The Westaim Corporation, the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed parent of de novo annuity insurer Ceres Life Insurance Company and asset manager Arena Investors, reported a net loss of $81.5 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared with a $0.2 million loss in the same quarter last year.
The loss followed a $33.4 million net loss in the first quarter of 2026, meaning Westaim's quarterly losses have widened notably even as the underlying insurance business continues adding premium at pace.
Ceres Life generated $303 million in premiums during the quarter, with more than $660 million issued or pending through the end of July, and grew its invested asset base to $445 million. The insurance segment nonetheless posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $65 million for the quarter, driven primarily by a $56.8 million reserve recognized on new policies issued during the period.
Cameron MacDonald, Westaim's chief executive, framed the growth as evidence the platform is scaling as intended.
"We continue to experience solid support from our national distribution partners," MacDonald said, pointing to Ceres' AI-native technology platform, which the company says can automate 85% of operations as volume increases.
The loss itself stems largely from an accounting mechanic rather than an operating shortfall. Under IFRS 17, the international accounting standard for insurance contracts, insurers must recognize reserves for future policyholder obligations at the time a policy is issued rather than spreading that recognition over the life of the contract, a treatment that differs from US GAAP and produces upfront paper losses on new business even when the underlying policies are expected to be profitable over time.
Ceres added $15.1 million in multi-year guaranteed annuity premiums and $288.1 million in fixed indexed annuity premiums during the quarter, and the company said it expects the accounting drag to ease as the in-force book grows large enough for renewal earnings to offset the losses generated by new policy issuance.
Alongside the results, Westaim announced that Deanna Mulligan, Ceres Life's founding chief executive, will move into a strategic advisor role, with chief legal officer Erik Askelsen stepping up to president and acting CEO. Mulligan, a former CEO and chair of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, led Ceres Life from its 2015 founding as a de novo annuity platform, including the 2025 launch of its multi-year guaranteed annuity product and this year's rollout of a fixed indexed annuity offering.
Askelsen joined Ceres in March 2025 as chief legal officer after previous roles as chief legal officer of American Equity and general counsel of Athene and Aviva USA, all major fixed annuity providers.
Chinh Chu, Westaim's executive chairman, credited Mulligan with building the company's foundation.
"Deanna has been instrumental in the maturation of Ceres Life from an idea into a growing annuity platform, assembling the team, the technology and the risk framework that the business runs on today," Chu said.
This quarter's result extends a trend Insurance Business has tracked across Westaim's recent reporting. The insurance segment posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $11.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, when the business had issued 275 MYGA policies for $40 million in total premiums.
That loss climbed to $20.1 million in the first quarter of 2026 and now stands at $65 million for the second quarter, tracking closely with the rapid acceleration in new premium volume the company has been reporting each quarter.
Westaim separately announced it will unveil a new company name and rebrand on September 14, ahead of an investor day scheduled for September 17, where management said it would provide additional detail on asset management growth, strategic partnerships and its financial outlook.
For distribution partners, reinsurers and rating agencies watching de novo annuity platforms, Westaim's results illustrate a structural tension in accounting for a business scaling this quickly under IFRS 17: the faster Ceres grows premium, the larger its near-term reported loss becomes, even if the underlying contracts are priced to be profitable over their life.
Whether the market treats that growing loss as an expected function of scale-up accounting or as a signal of underlying pricing or reserving pressure is likely to become clearer only as the in-force block matures enough for renewal earnings to show up in the numbers, a dynamic worth watching closely at the September investor day.
