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Industry Appointments of the Week

Peter D. Thompson of National Bank Insurance elected Chair of CAFII’s Board of Directors

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Mr. Thompson succeeds Chris Lobbezoo, Vice-President of Creditor Insurance at RBC Insurance, who remains on the CAFII Board as the director from his member organization.

Toronto – The Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance (CAFII) is pleased to announce that Peter D. Thompson has been elected Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Thompson succeeds Chris Lobbezoo, who has completed a two-year term as Chair.

Mr. Thompson, President and CEO of National Bank Insurance, has been a director of CAFII since 2019, and its Vice-Chair since 2020. National Bank Insurance is a trademark of National Bank of Canada, which is a leading bank in Quebec and the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada.

“On behalf of CAFII’s Board, I want to thank Chris Lobbezoo for guiding our Association through the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years,” said Mr. Thompson. “Under Chris’ leadership, CAFII was able to successfully pivot its member meetings and services, as well as its relationship-building and communications with insurance regulators and policy-makers to online channels. In addition, the Association was able to adroitly turn its research focus to the impact of the pandemic on how Canadians want to conduct insurance transactions in future.”

Mr. Lobbezoo, who is Vice-President of Creditor Insurance at RBC Insurance, remains on the CAFII Board as the director from his member organization.

“I want to thank my fellow directors, the member volunteers who serve on CAFII committees, and the Association’s leadership team for their support during my term as Chair,” said Mr. Lobbezoo. “Going forward, CAFII is in very experienced, capable hands with Peter D. Thompson as Chair and I wish him the best of luck in guiding the Board in setting our Association’s strategic direction and achieving much continued success.”

About CAFII: The Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance is a not-for-profit industry Association dedicated to the development of an open and flexible insurance marketplace. CAFII believes that consumers are best served when they have meaningful choice in the purchase of insurance products and services. CAFII’s 15 members include the insurance arms of Canada’s major financial institutions – BMO Insurance; CIBC Insurance; Desjardins Insurance; National Bank Insurance; RBC Insurance; ScotiaLife Financial; and TD Life Insurance Company; along with major industry players Assurant Canada; The Canada Life Assurance Company; Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company; Canadian Tire Bank; CUMIS Services Incorporated; Manulife (The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company); Sun Life; and Valeyo.

CAFII Webinar: Best Practices In The Digitization Of Credit Protection Insurance – Presented By Deloitte

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CAFII Holds Webinar on Deloitte Research Project on Best Practices in the Digitization of Credit Protection Insurance (June 2, 2022)

Deloitte Partner Melissa Carruthers and her colleague Marc Lewis presented to regulators, policy-makers, and government officials on 2 June, 2022 the high-level findings of their CAFII-commissioned research study on the best practices in the digitization of credit protection insurance.  There was excellent representation from regulators and policy-makers with the following registering for the webinar:

  • The Alberta Insurance Council;
  • The Autorité des marches financiers, or the AMF, in Quebec;
  • The Insurance Council of BC;
  • The British Columbia Financial Services Authority, BCFSA;
  • The BC Ministry of Finance;
  • The Government of Alberta;
  • The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators, CCIR;
  • The Government of Yukon;
  • The Nova Scotia Office of the Superintendent of Insurance;
  • The Nova Scotia Department of Finance & Treasury Board;
  • The Ontario Ministry of Finance; and
  • The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, FSRA.

The webinar covered the background on the purpose of the research, noting that it intended to identify best practices for CPI firms to adopt digitization, and drew on the March 2021 Pollara research study on the preferences of Canadians around digitization.  It noted that industry has experienced an accelerated shift towards digital purchasing and servicing following the events of COVID-19, however the insurance industry has also been historically slow at transforming its traditional business models to be more customer centric.

The presenters noted that the methodology for the research included interviews with CAFII members along with Deloitte’s own digitization models and knowledge.  The key findings were that:

  • Digitizing CPI is a strategic priority for Canadian financial institutions;
  • Relative to other insurance industries, Canadian CPI has unique challenges with regards to its digitization, accentuated by the multiple stakeholders involved;
  • The CPI digital experience offered is highly dependent upon the lending journey (i.e., mortgages, lines of credit);
  • The regulatory environment surrounding CPI can be perceived difficult to navigate digitally, especially for national organizations offering CPI across provinces;
  • Several CPI distributors and underwriters have taken a leadership position by relatively investing more in digital over the past years;
  • Adoption from representatives as well as clients in digital experiences continues to be an inhibitor to realizing the benefits of digital investments;
  • Successful digitization of CPI extends beyond client-facing experiences, and includes back / mid-office operations;
  • Digital experiences enabled by automation across the value chain with partners (e.g., underwriting, claims) were the most cited friction points;
  • Collaboration across Distributors, Underwriter and Regulators will be key to delivering “Best-in-Class” experiences.

It was noted that the factors driving a move towards digitization in CPI were heightened customer expectations; an increasingly competitive landscape; pressure on back-office operational efficiency; and the availability and ability to activate data. Deloitte spent time explaining their ideal digital model and how to move from expectations to actually delivering, noting that the key attributes of successful digital insurers were:

  • an articulated strategy and digital ambition;
  • user centric digital experiences;
  • being hyper focused on operational efficiency;
  • sophisticated data, analytics and insights;
  • scalable technology architecture;
  • and digital talent and culture.

Deloitte also noted that there are unique challenges to digitization in CPI, including the evolving and regional regulatory environment; group underwriting in CPI; the strong ties of the product to lending; the multiple stakeholders; and eligibility practices.