Great-West Lifeco Inc. is a Canadian-headquartered international financial services holding company with interests in life insurance, health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance. It operates in Canada, the United States, and Europe under three principal brands: Canada Life, Empower, and Irish Life. The company traces its origins to 1891, when The Great-West Life Assurance Company was founded in Winnipeg by Jeffry Hall Brock; the holding company was incorporated in 1979. Great-West Lifeco trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GWO and is a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada.
Website: greatwestlifeco.com
Company type: Public (TSX: GWO); subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada
CEO and key people: David Harney, President and CEO (effective July 1, 2025); Jeffrey Orr, Chair of the Board
Regions served: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man, Germany, and through reinsurance operations in additional markets
What does Great-West Lifeco offer?
Great-West Lifeco delivers financial services through its three operating brands, each focused on distinct geographies and client segments:
- life, health, dental, disability, critical illness, and creditor insurance for individuals and group benefit plan sponsors in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man, and Germany, under the Canada Life brand
- wealth management and investment products including mutual funds, segregated funds, annuities, and guaranteed investment products, distributed in Canada primarily through the Canada Life advisor network and independent advisor channels
- retirement plan recordkeeping and defined contribution plan services in the United States, through Empower, which is the nation's second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants
- personal wealth management, investing, and financial advice in the United States for individual investors, also through Empower
- life insurance, pensions, and health insurance in Ireland and the United Kingdom, through Irish Life
- reinsurance solutions across multiple markets, primarily through Canada Life Reinsurance
Great-West Lifeco's Canadian operations serve individual clients, group benefit plan sponsors, and institutional investors. In Canada, Canada Life also operates an independent advisor platform that expanded significantly with the acquisition of Value Partners Group — a Winnipeg-based wealth planning firm — in 2023.
Great-West Lifeco in the market
Great-West Lifeco is one of the largest life and health insurance companies in Canada and among the largest financial services groups globally by assets under administration. Its evolution over the past decade has been shaped by two structural decisions: the 2020 amalgamation of three legacy Canadian brands — Great-West Life, London Life, and Canada Life — into the single Canada Life brand; and the build-out of Empower in the United States through a series of major acquisitions, including the retirement plan businesses of MassMutual and Prudential Financial, which established Empower as a dominant force in US defined contribution recordkeeping.
The company completed the sale of Putnam Investments — a Boston-based active asset manager it had owned for many years — to Franklin Templeton in January 2024. Following that transaction, Great-West Lifeco's three operating brands are Canada Life, Empower, and Irish Life. The Putnam sale sharpened the company's focus on its core insurance, retirement, and wealth management segments and was described by management as unlocking shareholder value while reinforcing Empower's strategic role in the US market.
David Harney became President and CEO of both Great-West Lifeco and Canada Life effective July 1, 2025, succeeding Paul Mahon, who retired after 12 years in the role and 39 years with the company. Harney had most recently served as President and COO, Europe, and has been with the organisation for more than 35 years. As of end of 2023, Great-West Lifeco's companies had over 33,500 employees and approximately 42 million customer relationships globally across all operating segments.
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