Western Financial makes deal to buy B.C. insurance services firm

Insurance brokerage Western Financial Group announced Thursday it has reached an agreement to purchase Coast Capital Insurance Services Ltd. (CCIS), a subsidiary of the country’s largest credit union by membership, for an undisclosed amount.

CCIS, a subsidiary of Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, currently offers property, casualty, commercial, life and disability insurance products through 32 retail insurance offices and a call centre throughout British Columbia.

Under the new deal, its life and disability insurance business will remain with Coast Capital. The purchase will add to Alberta-based Western’s current 29 branches in B.C. Western is a subsidiary of Desjardins Group. 

“We’re very proud to be able to bring Coast Capital Insurance Services into our family of companies,” Scott Tannas, president and CEO of Western noted in a statement on the deal.

“It is a tremendous organization that has the same commitment to community as we do,” he said. “This is the largest deal we’ve negotiated to date and will help us solidify our presence throughout the B.C. market. We look forward to building on the traditions of great service and community support that Coast Capital has established.”

Under the terms of the agreement, CCIS branches will continue to operate under the CCIS name and branding for at least two years, Western noted in a statement.

Western will continue to employ all of CCIS’s 242 staff members while working with Coast Capital to enhance banking and insurance offerings to both Western and CCIS customers, according to the statement.  

The deal is expected to close in July 2013.

“At Coast Capital we’re proud of all that our insurance subsidiary and its employees have accomplished,”  Tracy Redies, CEO of Coast Capital noted in the statement.

“When we decided to concentrate our resources on our core banking business, our goal was to find a partner who could help CCIS grow further and reach its full potential,” Redies added.

“Coast Capital and Western have similar values and a commitment to our people, our customers and our communities. In Western, we saw a strong entrepreneurial spirit and customer service focus which we believe will help build the CCIS business, and their dedicated focus on insurance will provide more opportunities for employees.  

Most importantly though, this allows  more banking and insurance services to be offered to our collective customers as we look for more opportunities to expand our businesses and serve customers in our markets.”