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Friendly
Reminders |
| Many insurance professionals across
Canada need to be aware that the deadline for obtaining
continuing education credits is fast approaching.
Insurance adjusters in Alberta
need to have all of their CE credits by May
31, 2008.
General Insurance Agents and Life/Accident
& Sickness Agents in Manitoba
need to have their CE credits in place by May
31, 2008. Insurance Adjusters
also need to have all of their credits completed by
June 30 this year.
General Insurance Agents, Life and A&S
Agents and Insurance Adjusters
in British Columbia will also need
to have all of their CE credits completed by May
31, 2008.
Avoid the panic and get your CE credits today.
ILScorp is happy to offer hundreds of hours of courses
for insurance professionals in any position, so there
is plenty of choice for those who still need credit
hours.
Call 1-800-404-2211 or visit ilscorp.com
if you need hours.
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Live
CAIB Preparation courses in Vancouver |
West Coast Training's Todd Hochban
will once again be leading live CAIB preparation courses
in Vancouver this summer. Following are the details:
CAIB IV:
Date:
June 16 - 20, 2008
Exam registration deadline: June 6
Exam date: July 9
CAIB II:
Date:
June 23 - 27, 2008
Exam registration deadline: June 6
Exam date: July 9
CAIB III:
Date:
August 18 - 22, 2008
Exam registration deadline: August
8, 2008
Exam date: September 10, 2008
Mr. Hochban has been an insurance trainer for over
16 years and has provided training to over 6,000 agents
and brokers over 2,200 training days.
For more information or to register, visit West
Coast Training.
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Industry Briefs |
| Former chief
executive asks AIG to postpone annual shareholder meeting
Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief executive and
largest individual shareholder of AIG, urged the insurer
to postpone its annual meeting in the wake of its massive
first-quarter loss, according to regulatory filing early
this week.
American International Group Inc., the world's largest
insurance company, said Friday it lost US$7.81 billion,
or $3.09 per share, in the first quarter. AIG also announced
plans to raise $12.5 billion in the coming months to
shore up its capital base.
Greenberg said New York-based AIG has not explained
why it chose to raise $12.5 billion in the capital markets
rather than pursuing other options, such as divesting
non-core assets or seeking other sources of funding.
Following the announcement, AIG shares dropped $1.91,
or 4.7 per cent, Monday to close at $38.37, their lowest
point since October 1998, following a downgrade from
Goldman Sachs. Shares slipped another 12 cents in after-hours
electronic trading.
Greenberg was forced out of the company in 2005. He
owns about 1.57 per cent of the company's outstanding
shares, according to Lionshares.com, a website that
tracks companies' largest shareholders.
--
American mortgage insurer PMI Group sees $274
million Q1 loss
PMI Group, a US mortgage insurer saw losses for the
quarter ending March 31 totaling $274 million or $3.37
per share, compared with a 2007 Q1 net income of $102
million, or $1.16 per share.
The company says that delinquencies and defaults among
mortgages have increased rapidly over the year and for
each default and foreclosure, PMI must pay out claims
to the investors that hold the mortgages.
PMI said it reduced the value of its investment in
Financial Guaranty (FGIC) from $103.6 million at Dec.
31 to zero.
--
Llyod's warns of "above average"
hurricane season
Lloyd's has told its American insurers to brace themselves
for what might be an above average storm season, with
as many as eight hurricanes potentially heading for
landfall in the eastern states.
William Gray and Phil Klotzbach, hurricane forecasters
at Colorado State University, believe there is a 69
per cent chance of a major hurricane hitting the US
coastline in this year's season, which officially begins
on June first. This compares with last century’s
average of 52 per cent.
There is around a 45 percent chance that a major hurricane
(Cat 3 to 5) will hit the US East Coast and another
the Gulf Coast, that was hit so heavily by the 2005
storms. Above-average major hurricane landfall is also
expected in the Caribbean.
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May's
Green Tips and Facts |
Each Canadian throws away approximately
half a kilogram of packaging daily. In fact, half of
our cities' solid waste by volume -and one-third of
our waste by weight - is made up of packaging.
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Find out more about ILScorp's courses
Important notice regarding ILScorp’s Commercial
General Liability and Business Interruption Insurance courses
On June 16, ILScorp is launching six new commercial
video courses which will be added to the Annual General Insurance
Subscription
Also on this date, the currently-active Commercial
General Liability course series and the Business Interruption
Insurance courses will be added to the Annual General Insurance
Subscription so ILScorp subscribers have even more continuing
education options to choose from.
While the CGL series and the Business Interruption
Insurance courses are currently available for purchase either
as individual courses or as part of a package, it is worth
noting that these will be rolled into the Annual General Insurance
Subscription next month.
The six new video commercial courses are instructed by long-time
insurance educator Todd Hochban and include the following
titles:
- Commercial Crime
- Commercial Property Coverages
- Commercial Sales
- Commercial Property
- Commercial Management
- Underwriting
You've asked for more commercial courses and ILScorp has
delivered. Check out these courses - and more - on June 16,
2008.
Canadian Employment Trends
Number of "New Canadians" in the workforce growing,
but so is the gap with Canadian-born workers
 According
to Statistics Canada, employment among immigrants increased
2.1 percent in 2007 while employment for Canadian-born workers
increased just 1.3 percent.
Employment among "core working-age" immigrants,
those aged 25 to 54, rose by 52,000 over 2006, meaning 77.9
per cent of New Canadians were employed. However, employment
among Canadian-born workers grew as well, with a total employment
rate of 83.8 percent.
While labour forces for both Canadian- and foreign-born core
groups grew in 2007, the gap can be explained due to the fact
that the immigrant population itself grew far faster than
their employment.
Statistics Canada said that almost all of the employment
growth for immigrants last year occurred among "established"
immigrants, especially those who have been in Canada for more
than 10 years.
More than half of the growth in employment among core working-age
immigrants last year occurred in Quebec, where it was up 28,000
over 2006.
As well, employment for immigrant women aged 25 to 54 increased
by 47,000, accounting for the vast majority of the estimated
52,000 gain for core working-age immigrants.
Holiday Hours at ILScorp
 It's
Victoria Day – the highly anticipated May Long Weekend
and unofficial kick-off to summer.
The ILScorp office will be closed on Monday,
May 19 and will reopen at normal office hours on
Tuesday, May 20.
Everyone at ILScorp wishes you a happy and safe holiday weekend.
Please remember, even though our offices may be closed, all
of our courses are available online 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week.
If you forgot your username and password, you can always
request them via email by following these steps:
- Go to www.ilscorp.com
- Move your mouse over the "Contact Us" button
on the top right
- Click on "Forgot Username/Password"
- Enter your email address
- Click "Get my Username/Password"
What’s happening on the roads? From #1 in car
theft to mandatory immobilizers
The province of Quebec has officially become the car theft
capital of Canada. In 2006, the Belle Province reported 38,821
stolen vehicles, the highest in the country and more than
in Ontario which had 38,398 cases of auto theft despite having
nearly five million more residents.
The news gets worse for Quebecers: while an average of seven
out of every 10 cars stolen in Canada are recovered, only
two out of every 10 in Quebec is.
Quebec police – and insurance professionals –
believe that the province's high number of auto thefts can
be traced to organized crime. Last month police arrested 42
people in the Sherbrooke area after luxury cars were being
stolen by the same group of people and then resold as legitimate
merchandise.
The scope of the theft ring was such that its alleged leaders
were charged with gangsterism, a first for car thieves.
Last month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed amending
the Criminal Code with Bill C-343, which would make auto theft
a separate offense in the Criminal Code, rather than treating
it as a simple property crime. Currently auto theft is included
under a Criminal Code provision that covers theft of any item
worth more than $5,000.
Meanwhile in Manitoba, another province ravaged by auto theft,
Manitoba Public Insurance has requested that another batch
of vehicles be added to the list that would require mandatory
immobilizers.
Last year, MPI announced that it would require any vehicle
built and for sale after September 1, 2007 be outfitted with
the anti-theft devices. However, this week the public insurer
is looking to add more vehicles, which could this time affect
another 50,000 drivers.
Winnipeg has long been considered Canada's car theft capital,
with nearly double the number of stolen vehicles in 2006 than
second-place Edmonton.
Buy, Sell and Trade with help from ILScorp
Are you taking the Fundamentals of Insurance immersion course
this month and want to recoup some of your expenses? Or are
you in the middle of a spring clean and have some insurance
text books that are collecting dust on your shelves?
Other people may be able to use your textbooks and you may
be able to make a few dollars as well. If you're interested
in buying, selling or trading insurance texts, ILScorp's Book
Exchange Forum can help find buyers, sellers and traders.
Sign up for free today at the
book exchange forum.
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