Executive Outlook 2021: Louis Gagnon, Intact

Louis Gagnon, President, Intact (Canada)

Intact was founded on our values, a clear purpose, and a belief that insurance is about people, not things. That purpose is to be here to help society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times.

The pandemic has presented challenging times for people, businesses and communities. At the onset of this crisis, we mobilized quickly to help affected customers, providing them with payment flexibility and premium adjustments to recognize financial hardship and changing habits.

Relief efforts have helped more than 1.2 million customers, with $510 million provided year-to-date. That includes the recently launched, $50-million Intact Small Business Relief program, which provides targeted relief to more than 100,000 of our most vulnerable small businesses customers.

The pandemic has changed life for many Canadians. Although the current crisis will pass, some of its impacts might last. We anticipate that consumers will engage digitally to a greater extent, that the savings rate will increase, and that Canadians will want more value for their money. More people are working from home and driving habits and patterns are changing. Usage-based insurance programs give customers more control over their auto insurance premium.

Our people are at the heart of everything we do, and our 16,000 employees are essential to our success. We are committed to preparing our people for the evolving future of work driven by technology and automation. We will increase the speed of our efforts to re-skill and up-skill employees to adapt quickly to changing customer needs and business opportunities.

We also continue to advance on our 10-year strategic roadmap, while integrating some learnings from the crisis, particularly on our customer value proposition and our digital strategy.

Since the beginning of the crisis, we have taken a problem-solving approach with customers, employees and brokers. That will continue to be our philosophy as we assess the needs of customers, our people and community moving forward.