While the COVID-19 crisis rages on, and insurers face challenges, some are thriving.
The Canadian insurance industry has measured some pockets of growth in specific areas of coverage throughout the pandemic crisis.
Insurers are struggling in the areas of coverage disagreements, particularly in business interruption policies.
Business interruption and travel policies are often leading to disputes over coverage, lawsuits, angry clients and customers, and economic challenges among others. However, in other areas, some considerable opportunities have opened up for certain types of product lines to grow and developed.
Among those that have seen the largest opportunity includes cyber insurance. Since the start of the pandemic, the nature of cyber risk has greatly changed. With many Canadians working from home as companies try to ensure their workers are safe, individuals and companies alike are seeing the importance of their digital security.
“On home insurance, one of the places where I see opportunities for growth would be in cyber. Most people don’t currently carry it, at least as far as our clients go, but there’s been a lot of new conversations about it,” explained JT Insurance Services Canada director of private client services Sheri Clay. “I think with more people working from their homes – and most of them don’t have the same cyber security as they would if they were using their computers in the office – there’s definitely more of a risk now. And then we also have the Internet of Things. More people have the Ring (video) doorbells, they’ve got the Amazon Echo, they’ve just got more connected devices in their homes, so their cyber exposure is higher.”
That said, there is also potential for equipment breakdown coverage in the Canadian insurance industry.
Clay also went on to point out that equipment breakdown coverage is showing signs of meaningful growth. This is also associated with the trend toward working from home. Homeowners insurance coverage would provide coverage if a home appliance or electronic device is toasted from a power surge, for example. However, this same coverage may not apply to equipment used while working from home.
As awareness about business coverage while working from home grows, and as it appears that the working from home trend will be here for a while, it could be that 
equipment breakdown coverage will start to become a growing product line in the Canadian insurance industry as well.
