North Kent Mutual is set to amalgamate in 2015 with two other area mutual insurance companies.
It is expected that January 1, 2015, the Dresden mutual insurance company will join forces with Kent & Essex Mutual Insurance Company and West Elgin Mutual Insurance Company to form one amalgamated company.
John Leeson, the CEO for North Kent Mutual, said this is a great move for the company.
“I’m planning on retiring in about a year,” Leeson said. “For me this is very exciting to be exiting my insurance career and seeing this happening because I know it’s a good thing for the members of North Kent Mutual in the long term.”
Scott Kilbride, chair of the board for North Kent, echoed Leeson’s perspective on the change.
“From a board perspective, it is very exciting,” he said. “We always put our policy holders and our employees and our community at the highest end of consideration on our decisions. This was the case here. We’ve done a lot of work up until now and there is a lot more to be done, but it’s all about providing what our customers and our policy holders want. It’s not just our current ones but our future ones.”
The corporate headquarters for the new Company will be in Chatham, utilizing the existing facilities of Kent & Essex Mutual on the corner of Creek Road and Park Avenue.
The amalgamation will not result in the closure of any office.
During the discussions on this amalgamation it was decided that Joanne Vansevenant will assume the role of CEO for the new company.
Leeson said the amalgamation will be beneficial for the policy holders.
“All three of these companies are very small companies when it comes to insurance companies,” Leeson said. “For the benefit of our policy holders, we would like to offer online access at some point in the future for both claims and policies for our policy holders. North Kent Mutual on its own is financially restricted to do that because of our size.”
Leeson added mobile applications, 24-hour claim service, getting to market quicker with new products, filing automobile rates, user-based insurance for automobiles and synergies with computer programs are all opportu8nities that would be possible for North Kent’s customers by joining forces.
Leeson said the name of the new company has yet to be chosen, but should be completed in the next few months.
To stay up to date on the changes and for more details, check out this website: https://www.mutuallystronger.ca/
