How are structural changes impacting Wawanesa’s life business?

Prefontaine said that Wawanesa Life wants to distinguish itself among competitors by lining up its life, employee and group benefits with commercial insurance solutions.

“I think the difference for the big players that dominate the [life insurance] market is that they don’t have the property and casualty (P&C) side,” she told Insurance Business.

“What we bring to the table is [the fact that] we’ve got it all. We’re here to support [brokers] and to meet all the customer’s needs.”

Major changes at Wawanesa

Prefontaine was appointed to the role following structural and leadership changes announced at Wawanesa earlier this year, which also split the Winnipeg-based insurer’s regional P&C operations to Canada East and Canada West.

Graham Haigh, formerly chief marketing officer, is taking charge of the West as SVP and chief operating officer. Anna McCrindell, most recently VP of commercial insurance, is helming operations in the East.

“I’ll be joined at the hip with my colleagues [Haigh and McCrindell], and we’ll be working together to advance [these changes],” Prefontaine said.

“This new leadership structure is about better serving our brokers and customers. We see a real opportunity to provide more people and businesses with options to meet their life and health needs, as well as P&C.”

Wawanesa is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, with over $4 billion in annual revenue and assets of $12 billion. It serves more than two million policyholders across Canada and the United States.

What’s next for Wawanesa Life?

Prefontaine joined Wawanesa in 2017 after holding executive leadership roles in Canada and Europe. Prior to her appointment, she served as VP in Wawanesa’s life operations.

The business is looking to “diversify” options for brokers while further boosting technology capabilities, according to Prefontaine. Wawanesa recently moved its entire product range to Guidewire’s cloud.

“We heard from our brokers that they want to be able to provide more life and health products to customers,” she said.

“We’re investing in technology to improve ease of doing business, make transactions fast and easy for brokers and customers, and provide a great experience. So far, we are seeing positive feedback from this strategy.”

Wawanesa is also preparing to launch a white-label application for online quoting and policy binding that brokers can integrate into their websites. The add-in tool is being piloted and will see a broader roll-out in a few months, according to Prefontaine.

“We wanted to get feedback working before making it available to all our other partners. [The tool] is quick to set up. It’s not a heavy lift, and if at any point, the customer wants to connect with a broker, that’s available to them,” she said.

On the product side, Prefontaine said they are looking to add more to its comprehensive life and health offerings for individuals and businesses this year.

“In the future, more and more of our customers will get support from Wawanesa on their needs. The prevention and wellness aspects align well [with the life insurance suite of products], and that’s a big focus as we move forward,” she said.

‘Winning combination’

In an earlier interview with Insurance Business, Haigh called the changes at Wawanesa “an evolution, not a revolution,” and that the divisions would be “very focused” on broker needs in each region.

The new appointments also come as Carol Jardine, president of Canadian P&C operations at Wawanesa, is preparing to retire.

“We’re very excited about the future and about this leadership change. It’s enabled us to build on our brilliant legacy of success for the past 126 years,” Prefontaine said.

The next steps open avenues for diversification for the mutual’s broker partners, according to the SVP.

“There’s an opportunity for us to show what a Canadian-owned and operated mutual can do both on the product and service sides,” she said.

“We want brokers to talk about our full suite of P&C and life products in the same breath. That’s what we’re targeting and we think it’s a winning combination.”

What do you think about Wawanesa’s structural and leadership changes? Let us know in the comments below.