The Wawanesa mutual property and casualty (P&C) insurer reported a 25 per cent increase in consolidated net income in 2025. On the personal insurance side, where the Wawanesa group has a more modest presence, net income also rose by 13 per cent.

Wawanesa mainly distributes auto insurance and home insurance products, in addition to commercial insurance and farm insurance. The group also offers life insurance and group insurance coverage to its members. Its annual report was recently distributed to members.

In his message to members, president and chief executive officer Evan Johnston points out that over a decade (2016-2025), catastrophic claims cost the Canadian P&C insurance industry $37 billion in insured losses, nearly three times the losses recorded in the previous decade.

“Climate change is a complex challenge with no single solution. But one critical step to address its growing impact is building stronger, more resilient communities—and that requires collective action,” he writes.

Although major climate-related claims were significantly lower in 2025 than in the previous year, Wawanesa still highlights events that generated a high volume of claims. Flooding in British Columbia, freezing rainstorms in Quebec and Ontario at the end of March, as well as wildfires in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces highlight the threat posed by extreme weather events.

For the wildfires in the Prairie provinces, Wawanesa reports 1,489 claims and insured damages totalling $101 million. Some 85 homes were declared total losses.

Consolidated net income reached $556 million for the P&C insurance subsidiary. This represents an increase of 25.3 per cent compared with the previous year’s result. In 2024, surplus stood at $443 million.

Premiums

Gross written premiums in P&C insurance reached $3.8 billion in 2025, an increase of $114 million or 3 per cent compared with the previous year.

Auto insurance premium volume declined slightly in 2025, while the other segments posted increases. Home insurance premium volume rose by 6 per cent, while the combined volume in commercial insurance and farm insurance also recorded a 6 per cent increase.

Combined ratio

For his part, senior vice-president of finance Gord Dowhan is particularly pleased with the improvement in claims experience. The undiscounted combined ratio in P&C insurance stood at 97.8 per cent in 2025, an improvement of 13.8 percentage points from 2024, when it reached 111.6 per cent.

As a result, P&C insurance operations generated a net surplus of $297 million in 2025, compared with a net loss of $167 million in 2024.

In auto insurance, the combined ratio stood at 103.3 per cent in 2025, compared with 122.9 per cent in 2024. In personal property insurance, the combined ratio was 96.8 per cent, down 5.3 percentage points from the previous year.

The combined ratio in commercial insurance was 91 per cent in 2025, down 17.8 percentage points compared with 2024. In farm insurance, the combined ratio stood at 80.8 per cent in 2025, down 6.9 points.

Thanks to these stronger insurance operation results, the mutual P&C insurer posted a capitalization ratio of 290 per cent as at December 31, 2025, compared with 272 per cent a year earlier.

The Wawanesa group, which has more than 1.8 million members, insures 935,000 vehicles and 805,000 homes, in addition to covering the property of 135,000 businesses and 49,000 farms. Some 109,000 members have purchased an individual life insurance policy through the group, while more than 300,000 employees are covered under a group benefits plan.

Its products are distributed through a network of 2,981 brokers across the country. It has 3,200 employees. The mutual insurer returned some $4 million to communities in 2025. Its employees contributed the equivalent of 15,700 volunteer hours, or 2,093 days.

Personal insurance

On the personal insurance subsidiary side, Wawanesa Life Insurance Company offers term life, permanent life and critical illness insurance policies, as well as annuities through segregated funds. Consolidated net income stood at $16.1 million in 2025, compared with $14.2 million in 2024.

The company’s assets exceeded the $2 billion mark as at December 31, 2025.

Net premiums and premium equivalents totalled $228 million in 2025, representing a decline of $4 million or 1.9 per cent from the volume recorded in 2024.

Under the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT), the company posted a ratio of 167 per cent as at December 31, 2025, compared with 165 per cent 12 months earlier.