Daily News Alerts
Joe Hornyak
Former editor of Benefits and Pensions Monitor and founder of Joe Hornyak Communications
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Joint Investigations Into Fraud Launched
Canada's?life and health insurers are now working together to conduct joint investigations into health service providers that are suspected of fraudulent activities. Working through the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), participating insurers will collaborate on joint investigations into suspected benefits fraud schemes that impact multiple insurers. This builds on last year's launch of a CLHIA-supported industry program that uses advanced artificial intelligence to identify fraudulent activity across a vast industry pool of anonymized claims data. Both initiatives are part of an industry strategy to leverage the knowledge, expertise, and resources of life and health insurers to reduce the time it takes to act on those who are exploiting workplace health benefit plans. Insurers paid out nearly?$41 billion?in supplementary health claims in 2021. It is estimated that employers and insurers lose millions of dollars each year to benefits fraud. Benefits fraud is a crime that effects insurers, employers, and employees and puts the sustainability of workplace benefit plans at risk.
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Share Ownership Encourages Alignment
Direct ownership of common shares is the simplest way to get long-term close alignment with shareholders, says Bruce Cooper, chair of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) board and CEO of TD Asset Management Inc. He was participating in its ‘Is all Equity Created Equal? Strengthening the Management-Shareholder Alignment through Effective Ownership Policies’ session with Maxime Ménard, a CCGG board member and president and CEO of Jarislowsky Fraser Limited. Menard said their preference has always been alignment between the CEO and common shareholders as there is a direct link between common share ownership and the performance of the company. When a CEO has a large proportion of company shares, the company tends to outperform. Ali Abid, a principal, research and engagement, at CCGG, said its research shows almost 90 per cent of index constituents have a formal share ownership policy for their senior management with 75 per cent owning shares that meet company requirements. Cooper said holding common shares is the “simplest way to get long term, close alignment” with shareholders. While RSUs, and DSUs, and options could play a role in retention, that's different from alignment with shareholders. Menard said there is also a push on common share ownership for members of company boards. However, he cautioned that if the share requirement is too high, it may reduce the pool of candidates. While those that have “significant skin in the game or ownership tend to be more interested in the business, you can’t push too hard because you want to have people interested in sitting on a board.”
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