Red River Mutual : Everything you need to know

Red River Mutual – Everything you need to know

About Red River Mutual
Red River Mutual Insurance helps its over 70,000 policyholders from Thunder Bay to the Rockies by protecting their businesses, farms and homes through its insurance offerings.

The company offers residential insurance (including broad and comprehensive policies as well as additional coverages) and farm insurance (including options for different types of farming operations), as well as commercial insurance packages, such as church, apartment/condo, contractors, office, restaurant, and many others. It also offers a loss prevention program that has safety resources for fire, as well as workplaces, farms, and homes.

Red River Mutual is represented by a network of brokers located from Ontario to Saskatchewan.

Brief history about Red River Mutual
Red River Mutual was founded in 1875 and serves policyholders in the prairie provinces.

In 2015, Red River Mutual was recognized with the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Medium Business award at the Manitoba Business Awards Gala. This award recognized the company for its sustained growth, and contribution to its community, employee relations, and development.

Over the course of 2018, the company’s gross premiums written grew by $8.8 million, but fire and weather-related losses increased by $19.4 million from 2017, which contributed to total gross incurred losses of $65.5 million in 2018. Overall, this resulted in a loss from Red River Mutual’s insurance operations of $2.5 million, compared to a profit of $11.2 million in 2017. However, in 2018 Red River Mutual was assigned a public credit rating by AM Best Company of A- (Excellent) with an outlook of ‘stable’.

The same year saw Red River Mutual migrate all residential policies over to the company’s new policy management system from Guidewire.

In 2018, 2019, and 2020, Red River Mutual was assigned an A- Excellent Financial Strength Rating by AM Best Company.

Leadership at Red River Mutual
Brian Esau – President & CEO
Esau has led Red River Mutual’s operations since 2008, and, over this time, he has developed and implemented a five-year technology plan, directed a company re-branding, and overhauled the company’s customer service approach. He has also led the execution of the company’s strategic plan, as well as helped to secure a new provider of reinsurance and directed the development of its investment policy. Under his oversight, the company expanded into a new regional office in Winnipeg.

Culture at Red River Mutual
Red River Mutual is a frequent sponsor of charitable causes and supporter of its employees’ volunteer work. Some of its past partnerships have included its sponsorship of the 11th Annual Progressive Agriculture Safety Day, where grade 5 students from the Pembina Valley took part in safety training activities, including fire safety and emergency escape planning.

The company’s employees have also hosted a community barbecue called the Sunshine Fund Community BBQ in support of the Manitoba Camping Association’s Sunshine Fund. Staff donated their time to provide a hot dog lunch outside of Red River Mutual’s head office in exchange for a small donation to the cause. The raised funds helped the Manitoba Camping Association send children in the province to summer camp.

In 2020, Red River Mutual launched its community sponsorship campaign, Spruce Up Your Story. In the campaign's inaugural year, the company received over 150 submissions from communities across Manitoba and Saskatchewan to help beautify and restore well-loved spaces that encourage togetherness, sustainability, volunteerism, and have a connection with one of the company's broker partners. After review of the submissions and a staff-wide vote, Red River Mutual awarded over $150,000 to 10 winners from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which included baseball diamonds, hockey rinks, community parks and green spaces, recreational centres, a theatre, and a youth centre.

Meanwhile, as an Insurance Business Canada Top Insurance Workplace, Red River Mutual boasts many perks for its employees. Its more than 120 employees receive a full array of benefits, including flexible work-from-home options, more than three weeks of vacation, a robust variable-pay plan, and performance and profit-sharing incentives. The company is also transitioning to a completely paperless work model to do its part and help the environment.