Aviva plc's Canadian subsidiary made progress on the sales side, but catastrophe claims in the third quarter ultimately weighed on domestic underwriting results in 2024.
For general insurance activities, operating profit totaled £288 million for Aviva Canada in 2024. In 2023, Aviva announced a profit of £399 million in Canada. This is a 28% drop in operating profit for Canadian operations. The decline is 25% in constant currencies.
Premiums
In Canada, where Aviva is active only in general insurance, the company reported an 11% increase in gross written premiums (GWP) in 2024 compared with the previous year.
GWP in Canada reached £4.5 billion in 2024, compared with £4.2 billion in 2023. This is a year-on-year increase of £257 million or 6%. In constant currencies, premium growth reached 11%.
In commercial general insurance, GWP in Canada stood at £1.7 billion in 2023, an increase of £43 million, or 2.6%, compared to premiums written in 2023. In constant currencies, the increase is 7%, says Aviva plc in its annual report.
In personal lines insurance, premiums in Canada totaled £2.8 billion in 2024. This represents an increase of £214 million, or 8% over the previous year. The increase is 13% in constant currencies.
“Canada clearly had strong growth, double digit, but they also had CAT events during 2024. A significant number of events, lots of customer claims. But they handled them brilliantly with really, really good market leading customer service,” stated Amanda Blanc, Group Chief Executive Officer in a presentation.
Combined ratio
The undiscounted combined ratio for Aviva's Canadian operations was 98.5% in 2024, compared with 95.3% in 2022. This is a shift of 3.2 percentage points.
The undiscounted combined ratio was 94.4% in 2024, compared with 91.4% in 2024.
In commercial lines, the undiscounted combined ratio was 98.3% in 2024, compared with 88% in 2023.
In personal lines, the unadjusted combined ratio fell from 99.5% in 2023 to 98.6% in 2025.
Aviva Canada's loss ratio was 62.6% in 2024, compared with 59.5% in 2023.
The loss ratio for all Aviva subsidiaries was 60.8% in 2024, compared with 60.5% in 2023. The unadjusted combined ratio for the Group as a whole was 96.3% in 2024, compared with 96.2% in 2023.
Underwriting result
Aviva reported an underwriting result of £228m in Canada in 2024, compared with £331m in 2023. This is a decline of 31%, or 28% at constant currency.
According to Aviva, this is due to the high impact of severe weather catastrophes, lower claims development in previous years and the impact of inflation on claims severity, partially offset by a higher pricing environment.
The underwriting result was down in commercial lines in Canada, at £104m in 2024, compared with £223m in 2023. Personal lines saw an increase of £16 million, or 15%, in underwriting profit over a 12-month period.
At Aviva Canada
In a press release issued by Aviva Canada on Feb. 27, Tracy Garrad, CEO of Aviva Canada, stated that the company “delivered good underlying results that were impacted by record severe weather events, leading to a Combined Operating Ratio of 98.5%, and double-digit growth of 10.6%.”
Garrad added that Aviva Canada continues “to see a negative impact on our national auto insurance results due to the regulatory environment in Alberta, and are engaging with regulators to address cost drivers in the system.”
She underlined the company’s efforts to help customers become more resilient against climate events. “As extreme weather events become our new normal, society must increase investments in resilience measures to better protect communities, and build a resilient Canada that is prepared for what is to come. We’ll continue to make the right choices, improve our performance, execute on our strategy, and keep the customer at the core of our decision making.”
