GWL’s investor assets reach $1.1 trillion
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/02/2015 (4232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
GREAT-West Lifeco’s performance in 2014 fits the company to a T — as in trillion.
The Winnipeg-based financial services behemoth saw its assets under administration ring in the new year at $1.1 trillion, up 40 per cent from a year ago. The increase includes $207 billion in AUA related to its acquisition of the J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services record-keeping business last year.
Crashing through such a mythical financial barrier did not go unnoticed by Paul Mahon, Great-West’s president and CEO.
“When you think about it, we were less than half-a-trillion dollars (in AUA) three years ago,” he said.
“We’ve been running hard. We’re going to catch our breath after a solid year but we will take a few minutes to look back at the great contributions that our employees and advisers have made. More than 20,000 of our people around the world delivered that result.”
The growth has come from an uplift in stock markets, increases in organic growth and acquisitions, he said.
Earlier this week, Great-West acquired Legal & General International (Ireland) Limited, which will complement its earlier purchase of Irish Life two years ago. While it’s nowhere near the same size, the newest addition will be meaningful to its European operations.
“It won’t be hugely noticeable at the Lifeco level, but you always want to be growing businesses,” he said.
On Thursday, Great-West reported net earnings of $2.5 billion, or $2.549 per common share, for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, compared with $2.3 billion ($2.340) for 2013.
The company had net earnings of $657 million for its fourth quarter ($0.658), down from $717 million ($0.717) for the same period in 2013.
The uncharacteristic decrease was due to an after-tax litigation recovery of $226 million ($0.226) in the last three months of 2013.
Great-West is Manitoba’s largest company by a wide margin. In fact, if you added up the market capitalization of every other public company in the province, the total still wouldn’t be bigger than Great-West.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca