Commercial lines brokerage Navacord Corp. has formed a strategic partnership with Citistar Financial, a Canadian life insurance managing general agent (MGA), Navacord announced Monday.
“This partnership underscores Navacord’s ongoing expansion into financial services and specialty lines, reinforcing its commitment to delivering tailored solutions for diverse markets,” the property and casualty insurance brokerage says of the deal.
Founded in 1999, Citistar Financial has more than 1,000 advisors serving communities across Canada. The MGA offers life, health, and travel insurance, group insurance, investment, and wealth solutions, as well as strategies for business, retirement, and estate planning.
“Our partnership with Citistar Financial is a pivotal move for Navacord as we continue to expand and diversify our offerings within the financial services sector,” Navacord president and CEO Shawn DeSantis says of the deal. “Citistar’s strong leadership team and entrepreneurial culture align with our goals of driving growth and offering niche, specialty services.”
For its part, Citistar says the new strategic partnership will help it develop scale by providing access to the Canadian P&C commercial insurance market and its business clients.
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“We are excited to partner with Navacord as this collaboration opens up tremendous growth opportunities for Citistar Financial,” says Citistar Financial CEO Michael Yan. “Navacord’s resources, collaboration and expertise in property and casualty insurance will support our very deep understanding of the financial services business, helping us better serve our partners and clients, and continue our tradition of excellence. Together, we look forward to building an even stronger foundation for future success.”
Navacord was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ont. It bills itself as “one of Canada’s top three commercial insurance brokerages” with $5 billion in premiums. It is among several Canadian commercial P&C brokerages actively acquiring wealth management, retirement planning and employee benefits firms to boost revenues by adding to their product ranges.
It’s all part of a broader industry trend in which P&C multiline commercial brokerages compete by offering more cross-selling opportunities. For example, by purchasing a wealth management firm, a P&C commercial brokerage would have a new list of clients who might be might be interested in purchasing a financial P&C product such as employee benefits.
– With files from Phil Porado, managing editor of Canadian Underwriter
Feature image courtesy of iStock.com/Ralf Hahn
