P&C insurer makes foray into wealth management

Building on the emerging trend of P&C brokers acquiring financial planning and wealth management firms, insurance company Co‑operators announced its acquisition of Roger Ghent Financial Services. The transaction closed May 13, 2024.

Prior to the acquisition, Booklin, Ont.-based wealth advisor Roger Ghent operated independently for nearly 30 years, Co-operators said in a May 22 press release. The firm has more than 200 clients and manages approximately $35.9 million in assets.

Co-operators says the acquisition is intended to “address the mounting need in the wealth and financial services industry to provide strategic transition opportunities for advisors who are considering retirement.”

The release goes on to say the insurer is positioning itself to serve as a bridge to retirement for wealth managers and advisors who are contemplating a business sale, but aren’t yet ready to stop working.

“Developing the scale and skill of our distribution model is among our top objectives,” says Lucilla Nardi, chief distribution officer of Co‑operators of Financial Investment Services. “Arrangements like these accelerate our mutual fund expertise by recruiting veteran advisors alongside their portfolios.”

Transition planning

Roger Ghent will stay on with Co-operators for the next 18 months and retire in 2025, according to the release. The remaining Ghent team members are included in the transition to the new ownership and will provide consistency for the firm’s clients.

“The most appealing aspect of joining Co‑operators was the opportunity to ensure the coordinated transition of my client’s assets into experienced, trustworthy hands,” says Roger Ghent.

Two years ago, sources pointed out rising instances of P&C brokers acquiring wealth management, financial planning and employee benefits firms to diversify their product offerings.

At the time, they told CU that while large banks had acquired many Tier-1 independent wealth management firms over the past 20 years, numerous smaller firms specializing in wealth and retirement benefits remained privately owned.

Larger, well-capitalized P&C brokers exploring cross-selling opportunities initially acquired health insurance benefits firms during the 2010s. Retirement and wealth management firms were a logical next step.

Plus, P&C firms’ merger appetite combined with the fact that principals at many wealth management firms across Canada were nearing retirement age. That trend created a ripe acquisition pool and also gave P&C brokerages access to much-needed new talent.

“We’re trying to bring in talent, and train and develop that talent to perpetuate it to be a succession plan for the folks in these businesses,” one large P&C brokerage principal told CU when interviewed for a feature in late 2022.

Another noted P&C brokerages have been seeking buyouts that can enhance their firms’ ability to solve wider-ranging client risk issues. In that context, retirement planning and wealth management firms are ideal. What’s more, advisors working at those firms can be trained to cross-sell P&C offerings post-acquisition.

For its part, Co-operators notes in its press release on the Ghent acquisition that the “company offers outgoing professionals a competitive price for part, or all, of their portfolio.”

And, it adds, sellers are “provided generous marketing and business supports, and granted the freedom to exit the business at their own pace.”

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