Insurance news of 2010 – The second quarter review
The second quarter of 2010 brought with it many insurance headlines – and challenges – in Canada and around the world. The following is an overview of what made headlines from April through June.
In April, British Columbia’s Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety (and also the Minister in charge of ICBC) resigned due to an investigation into alleged breaches of the Elections Act.
Nova Scotia announced it was tripling the amount of money that people who suffer whiplash and other minor injuries in vehicle crashes can receive from insurance companies, up to $7,500 from $2,500. IBC said: “The $2,500 cap introduced in 2003 provided Nova Scotians with a 26% decline in average auto insurance premiums.” Oliver Wyman found that the $7,500 limit would increase bodily injury coverage claims costs by 17%.
The Canadian government looked to address two key issues in Canadian insurance, introducing a piece of auto theft legislation that would create a separate offense of “theft of a motor vehicle” and recommending amendments to the Bank Act that would ban banks from selling insurance on their web sites.
As in the first three months of the year, the second quarter also saw its fair share of catastrophes and disasters.
The eruptions of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano in April caused enormous disruption on air travel and reinforced the need for risk management and business continuity plans. Airlines reportedly lost $1.7 billion in revenues which made many of us wonder about the damage some of Europe’s other volcanoes could cause.
On April 20, during the final phases of drilling an exploratory oil well, a geyser of seawater erupted onto the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Resulting explosions of mud, gas and water ignited and caused a series of explosions and fires. The resultant oil spill continued until July 15 and caused billions of dollars in losses and liability. BP insured itself, so the insurance industry was spared the worst of the financial impact from the disaster. But claims tied to the rig itself resulted in losses of roughly $1 billion, according to estimates in July.
As the oil still flowed and an active hurricane season was imminent, the impact of tropical storms on the oil spill was investigated.
During the month-long FIFA World Cup in South Africa, some were focused solely on the soccer, while some could not forget about the insurance concerns of the tournament.
What about the second quarter of 2010 sticks out to you? Share your thoughts here or call our toll-free comments line at 1-877-703-2713.
Insurance news of 2010 – The year in review:
Quarter one – January through March
