Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. (IA Financial Group) plans to adopt a more flexible, holding company structure, the Quebec City-based company announced Monday.
IA Financial currently competes with Canadian financial institutions that operate under this type of legal structure and the planned planned new structure would provide additional strategic flexibility, the company says.
“It would clearly be to our advantage to have the same flexibility as our key competitors,” says Denis Ricard, IA Financial, chief operating officer, in a statement. “We are committed to continued growth and that means becoming an increasingly important player in both the Canadian and U.S. markets.”
“We believe it would be beneficial to adapt our legal structure to the current reality of our organization. A holding company would give us more financial flexibility to execute our growth strategy and better reflect the diversification of our operations,” adds Yvon Charest, president and CEO.
To launch the new structure, iA Financial is submitting a private member’s bill in the National Assembly of Quebec seeking changes to existing legislation respecting IA Financial adopted in 1999, which, among other things, imposes shareholding limits.
More details about the holding company, which will require shareholder and other approvals, will be announced in the coming months, the company says.