The pandemic may have caused a debilitating blow for some businesses, but not for NFP Canada.
In the past two years, the brokerage has made multiple acquisitions across Canada, snapping up names such as McLean Hallmark Insurance Group, Elective Benefit Services, Trade Risk Management Limited, Ogilvy Insurance, EdgeHill Insurance Brokers, Piiq Risk Partners, and most recently Foster Park Brokers – one of Western Canada’s largest independent insurance brokers.
So, how can a brokerage take such big risks in the middle of an unprecedented global health crisis?
To find the answers to this question, Insurance Business spoke with John Haas, president of NFP Canada, to understand the brokerage’s growth strategy and its plans for the future.
I oversee all businesses for NFP in Canada. This includes benefits, retirement, life, and personal and commercial lines. I have accountability to advance our PeopleFirst culture; to provide our teams with support and resources; to create value for our clients; and to grow our business across the country.
I joined NFP in March of 2021 and have enjoyed every minute of getting to know our people, business lines and clients. We are building from a solid foundation and elevating our impact on employees, clients and communities.
We look at the totality of what our clients and their families deal with on a personal and business level. From there, we have the perspective to provide sound advice and strategies to mitigate and transfer risk in an appropriate and cost-effective way. All areas of our business are engaged in this process, so it is not just P&C driven.
Our benefits, life and retirement teams bring significant value to our clients every day. Our focus is client-centric, so we deliver what clients need without the interference of budgetary constraints or other corporate barriers faced by competitors.
From a commercial P&C standpoint, we have national surety, aviation, trade credit and management liability teams that operate seamlessly across Canada and side-by-side with producers and client-facing teams to ensure we deliver proper advice and appropriate solutions so clients can achieve desired outcomes. We will also be expanding into marine and environmental specialties to further diversify our expertise and expand our ability to help clients manage complex risks.
With risks getting more complex, managing them requires highly specialized expertise across industries, products and programs. That’s driving our strategy and investment. We restructured our commercial mid-market and SME businesses last year with a national view to drive better outcomes for clients and form deeper relationships with insurers. In addition to the product specialists, the commercial P&C teams concentrate on energy, forestry, education, transportation, manufacturing and construction industry verticals.
Our Complex Risk Solutions Group has been operational for just over a year and has successfully focussed on the natural resources, transportation and manufacturing sectors. Our Personal Lines team are leaders in retail, group and specialty lines, as well as equestrian businesses. We are also the frontrunner in the Private Client Group segment related to high-valued homes, vehicles, aircraft, watercraft and seasonal homes located worldwide.
NFP values both organic growth and expansion through acquisition in all segments of our business and across Canada. Geographically, we want to bolster our positions out West, and in Ontario and Quebec. In 2021, we took a big step forward in Western Canada with the acquisition of Foster Park Brokers, a fantastic firm that has immediately made an impact for us.
The East coast is also in our plans for future expansion. With M&A being an important component of our growth, we have an experienced team driving us forward. The team is led by Greg Padovani and supported by Daryn McLean, Domenic Tesone, Dean Howard, Greg Dunn and Mark Wiens, each a successful business leader who was a principal of their own business before choosing to be a part of the NFP family. Our Executive Leadership team is focusing on advancing our business in the short and long term, ensuring that M&A is properly integrated into our broader strategy
We look at all opportunities with an eye toward businesses that have niche areas of expertise, a strong leadership contingent, or the ability to complement what we already have in place. We also look to engage where there is an alignment of culture and values, particularly as it relates to people, both employees and clients.
Selling your business is a big step and the last thing people want is to change everything about who they are and how they do things to fit into the corporate way. Being aligned at the outset is essential. In addition, we want sellers to understand how we approach integration. We have a fantastic cross-functional team with a detailed plan and exceptional execution. This allows acquisitions to stay focused on clients and growth throughout the transition.
Our team is essential to everything we achieve and when we invest in our employees and empower them to be their best, it translates into a better experience for our clients and more impact in our communities. It is incumbent upon us to ensure we are always providing a positive and rewarding work environment so colleagues can take care of their families, contribute in meaningful ways, have some fun and advance their professional careers.
With a sharp focus on diversity in all its forms, equity and inclusion, and creating a culture of belonging, we have ongoing efforts to advance DEIB as a business strategy. We have been recognized as a Best Place to Work in insurance for five consecutive years because of how we operate and treat each other day to day, but we always have more to do.
