Economical Insurance held its annual meeting yesterday, using the opportunity to discuss relevant issues with stakeholders – and on top of revealing its results for the year, the company also shed more light on its demutualization plans, which were first revealed back in 2010.

Economical reasoned that it has to demutualize in order to keep up with its competitors.

Search and compare insurance product listings for Non-Profit Organizations from specialty market providers here

“Canada’s P&C insurance industry is consolidating and Economical wants to play a meaningful role in that consolidation,” a statement from the company read.

“For 145 years, Economical has been a mutual insurance company. While this structure has served the company well for decades, Economical is restricted in its ability to access capital,” a release said. “In the longer term, this could become a competitive disadvantage. Economical expects that demutualization will increase Economical’s financial flexibility and long-term strength.”

The company mentioned that demutualization would allow Economical to overcome the limitations of the mutual structure by improving its financial stability and flexibility, as well as allowing the company to easily access capital for acquisition funding.

In addition, the company announced the election and re-election of several of its board of directors.

It has elected John Bowey, Elizabeth DelBianco, Barbara Fraser, and president and CEO Rowan Saunders for three-year terms; Bowey had already been serving as board chairman.

“I am grateful to John and the board of directors for selecting me to build on the company’s 145-year legacy and to lead the company into a bright future as a public company,” Saunders said during the meeting.


Related stories:
Economical Insurance posts results for Q1 2017
Economical recognized for innovative online brand