IA posts $137M Q1 net income

IA Financial Group reported a net income attributed to common shareholders of $137 million for the first quarter of 2026, down 26% from $186 million in the same quarter of 2025.

Core earnings per common share were $3.25, up 12% from $2.91 a year earlier.

Core earnings for the quarter were $298 million, up 9% from $273 million in Q1 2025, iA reported.

As of Mar. 31, 2026, the firm had $346 billion of assets under management and administration, up from $264 billion at the same time the previous year.

IA’s Canadian insurance core earnings totalled $96 million in the first quarter, down from $100 million in the same quarter of 2025. The company attributed the dip mainly to the higher impact of new insurance business in home and auto insurance, core insurance losses with unfavourable morbidity rates, higher core non-insurance expenses and higher core income taxes.

In Canada, iA reported individual insurance sales of $97 million for the quarter, similar to Q1 2025. The insurer says it holds the top spot for the number of policies issued in the country, with the amount of policies sold increasing by 5% year over year.

Special markets sales softened for iA in the first quarter, coming in at $104 million compared to $108 million in the same quarter last year. This reflected lower demand for international student medical insurance after the federal government capped the number of study permits issued to that group, beginning in 2024.

Core earnings for iA’s wealth segment hit $131 million for the first quarter compared with $106 million a year ago. The 24% increase came mainly from higher combined risk adjustment release and contractual service margin from strong segregated fund sales and favourable financial markets impact.

Insured annuity sales dropped to $434 million in the final quarter of 2024, from $702 million a year earlier as the financial markets’ positive performance meant clients favoured riskier investments over guaranteed investments.

Segregated funds gross sales totalled $2.4 billion in the first quarter, up 23% compared to the same quarter a year earlier, while mutual fund gross sales of $838 million were up 30% year over year. Segregated funds saw net inflows of $1.5 billion while mutual funds had net outflows of $90 million.

“In the current volatile market, safer products are appealing to certain investors,” iA said.

Group savings and retirement sales for the first quarter totalled $704 million, down from $841 million a year earlier. Positive insured annuities sales growth was more than offset by lower accumulation product sales.