Jewelers Mutual Group has announced the acquisition of CJB Insurance Services (CJB), a specialty jewelers block insurance brokerage.
The acquisition strengthens Jewelers Mutual Group's presence in the Canadian market and reinforces its long-term commitment to serving jewelers across the country. Customers of both organizations are expected to benefit from an expanded range of insurance products, business services, and technology solutions.
For more than 25 years, CJB has built a strong reputation as Canada's leading specialty jewelers block insurance brokerage, providing tailored insurance solutions to the jewelry industry. As part of Jewelers Mutual Group, CJB customers will gain access to a broader portfolio of products and services while continuing to receive the personalized support and trusted relationships they have relied on for decades.
"This strategic acquisition enables us to combine our expertise and further expand our presence and commitment in Canada," said Mike Alexander (pictured), president of Jewelers Mutual Group. "Together with the CJB team, we are well positioned to deliver even greater value to the customers and jewelers we serve."
The deal builds on a much longer relationship between the two companies. Jewelers Mutual first partnered with CJB, then known as Canadian Jewelers Block Insurance Services, back in 2005, when CJB began representing Jewelers Mutual's commercial program in the Canadian market.
Founded in 1998 by Meredith Thomas, CJB has since grown into a specialty brokerage covering jewelers, diamond merchants, fine art dealers, pawn shops, and tattoo and body piercing studios, alongside its core jewelers block book.
That specialty focus matters more than ever right now. The Canadian jewelry retail sector has seen a notable run of high-value thefts in 2026, including an armed robbery at a mall jewelry retailer in Brantford, Ontario, and break-ins at retailers in Calgary and Newmarket, incidents tracked by CJB's own crime reporting for the trade press.
Gary Hirst, CEO of CHES Special Risk, a Canadian MGA that also competes in the jewelers block space, has said jewelry stores are high-value targets whose risk profile can change quickly, urging brokers to conduct more frequent mid-term policy reviews rather than treating coverage as a set-and-forget purchase.
Against that backdrop, a specialty insurer with deep jewelry-specific expertise is arguably better positioned to serve Canadian jewelers than a generalist carrier, giving the CJB acquisition a rationale beyond simple market expansion.
CJB is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Jewelers Mutual over the past two years, including Union Life & Casualty Insurance Agency in 2024, Australia's Jewellers Loop and Q Report in April 2025, the personal jewelry insurance business of JIBNA in July 2025, and event insurance provider EventGuard in January 2026.
Jewelers Mutual's financial position underpins that expansion: the Group's insurers carry 39 consecutive "A+ Superior" ratings from AM Best as of November 2025.
Taken together, the run of deals signals a mutual insurer methodically building a specialty distribution network well beyond its founding US jewelry base, rather than pursuing a single transformative merger.
The deal also lands amid a broader wave of consolidation sweeping the Canadian brokerage and MGA landscape.
Smythe LLP's 2025 Insurance Brokerage Report found that the top 10 brokerage groups in Canada now account for more than 60% of market share, up from less than 40% a decade ago, with average deal multiples for top-performing brokerages running between 8.0 and 10.5 times EBITDA.
National consolidators, regional players, and private equity-backed acquirers have all been active, and industry commentators expect that pace to intensify further through 2026 as aging broker principals pursue succession plans and smaller firms face growing pressure to achieve scale in technology and compliance.
That consolidation extends to specialty MGAs specifically. EY's Canadian Insurance Outlook 2026 has flagged the MGA regulatory framework as an area of intensifying scrutiny from Canadian regulators, alongside AI governance and data privacy, even as carriers continue exploring MGA partnerships and niche products to support growth in a low-growth underwriting environment.
