Mark Wiens, Head of Commercial Lines, Canada, NFP
Which provinces is your brokerage licensed in? And which Canadian provinces do you have physical office locations in?
NFP is licensed nationally. We have offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
What’s the number one benefit of operating nationally?
The benefit to operating a unified national insurance platform center is our ability to fully understand the scope of our Canadian economy. This has many advantages, enabling us to be even more vigilant to ensure policyholders are insured to value, not just for what they can pay. Our ability to share technical resources across geographic regions is another benefit for our clients, and not needing to develop niche specialties capabilities in each region, since these already exist elsewhere.
What’s the biggest challenge of operating nationally?
The biggest challenge in operating nationally centers on respecting the differences in provincial and regional cultures and people’s mores. We strive to ensure our workforce feels belonging and supported in their own unique ways. But this can sometimes be challenging—for example, British Columbia has a different business environment than Quebec. Recognizing the value of cultural differences is good for people and good for business.
If other brokerages are looking to expand nationally, what resources do they need to best undertake this strategy?
Brokerages intending to expand nationally must be committed to significant investments in their information technology and centralized systems management. In addition, effective, transparent and ongoing internal communication across regions and business lines is key. It’s also important to have subject matter experts who can delve into the ins and outs of every industry and the risks associated with them. Understanding the needs of our different geographic regions is vital. For example, while not exclusive, clients in the Atlantic may need more marine expertise, while Alberta-based clients might gravitate more toward energy needs. In Saskatchewan, make sure to have strong agriculture competencies, and in British Columbia and Northern Ontario it’s important to have a thriving forestry industry. Make it about a partnership with every stakeholder, not just insurance.
Melanie Muise, President, Personal Lines and Travel, Navacord
Which provinces is your brokerage licensed in? And which Canadian provinces do you have physical office locations in?
Navacord runs a decentralized model and operates under 50+ brands coast-to-coast. We’re licensed through our broker partners in every province and territory. We have over 200 offices across the country, currently in every province except Newfoundland.
What’s the number one benefit of operating nationally?
The value and power of our national strength have always been driven by our ability to collaborate and share knowledge as one while operating in a way that supports local diversity. While the cultural fundamentals are universal across the organization, a healthy respect for the entrepreneurial spirit remains at the heart of everything we do. It’s this intentional approach and unique value proposition that has driven—and continues to drive—our growth. We leverage national strength and resources with the local touch service of industry-specialized Navacord broker partners. The number one benefit of operating nationally is being there for our clients in the community and truly understanding their risks.
What’s the biggest challenge of operating nationally?
The biggest challenge with scale is culture and sustaining who you are at your core as you continue to grow. With exponential growth, you’re often moving from ad-hoc, informal, reactive problem solving, to formal systems, structures and governance that create minimum standards, consistency and efficiency while still being flexible and proactive. Taking the time to invest in leadership development, digitization, training, documentation, create playbooks, standards, benchmarks, and formalizing ways to measure against those systems is key. Even more critical is communication. Effectively, proactively and relentlessly communicating is the best way to sustain a strong culture through growth and keep engagement high with your clients, employees, leaders, capital partners and other stakeholders as you manage national expansion
If other brokerages are looking to expand nationally, what resources do they need to best undertake this strategy?
The story of Navacord becoming national started in 2014 when two regional brokerages (Lloyd Sadd in Edmonton, and Jones Deslauriers in Toronto) recognized the importance of national presence. To thrive, brokerages need to be proactive and think about creating scalability when expanding nationally. This means investing in the skills, technology and practices to support future growth both in new and existing geographies and products; readiness to face competitive threats and shifting client demands; and identifying market trends and pivoting quickly to maximize growth. Investment in people, culture, training, automation, continuous improvement and shared services are all important areas to focus on. Access to capital is also critical to fueling growth and investment in long term strategies.
Don Stanton, Sr. Vice President, McDougall Insurance Brokers
Which provinces is your brokerage licensed in? And which Canadian provinces do you have physical office locations in?
McDougall Insurance and its subsidiaries are licensed in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland.
What’s the number one benefit of operating nationally?
We have many customers based in Ontario that have out of province locations and operations. We’re also involved in association programs that have members across the country.
What’s the biggest challenge of operating nationally?
Regulatory compliance. Maintaining and updating insurance licensing and corporate registration is expensive and very difficult. Each province has their own rules and requirements. We don’t have a license in Quebec because it’s almost impossible to obtain one.
If other brokerages are looking to expand nationally, what resources do they need to best undertake this strategy?
To obtain and maintain corporate registrations, it’s best to rely on a lawyer with a local presence. To obtain and maintain the insurance licenses, it takes someone a considerable amount of time and effort to set up each provincial license. The person needs access to a lot of corporate records (i.e. shareholder registries, banking info, E&O carrier info, in some cases police records, etc.), a degree of patience to work with the bureaucrats in each of the provinces, and they have to be informed and organized to ensure they can keep track of license renewals and required information that each province requires licensees to provide as the brokerage corporate information changes (i.e. changes of address, changes of ownership, etc.).