Winnipeg-based insurance provider Great-West Lifeco Inc. aspires to build a presence in the United States and Europe, according to company leadership and
The Globe and Mail.
“We could really participate in good growth in the U.S., and we’ll look to acquisitions to bolster that,” Great-West president and CEO Paul Mahon said recently when visiting Toronto. “And in the U.K.? That’s a market that is not fully consolidated either.”
Although Great-West is “sometimes overlooked” due to its location outside of the Greater Toronto Area,
The Globe and Mail reports that one in three Canadians are linked to the company through its numerous products and services.
The insurer acknowledges that it will be difficult to differentiate itself in developed markets, but feels that the opportunities presented by the U.S. and Britain outweigh this challenge. It has already begun to acquire foreign companies, including J.P. Morgan Retirement, Irish Life Group and Putnam Investments, and plans to intensify its focus on technology in order to remain competitive.
These global operations also allow each Great-West location to benefit from developments that may arise in a different part of the globe.
“We can use that commonality of that Western world phenomenon to leverage commonalities across our organization,” Mahon said. “In the Far East, you’d be thinking about products we were maybe selling at Great-West Life or London Life 20 or 30 years ago.”
Mahon set Great-West apart from peer organizations
Manulife Financial Corp. and Sun Life Financial Inc. by explaining that it has no interest in expanding to Asia, since that region lies outside Great-West’s area of expertise.
Instead, it hopes to consolidate past purchases in the U.S. to create a financial powerhouse. It also seeks to strategically grow in the European Union.
“As we look to the U.K. and Ireland and Germany, those would be markets we’d see as sound and stable and strong,” Mahon said.
While Mahon mentioned that competition is beginning to emerge from unexpected places such as Wal-Mart and Google Finance, he hopes to stand out through a cutting-edge digital experience similar to what Amazon provides.
“In the future, insurers will not get a pass on a lousy digital experience just because life insurance has long been dominated by paper forms,” he said.
