At the gala following its annual meeting on April 17, Quebec-based insurer LS Mutual – La Survivance in French – surprised the 350 guests when it announced that it was changing its name to Humania Insurance. CEO Richard Gagnon says the new name better reflects the company’s values and the current era.
The company’s logo is also changing, and shows three people grouped together. “The new name and new image better represent the nature of our products, which are mainly health insurance,” said Mr. Gagnon.

In effect since April 18, the name change was inevitable given that the mutual insurer had recently restructured and split into two companies: one operating, share capital company and another management company which remains the property of the mutual owners. Humania Insurance remains a 100% subsidiary of the mutually-owned La Survivance management company.

The change was also an opportunity to accomplish several tasks on the insurer’s 75th birthday. It offers a way for the company to promote its corporate image outside of Quebec, which is a growing market for the insurer. “I did not want the LS Mutual name any more. In English Canada, LS means nothing,” said Mr. Gagnon in an interview with The Insurance and Investment Journal.

It was even more important to have a name that could be easily exported outside Quebec after Humania gained a nation-wide presence in December with the purchase of Transamerica Life’s Canadian disability insurance portfolio, which consists of 3200 policies and $3.5 million in annual premiums.