Around the P&C insurance industry: November 18, 2020

The Institutes and the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), two not-for-profit insurance information and education providers, announced the finalization of their affiliation on November 16, 2020. In their joint announcement, Peter L. Miller, CPCU, president and CEO of The Institutes, said the groups’ affiliation is an opportunity to provide “a more synergized information platform for insurance knowledge” and to bring further efficiencies to both organizations. Triple-I will retain its offices in New York City and Arlington, Virginia, and also maintain staff throughout the country, and its employees will now become employees of The Institutes.

CNA Canada has launched Epack 3, CNA’s next-gen modular management liability policy designed to be customized for a range of businesses and non-profit organizations. Epack 3 first launched in the U.S. in 2019 and will be available in Canada for new business quotes starting December 1, 2020, and renewal policies effective April 1, 2021.

InnSure Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to influencing positive change in insurance, has launched the first-ever Insurance Innovation Leadership Academy. The Academy offers a comprehensive curriculum, including the Essentials of Insurance Innovation course, an MIT Sloan Executive Education program, which introduces key concepts that can be applied at the individual, team, and organizational levels and are relevant to AM Best practices.

Heffernan Insurance Brokers merged with Sierra Insurance Associates, Inc. located in Truckee, California. Kevin Murphy, president of Sierra Insurance Associates, and his team joined Heffernan Insurance Brokers on November 1, 2020, making this Heffernan’s ninth California location.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired San Diego-based AWIS Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The AWIS team will continue to operate from their current location under the direction of Adam Mazan, head of the Pacific West Region for Risk Placement Services, Inc. (RPS), Gallagher’s U.S. wholesale brokerage operation.

Eighteen consumer, civil rights, and community organizations jointly submitted comments to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Special Committee on Race and Insurance, urging the NAIC to focus its efforts on creating tools to help states and insurers identify and combat systemic racism in insurance. The letter called for the Special Committee to “avoid meetings with debates about the existence of systemic racism but instead move quickly to identify the places it appears and develop the strategies needed to address it…following the murder of George Floyd.” Specifically, the groups’ comments call for the following from the NAIC:

• Examination of the ways systemic biases impact underwriting decisions, premiums, claims handling, and fraud investigation;
• Detailed recommendations to states and insurers on how to test for disparate impacts and eliminate unfair discrimination and racism in the industry; and
• More robust data collection of insurance market outcomes and data transparency, so advocates, insurers, and regulators can more effectively stop discrimination.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. launched Global Companion Plus+. This new product builds upon the company’s broad property and casualty offerings for U.S. firms with foreign exposures. Features of Global Companion Plus+ include:

• Primary foreign voluntary workers compensation
• Financial interest
• Global panel counsel service
• Emergency evacuation coverage

Professional Insurance Agents of New York State has named Anthony Kammas its Professional Agent of the Year, posthumously. The announcement was made at the association’s annual meeting on Oct. 1. At the time of his death, Kammas was president-elect for PIANY for 2020-21. He was a revered leader of PIANY and was planning his term as president with great enthusiasm. He served in nearly every leadership role in PIANY and garnered the respect of his peers and community for his many other volunteer efforts. Kammas passed away on June 29, 2020, at age 49.

AmTrust workers’ compensation rates are now live on IBQ’s Commercial Comparative Rater. Independent agents can now compare rates for AmTrust workers’ compensation to other carriers on the IBQ platform through just one entry of information. In the product announcement, Chris Foy, EVP, head of North American commercial P&C at AmTrust, said the company’s goal is to serve independent agents with faster, easier service through new technology solutions and partners to simplify and automate the workers’ compensation quoting process.

Ride Vision launched AI-based collision-aversion technology for motorcycles. Ride Vision uses two wide-angle cameras and predictive vision algorithms to help riders make critical decisions in real-time while keeping their focus on the road. Ride Vision uses a combination of image-recognition and other AI-based algorithms, making it the first all-encompassing solution that can properly account for positional roll and especially rider behavior.

InsurTech provider Zywave has acquired Advisen, a data, media and technology solutions provider serving the commercial P&C insurance market. Zywave says it plans to align Advisen’s solutions with the modern user experience within Zywave’s product cloud portfolio. Zywave will leverage Advisen’s data offering to further enhance its existing market-leading insurance database and plans to further expand upon its data analytics and benchmarking tools.

CoverWallet for Agents partnered with Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s Agents Council for Technology. Through the CoverWallet for Agents platform, independent agents are able to instantly get quotes, bind coverage, and manage insurance online for small business customers.

Related: Around the P&C insurance industry: November 11, 2020