Ladies and gentlemen, [Foreign language] , good afternoon. My name is Bill Young, and I am the Chair of the Board of Directors of Intact Financial Corporation. On behalf of the directors, I would like to welcome you to the 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the company. [Foreign language]
Welcome to Intact Financial Corporation's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. It is a privilege for me to chair this meeting and address our shareholders.
Please note that this meeting will take place in both English and French. Simultaneous translation is being provided through our webcast, and we welcome questions in either language. In addition, closed captioning is available by clicking the CC button located on the top right side of your screen when you are in the English or French channel. Should you have any technical issues during the meeting, please email support@support-ca.lumiglobal.com. As chair of the board of directors of the company, I will act as chair of this meeting as per the company bylaws. I will now call the meeting to order. I would like to draw your attention to the forward-looking statements and disclaimer currently displayed on the webcast page. Certain forward-looking statements may be made during this meeting, and actual results could differ from these statements.
Joining me today are Charles Brindamour, Chief Executive Officer of the company, who will deliver his report later in the meeting, and Stephanie Lee, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, who will act as Secretary of the meeting. My fellow directors, as well as members of senior management of the company, have also joined for today's meeting. Timothy Lee, representative of Computershare, will act as scrutineer of the meeting. At this time, I would like the Secretary of the meeting to review the procedures for voting and for asking questions.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Bill. If you have already voted by proxy prior to the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to vote again. Here is the procedure for shareholders and proxies attending the meeting today who wish to vote during the meeting. Only shareholders and proxies who have logged in as shareholders with the username provided by Computershare will be able to vote during the meeting.
If you are a shareholder or proxy holder who has not yet voted, or if you wish to change your existing vote, you may do so by clicking on the Voting button at the top left of your screen. Voting is now open and will remain open until all voting matters have been presented. Those attending the meeting as guests are not able to vote. Following the closing of voting, I will announce preliminary voting results for each matter.
Final voting results will be published by press release and will be available on the company's website as well as on SEDAR+ following the meeting. We encourage you to ask questions during the meeting. Shareholders and proxy holders attending the meeting can ask questions in writing or alternatively live via telephone by clicking on the Messaging button at the top left of your screen. Please note that to be able to ask questions, you must be logged into the meeting as a shareholder using the username provided by Computershare. Those attending the meeting as guests will not be able to ask questions.
If you wish to ask a question in writing, type your question in the text box, indicate whether it relates to a specific item on the meeting agenda, or if it is of a more general nature, and then click the Send button at the right side of the text box. I will read questions received in writing out loud at the appropriate time. If you wish to ask a question in real time via telephone, type your full name and phone number in the message box, as well as the topic of your question, and indicate if it relates to a specific item on the agenda or if it is of a more general nature, and then click the Send button at the right side of the text box. An operator will contact you at the number you have provided and will connect your call to the meeting.
I will invite you at the appropriate moment to ask your question. We will adjust questions regarding specific agenda items at the time these items are presented, but please feel free to send your questions at any time. General questions will be addressed following remarks by our CEO, and questions of a similar nature may be grouped together in a single question. If your question concerns a client matter, please include your contact information, and a member of our customer service team will get in touch with you following the meeting. Finally, if there are any questions we're not able to answer today, we will reach out to you personally after the meeting to ensure we answer your question.
[Foreign language]
We thank you in advance for following those procedures.
I have received satisfactory proof that the notice calling this meeting was duly sent to all shareholders of the company under the notice and access regime, the whole in conformity with the bylaws of the company and with the corporate and security laws of Canada. We have received proxies representing more than 81% of the over 178 million common shares outstanding. I hereby declare that notice requirements have been met, that a quorum is present, and that this meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business. I further direct that the Secretary maintain the proxies and records of attendance with the official records of this meeting. The meeting is now open.
At this time, I would like to remind everyone attending that the minutes of last year's annual meeting of shareholders, along with the meeting agenda and other documents, including the management proxy circular and annual financial statements, are available by clicking the Documents button at the top left of your screen, as well as under the Investors tab of the company's website. For the purpose of this meeting, I will ask Stephanie Lee, who is a shareholder, to move all proposals. The first order of business is the receipt of the company's financial statements for the year 2024. Copies of these financial statements were made available to shareholders who requested them, along with the annual meeting documentation. Copies are also available on our website and may be obtained from the Secretary's office or the Investor Relations department of the company.
Can the Secretary confirm whether any questions have been received with respect to this matter?
No questions, Bill.
Thank you. I confirm that the consolidated financial statements of Intact Financial Corporation for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the auditor's report related to these financial statements have been hereby received by this meeting. The next item of the meeting is the appointment of the auditor. Management, the audit committee, and the board of directors of the company have recommended the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP, as the company's auditor for the 2025 fiscal year and until the next annual meeting. Can the Secretary confirm whether any questions have been received with respect to this matter?
No questions on this topic, Bill.
Thank you. May I have a proposal in this regard?
My name is Stephanie Lee. I am a shareholder of the company. I would like to move that Ernst & Young LLP, be appointed as auditor of the company for the year 2025 and until the next annual meeting.
Thank you. I would like to remind all shareholders and proxy holders in attendance that voting is currently open and will remain open until the last voting matter has been presented. We will now proceed with the election of the directors of the company. 12 directors are nominated for election at this meeting. All directors proposed by management of the company were elected by the shareholders at last year's annual meeting, except for Mike Miller. Please also note that in accordance with the company's advance notice bylaw, it has been confirmed that no other director nominations were received by the company. Can the Secretary confirm whether any questions have been received with respect to the election of directors?
No questions on this topic, Bill.
Thank you. May I have a proposal in this regard?
My name is Stephanie Lee, and I am a shareholder of the company, and I hereby propose the following persons as directors of the Board of Directors of Intact Financial Corporation as of this meeting, and to remain in function until the next annual meeting: Charles Brindamour, Michael Katchen, Stephani Kingsmill, Jane Kinney, Rob Leary, Mike Miller, Sylvie Paquette, Stuart Russell, Indira Samarasekera, Frederick Singer, Carolyn Wilkins, and Bill Young.
Thank you. Voting is currently open if you wish to do so, and will remain open until the last voting matter has been presented. The next item on the agenda is the advisory resolution relating to the company's approach to executive compensation. The board of directors believes that shareholders should have the opportunity to fully understand the objectives, philosophy, and principles that it has used and integrated to make executive compensation decisions. It is the board of directors' intention that this shareholder advisory vote will form an important part of the ongoing process of engagement between shareholders and the board of directors concerning compensation. The board of directors has recommended that shareholders approve the non-binding advisory resolution. Can the Secretary confirm whether any questions have been received with respect to this matter?
No questions, Bill.
Thank you. May I have a proposal in this regard?
My name is Stephanie Lee. I am a shareholder. I move that the following resolution be approved. Be it resolved on a non-binding and advisory basis, not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the board of directors, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's management proxy circular, made it available in advance of the 2025 annual meeting of shareholders.
Thank you. We will now be closing voting. I invite those shareholders and proxy holders who have not yet cast their votes but wish to do so, to complete voting now. Voting is now closed. I will now ask the secretary to report the preliminary voting results.
Thank you. I have received the preliminary scrutineer report. The final results will be filed on SEDAR+ and made available on the company's website, as well as via press release following the meeting. The following are the preliminary results. Ernst & Young has been appointed as auditor of the company for the year 2025 and until the next annual meeting by at least 92% of votes cast. All directors nominated for election have been duly elected with at least 96% of votes cast and will hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. The advisory resolution to accept the approach to executive compensation was approved by at least 97% of votes cast.
Thank you. We have completed the official business of the meeting and will now hear reports from myself and the chief executive officer. This will be followed by a question-and-answer period. As a reminder, if you are a shareholder or proxy holder and wish to ask a question, you can submit a written question or enter your name and telephone number to be contacted and ask a question in real time via telephone by clicking the messaging button at the top left of your screen. I'll now deliver my report. I'm proud to say that Intact once again ended 2024 in a strong position. We helped our customers navigate some of the toughest conditions they've ever faced, getting them back on track following extreme weather events. This is a testament to our resilience as an organization and our dedication to providing exceptional customer experiences.
Last summer was particularly challenging. It was the most destructive season in Canadian history for insured losses due to severe weather. We reported natural catastrophe losses totaling CAD 1.2 billion in the third quarter. Through it all, Intact stayed true to our purpose, helping people, businesses, and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times. Our focus on outperformance and financial strength was crucial in managing the impacts of climate change and other key trends. Despite a total of CAD 1.5 billion in catastrophe losses in 2024, we delivered a 16.5% operating return on equity and maintained a strong balance sheet. The board is confident that our business is sustainable in the long term, even as we navigate the ongoing impacts of climate change.
Looking to the future, we have spent significant time assessing the risks and opportunities of AI, digital engagement, and geopolitics. Our outside-in approach to strategy helps us identify global trends, seize opportunities early, and manage risks. AI has transformed our competitive advantages, with over 500 models delivering significant benefits, all under strong guardrails and ethical guidelines. Digital engagement has also seen a significant rise, with an 81% increase in new online business premiums in Canada. During the summer severe weather season, half of our claims from certain catastrophes were initiated online. We also regularly discuss geopolitical issues with management and external advisors, staying updated on political shifts in the U.K., U.S., and Canada to understand their implications for our business and customers. Despite growing U.S.-Canada economic tensions, our business remains strong. Our exposure to tariffs and counter-tariffs is limited, and we have many levers to minimize impacts.
The board remains confident in management's ability to grow the business, both organically and through acquisitions. In Canada, we continue to deliver strong underlying growth on all aspects of the business. Commercial lines also had strong results and added new tools to increase ease of doing business for brokers. With the RSA integration complete, our U.K. and I business successfully exited its personal lines operations and became one of the top commercial insurers in the U.K.. In our Global Specialty Lines business, we launched two new lines of business in Europe, technology and management liability, building off the strength of these verticals in North America. Investing in our people is essential to our strategic roadmap. In 2024, we were awarded Best Employer by Mercer for the 9th consecutive year in Canada and the 6th year in the U.S. A cornerstone of our success is strong governance.
Our business has grown significantly in the last 5 years, becoming more complex and global. Meanwhile, regulatory oversight has increased in areas such as fair treatment of customers, privacy, AI, and climate risk. The board works with management to ensure strong governance, ethical conduct, and internal controls, adapting as our business and external environment change. We are confident in our oversight, whether it be around our insurance operations here or abroad, or other lines of business like On Side Restoration and BrokerLink. The board also continues to provide guidance on climate strategy. We remain confident that it is both sound and sustainable. Shareholder engagement remains an important part of my mandate. My board colleagues and I met with 10 of our largest 20 shareholders in 2024, representing about 36% of IFC shares. We discussed strategy, climate, key risks, governance, and succession planning.
In those meetings, shareholder provided feedback that they appreciated our approach towards environmental, social, and governance, and how we integrate ESG considerations into our strategy. They also expressed their appreciation for our perspectives on AI and its potential impact, as well as strong support for our governance and succession planning. A solid succession plan is more important than ever, given the company's global footprint. Intact has a well-tested plan with an average of five successors available for all 250 senior executive roles across the business. We saw this in action with several smooth transitions, including Louis Marcotte stepping down as CFO and succeeded by Ken Anderson, who was serving as Executive Vice President and CFO for RSA in the U.K. and I.
In Ken's place, Karim Kurji, formerly senior vice president, integration and managing director at Intact Ventures, became the CFO of the U.K. and I. We also saw strong succession plans in place for Global Specialty Lines, with Mike Miller retiring as CEO and succeeded by Emmanuel Clarke, an IFC Corporate Director and Chairman of IFC's GSL Advisory Board. Also in our GSL business, Robert G. Leary, formerly CEO of Luxembourg, is now serving as President in the U.S. She was succeeded by Sonya Côté, who most recently served as Managing Director for the commercial lines business of another global specialty insurance as CEO, Europe. We are pleased that both Louis and Michael will continue with the company. Louis as Vice Chair of IFC, and Mike as Chair GSL, and as a Director of the IFC board.
We also continued to see progress against our goal to be representative of the communities we serve. 39% of VP and higher roles were held by women globally, and 15% were held by employees who identify as Black people and people of color in Canada and the U.S. Intact's achievements in 2024 are a testament to the collective efforts of our 31,000 team members. On behalf of the board, I would like to extend our thanks to all Intact employees for your continued drive to deliver on our objectives and outperform in a very busy environment. To my fellow board colleagues, thank you for your partnership and insightful guidance. Your dedication and strategic direction have been instrumental in navigating challenges and seizing opportunities.
On behalf of the board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Mike Miller, who, as I mentioned earlier, joined us as a Director following his retirement as CEO, GSL. I'd also like to share our thanks and recognition to Janet De Silva, who is stepping down from the board today. Charles Brindamour, thank you for your extraordinary leadership and bold decisions, which have transformed Intact from a strong Canadian player into a leading global property and casualty insurer. Our shareholders, customers, and brokers, thank you for your continued support. Your unwavering trust and confidence in our company have been the foundation of success and growth. We remain dedicated to delivering exceptional value and second-to-none customer experiences. We look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Thank you. I will now invite Charles Brindamour to deliver his remarks.
Thanks, Bill. Good afternoon, thank you for joining us. There's no question we're living through an important moment in history. We've witnessed the beginning of a historical trade war between Canada and the U.S., two long-standing allies. We're following ongoing turbulence in the market as tariffs and counter-tariffs are imposed around the world, shaking the foundations of the global financial system. 2024, now 2025, have been challenging for both the economy and, more importantly, for society. We've experienced ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and humanitarian crises. Through it all, the growing climate emergency remained a constant concern, with an increasing number and severity of extreme weather events. At Intact, it's in tough times that we're at our best. Whether it's political, economic, or climate related, we anticipate and prepare for uncertainty.
We've built and tested our products so we can continue to be there for our customers for the long term. We lean into risk because it's why we exist. Intact's response to the record-breaking severe weather events in 2024 is a testament to that preparation. Last year, insured damages from severe weather events passed CAD 8 billion for the first time in Canada's history. Our ability to get customers back on track was on full display during our response. Once again, our teams proved their ability to deliver on our purpose to help people, businesses, and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times. Despite this turbulent environment, we also delivered strong financial results. Our combined ratio for the year remains solid at 92%, a two-point improvement from the previous year, even with CAD 1.5 billion in cat losses.
We ended the year with a net operating income per share of CAD 14.43, and as Bill mentioned, an operating return on equity of 16.5%. This reflects the strength of our long-term strategy and the resilience of our platform.
In this context, we've increased dividends for the 20th year in a row, representing a 10-year compounded annual growth rate of 10%. We are proud of our track record over the past decade, with our NOIPS increasing at an annual yearly average of 6.5 points. We've exceeded average ROE by an estimated yearly average of 6.5 points, and we've also delivered annualized total shareholder return of 15% during this period, outperforming the S&P/TSX 60 benchmarks by 600 basis points. In this context of macroeconomic, geopolitical, and climate uncertainties, we've proven that our organization is resilient and that it is in a good position to excel operationally and financially. We're also in a good position to increase our operational profit by 10% annually over time, and to exceed the industry ROE by five points, in line with our objectives.
As Bill mentioned, at Intact, our strategy is outside in. We continue to outperform because we focus on the world as it is, not as it was or as we wish it to be. As we look ahead in 2025, we're well positioned among the key trends we observe, some of which I will highlight briefly now. First, customer expectations are evolving. Economic headwinds and inflationary pressures mean customers are increasingly focused on value for money, and technology is now integrated into every aspect of our lives. That's why we're focused on keeping our products available and affordable while investing in our digital experiences.
As consumers and businesses embrace technology, there's a huge quantity of data that is generated and stored, and this has given rise to an AI boom. Intact was an early and significant adopter of data and AI, and their transformative power is undeniable.
In fact, one-third of our competitive advantage is through pricing and segmentation. This is thanks to a decade of investment in data and predictive AI. As the use of technology and AI increases globally, cybercrime and the cyber risk pool are rapidly increasing, too. That's why we're doubling down to protect our tech ecosystem and the data of our customers above all. At the same time, we believe that the current global cyber insurance security market could grow to $40 billion by 2027. Helping people and businesses be cyber resilient is a big business opportunity for us.
I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about climate change, the defining trend of our time. 2024 was the warmest year on record. It was also the 5th consecutive year where global insured losses exceeded $100 billion.
Given the role insurers play in de-risking the economy, climate change is the single biggest challenge faced by our sector. At Intact, we've been on the front lines of climate change since the firm was created in 2009, helping customers get back on track following extreme weather events. To do that, we've transformed our products, the data collected, and service models so we can continue to protect our customers for the long term. As an insurer, risk is our business, and we certainly have an appetite to assume it. When those risks become certainties, we need government leaders and policymakers to step up and collaborate with us on solutions that go beyond insurance. I see four areas where government can play a substantial role. First, government leaders need to focus on building for the future and building in the right places.
Governments need to increase funding for adaptation, so society is more resilient when extreme weather strikes. As part of funding adaptation, it's critical that governments invest in preserving and restoring nature, such as wetlands. Government and regulators should not intervene in the personal property market to avoid situations like what we've seen in the January Los Angeles fires, where risk signals were dulled, which resulted in a lack of insurance access and capacity, not an issue in Canada. Another constantly evolving trend we're closely monitoring is the economic tensions between the United States and Canada, and the U.S. and the rest of the world. As Bill touched on in his remarks, we're well positioned to navigate a trade war, both from an operational and financial standpoint, and that across all the geographies and markets where we operate.
Tariffs don't impact a service sector business like insurance directly. The main impact is really on our supply chain, and globally, for CAD 1 of claims cost, only about CAD 0.07 could be exposed to tariffs, either enacted or delayed. This is very manageable. In all our markets, we're optimizing our supply chain. We know exactly where our products are coming from, and we continue to source more products domestically. Financially, we have a strong balance sheet and a significant amount of diversification on our portfolio. Our U.S. and U.K. businesses are generating revenue in U.S. dollars and British pounds and will keep us stable even if the Canadian dollars was to fall. Overall, our business is very resilient.
We've stress-tested a range of scenarios, from the direct impact of tariffs to the indirect impact of broader geopolitical tensions, we are well positioned to successfully navigate a range of economic outcomes. Against this backdrop of tariffs and counter tariffs with our closest trading partner, I'm calling on my fellow business leader to tackle Canada's productivity challenge head-on. Rather than being in a passenger seat, we need to meet this challenge head-on and turn this crisis into an opportunity for growth. Canadian businesses spend about half of what our U.S. counterparts invest in research and development. We spend about CAD 0.81 for every dollar that our U.S. counterparts invest on employee training. U.S. businesses also invest about 1.5x more on technology as a percentage of GDP compared to us. We can definitely do better.
We need to be bold and to constantly challenge the status quo. We need to be ambitious and benchmark ourselves against the best in the world, not just local competitors, and then invest to beat them. There's an opportunity in this current trade war crisis to redefine how we do business, both here and on the global stage. Turning now to our objectives and roadmap, our game plan, as I like to call it. To progress on our purpose and to succeed as a business, we must be crystal clear about what we're aiming to achieve. Our objectives are our North Star. First, we want our customers to be our advocates. Specifically, we want 3 customers out of 4 to be our advocates, and we want 4 out of 5 brokers value our specialized expertise. Second, we want our people to be engaged.
This means achieving best employer status in our annual engagement surveys, and having our people reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Finally, we want to be one of the most respected companies everywhere we operate. Financially, we aim to exceed industry ROE by five points and to grow our operational profit by 10% annually. We also seek respect for our investments in the community. We are committed to achieve net zero by 2050, and we will want to have 3 out of 4 stakeholders to recognize us as leaders in building resilient communities.
A set of goals, though, is nothing without the plan to achieve them, and that's where our game plan comes in. If our objectives are what we're aiming to achieve, our game plan is how we're going to get there.
It helps us decide what to do and also what not to do. This is critically important because to achieve outperformance, every ounce of effort must be calibrated in the right direction. Thanks to the clarity of our game plan, we've made significant progress on our agenda last year. Let me highlight just a few. In Canada, we aim to expand our leadership position. Our strategy has helped us build an incredibly strong business in Canada. We've been outperforming for decades. Customer decides who wins, so delivering a leading customer experience is absolutely essential. Throughout the many severe weather events last year, we maintained excellent service despite claims volumes that almost doubled. On Side Restoration, our restoration firm played a critical role on the front lines.
They handled two-thirds of Intact claims from the southern Ontario floods, 20 times the normal volume in Quebec, and provided essential services following the Jasper wildfires. Jasper. Increasingly, customers want to interact digitally. Last year was a key turning point in our digital strategy. Our digital portfolio now brings in more than CAD 1 billion in direct premiums written. We've generated over CAD 500 million in web sales, an 81% increase over the previous year. We also acquired Jiffy, Canada's number one home maintenance app.
To reinforce our leadership position, consolidation and scale in distribution are also key ingredients. BrokerLink closed 25 acquisitions, growing the business by 21%. By entering Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and recently in British Columbia, it opened up new pipelines for growth. In distribution, our brands communicate our value proposition to our customers. Intact has been the number 1 most recognized brand nationally for 5 years straight.
As we look ahead in 2025, growth in commercial lines is a very high priority. We took several steps to build the framework for that growth this past year. 72% of commercial quotes now go through our proprietary AI tool that eliminates duplicate entry for underwriters and brokers and increases our speed to quote. For our brokers, we launched an online self-serve tool for new business. With such a strong foundation, the focus for 2025 is on accelerating growth, and we'll do so organically while remaining open to acquisition opportunities. In the U.K. and Ireland, we aim to strengthen our leading position. This June will mark the 4th year anniversary of the RSA acquisition, a transformational step in our journey from a Canadian company to an international player.
The transformation of our U.K. business over these four years has been exceptional. Since the completion of our acquisition of the Direct Line and FarmWeb commercial businesses, we're now a leading commercial lines insurer in the U.K. In Ireland, we've made strategic investments in the digital capabilities of 123.ie, our direct consumer brand. We've also deepened our broker relationships and restructured our claims team to deliver second to none service. As the next step in our integration, we announced recently that we'll be bringing the RSA, NIG, and FarmWeb brands together under the Intact name in the U.K., Ireland, Europe, and Asia. The rebrand will take effect later this year. At Intact, we operate in an increasingly interconnected world.
Having a brand that unites our businesses globally will help in our ambition to outperform the market, become the U.K.'s best commercial lines insurer, and to grow our specialty lines business globally. To Global Specialty Lines now, across the markets where we operate, we aim to be the specialty solution leader. When we created the specialty business in 2016, we had roughly CAD 600 million in premiums. At the end of 2024, it was over CAD 6 billion, with a combined ratio sustainably running in the sub-90s. We have access to over CAD 460 billion of the global specialty lines market. Our opportunity here is using our global capabilities in all of the markets where we operate, and pursuing that impressive growth runway.
In 2024, we achieved a few things that gave us the confidence to do so.
We built up our pricing governance to a much more sophisticated level. 20 of our verticals now have segmented rate strategies in place, and we've exported a number of existed verticals to additional markets where we operate. Brokers appreciate us as a partner with nearly 9 out of 10 recognizing our specialized expertise. I'm optimistic about what the future holds for our Global Specialty Lines. We continue to transform our competitive advantages across our markets by focusing on 3 key areas to help us outperform. To outperform, I said. First, we aim to be the best AI insurance shop in the world. With the support of more than 500 data experts in our Intact Lab, we have more than 500 AI models deployed, generating CAD 150 million in annual benefits. Second, our deep claims expertise and strong supply chain network is a considerable advantage.
That was highlighted in 2024 in Canada, that was severe weather, putting pressure on our daily operations. Our third competitive advantage is our strong capital and investment management expertise. Our top-rated in-house investment team has an excellent reputation and continues to outperform. It's one of the best in Canada. Over the last 5 years, our investment portfolio outperformed our industry peers by approximately 100 basis points, contributing to our ROE outperformance. The fifth category in our game plan is investing in our people.
Strategy drives our outperformance, but strategy is nothing without a winning team. Ours has now grown to 31,000 people across our markets. At Intact, we know our people are our greatest strength, so we invest in them and work to create an environment where everyone can thrive. This is why one of our strategic objective is to ensure our people are engaged.
In 2024, our overall engagement increased by 2 points. I'm proud of that progress, particularly in Canada, where we were named a best employer for 9th year in a row, and in the United States for the 6th year in a row. As Bill referenced in his remarks, 2024 and earlier this year, we demonstrated what excellent talent management and succession planning looks like, with senior leadership changes in GSL and at the CFO level. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Louis Marcotte, our former CFO, for his outstanding leadership over the past 18 years. He's been instrumental in helping to transform Intact into a leading global P&C company. In his new role as IFC Vice Chair, Louis is playing a key role in supporting the development of our European operations within GSL. Ken Anderson has now stepped into the IFC CFO role.
He was a natural choice as Louis' successor. Having worked alongside him for over a decade, I'm confident that with Ken as our CFO, our financial foundations will remain strong, enabling continued growth and outperform. I'd also like to thank Mike Miller for bringing Specialty Lines to the strong position it's in today. I look forward to his continued guidance and leadership as a member of our board and as chair of our GSL Advisory Board. A few weeks ago, we welcomed Emmanuel Clarke as our new CFO of Global Specialty Lines. He's already made strong contributions to our specialty business in his former role as board member and chair of GSL, and steps into the role with a deep understanding of our business.
Finally, we invest in our community. Helping society is at the heart of our purpose, and we focus on areas where we're uniquely positioned to make a positive difference. We continue to advance on our climate strategy. We remain committed to halving our emissions from operations by 2030, and have also set a target to reduce investment emissions intensity by 40%. We're helping to de-risk critical industries such as renewable energy. We're also continuing to collaborate with government and industry to accelerate climate action. We want to continue to do more to help build resilient communities. We are now in the tenth year of our partnership with the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo. We've invested more than CAD 10 million to support their leadership in applied research.
In 2024, we doubled our investment in our Municipal Climate Resiliency Grants program, providing CAD 2 million to help municipalities in Canada adapt to extreme weather events, including flooding and wildfires. I encourage you to read our recently released social impact and ESG report for more highlights.
On 2024, I'm proud of what our teams achieved. In a year filled with economic volatility, political change, and a high volume of extreme weather events, our teams rose to the many challenges successfully. I'm impressed, but not surprised. Our business is built to thrive in uncertain times. We're disciplined, yet agile, and our teams are energized to deliver in any environment. I wanna thank our customers, brokers, employees, the board, and you, our investors, for your loyalty. We work hard every day to deserve to deliver for you. On that, thank you very much.
Thank you, Charles. We will now address any general questions from shareholders and proxy holders. As a reminder, if you wish to ask questions, you can submit a written question or enter your name and phone number to be contacted and ask a question in real time via telephone by clicking the messaging button at the top left of your screen. Questions of a similar nature may be grouped together in a single question. If your question concerns a client matter, please include your contact information, and a member of our customer service team will get in touch with you following the meeting. Finally, if there are any questions we are not able to answer today, we will reach out to you personally after the meeting to ensure we answer your question. Can the secretary confirm whether any questions have been received?
Bill, we have a question, live via telephone from Kira Taylor. Kira, please go ahead and ask your question.
Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. My name is Kira Taylor. I'm with Investors for Paris Compliance. Our organization works to ensure that the P&C industry is on track to net zero, rather than contributing to the escalating risks that we see across the sector. Over the past year, we've pointed to Intact as a Canadian leader, particularly for your commitment to remove oil and gas firms from your investment universe by 2024 if they fail to show credible transition progress. This kind of specificity really matters, having deadlines for accountability. Now, though, in your recent report, that deadline has quietly disappeared, there's other examples of specificity, such as your 2035 exit date, that also are gone from the public record.
My question is: will Intact recommit to specificity by keeping its own deadlines, by spelling out publicly what it sees as credible transition by energy companies, and by defining what it means, by escalating engagement, including ending underwriting and investments in companies that are expanding fossil fuel production? Thank you.
Kira, thanks for your question. Let me start with first the essence of your question, which is, our policy is, in essence, the same as it was last year, but, you know, we react to the environment in which we operate. We've tightened, actually, part of the policy and modified other parts of the policy to take into account the environment in which we operate and the feedback that we receive from stakeholders. Rest assured that the essence of what we're trying to achieve hasn't changed, and our desire for specificity as well. I think more important than the policy itself are results, and if I just think about the progress that we've made, first of all, you know, our own footprint is down 23% since 2019. Our investment footprint is down 36%.
Our investment in the oil and gas sector is at about 3% as of our assets under management. As an insurer, we're not even in the top 20. That being said, Kira, my own perspective is we need to be at the table to work with companies to put pressure so that they have transition plans. I think just not being at the table, it's not clear that is the right thing for society. Lastly, I would say our climate strategy is very clear. There's five key elements in our climate strategy. As I mentioned in my letter, we have made really good progress and increased many of our commitments to making the communities where we operate more resilient. Kira, I think your work is very important, and thank you for doing it. Hopefully, I've reassured you that the essence of what we're trying to achieve is unchanged.
Do we have any other questions?
No further questions, Bill.
Thank you. We have now completed our agenda for this meeting. I declare the meeting closed, and thank you for attending. Have a great day.