What do the following have in common: professional baseball and insurance underwriting? Plenty according to Billy Beane former General Manager of the Oakland Athletics and subject of the Academy Award-nominated movie “Moneyball”. In fact, Beane has suggested that insurance actuaries would make good baseball front office types, because of their strong math skills and ability  more...

Most insurance consumers know that before lapsing or canceling one policy, it should be replaced with another.  If done at the precisely the same date, there is generally no coverage gap. There is one type of policy, however, where that is a little more complex – and potentially dangerous. And many people, having served in  more...

The National Football League season is over – but not on the legal front. Shortly after the Super Bowl was played, 11 former players launched a class-action suit against the NFL.  Their allegation: the league ignored the risks associated with concussions when they played. In our day, not a week goes by when the attentive  more...

In Canada, it happens every spring! And we’ll see the images again over the next few months, reminding us that ours is a country prone to the risk of flooding. In fact flooding is Canada’s most frequent reoccurring natural hazard. But the problem is exacerbated by this fact: Canada is the only industrialized country in  more...

The winds of the Arab Spring continue to blow, reminding us that the desire for political freedom is a compelling and powerful force for change.  Populist uprisings in Arab nations show the will of the human spirit, as common people make uncommon personal sacrifices. What does this civil resistance in the Mediterranean world mean for  more...

The answer appears to be YES. That’s the conclusion of a recently released report by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation. The common typecast of the drunk driver was male – often a young man: “for several decades, road safety research has demonstrated the fatalities and injuries related to road crashes (due to alcohol or other  more...

It does happen.  And when it does, it’s a major financial migraine for policyholders. During the 2008 financial meltdown, large global powerhouse insurers were brought to their knees, requiring financial assistance from the government to get them off life-support.  (Remember AIG in the US; ING in the Netherlands?) Although the Canadian insurance industry was largely  more...

“Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behaviour…” (Wikipedia definition). In the 21st century, the caution exercised in protecting the rights of others – including not damaging their property or causing them injury (physical, reputational, mental, emotional) – shapes almost every area of life: from owning  more...

You’ve had the experience: opening your vehicle insurance renewal policy, and groaning as you digest the cost to maintain coverage for another year – and on an asset of declining value. But the value of the car itself is of less consequence in calculating the premium than you might think. The Auditor General of Ontario  more...

According to a new US study* occupants may be safer in a hybrid vehicle than in a conventional gas-powered model. Statistically, the study found that injuries sustained from a collision were 25% lower  for occupants of hybrids. According to the study, this is “good news for green-minded drivers who don’t want to trade safety for  more...