Moves & Views (July 01, 2010)

1 In the most recent canadianunderwriter.ca poll, we asked: Do you think Ontario’s auto insurance reforms, scheduled to be implemented Sept. 1, 2010, will improve the auto insurance product for consumers? An overwhelming 72.22% responded “No.” Only 27.78% of respondents are optimistic about the reform’s impact.

2 Paul Hancock [2] has joined Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. as national director of Global Technical Services (GTS) Canada. Hancock has a Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation with more than 25 years of experience in the claims industry. “Paul’s dedication to quality, excellence and customer service, along with his extensive experience in both claims investigation and claims management, have earned him a strong reputation within the industry,” said Pat Van Bakel, senior vice president of claims operations.

3 Global Special Risks (GSR), a wholesale insurance broker and managing general agent, has established a Canadian presence with the opening of an office in Calgary, Alberta. Selena Halasz will head the new office. She was most recently with Aon Reed Stenhouse’s energy practice group. “We are extremely pleased to establish a permanent presence in Canada and to appoint Selena Halasz to head our new office in Calgary,” said Rick Burns, president of GSR. “Calgary also gives us a solid base upon which to expand our business throughout Canada.”

4 Intact Financial Corporation and the University of Waterloo are launching a research project to identify initiatives and action plans that would ensure better adaptation to the potential consequences of climate change. The three-year project, Climate Change Adaptation Project: Canada, is being funded in full by a grant from Intact Foundation. The research project will identify the most appropriate initiatives and action plans that governments, businesses and civil society can undertake to adapt to the potential consequences of climate change on Canada’s ecological systems, its social fabric and the economy. The study will be headed by Professor Blair Feltmate, director of sustainable practice in the school of environment, enterprise and development (SEED). He is based at the University of Waterloo’s faculty of environment.

5 The Economical Insurance Group and Chubb Insurance Company of Canada are among four Canadian organizations that received recognition for their approaches to pandemic preparedness. Criteria for the first annual APEX Award for Pandemic Planning Excellence include: corporate governance; recovery objectives; planning assumptions; human resource pandemic policies; pandemic triggers and escalation; ongoing monitoring and reporting; pandemic awareness and communications; business unit-level response procedures; and regular plan testing. The APEX Award is co-sponsored by Marsh Canada Limited and Roche Canada.

6 XL Insurance has launched coverage enhancement for adulterated ingredient product recalls. The product enhancement covers the recall of an insured’s product caused by an ingredient that is subject to a recall notice, even if there is no evidence that the insured’s product itself would have caused injury. Traditional product contamination policies require the insured to prove their own product is contaminated and would cause injury. As a result, a company caught up in a nationwide recall of products caused by an adulterated (or added) ingredient may find its own products are not deemed ‘contaminated’ under traditional coverage.

The biggest recall in U.S. history occurred in 2009, when hundreds of products were recalled due to the inclusion of contaminated peanuts supplied by Peanut Corporation of America. “Many companies found they were either uninsured or that their policies didn’t apply when they recalled their product with contaminated ingredients,” said Ed Mitchell, global product recall manager for XL Insurance.

7 Derek Ballard has joined Blouin Dunn LLP. Ballard obtained his law degree at the University of Manitoba in 2002 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2003. Since his call, Ballard has practiced in many areas of insurance litigation including personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, disability insurance and class action disputes.

8 Willis Re is opening an office in Toronto on Sept. 1 to complement Willis Group’s current presence in the city. “Adding an office in Toronto will enable us to build on our success in Canada and offer an enhanced level of service to our current and future clients,” Willis CEO Peter Hearn said in a press release. Robert M. Wildbore [8], currently executive director at Willis Re, will relocate from London to Toronto to assume the role of executive vice president and head of the new office. Wildbore most recently was responsible for the group’s reinsurance business in the English-speaking Caribbean.

9 The Insurance Brokers Association of B.C. (IBABC), with the support of RSA and CNS, has launched the New Broker Essential Skills certificate program. The program is intended to provide entrylevel licensees with the technical knowledge,

customer-service skills and learning habits that are the foundation of a successful career in the property and casualty insurance industry. It’s designed for junior licensees employed by a B.C. brokerage who have less than four years of experience in the industry. Program requirements include (among others):

• incorporating some Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker (CAIB) licensing/ designation courses into the program syllabus;

• requiring students to take the online course ‘Customer Service for the Insurance Professional; and

• requiring students to complete five seminars designed specifically for the program covering: E&O avoidance; broker management systems; ethics; claims reporting and fraud indicators.

IBABC president Richard Pindral described the program as “a turn-key training program that gets new employees well on their way to an insurance designation and provides a systematic learning approach for the more intangible skills a broker needs. “I think it will become a cornerstone of brokerage training programs for entrylevel licensees.” The program is made possible by a $250,000 contribution from CNS (acquired by the RSA Group in 2008).