The Ontario Broker - Volume 23, Issue 2 - 29

TRENDS & TRANSPARENCY IN UNDERWRITING
Jamal Madbak-VP, Commercial Property, Echelon Insurance
We're seeing entire business lines facing
market availability challenges, some
consistently from year to year-for example:
snow removal, trucking and taxi cabs. Does
the insurance industry have a responsibility
to resolve these issues?
Jonny Ross-Director, Commercial Lines, Ontario,
Wawanesa Insurance
Robyn Besick-Chief Operating Officer, Excess Underwriting
Jonny: The landscape doesn't have a solution
in place to help carriers transfer risk or absorb
risk-no type of solution like that exists. But we
can work as an industry and work as a whole
to come up with a solution that can generate
supply and capacity for some of these difficult
sectors.
Moderated by Shara Bierman-IBAO Central West Director
Robyn: The insurance industry needs to come
up with a solution for these hard-to-place
risks that have had an exceptional number
of losses. It should be a coordinated effort
between insurance companies and brokers and
government to come up with something-a
reciprocal or a Facility Association-that can
help these industry groups who are suffering.
Jamal: In terms of these underserved markets,
we need everybody to cooperate. We also need
to think about more than rates and deductibles.
We have to think about loss management, loss
control, loss procedures and the regulations
about liability.
Have you seen much change in the
condition of the market year over year from
2022 to 2023? Does the market seem to be
softening at all?
Jamal: Definitely. We're seeing some flattening
and tempering of rating, especially in the
Ontario region. Some softening-I wouldn't say
rate reduction, but the increases are becoming
less prominent.
Robyn: We're keeping our rates pretty stable.
Our focus is actually on inflation. We're looking
at values, more so than looking at rate and
making sure that people are insuring to value.
Jonny: I don't think it's a soft market per se,
but I do think it's less hard. Certainly in certain
pockets and sectors we're seeing that across
Ontario in the Commercial space.
Volume 23 | Issue 2
29
The Ontario Broker - Volume 23, Issue 2

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