Sun Life aims to grow U.S. group insurance, sells variable annuity unit
By Ross Marowits - Monday, December 17, 2012 - 0 Comments
Sun Life Financial will focus on growing its U.S. group insurance and asset management…
Sun Life Financial will focus on growing its U.S. group insurance and asset management businesses after selling the more volatile variable annuity life insurance unit for US$1.35 billion to Delaware Life Holdings.
Dean Connor, the Toronto-based company’s president and chief executive officer, called the transaction a “transformational change” for Sun Life.
“We think it really, fundamentally repositions the company in a unique way relative to other life insurance companies in North America and significantly derisks and demystefies the company,” he said in an interview on Monday. Continue…
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NHL prepared for Lokomotiv-like catastrophe
By Colby Cosh - Friday, September 16, 2011 at 10:40 AM - 0 Comments
The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl tragedy was devastating, but not unpredictable
Alexey Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images
The catastrophe that annihilated Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl last week was terrible—but not unthinkable. Every top athlete with any significant service time has air-charter horror stories, and while the major North American pro sports have been spared, it is by the narrowest of margins.
In 2009, litigation surrounding the bankruptcy and aborted sale of the Phoenix Coyotes led to the NHL’s hitherto closely guarded bylaws being put on the public record. Those bylaws include an “Emergency Rehabilitation Plan” (ERP) that activates if an NHL club loses five or more players to death or disability in a single incident. Each team is required under the bylaw to carry a catastrophe-insurance policy of $1 million per lost player. The plan foresees an initial, voluntary effort to bring the affected team back up to playing strength, with the insurance money being used to bid for players in outright sale.
Remaining roster holes would be filled in an “ERP draft,” with the other teams protecting one goalie and 10 skaters. Only one player per contributing team could be sold or claimed, and the drafting club would be allowed to replace its losses only on a position-by-position basis. It’s a fascinating exercise for hockey fans to imagine—and one they hope never to see performed.
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A blind spot for one’s own skills
By Alex Ballingall - Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
British Columbia:… Nearly half (49 per cent) of the province’s drivers think their fellow
British Columbia: Nearly half (49 per cent) of the province’s drivers think their fellow road warriors are ruder behind the wheel today than they were five years ago. The most common complaint—something 82 per cent of those surveyed have experienced in the last three months—was a fellow driver’s late signal, or no signal at all. Seventy-three per cent have been tailgated. And yet, when asked to rate their own performance on the road, 82 per cent of those surveyed gave themselves an A or B.
Alberta: With 74 per cent support, Albertans are the most likely in Canada to say they have a good quality of life. That’s probably due, say researchers, to the province’s strong economic standing. Quebec, on the other hand, has the lowest degree of satisfaction. Only 61 per cent of Quebecers say they have a good quality of life.
Ontario: It’s been over a year since the G8 and G20 meetings in Ontario, and the support for police actions that weekend has dropped significantly among residents of Toronto, where over 1,100 people were arrested. Just after the summits, 73 per cent of Torontonians said the police actions were justified. Now, only 41 per cent feel that’s the case.
