Wawanesa Leads Panel Discussion on Future of Commercial Insurance
Toronto, ON – To help commercial insurance brokers prepare for the future, Wawanesa Insurance convened a gathering of Canadian commercial insurance brokers for a panel discussion in downtown Toronto. The event, The Commercial Market: The Changing Opportunity, addressed the challenges and opportunities within the commercial insurance sector and featured commentary from industry experts, including:
- Brett Boadway, Chief Operating Officer, IBAO
- Anna McCrindell, SVP & Chief Operations Officer – East, Wawanesa
- Behzad Salehoun, Canada Insurance Lead, Capco
- James Colaco, Partner, National Insurance Sector Leader, Deloitte
"This event underscores Wawanesa’s commitment to helping brokers adapt and excel in a rapidly changing commercial market," said Anna McCrindell, SVP & Chief Operations Officer – East, Wawanesa. "The commercial market has never been more complex, and yet there has never been so much opportunity for brokers and insurers to add value to every business we insure."
Key insights from the discussion included:
- The important role brokers play in providing valuable advice to help businesses succeed in a world of growing and varied risk, including catastrophes and inflationary pressures,
- The need to keep delivering meaningful risk management advice, built on improving data flow from AI and industry-specific automation platforms;
- The commercial insurance market remains complex, with some categories of business seeing a softening in rates and increased capacity and competition;
- New approaches to succession planning and training to help the industry deal with a perceived “talent gap” in the years ahead, including more effective job-shadowing, more meaningful and modern cohort training programs.
"As we navigate the evolving commercial lines landscape, at Wawanesa our focus is on being a thoughtful, dependable partner and advisor for commercial brokers," said Susan Williams-Bonet, VP Ontario Region and host of Wawanesa's event. "Wawanesa is focused on becoming a leading commercial insurer in Canada. We’re Canadian-owned, national in scope, financially strong and built for stability. All our decisions are made in Canada, often in brokers’ own markets, we have local, dedicated commercial underwriters, and our members and brokers can count on us to help. This is part of the difference we offer in the market, especially the highly competitive Ontario market."
Find ongoing updates, photos, videos, and insights from The Commercial Market: The Changing Opportunity, click here.
About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, founded in 1896, is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, with over $3.5 billion in annual revenue and assets of $10 billion. Wawanesa Mutual, with its National Headquarters in Winnipeg, is the parent company of Wawanesa Life, which provides life insurance products and services throughout Canada, and Western Financial Group, which distributes personal and business insurance across Canada. Wawanesa proudly serves more than 1.7 million members in Canada. The company actively gives back to organizations that strengthen communities, donating more than $3.5 million annually to charitable organizations, including over $2 million annually in support of people on the front lines of climate change. Learn more at wawanesa.com
For more information:
Brad Hartle
Manager, Corporate Communications & Media Relations
The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Phone: 1-844-946-6282
media@wawanesa.com