Cowan Group has been elected to join Assurex Global, a privately held commercial insurance, risk management, and employee benefits brokerage group, effective March 17, 2025.
Through its subsidiaries, Cowan Insurance Group and Cowan Benefits, the Ontario-based insurance brokerage and consulting firm offers insurance and risk management solutions in commercial and personal insurance, group benefits, and wealth management.
A partnership
When asked to tell the Insurance Portal what is behind the word “partnership”, Assurex Global’s Communications Director, Jackie Hooley, explains: “Assurex Global is an exclusive network for privately-held, independent insurance brokerages. We are not a “membership based” or “pay to play” network in the sense that a broker can come to us and pay to be included. Our Partner Firms are selected through an extensive vetting process.”
“Once our executive committee recommends a prospective Partner Firm, our existing Partner Firms vote on the election of the firm. Once they are elected, they become a Partner Firm of Assurex Global and from then on have the collective power of our 100+ firms worldwide while operating independently. This is by no means an acquisition by Assurex Global,” Hooley underlines.
“Our Partner Firms are also shareholders of Assurex Global, so our primary relationship with our Partner Firms is that they are our clients.”
Facing competition
Assurex Global aims to help its partners stand out from the competition. “These privately held firms have to compete with massive, publicly-traded competitors, and being part of Assurex Global means their clients have access to our collective resources and local expertise covering 175 countries,” Hooley says.
“For example, if a Partner Firm in France took on a new client with business operations spanning multiple countries, that French firm will work with their fellow Partner Firms that are located in those respective countries to build a comprehensive risk management program for them that adheres to local laws and compliance regulations. This often means our Partner Firms will share revenue from these collaborative efforts,” she explains.
Assurex Global in Canada
Cowan Group is one of four current Canadian companies in the partnership program: Ellipse Assurances, from Quebec, joined in 1995. Magnes – A Division of Axis Insurance, from Ontario, joined in 2008. Wedgwood Insurance, from Newfoundland, joined in 2013.
Magnes’ Director International, R.J. Farnworth, sits on Assurex Global’s North America Regional Committee and “guides the efforts of the region” as well as helps recommend prospective North American Partner Firms, Hooley says. “We don’t currently have any other prospective Partners on the way from Canada for now, but that could very well change in the next year as we continue expansion efforts,” she adds.
Independence
When asked what is considered an independent insurance brokerage, Hooley elaborates: “Assurex Global defines independence a bit differently for the purposes of our Partnership. Traditionally, an independent firm is one that is privately held by owners who are active in the business. We do not consider a firm independent if they are owned by a public company like Marsh, Aon, WTW, Gallagher, etc., a bank, or an outside entity that removes operational control from the broker agency.”
“Several of our Partners, like Ellipse (editor’s note: it maintains a multifaceted relationship with Intact Insurance), do have financial ties/are owned by a larger entity but their individual agency still maintains operational control with executive positions/decision-makers who are still allowed to have full authority over their role as a Partner Firm and shareholder,” Hooley adds.
