GREAT WEST LIFE ASSURANCE CO /CAN/

The Great-West Life Assurance Company was founded in 1891 in Winnipeg and currently still has its headquarters there. The company would grow and focus on expanding its services in its early years, offering six insurance plans just one year after its inception. In the early 1900s, the company would have enough capital to expand its physical presence, opening up a branch office in Toronto in 1893 and its first U.S. office in North Dakota in 1906. The company would then experience rapid growth, moving its headquarters several times until it decided to build its own in 1911 and becoming one of the first companies to offer group insurance. The company would suffer during the Dust Storm when most of the company’s assets were invested in farm mortgages, but would survive through cautious management. Great-West Life then survived through the depression, diversifying its business and investments as it recovered and grew. The company today is a leader in the Canadian insurance industry, “with interests in life insurance and health insurance, investment, retirement savings and reinsurance business, primarily in Canada and Europe.” The company is a subsidiary of Great-West Lifecco Inc., its parent joint stock corporation on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which is a member of the Power Financial Corporation. Great-West Life Assurance operates largely through a series of subsidiaries, which include the Canada Life Financial Corporation, London Insurance Group, GWL Realty Advisors, and GLC Asset Management Group, many of which have further subsidiaries of their own. The company now provides financial services for over 12 million people in Canada with more clients in Europe through itself and international reinsurance markets, including individuals and families with portfolios of financial and benefit plan solutions and similar products for its businesses and organizations. Some of the segregated funds available under its subsidiary GWL include various Advanced Income Portfolios and mutual funds through its preferred dealer, Quadrus, include the U.S. Value Fund, International Equity, and Growth Income, among many others.