Executive Outlook 2020 | Silvy Wright, Northbridge

Silvy Wright, President, CEO, Northbridge Financial Corporation

The industry’s top priority should be helping our customers effectively navigate volatile market conditions.

The challenges being faced in both commercial and personal lines are considerable, from rising auto repair costs, required auto insurance reforms across the country, deteriorating property results, to the growing number of severe weather events. These and other factors have prompted insurers to take action on underwriting, rating, appetite, and capacity this year. With the accelerating pace of change and new challenges coming to the forefront, we need to take more proactive steps to address these issues to continue providing stable, reliable, and affordable insurance solutions for Canadian consumers and businesses.

As these challenges become more and more prevalent, it’s our shared responsibility to ensure that consumers are well-informed of these trends. As an industry, we must continue to work with governments and regulators across the country to improve the auto product and ecosystem surrounding it, including the reduction of auto insurance fraud, which is driving unnecessary costs for consumers. Together, we also need to engage governments on climate change initiatives to ensure that adequate investment is made in disaster mitigation infrastructure to help lower community risk.

David Gambrill

David has twice served as Canadian Underwriter’s senior editor, both from 2005 to 2012, and again from 2017 to the present.