For those of us with colleagues and friends working in primary carriers and at reinsurers, last year was a painful reminder of the fragility of the market as loss ratios crept up past 106% (if you strip out commercial insurance), and claims costs rose to record levels. As a result, many P&C carriers had to take a good, long, hard look at how they were (and are) conducting business. The mantra... 

In late January the General Insurance Council of Manitoba announced it was examining the policy of on-site supervision of ‘Level 1′ and ‘Auto Only’ general insurance agents. It was a standard announcement (changes are pending until stakeholders have had a chance to comment); however, it suggested that the licensing of agents across Canada could be–and should be–examined. In Manitoba’s... 

Doug Hyndman, chair of British Columbia’s Securities Commission, continues to stoke the regulatory fires, calling for stiffer criminal enforcement of white-collar crime rather than publicly aired rhetoric on a single Canadian securities regulator. In a 30-minute speech to a who’s-who of Bay Street, Hyndman emphasized the need for Canadian authorities to take white-collar crime more seriously. “If...