Senator Scott Tannas to Deliver an Urgent ‘Slap in the Face’ Needed to Develop a Canadian Emergency Backstop for Earthquake Risk and Other Natural Catastrophes

Business Wire

May 24 gathering of Canada’s finance, risk and actuarial professionals at 8^th annual CIFF to provide the ideal setting

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In August of last year, the C.D. Howe Institute issued a landmark report titled ‘Catastrophic Earthquake Could Shake Financial System’ where former Federal Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Nick Le Pan, urgently called for a federal emergency backstop arrangement to prevent cascading system failures in the insurance, banking and public sectors in the event of a devastating earthquake.

Against the backdrop of that report, Senator Scott Tannas will take the stage at the Canadian Insurance Financial Forum (CIFF) on May 24^th to take both the public sector and private sectors to task.

“As it stands now, the first time the government will ‘consider’ the backstop will be during the financial services review in 2019. This will be on the eve of an election and will likely not get us where we need to be,” says Senator Tannas, adding that “people in industry and government may not like hearing what I will say at the CIFF but a slap in the face is required.”

“Current flooding in Eastern Canada and BC and the complexities in coverages, government assistance and gaps that are emerging provide a small taste of what awaits us in the case of a massive earthquake,” says Joel Baker, organizer of the conference. He added that “Senator Tannas’ wake up call could not be more timely.”

About the CIFF

The Canadian Insurance Financial Forum (CIFF), now in its eighth year, is an annual conference geared towards finance, risk, actuarial, governance and regulatory professionals in Canada. The 2017 CIFF runs all day on May 24, 2017 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The CIFF is organized by MSA Research Inc., Canada’s leading provider of insurance industry financial analytics.

For more information or to register, please visit www.msaresearch.com/ciff