Canada Life Reinsurance, part of Canadian headquartered international financial services holding company, Great-West Lifeco, experienced robust year on year growth in the first quarter of 2025 and also reduced its exposure to weather-related catastrophes.
Great-West Lifeco generated net earnings of CAD 860 million in the opening quarter of 2025, a strong result albeit down on the prior year’s first quarter earnings of more than CAD 1 billion, driven by lower returns on real estate assets and interest rates.
However, the underlying performance was strong as the company maintains a disciplined approach, which supports the firm during times of market volatility.
Q1 2025 was also a strong quarter for the company’s reinsurance business, Canada Life Re, with the reinsurer’s CEO, Jeff Poulin, highlighting how diversification is helping to position the carrier for the potential volatile times ahead.
“We had solid growth year over year in reinsurance despite some headwinds in our mortality and claims due to the California fires in January. We are grateful to our clients for their engagement and our employees for their hard work and dedication. I’m excited about what lies ahead!” said Poulin.
Although the Q1 2025 financial results of Canada Life Re’s parent do not include figures for the reinsurance business, the release does state that exposure to weather-related catastrophes is lower, highlighted by the fact the reinsurer’s after-tax claims provision for the Los Angeles, California wildfires is just CAD 21 million, despite industry losses hovering around the USD 40 billion mark.
Canada Life Re’s solid Q1 2025 performance follows a strong 2024, with the company reporting back in February that during last year, its contractual service margin grew 40% on 2023’s figure.
