The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) announced April 16 that it will temporarily allow insurers to use the services of employees with affiliated insurers to process claims. The regulator also says it will allow licensed adjusting firms to use claims adjusters with licenses from outside of Ontario.
The measures are intended to help insurers process the high volume of claims being submitted following the recent ice storm in central and eastern Ontario. They will remain in effect until July 4, 2025.
The storm’s damages follow severe storms and a mid-winter thaw occurring in February, which the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) say caused more than $260-million in insured damage, according to initial estimates.
The IBC says two storms in February have been classified as catastrophes according to the CatIQ definition. (CatIQ defines catastrophe as a severe weather event causing insured damages over $30-million.)
The storms include the eastern Canada winter storm which occurred between February 15 and 19, causing more than $90-million in insured damage and the Ontario and Quebec February melt, occurring between February 24 and 26, which caused more than $160-million in insured damage, according to the initial CatIQ estimate.
The figures do not include or reflect any damages from the late-March Ontario ice storm. The IBC says these estimates will be released in the coming weeks.
