2015 DAS NICC Golf Tournament at Club de Golf de I’île de Montreal
(Tournament begins at 11:00am) Golf registration required.

Conference Registration Opens 9:00am

Cocktail Reception 6:00-7:30pm
Sponsored by Lloyd’s
Welcome Address:
Tom Bolt, Director, Performance Management, Lloyd’s 

Technology
Sponsored by CGI

This presentation will review the outlook for the global economy with a particular focus on the Canadian and US economies. It will touch on the prospects for interest rates, foreign exchange rates, commodities, and equities. As the Chief Economist of Swiss Re, Mr. Karl is exceptionally well-positioned to convey this financial backdrop in a manner that is relevant to insurers and will prepare you to face what lies ahead.

It’s no secret that climate change, aging municipal infrastructure, building practices, land use policy, lifestyle changes, societal shifts, fraud and abuse are impacting property insurance portfolios. Affordability and availability of coverage is where these factors converge. As consumers and their representatives feel the effects of premium increases and coverage changes insurers are increasingly being held to account.

Is blaming insurers a case of ‘shooting the messenger’ as they fulfill their obligation to reflect all known risks in the coverage and price it accordingly? Or, is there more insurers should be doing together with consumers, brokers, regulators, politicians, media and the scientific community?

Few today are calling for the prescriptive regulation found in auto insurance across the country. Yet, the threat seems to persist just below the surface on this increasingly sensitive topic. Can we learn from our mistakes with auto insurance over the last 25 years and embrace the complexity inherent in the factors acting on property to inspire thoughtful solutions supported with ‘skin in the game’ among all key stakeholders? Or, are we heading down a dangerous path as public representatives receive pressure from their constituents for a simple, quick and seemingly painless fix that paradoxically results in just the opposite.

Three well known, seasoned executives with diverse perspectives will debate a subject that has profound implications for our businesses, our industry, and our communities.

Cyber insurance is coming into its own as capacity grows and innovation in coverages increases but it still somewhat of an immature market as global cyber attacks get ever more brazen and harmful. Join this illustrious panel as they bring some order to bear both in terms of product, client demands and modelling technology.

Canadian automobile insurance is forever changing. What further changes are needed to meet the ever-present, yet often elusive, goals of widely affordable, available, and profitable automobile insurance for Canadian consumers? Hear the industry, regulatory, and trade association perspectives on what changes are required, what’s necessary to make them happen, and in today’s political context, what’s realistically achievable. And remember, context is everything!

Is old new again? The industry has seen the Managing General Agency model of delivery for many years with solid underwriting results being very consistent over that time. However, times are a changing as risk management and risk transfer needs bring forward new coverage challenges and capacity expansion. Over the last decade or more, these risk coverage needs have been met not only through the existing licensed underwriting companies but new managing general agencies and wholesale brokers accessing offshore capacity. Many questions arise:

Our panel brings a wide variety of experience on the underwriting, world capacity and MGA model with, no doubt, varying views on the many issues. This session guarantees to be lively, spirited and entertaining.

Canada is not an island and global developments in the insurance arena impact our market in many ways both on the primary side as well as on the reinsurance side. technology, M&A, global regulatory developments and emerging risks will be discussed by this esteemed panel.

Cocktail Reception 6:30-8:00pms
Sponsored by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services

Gala Dinner and Entertainment 8:00pm
Dinner co-sponsored by Guy Carpenter and Munich Re Canada
Wine sponsored by PwC
Entertainment sponsored by AIR Worldwide

Mr. McCafferty will share the implementation challenges of the UK’s national flood program while Dr. Gause will speak to the central role of private insurance in the 2013’ flooding in Germany and the ongoing political debate about improving the system. Mr. Forgeron will wrap up with up-to-date information on a proposed national flood plan for Canada. This is a panel that is not to be missed.

Extreme weather has become the norm – an epidemic of ferocious, destructive, disruptive and killer weather everywhere.  The climate is warming but bad weather may be the most significant outcome from an over-heated planet.

The traditional planning approach has been to set standards, policies and designs based on the premise that the past is a guide to the future.  Almost all of our current infrastructure, such as draining systems and water treatment/purification facilities, has been designed using climate information that has been calculated from historic records under the assumption that average and extreme conditions of the past will occur again over the future life span of the structure. What we are learning though is that due to climate change, current systems are not providing the level of performance and protection that they once did.  Climate change is shortening the life span of many structures.  The future is not going to look like the past.  We need to plan better for the climate we’ve got and more so the climate we’re going to get.

Specialty liability lines in Canada have been losing ground for more than a decade, especially in the highly competitive E&O and D&O lines. Amongst the many reasons for this, oversupply of capacity is held out as the main culprit. While most carriers in the market openly acknowledge that circumstances have already reached the edge of profitability competition continues unabated.  Join this expert panel comprised of new, incumbent and reinsurance perspectives to determine if there is a path to sustainable underwriting in these long tail lines, or if market dynamics will cause things to go past the brink (again).

RIBO Accreditation:
7 hours Management and 1 hour Technical