Western Financial Group is reshaping its business with a bold strategy built around Journey-Based Teams (JBTs), a structural overhaul designed to meet Canadians' evolving insurance needs while fuelling rapid growth.
Led by CEO Grant Ostir (pictured), the brokerage has set out a five-year plan to double its customer base, and early results suggest momentum is building. Customer satisfaction has risen to 94%, retention is improving, and efficiency gains are being made without compromising employee engagement.
At the core of the strategy are cross-functional teams that reflect how customers increasingly want to access coverage — in-branch, online, or through outbound channels. Each JBT brings together specialists from analytics, marketing, and operations alongside sales and client care, with the goal of delivering faster innovation and more responsive service.
Wider shifts in the market
The approach mirrors wider shifts in the Canadian insurance market, where competition is intensifying. Intact Financial, the country’s largest P&C insurer, has leaned heavily into digital platforms and direct distribution to capture market share. Meanwhile, co-operative models such as The Co-operators continue to emphasize purpose-driven service combined with digital modernization. Against that backdrop, Western’s emphasis on journey-based teams highlights its intent to carve out space in a market where convenience, personalization, and trust are increasingly decisive.
Third-party feedback tools show Western ranking in the top quartile of the industry, while its Net Promoter Score underscores the traction of its client-first approach. To keep pace, the company is expanding its client care teams and will add three more JBTs in the coming year.
For Ostir, the transformation is not just structural but cultural, embedding operational discipline and accountability into everyday decision-making. He said the Compass strategy guiding this shift will remain central through 2026, positioning Western as an agile competitor able to challenge larger carriers and digital-first rivals alike.
