With the arrival of summer, most Canadians’ thoughts turn to the beach, the cottage or the barbeque. But not insurance advisors.
The start of summer is when Investment Executive researchers Kate Betts-Wilmott, Maureen Halushak and Lisa Weaver began making calls for our 2003 Insurance Advisors’ Report Card.
IE researchers interviewed career agents and advisors from Freedom 55 Financial, Clarica Financial Services Inc., State Farm Insurance Cos., Great-West Life Assurance Co. and newcomer The Co-operators Group Ltd., as well as brokers under national MGA brand Equinox Financial Group and a group of independent brokers under various MGAs. All told, IE surveyed 240 advisors.
Researchers asked advisors to rate their firm in 17 categories, including front-office technology, availability of products and compensation.
IE averaged the individual rating in each category and produced each firm’s score for the question. To calculate our IE rating, we averaged the firm’s scores for each category, also giving points for the number of times a firm placed first in a category. The IE rating is used to rank the firms from highest to lowest.
State Farm retained its first-place ranking but faced keen competition from Co-operators and Great-West for top spot. IE