Echelon Financial Announces New Directors

TORONTO, Dec. 3, 2015 /CNW/ - Echelon Financial Holdings Inc. ("EFH" or the "Company") (TSX: EFH) today announced that the Company has appointed Mr. Murray Wallace and Mr. Brian Reeve to its Board of Directors, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr. Wallace is the Executive Chairman of Financial Horizons Group. He is currently a director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Axia NetMedia Corporation. He is a former director of Western Surety Ltd., Ontario Hydro, London Insurance Group, IPSCO Inc., Crown Life Insurance Co. and Queen's University School of Business (Advisory Committee), among others. Mr. Wallace's other qualifications include being a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario and previous executive experience with Granite Global Solutions, Avco Financial Services Canada Ltd. and companies in the Trilon Financial Group, including Wellington Insurance where he was the CEO. He has extensive experience in the financial services industry and both public and private company management.

Mr. Reeve is a Partner and Chair of the Corporate and Regulatory Insurance Group of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. He has extensive experience in the regulation of insurance companies and was previously a member of the Legal Advisory Committee to the Ontario Superintendent of Financial Services and an adviser to the Ontario Ministry of Financial Institutions regarding the redrafting of the Insurance Act. Mr. Reeve is the Chief Agent in Canada for several foreign insurance companies and holds an MBA in addition to his law degree.

Robert Purves, the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Company, said, "We welcome these new directors to our Board. These appointments follow extensive consultations with my fellow directors and our principal shareholders. I'm confident that these new director appointments, together with the recent appointment of Serge Lavoie, previously the driving force behind Jevco Insurance acquired by Intact in 2013, as President of Echelon Insurance, will enhance the collective skills and experience of our Board and management team."

Some of the institutional shareholders of the Company, holding in aggregate approximately 8% of the Company's shares, had been advocating for the appointment of new directors, and have confirmed they support the Company's appointment of Mr. Wallace and Mr. Reeve. With the conclusion of these consultations, the Company has entered into an agreement with those shareholders in which, in return for the Company nominating Mr. Wallace and Mr. Reeve now and as part of the management slate of director nominees for the next two annual shareholders meetings, and subject to certain conditions, those institutional shareholders confirmed their support and agreed to vote at those meetings in favour of the management slate of director nominees. Further information will be provided in the Company's continuous disclosure filings on SEDAR.

About Echelon Financial

Founded in 1998, the Company operates in the property and casualty insurance industry in Canada and Europe, primarily focused on providing non-standard automobile insurance and other niche and specialty insurance solutions.   The Company operates and distributes insurance products through Echelon Insurance, The Insurance Company of Prince Edward Island and Qudos Insurance.  It trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol EFH.  For more information, visit echeloninsurance.ca.

SOURCE Echelon Financial Holdings Inc.

Kathy Shulman, Manager, Investor Relations, 905-214-7880, [email protected], echeloninsurance.ca