Page 17 - CU-20200201.pdf

DECLARATIONS
BIG MOVES
SUMMARY
MGA CEO joins Brown & Brown
Mark Woodall, CEO of Special Risk Insurance Managers, joins the leadership team of Brown & Brown, a Florida-based brokerage
Mark Woodall, president and CEO of Special Risk Insurance Managers (SRIM) Ltd., is joining the leadership team of Brown & Brown Inc.’s national programs division.
The move follows the acquisition by Brown & Brown of SRIM, a managing general agency based in Surrey, B.C. Woodall will now report to Chris Walker, president of Brown & Brown national programs.
Florida-based Brown & Brown is a brokerage with hundreds of offices south of the border. The acquisition was announced Dec. 9, 2019. As of publication deadline, the deal was expected to close Jan. 20.
In the 1990s, Woodall became a partner at Pritchard Associates, an independent adjusting firm, which changed its name to Pritchard Woodall & Associates. In 2003, Pritchard Woodall handled 83 total residential losses arising from the Kelowna, B.C. wildfire. After Pritchard Woodall was acquired in 2006 by SCM, Woodall purchased Sports-Can Insurance Consultants.
SRIM was formed in 2013 through the merger of Sports-Can and Special Risk Insurance Brokers Ltd. At that time, Special Risk Insurance Brokers was owned by Tom Willie, who is now SRIM’s director and chief underwriting officer. Willie is also staying on with the Brown & Brown acquisition.
REINSURANCE RENEWALS
Market of multiple voices
WILLIS RE
January 2020 reinsur-
ance renewals showed
a market speaking in multiple voices, with a significant variation in pricing and capacity de- pending on geography, product line, loss record
and individual client relationships, Willis Re concluded in its latest report.
Globally in property lines, “sufficient capacity [was] available for buyers at at- tractive terms,” reported Willis Re 1st View: Markets Diverge. Reinsurers did not achieve “hoped-for” price increases in property lines for loss-free international catastrophe busi- ness because of “a persistent oversupply for international catastrophe capacities.”
In Canadian property lines specifically, the primary market experienced hardening across all major lines. Commercial and stra- ta business lines saw 20% rate increases, driven by property losses in recent years,
as well as “segmented supply shortages, particularly from Lloyd’s syndicates.”
A benign loss year in 2019 meant risk-ad- justed Cat reinsurance renewals stayed in line with 2019 renewals. Loss-free property risks saw rate increases of between 0% and 10%, while risks experiencing losses saw rate increases of between 10% and 40%.
Property catastrophe coverage on loss- free accounts was anywhere between flat and a 5% increase. For accounts experienc- ing a loss, property catastrophe coverage increased by 5% to 10%.
In Canada’s casualty market (auto insurance, personal accident, and general third-party liability lines), the bright spot was third-party liability treaties, which “have gen- erally remained profitable for (re)insurers,” Willis Re reported. “Reinsurer appetite for casualty-related lines of business remained generally stable as reinsurers sought to balance property portfolio exposures.”
In Canada, excess of loss reinsurance cov- erage for accounts without a loss remained flat or increased by up to 5%. For accounts with a Cat loss, rates increased between 5% and 10%.
WHO: Mark Woodall
CURRENT ROLE: President, CEO, Special Risk Insurance
Managers Ltd.
P&C EXPERIENCE: 40+ years
PROFILE: Previously a partner at independent adjusting firm Pritchard Woodall, before it was acquired by SCM in 2006. His firm handled 83 total residential losses during Kelowna, B.C. forest fires in 2003. Purchased Sports-Can Insurance Consul- tants in 2006.
Dave Partington
is the new CEO
of Canadian
retail property/ casualty brokerage operations at Arthur J. Gallagher &
Co., the brokerage announced on Dec. 5. Gallagher is the
fourth-largest property and casualty brokerage in the world.
ALBERTA REVIEWS
AUTO | DEC 27
Alberta struck a panel to review auto insurance with a promise not to revisit the recently-scrapped 5% annual cap on auto rate increases. A committee will research and recommend solutions that work for all parties within the existing private system.
Cam Loeppky, senior vice pres- ident and chief information officer of Wawanesa Insurance, is
Heather Legg is chief agent in Canada for Validus Reinsurance Ltd., which announced the establishment of
its Canadian branch on Dec. 19. Before joining Validus Re in early 2019,
Legg was senior vice president on Aon’s reinsurance solutions team and a member of the Canadian leadership team.
now chairman of CSIO’s board of more than 20 years
directors. He has
of experience in the financial services industry.
TOP WEATHER STORY | DEC 26
The Ottawa River flooding in April topped Environment Canada’s Top-10 list of weather stories in 2019. More than 6,000 homes were flooded or threatened in after the river broke water level records by 30 cm. Montreal declared a state of emergency. Two people died, one in Ontario and one in Quebec.
canadianunderwriter.ca
| February 2020 17