A reprieve from global catastrophes? - So far, the 21st century has been characterized by massive catastrophic events: 9/11 in 2001 Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 (+230,000 dead) Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans – August 2005 Sichuan, China earthquake with 88,000 dead – May 2008 Haiti earthquake killing 223,000 – January 2010 Against that backdrop, 2009 was a relatively quiet year.   more...

I had read about it, and even trained my staff on it – but it didn’t really hit home until debit-card fraud victimized my daughter.  She was careful with the use of her card and confidential pin number.  But somehow, somebody obtained sufficient information to fraudulently access and empty her bank account. March is Fraud Awareness  more...

A recent study by the Allstate Foundation reported surprising findings among teen drivers in the U.S. Among the survey’s results: Almost 1 in 4 teens (both genders) admit to driving while drinking. Nearly half of the girls surveyed admitted they are likely to speed by more than 16kph over the speed limit; for boys the figure was 36% More  more...

How much liability insurance is enough?? – Picture yourself in this situation: somebody has threatened to sue you over a frivolous incident for which you believe you are not responsible.  Just to be safe, your insurer assigns a high-powered Toronto law firm to defend you. Here’s the shocking part: after pointing out that the plaintiff has  more...

2010 Vancouver Olympics: managing the risk – a cloud of emotion hung heavily over the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the result of the fatality on the luge run mere hours before. Issues of insurance and risk management had been carefully designed and reviewed for years.  But that was now thrust to the forefront  more...

TRUST DAMAGED IS TRUST LOST – you don’t hear this every day: a New York court recently dismissed criminal charges against insurance executives. What’s unusual here is that the executives had already pled guilty. Context: many of the charges date back to 2004-05.  At that time, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer led a high-profile investigation into  more...

Olympics Security – worth the hassle? worth the cost?? – Canada’s biggest peacetime security operation is ramping up to full force as Vancouver sets to host the 2010 Winter Games. The Vancouver Olympics will attract 2,500 athletes, but will require 16,000 police officers, soldiers, and private security guards.  The security budget is $900M.  All of that  more...

Car Insurance – 2010 Prediction – The bad news: it’s going to be much more expensive to insure private passenger vehicles in Ontario this year. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) – the government body controlling auto premiums in this province – says the average vehicle insurance rate has risen for 10 consecutive quarters. But, according to FSCO-monitored results, even  more...

In the wake of the global financial sector meltdown, contemporary jargon is sprinkled with references to “risk appetite”, “enterprise risk management”, “risk assessment matrix”, etc. All of this fits under the general heading of “risk management”. But what is it? The term “risk” didn’t even appear in the English language until the 17th century, replacing what  more...

Canada: a nation of fraudsters??? – As Canadians, we have become all too aware of the moral failings of those in positions of trust in the U.S. or other parts of the world.  But 2009 provided a series of reminders that mega-fraud is also present within our borders: Montreal financial advisor Earl Jones stands accused of  more...