Canadian National Insurance Crime Services Forms to Fight Fraud

CANATICS, or Canadian National Insurance Crime Services, is a not-for-profit organization focused on using state-of-the-art analytical tools to identify potentially suspicious claims in insurance industry pooled data, to facilitate further investigation by individual insurers. By identifying these claims with participating insurers, CANATICS plans to provide insurers with a new tool to aid in the investigation of insurance crime.

Automobile insurance fraud is a significant cost to consumers across Canada, and particularly in Ontario. A report by KPMG Canada, prepared for the Ontario Auto Insurance Anti-Fraud Task Force, estimated that as much as $1.6 billion per year is paid by insurance companies in response to fraudulent or inflated claims. The Anti-Fraud Task Force went on to recommend that “Insurers should move aggressively to establish an organization that would pool and analyze claims data in order to identify potential cases of organized or premeditated fraud.”

Ben Kosic, the newly appointed CEO for CANATICS, said the new organization will provide the necessary assistance to strike at fraud.

“By uncovering networks of connected claim activity across insurers we will help ensure that investigators focus their investigations on the right claims,” Kosic said.

CANATICS announced its Board of Directors – senior insurance industry executives representing a cross-section of the Canadian market.

The Board is comprised of the following people:

George Cooke
Independent Chair

Carolynne Jardine
Vice President Claims Services
TD Insurance

Barbara Bellissimo
Senior Vice President
State Farm Insurance Companies

Jay Stark
VP Fraud Management
RBC Insurance

Karin Epp Ots
Sr. Vice-President, Regulatory and Government Relations
Aviva Canada Inc.

Kenneth Lindhardsen
Vice President, Claims Operations & Legal Counsel, Ontario, Atlantic & Western Regions
Desjardins General Insurance Group

Kevin John McConkey
Casualty Director
Allstate

Mark Feeney
Vice-President, Central Ontario Region
Co-operators Group

Mathieu Lamy
SVP Claims
Intact Financial Corporation

Source: CANATICS