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IBC Claims Agreements

Insurance companies, like people, sometimes disagree about who is responsible for what. Claimants should not be greatly inconvenienced in these situations, and should be able to have a claim resolved and paid expeditiously. Therefore, Insurance Bureau of Canada administers five voluntary agreements among insurance companies that are designed to facilitate settlements and reduce or eliminate legal and court costs. They provide insurers with an inexpensive mechanism to determine which insurer is ultimately responsible for paying the claim:

• Agreement Respecting Standardization of Claim
  Forms and Practices, and Guidelines for the
  Settlement of Claims, 2002
  This Agreement, including its forms, has been reviewed and amended. For the Executive Summary of the changes, or to view the Claims Agreement Amendment, click below on the pdf file.
  • Executive Summary
• Property/Boiler Disputed Loss Agreement
  The revised Agreement sent out May 10, 2000, as Bulletin AMCLAIMS 00-02 did not receive the acceptance of 80 % of the Subscribers required before the revision can become effective. The Agreement adopted in 1980 is still in effect.
• Agreement of Guiding Principles (Property
  Insurance), 1984
• Agreement of Guiding Principles Between Primary
  and Excess Liability Insurers Respecting Claims, 1996
• Owned and Non-owned Contents Agreement (Quebec)
  (available only at the IBC Montreal office)

Many insurers have signed an Insurance Industry Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Commitment in order to avoid unnecessary expense, lengthy delays and misallocation of resources, and to improve communication and understanding between insurers.
If ADR doesn’t do the job, most automobile and general liability insurers have agreed to settle claim disputes through binding arbitration under the Canadian Inter-Company Arbitration Agreement. The Canadian Insurance Claims Managers’ Association supervises the operation of the agreement and any amendments to it.

Because policyholders and third-party claimants are not party to these agreements, they are not bound by them and may seek other avenues to resolution.

Signatories to Agreements

1. Signatories to Claims Agreement
2. Signatories to Guiding Principles (Property Insurance)
3. Signatories to Primary and Excess Liability Agreement
4. Signatories to Disputed Losses Between Property and
   Boiler & Machinery Insurance Polices Agreement
5. Signatories Owned and Non-Owned Contents (Quebec) Agreement
6. Signatories to ADR Commitment
7. Signatories to the Canadian Inter-Company Arbitration Agreement
8. Signatories to Reciprocal Agreement to Provide Copies Of Accident Benefits Files Without Charging a Photocopying Fee

To verify the status of a P&C company (name change, amalgamation, discontinuation, etc.), check the document produced by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions entitled, Note – Canadian and Foreign Insurance Companies and Fraternal Benefits Societies .

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