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Looking ahead — Insurers and brokers facing familiar challenges as cost pressures loom     © Thompson’s World Insurance News 2010. No reproduction without written consent.      Questions surrounding Ontario auto continue to cast a shadow over Canada’s p&c industry as a new decade dawns.     With promising reforms now on the table, many of the finer details remain unknown, RBC general Insurance pricing vp Chris Cooney noted in prognosticating about what 2010 may bring.     “Can the existing complex system of accident benefits be further modified to eliminate loopholes and disproportionate claims for minor injuries?     Ontario auto — by far the largest market for Canadian p&c insurers — also features prominently in what Wawanesa ceo Ken McCrea expects to be dealing with in the year ahead.     He believes the legislated reforms are heading in the right direction but it remains to be seen how they translate into action.     Intact Financial Corp. ceo Charles Brindamour is hoping the coming Ontario changes will relieve some of the pressures brought on by increased accident benefit and bodily injury costs since the last round of reforms in 2004.     “The proposed reforms are a step in the right direction in making auto insurance more affordable while offering Ontario drivers the best basic protection in the country.”     John McArthur, chairman of Vancouver-based AMAC Consultants and a former top executive with two international insurers believes the need for insurers to rectify unsustainable loss ratios will make 2010 a harsh year for many consumers and brokers.     “It probably will . . . destroy most of the customer confidence that the industry has managed to build up over the last decade.”     Vancouver consultant Robert O’Connor, who works mainly with brokerages and credit unions in Western Canada, said he expects companies will reduce commissions in 2010 even at the cost of doing business.     He knows of one particular company that has told brokers of a pending commission cut this year as it looks at the total expense of doing business with them — about 30 cents on the dollar when profit sharing and other expenses are considered.     Based on what has happened in the UK, he foresees another development which will not be good news for brokers — utilities such as Telus, Bell or Rogers entering the insurance business.     Like British Gas in the UK which has already done it by direct writing to its existing customers.     These are short extracts from the first of the January 4 and January 11 multi-page reports on how industry players see 2010 shaping up. If you are not a regular reader, click on Subscribe on the left hand side of the page to get it every week.        Thompson’s World Insurance News P.O. Box 1027,  Waterloo, Ontario,  Canada  N2J 4S1 Tel: 519-579-2500 Fax: 519-745-7321 mpub@sympatico.ca THOMPSON’S WORLD INSURANCE NEWS , Canada’s only independent weekly for p&c insurance professionals, has been the industry’s most trusted news source since 1988.