A new processing centre will be launched in late summer, funnelling all of the nation’s commodity underwriting for one of Canada’s leading property and casualty insurers into one centralized location.
“We don’t have standardized processes today,” says Pam Marson, vice president of underwriting transformation at
Economical Insurance. “Establishing a national processing centre will not only increase our efficiency and be more cost-effective, it also brings consistency to our processes and our structure, which builds a better broker and policyholder experience.”
According to Marson, the new centre will deal with personal property, personal auto, the small commercial property, and the individually rated commercial auto, with the more complex underwriting still being done on a regional basis.
“We do a lot of commodity underwriting all across the country,” Marson told Insurance Business. “This new centre will deal with the low-touch, heavily-processed underwriting, eliminating a lot of the redundancies. We will be able to turn things around faster, from coast to coast.”
Economical embarked on a multi-year transformation program in the fall of 2012 aimed at increasing productivity and efficiency. The new processing centre is a large part of that program, with hiring for the centre – located at Economical’s Riverbend facility in Kitchener, Ont. – already under way. (continued.)
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“Under our new operating model, we will enhance broker and customer experience, and will produce tangible cost savings that will support our future profitable growth,” says Karen Gavan, Economical’s president and chief executive officer. “I am grateful for the support our employees have shown towards our transformation that is enabling us to compete effectively and deliver excellent service to our policyholders and broker partners.”
Founded in 1871, Economical Insurance is one of Canada’s leading property and casualty insurers, with $1.9 billion in annual premium volume and $5.1 billion in assets. The Canadian-owned and operated company has more than one million customers across the country, and became the first federally-regulated mutual property and casualty insurer to pursue demutualization in 2010.
