Canadian financial giant reports strong Q1 results

The company’s impressive wealth management results were spurred by “outstanding” mutual fund sales

Canadian financial giant reports strong Q1 results
iA Financial Group has announced a growth spurt for its first quarter of 2017 with revenues lifting as wealth management and group insurance results offset market turbulence.

Premiums and deposits are up 42% reaching $2.8 billion and the Quebec City headquartered company said 25% to 35% of net income would get paid out to shareholders in dividends.

Yvon Charest, President and CEO of iA Financial Group said the company’s home and auto products had energy behind them going into Q1.

"In addition to our mutual funds that delivered outstanding net sales, I want to highlight our group insurance and wealth businesses, where all segments reported superior business growth. The momentum in our individual insurance and seg fund operations carried over into the first quarter, as it did for our auto and home subsidiary. On the strategic front, we look forward to completing the HollisWealth transaction in August and continue to seek opportunities to expand our presence in the US market," Charest said.

René Chabot, Executive Vice-President, CFO and Chief Actuary of iA Financial Group said their auto and home products suffered recently but were offset by good investments.

"Market gains in the quarter helped to alleviate turbulence experienced in the individual insurance sector after almost two years of strong gains. In that sector, we are pleased to see that strain on new business of 6% came in better than expected because of higher volumes and a better mix in the quarter. Elsewhere, good investment gains in income on capital compensated for the lower results at iA Auto and Home. Finally, our capital and balance sheet continue to be very strong," Chabot said.

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