Recent blog posts - Hubbard Insurance News

Oct

23

RISK Management, Insurance Directors & Officers Liability - Survey Results

A 2016 Private Company Risk Survey shows that more than one in four Canadian private companies surveyed experienced a Directors & Officers (D&O) liability loss in the past three years — and 97 percent of those companies were impacted financially. Such losses impact companies of all sizes and industries, ranging from construction, to manufac...turers, to retailers and more. Despite the frequency and impact of these events, many private companies have not purchased D&O insurance to help manage their risks. Why? Because non-buyers mistakenly believe the coverage is unnecessary, either because they are privately held or family run. This belief stems from the misconception that most suits or fines are brought by shareholders, which is commonly the case in the more highly publicized suits brought against public companies. But for private companies, suits from customers, vendors/suppliers and other third parties most prevalently lead to losses. Even more alarming, when a non-buyer does experience a D&O loss, the average cost is over $200,000 — a sum that can have a serious and potentially devastating impact on any organization’s balance sheet. Based on information collected by Chadwick Martin Bailey from 412 decision-makers for firms’ management and professional liability risk management and insurance coverage for businesses within select industries in Canada. SOURCE: Chubb Insurance For more information, contact: John Hubbard RIB, CAIB, CCIB President, Corporate Risk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloakd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addyd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57 = 'john' + '@'; addyd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57 = addyd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57 + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_textd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57 = 'john' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloakd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57').innerHTML += ''+addy_textd91bca1a20e36b148f9cb617f662aa57+''; Bryce Elliott BA Hons, RIB, CIP Vice President, Corporate Risk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloak057639069ed36121f139267d37619537').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy057639069ed36121f139267d37619537 = 'bryce' + '@'; addy057639069ed36121f139267d37619537 = addy057639069ed36121f139267d37619537 + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text057639069ed36121f139267d37619537 = 'bryce' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloak057639069ed36121f139267d37619537').innerHTML += ''+addy_text057639069ed36121f139267d37619537+''; More

Sep

27

Major DoorDash Data Breach

The food delivery giant DoorDash confirmed on Thursday that nearly 5 million customers have been left exposed due to a massive data breach. The hack seems to be an all-encompassing one as customers, delivery workers, and merchants were all left vulnerable with their data being stolen. Despite the fact that it is now nearly October, this bre...ach occurred in May earlier this year – meaning that it took the company 5 months to detect and confirm this breach. There is no doubt that DoorDash will receive severe backlash for this as customers have continued using this platform without any knowledge that they have been exposed. Mattie Magdovitz, the spokesperson for the company, asserted blame onto a third-party service provider and stated that “we immediately launched an investigation and outside security experts were engaged to assess what occurred.” However, there was no comment on why it took nearly half a year to even acknowledge this data breach. According to DoorDash, sensitive information involving credit card numbers and bank account numbers was stolen. The company, though, is adamant that the information that was stolen was not sufficient to make fraudulent charges or withdrawals. Furthermore, profile data such as username and passwords – as well as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses were stolen. Even more worrying perhaps that over 100,000 delivery workers had their license numbers hacked. This is by all accounts a major data breach and the aftermath could be incredibly worrying for the company itself. Previously, we have spoken about the data breaches that have hit Canva, Desjardins, and Capital One. In all of these cases, lawsuits have followed seeking damages worth hundreds of millions of dollars. At the current moment, there is no indication that this time will be any different – especially considering the lack of urgency DoorDash has shown in acknowledging this breach. The company states that users who joined after April of 2018 are safe and that their data has not been exposed; however, the nearly 5 million users who joined before that date did not get as lucky. What’s even more worrying is that exactly a year ago – in September of 2018 – users on DoorDash complained of a data breach. These customers stated that their accounts were improperly handled and that fraudulent charges were appearing on their cards. DoorDash, though, failed to address these allegations – offering no response to those who were affected. Instead, a spokesperson for the company stated in an email to TechCrunch that “based on the information available to us, including internal investigations, we have determined that the fraudulent activity reported by consumers resulted from credential stuffing.” This claim was widely rejected by its customer-base with one victim stating “simply makes no sense that so many people randomly had their accounts infiltrated for so much money at the same time.” There is no doubt now that, in light of this recent confirmed data breach, many will look back to a year ago and question the findings of the company. It should be noted, though, that data breaches are increasingly common nowadays. Companies like DoorDash, Canva, Desjardins, and Capital One will get all the news coverage because of their size but the reality is that smaller-to-medium sized businesses are more at-risk of an attack of this nature. Make sure your business is protected in the event of a cyber-attack. In today’s technological climate, it is not a question of if there will be an attack but rather when one will affect you. Cyber crime is an inevitability. Contact one of our licensed experts today at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloakdd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addydd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e = 'better' + '@'; addydd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e = addydd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_textdd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e = 'better' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloakdd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e').innerHTML += ''+addy_textdd1f0428952be8a31971d283f8afd30e+''; or call us at 905-696-9090. We can help you stay protected. More

Sep

24

Costs for Employer-Provided Medical Benefits to Rise in 2020

It seems that insurance costs are increasing every time we look – whether it’s because of the nature of the market or because technology is making everything more expensive. From home insurance to auto insurance, we’ve covered the recent increases and the reasons for them. However, there is now a new increase – but is this different? According to... a brand new report published by AON, “employer-provided medical benefit costs in Canada are forecasted to rise 6.0% in 2020.” If this forecast proves to be accurate, it would mean a 1.9% outpacing of general inflation. Why are these costs rising? The answer is twofold. Firstly, the leading medical conditions faced by Canadians today are pointing towards a worrying trend. As of 2019, the top five conditions are as follows: musculoskeletal problems (to do with bones and muscles), cardiovascular, mental health related, diabetes, and cancer/tumour growth. It becomes immediately clear that none of these conditions have any simple cures. Sure, muscle and bone problems can often be taken care of with medication; but most often this is relief of symptoms and is temporary. As with the other medical conditions, the symptoms are managed without any actual cure being made. All of these medical conditions are most likely become chronic and ongoing – and that is where the increase comes in. Tim Nimmer, the Global Chief Actuary for Health Solutions at AON stated that these factors “lead to chronic conditions with long-term medical costs that make them difficult to treat and result in long-term medical cost increases.” This brings about the second reason that costs are increasing – the risk-factors that lead to these medical conditions in the first place. According to this report, the top five risk-factors are: aging, physical inactivity, bad nutrition, insufficient sleep, and smoking. Since the fountain of youth remains elusive, aging isn’t a factor that much can be done about. The other four though point to an increasingly stressed out workforce. It’s no secret that the more stressed out someone becomes, the more likely they are to pick up bad habits and not take care of themselves. Physical inactivity, for example, could be from the fact that many spend extended periods of times behind desks; or it could be that, once someone has free time, they are far too worn out from working to do anything active. That can create a cycle of eating unhealthy foods, not sleeping enough, and picking up harmful habits such as smoking to deal with the stress. It is quite telling that smoking is a leading health risk factor in Canada but not in the rest of the world. Combing these risk factors with the chronic medical conditions they bring about demonstrates why these costs are rising. The report goes onto state that “the increase … is due to higher costs from the increased spend (sic) for drugs.” However, the question posed at the start was whether or not these increases were all bad. It goes without saying that an increase in spending on drugs is less than ideal because of the implications it comes with; but there is another side to this story. Take mental health related issues for examples. There has been a significantly brighter spotlight placed on this subject and, though that raises costs, this increased emphasis is crucial. We are understanding our conditions better and therefore dealing with them in healthier ways. It is the job of insurer’s to guide employers to better understand the struggles that their workforce may be going through – and this increase in costs shows that employers are willing to put in the effort. Different wellness initiatives are being put in place to make sure that the workplace can be one that is healthy and productive. To learn more about how to improve the workplace with health and wellness initiatives or to discuss your employee benefits plan, contact one of our licensed advisors today at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloakbcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addybcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a = 'better' + '@'; addybcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a = addybcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_textbcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a = 'better' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloakbcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a').innerHTML += ''+addy_textbcb0043158eab283df1a59afd683092a+''; or simply call us at 905-696-9090. More

Sep

09

The Most Dangerous Form of Driving

We’ve all seen our fair share of dangerous drivers on the road – people who believe that they are auditioning for the Jeff Gordon biopic with their hard accelerating and braking, as well as their aggressive cornering. Yet, it turns out that all those forms of dangerous driving are statistically insignificant when it comes to car crashes. Research...ers from the University of Waterloo recently processed the telematics data of over 28 million trips and found that there is one form of dangerous driving that stands above all the others when it comes to causing crashes. Speeding. So, how was this determined? Telematics isn’t exactly mainstream but it is undeniably valuable. In short, telematics is a method of monitoring the behavior of a vehicle. The GPS system of a car is combined with on-board diagnostics to essentially record where a car is and how fast it is going. This data also allows experts to quantify different dangerous driving aspects such as hard cornering and aggressive accelerating and braking. With all this data recorded, it turns out speed is the main culprit in accidents. Telematics is often used by insurance companies when assessing the risk of a driver – and this study could significantly affect future underwriting guidelines. Whilst insurance companies already look at violations such as speeding tickets, this new study quantifies what many have believed for a long time; speeding is exceptionally dangerous. Dr. Allaa (Ella) Hilal touches on this by stating “some of the results are no surprise, but prior to this we had a whole industry based on intuition.” According to Dr. Hilal, this intuition has now been turned into reliable data which will allow for better decision-making going forward. There has been a shift in the insurance industry in recent history in regards to telematics data. Previously, risk was judged with a heavy emphasis on age, location, or gender – all things that can cause biased, unreliable results. It is the hope of many within the industry that drivers will be more mindful of their driving habits now that they know this information. If the riskiness of driving decreases, there is a strong chance that premiums will follow suit. Dr. Hilal concluded “we are super-pumped about its (the study’s) potential.” However, there are still certain issues to iron out. Telematics cannot differentiate between who drives a vehicle. If the person who owns the vehicle is a safe driver and they lend their vehicle to a friend that drives dangerously, the recorded data will not account for this difference. Moreover, there is the added complication of distracted driving. Whereas telematics may suggest that forms of dangerous driving other than speeding are statistically irrelevant when determining crashes, it does not take into account the heightened risk brought by distracted driving. If you are cornering hard or accelerating aggressively whilst using your phone, that drastically increases the likelihood of a crash. Distracted driving simply cannot be ignored – especially considering that insurance industry experts believe it to be their biggest concerns regarding auto-crashes. Whilst the technology nor the study may be perfect, they are still landmark achievements that will undoubtedly shape the future of risk-assessment. Personal judgement and human error can be taken out of the equation altogether once numbers become solely responsible for figuring out which behaviors are the most dangerous. If you want to learn more about your car insurance, contact one of our licensed brokers today at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloak3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02 = 'better' + '@'; addy3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02 = addy3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02 + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02 = 'better' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloak3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02').innerHTML += ''+addy_text3b86357f01bd3958c1514de6d5ec3f02+''; or simply call at 905-696-9090 More

Aug

22

Jewellery Insurance - Why You Need It

The value of jewellery is often twofold: monetary and sentimental. Buying an engagement ring can set you back thousands of dollars – but it symbolises love and affection; and that is literally worth its weight in gold. Imagining losing something of such value? Who hasn’t misplaced a ring or some other form of jewellery? Whilst the sentimental valu...e attached to an item can’t be recovered, its monetary value can – and that offers the opportunity to create new memories. Considering the increasingly large amount of money spent on jewellery every year, it’s no surprise that more people are looking to protect such assets. Jewellery rarely loses its monetary value – precious gems and metals almost always become more valuable over time. So, how can you go about insuring your jewellery? Did you know that your jewellery might already be covered? Typical home insurance policies offer a combined coverage for certain valuables. Unfortunately, this coverage is often incredibly limited. It may appear on the surface that insuring something so valuable against theft and damage may come at a high price. After all, people are always losing jewellery or having small accidents that cause damage such as a stone falling out or the glass shattering on your prized watch. The costs to replace or repair the damage can be expensive. Jewellery insurance is perhaps one of the most cost-effective policies that exist today. Typically, the premium for an item of jewellery is 1%-2% of its value per year. Yes, you read that right. That means that insuring a $6,000 ring would only cost $60 every 12 months – something that can be added onto the already existing home insurance policy. Now how can you get your valued jewels and gems insured? It is rather simple and we are here to help. Step one; figure out which items you want to get insured – and, with how economical it is, you may as well do the lot. Step two; appraise the items by a gemologist. Step three; provide that appraisal to use to ensure we insure it to value. This simple three-step process can save your heartache down the line. Invest in jewellery insurance today so that future you can be grateful for saving on the costs of unexpected repair or replacement. To find out more about jewellery insurance and how we can help, contact us today at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloakee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addyee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda = 'better' + '@'; addyee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda = addyee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_textee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda = 'better' + '@' + 'hubbardinsurance' + '.' + 'com';document.getElementById('cloakee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda').innerHTML += ''+addy_textee4542918d1a2cddfd005f9abc148eda+''; or simply call us at 905-696-9090. More