Imagine you’re a client who calls your broker to talk about renewing a policy, only to find they’ve sold the business and moved to Florida. It’s hardly an elegant retirement notification. A client would much rather be told about the…
Editor’s Note: This story has been changed to reflect the fact that the Sudbury branch is being led by a team of local insurance experts. Gifford Carr Insurance Group, an Ontario-based personal and commercial insurance brokerage, is expanding into…
May 2021 came in with a bang for Canadian brokerages involved in mergers and acquisitions activity, particularly in western Canada and Ontario. Over the course of a week, at least seven acquisitions were announced in the Canadian P&C brokerage space.…
Canadian brokerage acquisitions continue coast-to-coast with the recent purchases of four brokerages in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. Navacord, B.C.-based brokerage Waypoint Insurance, Archway Insurance and Westland Insurance Group (which bought two brokerages) all made acquisition announcements at…
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to raise money from major banks to finance mergers and acquisitions, but well-run brokerages will still be attractive to buyers, suggests an expert in brokerage valuation. “When COVID hit, the banks…
Peter Askew has been named president and CEO of the Canadian business of global reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, a business of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Effective immediately, Askew will be responsible for Guy Carpenter’s reinsurance broking activities…
Aon plc’s announced agreement to acquire Willis Towers Watson in early March for $30-billion in an all-stock deal raises a host of interesting speculative possibilities for Canada’s reinsurance market, a former reinsurance executive in Canada told Canadian Underwriter recently. Among…
Dalton Timmis Insurance Group Inc. and McLean Hallmark Insurance Group Ltd. are among the Canadian brokerages who are now adopting the NFP brand name, New York City-based NFP announced Tuesday. NFP closed its acquisition of Toronto-based McLean Hallmark this past…
Companies looking to save a few bucks by declining certain insurance coverage options are putting themselves at risk, and it’s up to brokers to ensure their clients understand the consequences. What do you tell a commercial client who doesn’t want…
Brokerages need to have a formal workplace relationship policy in place. Otherwise, they’re at risk of things getting messy. Workplace issues like bullying and harassment are challenging enough; the problems are only compounded when you add a relationship to the…
How much would you give up in annual pay for more meaningful work at your brokerage? A recent study of 1,500 Canadian office workers found that almost half of them would give up nearly $9,000 in an annual pay raise…
Quebec’s largest brokerage, Lussier Dale Parizeau, has merged with financial services firm Genius Financial Group. André Lussier, president of Lussier Dale Parizeau, announced the merger along with the four partners of Genius Financial Group: Jean-Pierre Gauvreau, Serge Gravel, Éric Émond…