Jamie Lyons’ (pictured) vision for Westland Insurance Group is simple: to become Canada’s favourite insurance broker.
“‘Favourite’ sounds like a simple word, but to us, it means to be preferred and trusted above all, which is the greatest thing we can achieve as an adviser, employer, partner, and member of our community,” the chief executive told Insurance Business.
Westland is Canada’s largest independent brokerage, with more than 200 offices and 2,300 employees across the country. Lyons, who assumed the top role in Westland at the start of the year, said that growth is among key areas the firm is focusing on in the coming months, which include its digital transformation and embracing its broader purpose as an organization.
“Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is build up our business thoughtfully for the future. We're trying to build a business that's going be around decades from now, and we're doing this in a shifting and evolving industry,” he said.
To become Canada’s favourite insurance broker, Lyons said Westland would focus on what he called strategic pillars:
Growth, whether through further acquisitions or upgrading its technology capabilities, is “fundamental” to Westland’s entrepreneurial journey, according to Lyons. It also allows the organization to live out its strategic pillars.
“Growth enables us to make the investments that we feel we need to make to be around for the long term,” he said. “It also allows us to attract better talent into the organization and offer more career opportunities to our people.
“Our growth allows us to give back more to our communities, not just through philanthropy, donations, and volunteerism, but also by providing local employment and contributing to local economies – the more we scale, the more resources we have to do that.
“Growth is also important in terms of relevance with insurers – we've seen the industry coalesce around fewer, more strategic partners in recent years.
“The more we scale, the better we’re able to access a wider swath of the market. And ultimately that allows us to bring better solutions to bear for our clients.”
Westland has shown no signs of slowing down its acquisition spree in 2023. The group struck deals to buy two businesses at the start of February – Quebec’s Niche Assurance and Saskatchewan’s Heritage Insurance.
Niche Assurance, which focuses on the non-standard condo, residential, and commercial marker, in addition to the construction, hospitality and food service sectors, is Westland’s second deal in Quebec this year.
Westland will look to continue building “a strong national footprint” as it proceeds with further acquisitions, according to Lyons. This means not just finding new communities to enter, but also strengthening its presence in its current communities.
“We’re fortunate to be represented in nine provinces now across the country,” he said. “I would say we are continuing to look for opportunities to continue to grow through acquisition in all those provinces and regions.”
Westland also continues to see more opportunities in Ontario and eastern Canada, where it has been expanding in recent years.
In terms of its digital transformation, Lyons said Westland would continue to re-platform its technology, re-engineer its processes, position itself for “excellence in the omnichannel experience” and extend its digital product distribution.
“It has been a huge operational and financial effort but one that we think is incredibly vital to our success in the longer term,” Lyons said.
Finally, Westland is looking closely into its social and environmental impact. The group is exploring several environmental initiatives that it plans to roll out later in the year.
“We're connecting a lot more to our purpose through the strategic pillars that I talked about,” Lyons said. “But we’re also aligning ourselves with and learning from other organizations in our industry, several of them have made some incredible commitments and great progress.
“We’re not a big carbon-emitting business, but there's a lot of ways that we can make a fairly significant impact.
“Part of the journey is educating ourselves and learning the different ways that we can make a difference.”
What are your thoughts on Westland’s continued growth and the M&A landscape in Canada? Share them in the comments.
