lateral, where you go from company to company. I look at my own career. I went out to learn different experiences by be-

April 2020 | Canadian Underwriter

ing at a more regulated company, so that I understand that world, and by learning about hybrid risks at a fintech companies like PayPal. I adopted a bit of a different learning strategy, but it has always been about taking risks. That is what has allowed me to grow. It’s about seeking that challenge and not being afraid to take on new ones. Whether it’s learning about credit risk or compliance risk, risk professionals must broaden their experiences. Companies are taking risks every

day to grow. How do we make sure that we have the skillset and that we’re nimble enough to adapt and support growth? That comes through multiple experiences. You can’t be afraid to try something new. RIMS can provide a lot of tools that will open doors for you, but you are the only one who can manage your career. If we want this to be a great profession (and it really is an exciting profession), and we want to elevate our roles, we need to be the ones who are promoting ourselves.

We click.

The future is digital. Letâ€™s explore it together. Find out more about our specialty insurance and surety solutions.

Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company is a Canadian owned and operated Property and Casualty insurance company specializing in niche insurance and surety products. We are a proud supporter of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada. www.trisura.com

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Modernized. Flexible. National. Talk to your Intact Insurance representative today to learn how we help protect businesses. ®Intact Insurance Design is a registered trademark of Intact Financial Corporation, used under license. © 2020 Intact Insurance Company. All rights reserved.