Ontario Mutuals are community based property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies that are owned by their policyholders. There are no stockholders. All Ontario Mutuals have been successfully operating in your communities for well over 100 years. They have remained strong and stable throughout the years and have provided solid, reliable service to the communities in which they operate.
"Ontario Mutuals have remained strong and stable throughout the years, providing solid, reliable service to towns in Ontario both large and small".
There is a strong network of purely mutual insurance companies operating in Ontario, commonly referred to as "the farm mutuals". These are community based property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies that are owned by their policyholders. There are no stockholders. Any surplus either remains in the company's surplus account or may be refunded to the policyholders - at the discretion of the policyholder directors.
Almost all of these companies are now over 100 years old. They have remained strong and stable throughout the years and have provided solid, reliable service to the communities in which they operate. Ontario's farm mutuals provide a broad range of insurance and financial products to participants.
The mutual companies cooperate with each other and are members of the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association (OMIA). The Association was formed in 1882 and originally went by the name Purely Mutual Underwriters Association, and later Mutual Fire Underwriters Association. The Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies networks mutuals across Canada. Ontario's purely mutual insurance companies participate in what is called the Fire Mutuals Guarantee Fund. Formed in 1975, "the Fund" places the surplus of all voting member companies of OMIA behind any one of the members. In the very unlikely event of the insolvency of one of the members, all other voting member mutuals would respond to 100% of current insurance claims, and policyholders would not lose any unused premiums already paid.
The mutuals also own their own reinsurance company. The Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. (FMRP) was the first Canadian-owned reinsurance company when formed in 1959 and is one of a very few Canadian-owned reinsurers in existence today.