No immediate operational changes are planned at Gillons Insurance.
The long-time Fort Frances-based insurance brokerage was acquired by a company out of B.C.
The agreement with Westland Insurance Group was finalized early last week.
Westland’s vice-president of operations, Tim Mackie, says they’re looking to Gillon’s staff helping them with their expansion plans.
“We’re new to the Ontario marketplace. So we’re looking for their help to learn. What we might be able to provide is just more support in areas like access to markets, capacity to help customers with their insurance needs,” says Mackie.
Mackie says the Gillons name will stay in the short-term though bringing their operations under the Westland brand could happen later on.
There are also no staffing or office changes planned.
Mackie says any change in the future will be done in a meaningful and thoughtful manner.
He does see some benefits to consumers.
“We certainly have relations with almost all of the domestic, some of the global insurers. We have some of our own in-house facilities. So we see the potential for us just to offer those products and services to the customer base,” says Mackie.
Gillon’s Insurance started in Fort Frances in 1924.
It has since expanded to eleven communities across northwestern Ontario.
President Myron Romaniuk sees Westland making them stronger and more competitive.
“Our competitors are becoming, I would call then, further away. Technology is actually bridging a lot of that. We’re looking for how can we be more effective or as effective as we’ve been into the future, and that’s why we’ve looked at this,” says Romaniuk.
Westland is one of the largest insurance brokers in Canada and looking to become a national company.
This week it added MIG Insurance Group, headquartered in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, with eight branches throughout the province.
