RSA unveiled a number of initiatives for 2015, among them being the commitment to a telematics product for auto and hints at overland flood coverage.

“We remain completely committed to the broker channel,” RSA Canada’s President and CEO Rowan Saunders told a gathering of affiliated brokers at an RSA event in Toronto’s distillery district yesterday. “We have no plans to exit any segments of our business; and are seeking opportunities to build and develop more.”

Saunders laid out RSA’s plans to launch a usage-based insurance telematics product for auto customers in 2015, concurrent with a $300 million update of the company’s computer systems.

“It's competitive, particularly in the commercial area,” Saunders told the some 150 gathered. “The reinsurers now have hedge funds, pension funds and alternative sources of capital coming into that market, all in search of yield in such a low interest rate environment.”

RSA is expected to draw on its experience in other markets, like the U.K. and U.S., on how best to deploy its telematics solution.

The move by RSA to offer an overland flood policy may be linked to Aviva Canada’s announcement last month that it will offer an overland water endorsement (See ‘Nationwide overland water protection an industry first’) for those holding home policies already with sewer backup coverage.

“On the property side, we are all looking at flood coverage after the announcement a couple of weeks ago,” said Donna Ince, senior vice president for personal lines. “We have to look at the insurance cost and definitely look at our data around flood mapping and we recognize that we will potentially be looking at how those coverages work today. There will be more on that in the coming months.”