Author: Insurance Business Canada
IBC: How have you seen the insurance market for cannabis risks evolve since recreational use was legalized?
Kevin Lea: The market for cannabis insurance in Canada has been slowly evolving since legalization. We’ve seen the continued strength of the MGAs and other wholesalers generally dominating the sector, similar to the way it was prior to legalization. We’ve seen as well that with the growth in cannabis companies – in the grow operations and retailers, as well as auxiliary businesses supporting the industry – and there has been a significant increase in the total amount of premium written to cover the industry.
We have seen a slight softening in attitudes towards the cannabis industry from the traditional large insurers within Canada. However, that has not translated to them actually offering any sort of insurance coverage within the sector. This, I believe, is most strongly being influenced by the general hard-market conditions for commercial property and commercial liability insurance that exist industry-wide. With that in mind, it’s tough for underwriting managers at large insurers to be dipping their toes into a new industry when they’re already pulling back on so many other ones.
View the full article from Insurance Business Canada here.
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