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How segmentation is shaping commercial property softening
Canadian commercial lines continue to soften, but that softening is not uniform. In commercial property, market segmentation is increasingly pronounced in 2026, says Aon’s Spring 2026 Canadian Insurance Market Update.

“Accounts with robust risk management, preferred occupancies, accurate valuations, and limited catastrophe exposure are seeing meaningful rate relief, enhanced wordings, and improved sublimits,” the report says.

“By contrast, properties with adverse loss histories, wood frame or highly combustible construction, complex industrial processes, or significant exposure to key natural perils continue to face tighter terms and elevated scrutiny relative to other segments in the market.”

Underwriters remain focused on severe convective storm, flood, wildfire, earthquake and windstorm, particularly in known Canadian hotspots, the report says. In those Cat-exposed areas, carriers are recalibrating sublimits and increasing deductibles. In some cases, insurers are also applying higher waiting periods or more restrictive terms, even while core all-risks pricing eases.

For clients, Aon says, this segmentation reinforces the value of reinvesting in physical risk improvements, data quality, and valuations now, so that their risk profile moves — or stays — on the preferred side of the market divide.

Aon notes underwriting discipline remains strong in 2026. But it’s expressed through selection, data quality and differentiation rather than across-the-board rate pressure. Insurers are placing heightened emphasis on accurate valuations to address years of construction cost and inflation lag, as well as high quality COPE (Construction, Occupancy, Protection, Exposure) data.

“Demonstrable mitigation such as wildfire defensible space, enhanced flood protections, hail and windstorm measures, robust maintenance programs and resilient building materials, has become a critical differentiator,” the report says.

The softer commercial market gives clients an opportunity to fund these upgrades, Aon says, by deliberately investing a portion of premium savings into:

Updated valuations and improved total insured value and COPE data

Targeted risk engineering and loss prevention projects

Resilience measures, such as flood defences, wildfire hardening, and roof and envelope upgrades

Stronger emergency response and business continuity planning.

Organizations can both unlock better terms today and reduce volatility at the next turn of the cycle. Escalating Cat frequency and severity, persistent inflation in repair and reconstruction costs, and geopolitical and supply chain volatility continue to create uncertainty around long-term loss costs and capital availability, Aon says.

“Even in a softer rating environment, carriers and brokers are leaning more heavily on analytics, catastrophe modelling, and scenario testing to design property programs that are sustainable across cycles.”

Overall, the Canadian commercial property insurance sector remains resilient in 2026, with strong underwriting performance and improved investment income supporting increased capacity and competitive momentum, despite elevated catastrophe losses.

As the year progresses, organizations that deliberately reinvest in their property programs, rather than simply banking short-term savings, will be best positioned, Aon’s report says. “Proactive risk management, improved data, and thoughtful program redesign enable buyers to capture current market benefits while building a more resilient, future-ready insurance and risk financing strategy.”
May 1, 2026
Why AI won’t replace human claims adjusters

Claims surges caused by natural catastrophes (NatCats) or other major events create bottlenecks for insurance claims adjusters. And that’s where manual work processes can collapse.

That has some firms developing artificial intelligence (AI) agents and other options to take up slack by triaging clients – freeing human adjusters to help people who are in genuine distress, say two authors of a recent Deloitte report on property and casualty (P&C) insurance claims trends.

“Automation scales. So, you’re able to have those conversations about your claim, and [it] removes a lot of that administration that bogs [processes] down when there’s a surge event,” says Colin Asselstine, a director and insurance claims leader at Deloitte.

A lot of claims-related AI development centres on creating engines to do data validation, policy and coverage checks, triage, routing, document ingestion, classification, summation, notification and status updates.

“Those are all really good candidates for automation,” Asselstine tells Canadian Underwriter. “It allows you to protect the customer experience, make sure your operations [are] resilient. You give back to the customer that really needs your support.”

Related: AI is shrinking the pool for junior hires. Is apprenticeship drying up, too?

But automation also must react to the claim type.

Chris Duvinage, a partner and national P&C insurance segment leader at Deloitte, notes that while NatCat damage is often property-specific, that’s not always the case.

“The second you have some element of bodily injury, [the person wants to] talk to somebody. So just because you can technically automate that process [using] AI…it doesn’t mean it’s [always advisable],” he tells CU.

Adoption of AI will, though, create different work and training needs for adjusters’ workforces.

“You don’t want to move away from the existing contact centers,” says Duvinage. “In fact, you may want to train your people to be even more empathetic…around some of the people skills and take the…lower-value work like data entry, and copy and pasting between systems away from them so they can truly focus on [clients] in the moment, rather than trying to solve back-end systems and processes.”

Adds Asselstine, “You want them to look at complex coverage, complex liabilities. Look at escalations, negotiations. That’s where humans are effective, and that’s where [AI] is pushing towards using our skill sets as humans.”

Which is why adjusters, particularly older workers, shouldn’t be afraid of losing their jobs.

“From an age perspective…it’s those folks with the experience that can be more empathetic; that have a solution on the phone and are…better-trained to have some of the customer-facing conversations,” says Duvinage.

Related: Why claims pros see an influx of fire claims during deep freezes

The best adjusters help customers understand their post-NatCat-event status and can explain complex insurance processes so that clients understand their next steps, says Asselstine.

“Depending on the claim, there’s a lot of that empathy and the trust and feeling…for a customer when they’re under stress – and being able to relate to tell [them that] everything [will] be okay. That’s true today. That will be true tomorrow,” he tells CU.

Adjusting firms, insurance companies, and some brokers must also prepare for how AI augmentation will help both veterans and new hires improve work processes. Those who get comfortable working alongside AI tools will benefit from their ability to do tasks like summarizing documents and even providing suggestions for next steps.

“It’ll listen to a conversation. It’ll take a summary of that. It’ll pull up the policy. It’ll pull up your internal standard operating procedures (SOP), and say, ‘Based off what I heard, I think these are [the] relevant areas of [the] policy, and this is the relevant area of our SOP,’” Asselstine says.

“It’s [giving] suggestions for humans to then validate. When the guardrails are up [around AI] and insurers get comfortable that 99.99% of time the model is giving the right answer, you can then say, ‘For these simple claims I’m good with the model making the decision.’”

May 1, 2026
AI is shrinking the pool for junior hires. Is apprenticeship drying up, too?

Hiring for junior positions in the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry is drying up, as artificial intelligence fundamentally shifts away from the traditional apprenticeship recruitment model, panellists said last Thursday at the Insurance Institute of Canada’s annual CIP Symposium.

Danish Yusuf, CEO and founder of Zensurance, notes job opportunities for junior roles in brokerages appear to be shrinking.

“The roles that are changing most are…[those involving] knowledge work,” Yusuf says, when asked about the impact of AI in the workplace. “In our case, that means the onboarding roles for brand new brokers, brand new assistant underwriters — that’s the area where we’ve really dramatically reduced how much hiring we’re doing.

Yusuf noted junior engineer roles at a brokerage were the first to feel the impact two years ago. For example, a junior engineer might help a senior engineer improve the speed and accuracy of policy generation, quoting, and risk assessment (for example, collecting risk data to support a client’s insurance submission).

“On the engineering side, as of two years ago, we stopped hiring Junior folks,” Yusuff said. “We couldn’t justify giving them a good experience. The engineering side happened two years ago. The broker and underwriter side is happening now. So that’s the space that’s being impacted the most.”

Impact on Apprenticeship

Vlad Koltchine, chief revenue officer and insurance operations leader at Sinistar, moderated the panel discussion, ‘People First: Building Careers in the Age of AI.’ He wondered how the shrinking number of junior roles affects the industry’s traditional apprenticeship recruitment model.

“When you were speaking about some of the generally more difficult roles to fill with more skill and complexity,” Koltchine said, “to me, those roles tend to be the ones that had a more or less sort of logical progression in the industry, starting from the more junior through to the apprenticeship, and then the trust-building and then the experience building.

“And it’s question to the entire panel: Do you believe we’re at risk of disrupting this apprenticeship model that we’ve been so accustomed to in those more technical, complex roles?”

Yousef answered, “I think it’s going to change, and it’s going to change meaningfully, and it could be changing for the better.

“I’ll give you the analogy for us. We’ve got underwriters. We still want them to review files and do what they do. But in parallel, and they know this, the AI system is running and double-checking everything that they’re doing.

“And we ran through all of the past referrals that they’ve done, and the answers they gave, and what the system would have given. And it’s now helping the underwriters be much more efficient, because it’s running in parallel and making them better.”

Impact on Gen Z

P&C industry careers most impacted by AI would be those of Gen Z recruits, said Randy Dhillon, senior vice president and chief people officer at Wawanesa. Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is the age cohort following the Millennials.

“Gen Z would come into organizations to develop their skills, develop their critical thinking, develop their emotional intelligence, and some of the pieces that we use to breed the next generation of leaders,” Dhillon said. “And so, I think this puts significant pressure on your talent pipelines, and we have to intentionally redesign how you’re going to accomplish the same outcomes in a very different architecture moving forward.”

Gerald Legrove, president of DGA Careers, which specializes in recruiting for the insurance industry, says the shift away from recruiting for junior roles to more complex, specialized or technical roles means the recruiting process will lengthen.

“In D&O, complex construction risks, aviation — any role requiring greater expertise, greater complexity — you’re just dealing with a smaller pool of candidates,” he said.

“Beyond that, those companies that are employing those great people right now don’t want to let them go. And so, they’re going further, a little more, to hang on to people.

“For those of you who are not working with us or recruiting on your own, what I would highly recommend is, if you’re looking to fill a role that is critical to your organization, a role with a real knowledge or specialty work, take your time, get to know the individual well. Know what motivates them.”

But while the recruitment process may be getting longer, the AI world has the onboarding process shrinking.

A two-year-long training period to develop technical and soft skills has now been radically compressed, says Yusuf.

“What that means for us as the organization is we can’t rely on those two years to train people,” he says. “We need to hire them, have a really in-depth training program — and not over two years, but in two months. They have to be what would have been two years of training.

“It’s big investment from our side to get the people on board for sure.”

April 30, 2026
Regulator bans unlicensed company from selling incidental insurance
Ontario’s insurance regulator has issued a cease-and-desist order against Assureway Protection Corporation, finding the insurance provider sold gap protection to car buyers through auto dealerships without a licence to sell insurance.

“From late 2025 to date, FSRA [Financial Services Regulatory Authority] received numerous complaints from consumers asserting that claims on their gap products with Assureway Protection were being ignored, denied, or deemed invalid,” FSRA noted in a Mar. 3 notice of proposal to penalize Assureway. “These complaints also included consumers from other provinces.”

Gap insurance protects consumers if they can no longer use their vehicle due to theft, an accident, or mechanical defect. It generally covers the financial shortfall between the amount remaining on a vehicle loan and the vehicle’s actual cash value.

Gap products are often sold with vehicle purchases at a motor vehicle dealership. To offer them, service providers require a licence to sell insurance.

In a November 2016 settlement with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the province’s insurance regulator at the time, Assureway Insurance agreed to offer gap insurance only through Lloyd’s of London, a licensed insurer.

At that time, AssureWay Insurance agreed to stop offering a gap-like insurance product called the Product Equity Loss Protection Program — or any similar products — unless it was underwritten by a licensed insurer.

Assureway Insurance committed to stop dealership-based sales/advertising, to transfer existing coverage to Lloyd’s, and to use licensed intermediaries to distribute the product.

Related: Ontario regulator issues warning over unlicensed GAP insurance provider

As of 2020, Lloyd’s stopped providing coverage for gap products offered through AssureWay. Two years later, AssureWay Insurance ceased operations.

In 2022, Assureway Protection was created and assumed the business of AssureWay Insurance. Lloyd’s never underwrote any Assureway Protection gap product, FSRA’s notice of proposal states.

Shiraz Hussain is the sole officer and director of Assureway Protection. He was also a director and officer of AssureWay Insurance, where he had been a director since 2013.

Once established, Assureway Protection offered “TruGap Protection” through Ontario motor dealers, FSRA notes.

FSRA accused Assureway Protection of “misrepresenting that they were underwritten by Lloyd’s when they were not,” and misrepresenting the terms of the contracts to consumers.

“When consumers contacted Assureway Protection about their claims, some were advised that the company was reviewing its operations and financial position,” FSRA’s Mar. 3 notice of proposal states. “Assureway Protection also indicated that it was ‘self-insured….’

“Without being licensed as an insurer, there is an increased risk that Assureway Protection may be unable to meet its financial obligations to consumers.”

Also in the news: Why brokers are feeling the squeeze from directs

FSRA concluded Assureway and Hussein were engaged in unfair deceptive acts and practices.

Having not received a request for hearing within 30 days of its notice of proposal, the regulator issued a cease and desist order. Specifically, FSRA ordered Assureway and Hussein to:

Provide all motor vehicle dealers that have sold Assureway Protection products of any orders and interim orders made against it

Stop engaging in any insurance business in Ontario

Stop issuing any insurance products, including products similar to Assureway Protection’s “TruGap Protection” product and any other gap products

Stop holding itself out to consumers as being authorized to offer insurance products directly or indirectly

Stop collecting premiums for the sale of gap insurance products

Stop advertising, soliciting, or offering any services related to insurance products, including removing all references to gap insurance products offered by Assureway Protection from its website and all public relations materials

Notify in writing all motor vehicle dealers that have sold Assureway Protection products that Assureway Protection is not authorized to provide insurance, including gap products, and that its gap products are not underwritten by an insurer.
April 22, 2026
Why LAT denied benefits for medical cannabis costs in auto accident case

A person involved in a 2020 auto accident cannot claim benefits for medical cannabis, in part because the insurer provided some evidence the treatment may not have been helpful, according to an Apr. 16 decision by Ontario’s Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).

TD General Insurance denied benefits for a treatment plan submitted by Amit Missra, who claimed benefits for medical cannabis proposed by a doctor in 2022 as well as a social work assessment claim in 2022. LAT adjudicator Jeff Chatterton upheld the insurer’s denial of the medical cannabis claim, but did grant payment for the social work assessment and related interest costs.

Missra noted treatment plans calling for medical cannabis pharmaceuticals were prescribed by pain specialist Dr. Mansimram Bhatti and Dr. Eric Grief. The doctors felt the plan would reduce pain and help with depression, allowing Missra to return to normal life activities. Missra argued Dr. Bhatti made clear cannabis was important to treating his chronic pain and assisting him with depression and a sleep disorder.

A December 2022 Insurer’s Examination (IE) report conducted by Dr. Chris Aldridge for TD General Insurance argued medical cannabis was not reasonable or necessary. But Missra argued Dr. Aldridge is not an expert in chronic pain or psychological issues. As such, he said, the report should receive less weight.

“While I am alive to the argument that Dr. Aldridge is not an expert in chronic pain or psychological issues, I find his report to be of significance in relation to the [Missra’s] reporting about his experience of medical cannabis,” Chatterton wrote in Missra v. TD General Insurance Company.

“During the IE, on Nov. 25, 2022, [Missra] reported having used cannabis for four weeks, but was unable to describe any clear benefit. Conversely, [he] reported that [the antidepressants] Cymbalta or Wellbutrin provided some benefit to his mood.”

Further, the decision noted, “[Missra] was re-assessed four years post-accident, on Dec. 19, 2024, by Dr. Aldridge. In this session, [Missra] reported that cannabis produced only mild benefits (approximately 10%) versus Tylenol, which created 20[%] to 30% reduction in symptoms.

“As [Missra] has reported he is receiving little net benefit from the use of medical cannabis, I find [he] has not, on the balance of probabilities, met his onus to establish that the treatment plans or OCF-6 [expense claim] for medical cannabis are reasonable and necessary.”

Social work claim

As for the denial of the social work assessment claim, Missra argued a Nov. 2022 denial letter from his insurer was difficult to understand and “provided only a ‘boilerplate’ reasoning for denying the benefit,” according to the text of the decision.

Chatterton agreed the insurer’s letter did not comply with Section 38 of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) because it did not provide sufficient medical reason for the claim denial.

“The phrase, ‘[b]ased on the medical documentation we have on file, it does not support the requested treatment plan,’ is boilerplate language which does not speak to the [insurer’s] rationale for denying the specific treatment plan in dispute or the applicant’s specific condition,’” Chatterton’s decision reads.

“While I am alive to the arguments put forward by the [insurer] in its written submissions, the fact remains there was no reference to these reasons, such as a duplication of services, in the November 2022 Explanation of Benefits such that the requirements of s. 38(8) would be met.”

For this reason, he wrote, “The treatment plan for a Social Work Assessment…is payable under s. 38 of the Schedule [and] Interest is payable as per s. 51 of the Schedule.”

April 21, 2026
What P&C insurers can expect from OSFI next year
Cyber preparedness features prominently in the supervisory strategy of Canada’s solvency regulator for the 2026-27 fiscal year.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) released its Annual Risk Outlook last week. Among its insurance priorities for 2026-27 is “conducting targeted supervisory work on cyber preparedness and third-party risk related to critical outsourced operations.”

Third-party cyber risk remains a concern for Canadian businesses, according to research commissioned by commercial insurer QBE Canada last June.

More than half of Canadian businesses (53%) have experienced a cyber event in the past 12 months, QBE’s study found. Fifty-eight percent of those businesses said the events were supply chain- or vendor-related cyberattacks. QBE Canada’s survey included 400 IT departments in Canadian businesses.

For selected property and casualty insurers, OSFI says it will conduct thematic monitoring of cyber insurance underwriting and the emerging coverage of artificial intelligence.

“For selected insurers, we plan to conduct targeted cyber and technology risk reviews as well as ongoing monitoring of business integration and risk oversight of AI,” the regulator says in the report. “We will continue our intelligence-led cyber resilience testing for large insurers.

“For all insurers, we will review their response to cyber incidents and assess their cyber preparedness.”

Malicious cyber activities remain a “significant and evolving threat” to the financial sector and its critical service partners, OSFI notes in its annual risk outlook.

“Reported incidents demonstrate the growing sophistication of threat actors leveraging advanced and AI-enabled tools, which increase both the speed and scale at which cyber threats can materialize,” the regulator says. “Software vulnerabilities in common and required technology are expected to remain the most persistent and high-impact technology risk.”

For 2026-27, OSFI’s other two insurance priorities include a focus on ensuring carriers maintain resilience and sound risk management by:

evaluating insurers’ responses to market volatility, including oversight of investment, liquidity, and policyholder behaviour risks, and

assessing boards’ effectiveness in overseeing the risk appetite framework and alignment to insurers’ strategy as well as financial and capital plans

Continued resilience

For the insurance industry as whole, OSFI says Canada’s federally regulated insurers continue to demonstrate resilience amid persistent structural and cyclical pressures.

“The operating environment remains characterized by geopolitical uncertainty, elevated integrity and security risks, rapid technological change, and ongoing catastrophe-related losses,” the report says. “Competitive forces are accelerating shifts in operating and distribution models, as well as inorganic growth strategies, contributing to increased execution risks.”

Investment risks also remain elevated, OSFI says, reflecting continued market volatility. “This continues to expose insurers to reinvestment and valuation risk across asset classes. In addition, private market assets are playing a greater role in insurers’ investment portfolios, introducing increased opacity, complexity, and potential illiquidity constraints.”

In particular, P&C insurers face ongoing underwriting pressure, OSFI says. “Claims inflation, particularly in auto insurance, and a softening commercial lines market, test financial and operational soundness.”
April 20, 2026
How brokers are converting prospects into clients

Want those prospects to become paying customers? Get into the weeds.

So say 78% of respondents to this year’s National Broker Survey who indicate ‘engaging in a substantive dialogue about customers’ needs’ has helped them convert prospects into clients over the past two years.

The approach is getting slightly less shiny over time, though. Last year, 80% of survey respondents ranked the tactic Number 1, as did 82% in 2023 and 84% in 2022.

For 2026, men (90%) are more likely to say they get into deep client conversations than women (75%), as are mid-career brokers (85%) with between 16 and 30 years in the business, followed by veterans (83%) with more than 31 years in insurance, and younger brokers (80%) with 16 or fewer years under their belts.

Brokers at large firms (85%) with more than 100 employees also favour the long road to client knowledge, followed by those at mid-sized companies (84%) with 20 to 99 employees, and those at smaller firms (82%) with 20 or fewer people.

“Be genuine and transparent, as much as one can, in the initial and continual interactions with clients,” says one woman respondent who’s newer in the business. “Approach everyone as if you were selling [and] managing a policy to yourself. Treat others as you would treat yourself!”

What’s more, 60% of 2026 respondents say researching a prospect prior to a first meeting is key to converting them into a client. That’s well ahead of the 53% saying the same thing last year, but below 63% in 2024 and 64% in 2023.

Again, men (79%) are more supportive of the tactic, compared with women (44%). And mid-career brokers (71%) are most likely to conduct advanced research, followed by older brokers (61%) and newer entrants (56%) to the business. Those at large firms (69%) are most predisposed to favour the approach.

Related: Newer brokers climb onto the specialization bandwagon

Also less popular than last year is the tactic of tailoring the sales approach to a customer’s age, with 49% favouring the method this year, compared to 55% in 2025 and 56% in 2024.

Women (54%) show a higher preference for the approach than men (46%), as do younger brokers (55%) and those at larger firms (55%). Veteran brokers (49%) are next most likely to say age tailoring helps convert shoppers into buyers, followed by those at mid-career (43%). Those at small firms (48%) and mid-sized firms (47%) are statistically tied in their views about age-specific messaging.

Highlighting credentials or awards, at 16%, is this year’s least popular sales approach, and that’s statistically consistent with responses in the prior four years. Men (18%), newer brokers (19%), veterans (19%) and those at large firms (22%) are most likely to say they employ the tactic.

Investing time

Meanwhile, a related survey question finds brokers saying they’ve become increasingly hands-on with their clients. Eighty-one percent of respondents to this year’s survey say they ‘spend a meaningful amount of time working directly with customers’ as a producer. That’s up from 79% in 2025 and 71% in 2024.

Men (86%) are most likely to say they’re actively work in a producer capacity, compared to women (76%). Newer brokers (86%) are more likely to be hands-on with customers, followed by mid-career brokers (83%) and veterans (69%).

Those at smaller firms are most likely (88%) to say they spend meaningful time with customers, followed closely (87%) by those at large firms, with a significant drop-off (67%) for those at medium-sized firms.

Responding quickly and allocating time after hours also work. Fully 90% of respondents say getting back to clients fast helps seal the deal, and that percentage is consistent with findings over the past five years. And a bit more than half (53%) of respondents say that responding after hours is a key service component that helps move buyers from shopping to buying.

“We find that clients are very appreciative if you respond on a Saturday or in the evening,” says a woman respondent who’s newer to the business in a verbatim response. “But the final decision really depends on premium offered. Even the most exemplary service cannot win you a client if you are unable to offer them competitive pricing.”

Canadian Underwriter’s 2026 National Broker Survey heard from 169 brokers, with 32 identifying as brokerage owners or principals. The survey was conducted in February 2026, with support from Sovereign Insurance.

April 20, 2026
Industry veteran Heather Masterson announces next role

Canadian property and casualty insurance industry veteran Heather Masterson has announced she will be stepping into the role of president and CEO of Équité Association in September.

Masterson says she spent an “incredibly rewarding” decade as president and CEO of Travelers Canada. Most recently, she served as executive advisor to the president and CEO of Definity Financial Corporation, Rowan Saunders.

In May 2025, Definity entered into a $3.3-billion merger agreement to acquire Travelers’ Canadian business, adding about $1 billion of personal insurance business to its portfolio. The deal closed in January and makes Definity a Top 5 P&C insurer in Canada. Saunders said in an earnings call in February Definity is aspiring to become a Top 3 insurer in Canada.

“It has been a true privilege to work alongside one of the best teams in our industry,” Masterson says in a LinkedIn post Thursday. “Together, we built a high-performing organization grounded in a strong culture of care, accountability, and excellence. I am deeply proud of what we accomplished and confident in the team’s continued success at Definity.”

Following the Definity-Travelers transaction, Masterson says she took on a short-term advisory role to support the transition and ensure her team was well-positioned.

“With that work now complete, the timing feels right to step forward,” she writes. “This summer, I’ll be taking time to focus on family — something that has always been a core priority for me.”

On Sept. 8, 2026, Masterson will step into the role of president and CEO of Équité Association. The industry association’s mandate is to prevent insurance fraud and crime.

“I would also like to recognize Terri O’Brien for her outstanding leadership and contributions to our industry,” Masterson says, referring to the current president and CEO of Équité.

“To my colleagues at Travelers Canada and Definity — thank you,” Masterson writes in her LinkedIn post. “It has been a privilege to lead and to work alongside you. I will be cheering you on every step of the way. Here’s to the next chapter.”

Current Équité leader to retire

Équité Association tells Canadian Underwriter that O’Brien announced her intention to retire late last year and the association is pleased to welcome Masterson as its next president and CEO.

“Heather brings over three decades of leadership experience in the Canadian P&C insurance industry…,” Équité says. “Her strategic vision, operational acumen, and deep commitment to the Canadian insurance sector are well-established.”

Masterson is a founding and current member of Équité’s board of directors, where she has developed “deep knowledge of the association, its mandate, and our strategic priorities,” Équité tells CU. “She arrives not to learn the association, but to lead it, with a clear focus on continued growth of our mission and mandate.”

Adds O’Brien: “I have every confidence that Équité is well-positioned for continued success under Heather’s leadership, and I am committed to a thoughtful transition so that the strategic priorities we have built together continue with momentum and purpose.”

Masterson started her career with Travelers Canada as chief operating officer. Before that, she was president and CEO of Totten Insurance Group. She’s also had roles at Hub, AIG, and other insurers.

Masterson has extensive industry experience, including past roles as chair of the Insurance Bureau of Canada and chair of the Insurance Institute of Canada’s board of governors. She is also a past board director of the General Insurance Statistical Agency and the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corporation.

April 17, 2026
Major credit agency’s views on Canada’s insurance market

Canada’s property and casualty (P&C) insurance market racked up solid financial performance during 2025 compared with the prior year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence – a branch of credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s.

Key drivers are lower natural catastrophe (NatCat) losses during 2025 following the more than $9 billion insured losses during 2024, which were driven in large part by a series of four storms during the summer of that year.

The Top 15 federally licensed insurers saw their combined ratio drop 4.6 percentage points to 92.4% in 2025, the report adds. The combined ratio (COR) is calculated by adding up incurred losses and operating expenses, and then dividing that number by earned premiums. A number below 100% indicates a profit, while above that number represents a loss.

The ratings agency says the industry’s COR reflects “materially stronger underwriting execution and reduced catastrophe activity,” and that the improvement was most noticeable in property lines, where insurance revenues climbed 7.4%, while expenses fell 14.6% thanks to a normalization of NatCat costs following 2025’s high.

Related: The hidden, truer cost of NatCats in Canada

“Among the 15 largest Canadian P&C insurers reporting to OSFI [Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions], insurance service revenue [which is based on the cost of services provided over a set period] increased by more than 6.5% while expenses declined by 1.9%,” says S&P. “However, structural challenges persist, particularly in Alberta’s auto insurance market where regulatory rate constraints continue to compress margins despite ongoing consolidation efforts across the industry.”

Specifically, it notes the 15 largest federally-licensed insurers who write in Alberta saw a 113.3% gross insurance ratio in 2025, compared to 87.4% in other provinces.

“Persistent rate constraints, including the extension of a 7.5% ‘good driver’ rate cap through 2026, have kept earned premium growth behind claims cost inflation driven by auto theft, weather-driven losses, and rising repair and medical severity,” S&P says.

Related: Insurers still coping with Alberta auto rate-cap consequences

Further, Canada’s largest OSFI-filing firms posted a gross insurance service ratio (which divides total insurance service expenses by total insurance revenue) of 68.8%.

S&P also notes insurer consolidation among larger players, including Definity Financial Corporation’s acquisition of Travelers’ Canadian business and Wawanesa Mutual Insurance’s more recent announcement that it will acquire Everest Insurance of Canada.

“These deals reflect carriers’ strategic view that inorganic growth, scale expansion, and technology leverage are essential paths to building systemic resilience.”

April 16, 2026
Liberty Mutual Canada president takes on additional role
Liberty Mutual Insurance has announced the appointment of Rob Marsh as president of the insurer’s Global Risk Solutions (GRS) North America Specialty division.

Marsh will continue to serve as president and chief agent of Liberty Mutual Canada.

He joined Liberty Mutual in 2011 and has held several key leadership roles since that time. Since 2021, he has led Liberty Mutual Canada, delivering strong growth and profitability while championing innovation and a people-first culture, the insurer says in a press release Tuesday.

“Our Specialty product portfolio is a differentiated strength for Liberty Mutual, anchored in deep expertise, diversified capabilities, and a clear focus on helping clients and brokers navigate complex risk,” says GRS North America president Marc Orloff. “Rob is the right person to build on that foundation, with the experience and leadership to deepen our specialization and accelerate our momentum across North America.”

A Liberty Mutual Insurance spokesperson tells Canadian Underwriter that Marsh “will partner closely across North America to pursue sustainable growth in our portfolio, unlock more seamless delivery of specialty products to existing clients, and build on the strong partnerships in this space.”

Marsh will oversee all areas of retail specialty for North America, the spokesperson says, adding the insurer’s wholesale specialty division is led by Ben Johnson.

The difference between Liberty’s retail specialty lines and wholesale specialty lines involves how the product is distributed. For example, retail specialty lines are distributed through retail brokers, while wholesale lines are distributed through wholesale brokers like MGAs.

Liberty’s specialty lines include cyber, environmental, financial institutions, management liability, marine, mergers and acquisitions, and professional liability.

According to CU’s 2025 Stats Guide, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is Canada’s 20^th largest private P&C insurer with Total Insurance Revenue in 2024 of more than $952 million.

As a whole, the insurer has more than 40,000 employees in 27 countries and economies, generating more than $50 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

It operates through three strategic business units:

GRS — delivering a full range of comprehensive commercial and specialty insurance, reinsurance and surety solutions to mid-size and large businesses worldwide.

US Retail Markets — providing auto, home, renters and other personal and small commercial lines P&C insurance to individuals and small businesses countrywide.

Liberty Mutual Investments — deploying more than $100 billion of capital globally.
April 16, 2026