Executive Corner

In today’s landscape, where insurance crime has never been more complex, Canadian property and casualty (P&C) insurers are doing more than ever to protect consumers through their strategic partnership with Équité. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated technologies to commit crimes, making their activity harder to detect and prevent. To stay ahead of this, the industry is working with Équité, who is investing in leading-edge technology to deliver data-driven insights through the first consortium-based intelligence platform, ÉQ Insights.

When we began building our organization in 2021, our team was small and has since grown with an unwavering focus on building a single, unified, not-for-profit organization to proactively tackle insurance crime on behalf of our members. We prioritized building the foundation of what our organization would grow to become, establishing our workplace culture as an essential component of who we are, along with the products and services we offer to members.

At Équité Association, our cyber security strategy underpins our mission to provide best-in-class prevention and defense against insurance crimes through advanced analytics, intelligence and coordinated investigations.

Équité Association’s 2022 Vehicle Theft Trend Report (June 2023) shows that Canadian vehicles are being increasingly targeted by criminal organizations across Canada and internationally. In 2022, over 40,000 vehicles (excluding British Columbia) were stolen in Canada, accumulating losses for Canadians of over $1.1 billion, at a time when consumer affordability and inflation are critical issues.

Équité Association had a tremendous foundational year establishing deeper connections with our members and partners, while investing in leading-edge technology and progressing on our multi-year strategy.

Insurance crime is at unprecedented levels presently, and as a result, Équité, our members, law enforcement and government agencies have needed to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape this past year. By harnessing the industry’s collective strength through collaboration, Équité Association has been at the centre-point of this change.

Équité Association is a not-for-profit organization focused on creating a more equitable world for Canadians. I am passionate about equity and therefore, it is not difficult to understand why leading through self-awareness and empathy is so important to me. Good leadership books provide tools needed for an innovation and growth mindset, and will help you find your community of fellow leaders. No matter your role, continued learning and growth are the traits of any great leader.

At Équité Association we play a critical role in safeguarding Canadians. By bringing together industry expertise to prevent and detect insurance crime, we are evolving how the Canadian property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry is disrupting organized crime. Together, we are creating safer and more equitable communities for all Canadians. March is Fraud Prevention Month and when talking about fraud prevention there is a lot of focus on technology capabilities like data mining, analytics and artificial intelligence, but at the heart of it all, what we really focus on is collaboration – something we do so well with our members and partners.

Associations such as the UK’s Insurance Fraud Bureau(IFB), Canada’s Équité Association, Singapore’s General Insurance Association (GIA) and others, have joined forces with Shift Technology to optimize their fraud detection strategies.

In recognition of this important day, we are profiling one of our own female leaders in STEM. Angel Yau-Vandenburg, Chief Data & Technology Officer with Équité Association is a seasoned technology leader in Canada. With more than 20 years of experience in fraud and risk management, strategy and analytics, she has led key initiatives that proactively detect and prevent insurance crimes.