Insurance Review: Winter 2010

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Insurance Review offers a Canadian perspective on the challenges and opportunities in the insurance industry. The articles in the Winter 2010 issue are:

• 13th Annual Global CEO Survey – Risk and regulation feature high on the insurance industry’s agenda
• Reflection, inflection and direction – tax risk management in an increasingly transparent world
• 2010 Changes to Canadian insurance business in force – Part XIII of the Insurance Companies Act

According to our 13th Annual Global CEO report, insurance CEOs are more cautious about the immediate commercial outlook than their peers in other sectors. Only 58% believe the industry has already started recovering or will do so by the end of 2010, compared with the overall average of 72%. Similarly, only 13% are certain of their ability to increase revenues over the next 12 months, compared with 31% of the total survey sample. The recession has put pressure on both volumes and prices, and uncertainly remains over its full impact.

13th Annual Global CEO Survey – Risk and regulation feature high on the insurance industry’s agenda (41 KB)

The recent market turmoil that resulted in a massive government stimulus throughout the world leads to the obvious question – who will be asked to pay the bill? The actions to date confirm the financial sector may pay a significant part of the debt through a combination of new taxes, increasing the tax collection burden on financial institutions and enforcement actions. In this article, we examine these developments and what actions financial institutions should consider.

Reflection, inflection and direction - tax risk management in an increasingly transparent world (92 KB)

On January 1, 2010, amendments to Part XIII of the Insurance Companies Act (ICA) came into force. These amendments govern the operations of foreign insurance companies in Canada and were made to increase consistency with the Income Tax Act and the Winding-up and Restructuring Act. As a result, the Canadian regulatory framework for foreign insurance companies is now generally based on the location of the insurer’s business activities, rather than on the location of the risks it insures.

2010 Changes to Canadian insurance business in force – Part XIII of the Insurance Companies Act (46 KB)

Insurance Review: Winter 2010 (466 KB)