Canadian Industrial Outlook: Insurance—Summer 2018

Document Highlights:

Housing Markets—Housing markets have begun to ease this year as government policy action and modest interest rate hikes kick in. The resulting softer housing market will cause growth in home insurance premiums to slow.

Blockchain—Insurers are beginning to adopt blockchain by using contracts that can execute automatically when certain conditions on the distributed ledger are met. The technology allows quicker claims payouts, improves operational efficiencies, and reduces fraudulent claims.

International Prospects—After four years of lacklustre growth, insurance exports grew a robust 6.3 per cent in 2017. With stronger global growth on the horizon and continued weakness in the Canadian dollar, the incentive for Canadian insurers to expand their presence in foreign markets is strong.