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Top 20 personal property insurers

Credit scoring is in a consumer's control and aids insurers in determining risk, says #2 insurer Aviva Canada.

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We spoke to James Russell, executive vice president of underwriting at Aviva Canada about some of the trends and challenges in this market at the moment.

Q. What are some common trends in the personal property market right now?

A. One of the major trends at the moment is the change in the underlying loss experience and where losses come from. For example, water damage is about one-third of personal property losses at the moment and has become a much bigger issue. Whereas 50 to 60 years ago, most insureds just had a fire policy. Now fire, theft and water are all big perils. Also, the way we remediate water damage losses has changed over time. In urban areas where finished basements are common, the remediation that is required for mould, for example, is much more expensive to fix than it has been in the past.

Q. What are some of the challenges facing insurers and brokers in this market?

A. The use of personal credit in property rating is an ongoing challenge. Our view on credit information is that it is one variable that could be used to assist insurers in understanding the underlying risk that a policy will have. It’s not the only variable that is used, and we comply with Insurance Bureau of Canada’s (IBC) best practice on the use of credit. This means we won’t use credit to decline a risk, and we only use it to provide discounts to insureds. Certain provinces argue the fairness of the use of credit, but we do believe that it’s to the benefit of our consumers because we’re going to provide a more accurate price based on their actual propensity to experience a loss.

Also, individuals can control the way they manage their financial affairs. There are other things you can’t control that are actually acceptable as variables [to determine risk], such as age, but credit scoring is absolutely within a consumer’s control. It’s important for everyone to have the proper education on it, and be transparent on the use of credit scoring.

Q. What are Aviva’s main goals, and how does the company work with it’s broker partners to achieve these goals?

A. We want to have a very broad appetite and write our business at the correct price while doing a fantastic job handling claims. We want to provide our brokers with co-operative marketing tools to allow them to win in this market place. By having a broad price point and underwriting rules that don’t say no to customers very often, we allow our brokers to win.

Here are the top 20 personal property insurers (based on net written premiums in 2010).

1. Intact Financial ($1,024,434)
2. Aviva Canada ($649,1937)
3. TD Insurance ($576,411)
4. Wawanesa Mutual ($563,931)
5. The Co-operators ($561,622)
6. Desjardins General ($508,035)
7. State Farm Fire and Casualty ($413,511)
8. RSA Canada ($391,853)
9. AXA Canada ($363,408)
10. Economical Insurance Group ($305,241)
11. Dominion of Canada ($248,288)
12. Ontario Mutual Insurance ($223,253)
13. Chubb Insurance of Canada ($201,080)
14. SGI Canada ($170,248)
15. Allstate Insurance of Canada ($168,801)
16. Capitale Assurance ($129,297)
17. Lloyd’s ($104,693)
18. RBC General Insurance ($95,519)
19. Gore Mutual Insurance ($80,959)
20. Guarantee Company of North America ($70,075)

*all figures for net written premiums are $,000

For more categories of Top 20 insurers, click here.