Intact, Aviva and Desjardins continue to outpace the rest of the industry: MSA Research

Intact, Aviva and Desjardins continued to pull away from the rest of the Canadian P&C pack in 2016, according to the latest quarterly outlook report from MSA Research.

The three insurers wrote a combined $17.2 billion in direct premiums in 2016, accounting for more than 34% of industry writings if you exclude Lloyd’s, mortgage insurers and government insurers. This figure is up from $16 billion in 2015 (representing 32% of the market) and $13.5 billion in 2014 (representing 29% of the market).

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Some of the growth was fuelled by acquisitions, with Desjardins acquiring State Farm’s Canadian business in 2015, Aviva acquiring RBC General in 2016 and Intact acquiring Jevco, Metro General and Canadian Direct. (M&A activity continued in 2017, when Intact entered the U.S. market with its acquisition OneBeacon.)

Over the last decade, the three insurers had lower loss ratios than the rest of the market in all but three years. They also outperformed in return on equity (ROE) in every year except 2009, which was a near-tie.

The report also illustrates that since 2007, Desjardins has more than tripled in size, Intact has doubled in size and Aviva grew by 50%. But it is worth noting that Aviva’s growth is likely understated, since the RBC General acquisition closed on July 1, 2016.

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This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.