CSIO Celebrates Innovation Through Standards at 2021 Virtual Annual General Meeting

May 06, 2021 |

(Toronto – May 6, 2021) – On Wednesday, May 5, CSIO hosted its 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually, bringing together industry partners across Canada. The meeting included highlights of CSIO’s 2020 accomplishments and celebrated the innovations achieved through standards to develop the next generation of digital solutions.

Cam Loeppky, Chairman of the CSIO Board of Directors, applauded the industry for a transformative year, remarking that “I’ve been very impressed to see how quickly the P&C insurance industry was able to pivot to the digital space and make great strides despite the unique circumstances caused by the pandemic.” He went on to say that, “I am proud to be Chairman at CSIO, where we continued to be agile and support members.”

2020 Highlights

Catherine Smola, President & CEO of CSIO, spoke to the 2020 key achievements and how innovation, collaboration and determination were key to deliver these accomplishments.

Smola recognized the tremendous progress made by the Innovation and Emerging Technology (INNOTECH) Advisory Committee.

“A notable example of collaboration is the work accomplished by the Advisory Committee and its Working Groups. The three digital solutions they identified reflect the next generation of eDocs for billing and claims notifications, and the development of API standards. These solutions are designed to improve operational efficiency and enhance customer experiences in the broker channel,” says Catherine Smola.

The first two solutions, billing and claims eDoc notifications, can be built by leveraging CSIOnet and the CSIO eDocs Standard, existing infrastructure already in place and used by more than 2,200 brokerages and all major insurers. The third solution for API standardization is moving forward with advancing a security model and identifying the specifications required.

In delivering leading edge technology standards and solutions, Smola highlighted the achievements of the Commercial Lines Working Group to further the implementation of Commercial Lines (CL) Data Standards. Questions were finalized for small retail and professional services in order to better underwrite and rate these two segments, which complements the small contractor segment completed in 2019. To support the implementation of CL Data Standards, CSIO launched the Commercial Lines Data Standards Certification program, which has six members now certified and many more in progress.

The continued success of the My Proof of Insurance solution was also featured as its adoption increased with accelerated consumer demand for more virtual, digital experiences in 2020. My Proof of Insurance proved to be an integral solution for members. Smola was pleased to report a 400% increase in eSlips and documents sent through the solution, compared to 2019.

Lastly, Smola reported that the Digital eLearning Program expanded in many ways to meet the growing demand for online and on-demand learning, given the cancellation or postponement of conventions and in-person learning the industry faced last year. CSIO was there with its eLearning program to meet member demand for free, accredited distance learning and brokers obtaining continuing education (CE) credits.

New Board of Director Appointments

The following new Director appointments were also ratified at the meeting:

  • Joseph Carnevale, Managing Director of Sales/Partner at Brokers Trust
  • Aly Kanji, President & CEO of InsureLine Brokers Inc.

For more information on the 2020 highlights, please read CSIO’s 2020 Annual Report.

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About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)

CSIO is Canada’s industry association of property and casualty insurers, service providers and over 38,000 brokers. CSIO is committed to improving the consumer’s ease of doing business within the broker channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and solutions such as My Proof of Insurance, eDocs, and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates the industry-owned mail network service, CSIOnet. CSIO maintains offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information, visit csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Sarina Visram, MBA, CIP | Director, Member Relations & Communications
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 2300 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 2300
svisram@csio.com | www.csio.com