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declarations HIGHLIGHTS BMS Consolidation p.12 l Supply Chain Questions p.15 l Big Moves p.17
BROKER TECHNOLOGY
How brokers feel about BMS provider M&A
Brokers witnessed a number of significant tech vendor acquistions last year. We asked brokers what they thought about it, and here’s what they told us
Broker management system (BMS) providers were busy last year on the mergers and acquisitions front, led
by Applied Systems’ acquisitions of Tech- Canary, Policy Works and Indio Technol- ogies.
Applied championed their acquisitions as a benefit to brokers, referencing the larger of the two acquistions in October.
“The broker will now have a complete view of their business, so they can have
WILDFIRE RISK | JAN 8
Canada is vulnerable to similar devastating wildfires raging in Australia right now because of climate change, human activity, and a glut of fuel for fires in forests ravaged by pests, said Ed Struzik
from Queen’s University.
B Y J A S O N C O N T A N T , Online Editor all the analytics and the action-driven
insight that our analytical platform will provide, but now it will be inclusive of that commercial data that will come in through Policy Works,” Steve Whitelaw, Applied’s vice president of industry and partner relations, said in October.
Another big deal occurred last July, when software-as-a-service provider Ac- turis Group acquired Zycomp Systems, best known for its Power Broker BMS.
Whenever there is consolidation, discussion usually follows about the impact on choice. “I think that my bro- ker colleagues are all very well-justified in wanting to pay close attention to what happens next, because we don’t want to see a situation where there’s a monopoly and people lose their power as the con- sumer,” Brenda Rose, vice president and partner at FCA Insurance Brokers and past president of the Toronto Insurance
OFFSITE HAZARDS | JAN 8
Federal employers such as banks, airlines, courier companies, inter-provincial trucking, railways and telecommunications are not obligated by law to conduct health and safety inspections of work locations that they don’t control, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled.
canadianunderwriter.ca
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