Intact Financial (IFC) NBF’s 24th Annual Financial Services Conference summary

Financial performance and outlook

• Maintains strong fundamentals and momentum, with Q1 2026 expected to continue recent trends of outperformance in both top-line growth and combined ratio, especially in Canada where growth outpaces the industry by 3 points and combined ratio is 8 points better than peers.

• Hard market conditions persist in Canadian personal lines, with industry running at a 100 combined ratio and 5 points of inflation, requiring further rate increases.

• U.S. specialty lines expected to grow mid-single digits in 2026, with growth focused on product lines delivering sub-90% combined ratios.

• U.K. and Ireland operations are integrating Direct Line and RSA under the Intact brand, targeting over 1,000 brokers.

AI and technology strategy

• Over 600 AI models deployed, generating recurring annual benefits of CAD 200 million, with a target of CAD 500 million by 2030.

• AI investments prioritized for improving loss ratio, pricing, segmentation, claims, customer journeys, broker interactions, software engineering, and operational efficiency.

• Scale, proprietary data, and expertise in deploying AI at scale are seen as key competitive advantages, with over 600 data scientists focused on leveraging new AI tools.

• Generative and agentic AI tools are accelerating pricing segmentation and underwriting performance, further widening the competitive gap.

Return on equity (ROE) and structural drivers

• ROE has shifted structurally higher, from mid-teens to upper teens, driven by business mix, AI deployment, claims management, and capital allocation.

• Growth in commercial and specialty lines, improved performance from acquisitions, and AI-driven pricing sophistication contribute to sustained ROE outperformance.

• Pricing decisions are made at the policy level, supporting less volatile and more resilient ROE through cycles.