Trisura : Everything you need to know

About Trisura

A subsidiary of Trisura Group Ltd, Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company is a specialty lines insurance firm that has offices in six major cities across Canada, including Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Halifax. The company is focused on mid-market risks in contract and commercial surety, directors’ and officers’ liability, fidelity, professional liability, including media and cyber liability, warranty, and property and casualty products. The firm’s operations are fully bilingual in French and English.

Trisura works in partnership with a select broker network to bring niche-oriented solutions to Canadian businesses.

One of its specialty insurance offerings includes cyber insurance, which is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses that continue to be under-prepared for cyber incidents.

“There’s a lot that has to be done from a pre-breach assessment and analysis as well making sure your security protocols, policies and procedures are in place, the software’s up to date and patched,” said Michael Kalakauskas, director of distribution for Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company. “For SMEs, a lot of the time they don’t even have an IT group so they’re looking for the president or the CFO to fill that role, whereas they definitely need to have someone who’s responsible for it or hire an outside party to come in and evaluate all their protocols and make sure they’re up to speed.”

From the ground up

Trisura was founded in 2006 by its former CEO and president, Mike George, along with Bob Taylor and John Garner. It was built on the values of exceptional service, innovative products, and hard work in order to create a company with whom brokers would want to do business. From its humble beginnings, Trisura has evolved its products and team demographics, adding some younger faces to its workforce. The company currently employs more than 150 employees.

Trisura’s business also continues its upward trajectory, averaging a 25% year-over-year growth since its inception. Still, the company is keen on expanding its product mix in niche areas and is continuously broadening its risk appetite and capacity.

After experiencing a 63.2% growth in the first quarter of 2022, Trisura’s GPW increased further by 36.2% in the second quarter. Strong underwriting performance across all lines contributed to a combined ratio of 80.6% and a 31.6% ROE. New fronting arrangements in Canada contributed $86.7 million premiums in the quarter.

Bringing brokers and communities together

Trisura does its part for the communities in which it works, bringing together brokers in the process. Among the national charities the company supports are:

• The Canadian Cancer Society
• Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada
• The United Way
• Daily Bread Food Bank
• Covenant House

Trisura also takes pride in the work they do for smaller local charities across the country, with its employees often providing inspiration for local charitable events. The company’s annual softball tournament, for instance, has raised funds for smaller local organizations that are close to the employees’ hearts, including Waves of Hope and Darling Home for Kids.

Rather than simply giving money to charities, Trisura likes to organize events where employees and brokers can participate. Recently, employees sponsored a contest that saw staffers at one of its Atlantic area brokerages compete for a $1,000 donation, for the most compelling presentation of their charitable cause.

“Volunteerism and engagement in our communities is at the heart of our involvement and giving,” said Cindy Grant, vice-president of human resources. “We take the same personalized approach to our charitable giving as we do to managing the relationships with our brokers, their customers and our employees.”

Top of the charts

Trisura has consistently landed on several ‘top employer’ lists, such as Aon’s best small and medium employers ranking in Canada and Mediacorp Canada’s list of the top small and medium-sized employers in the country - an award that specifically highlights SMEs with forward-thinking people programs.

“To be recognized among so many outstanding organizations as a top employer is such an honour,” said Grant. “Our winning culture is created by our amazing and dedicated team, who bring our vision of ‘a step above’ to life every single day. We thank them wholeheartedly for everything they do.”

Trisura was also recently recognized by The Globe and Mail for having one of Canada's most gender-diverse executive teams.

“We applaud their efforts for promoting diversity and want to send a special shout out to all our female employees for being ‘a step above’ every day,” the company announced on its LinkedIn page.

In 2018, Trisura also landed on the 2018 Growth 500 list due to its five-year revenue growth of 125%.