Great-West Lifeco is an insurance centered financial holding company (corporation) that operates in North America (USA and Canada), Europe and Asia through 5 wholly owned, regionally focused subsidiaries. Many of the companies it has indirect control over are part of its largest subsidiary The Great-West Life Assurance Company; the others (Great West Life & Annuities Financial Inc and Putnam Investments, LLC) are managed by US based subsidiary Great-West Lifeco US Inc. Great-West Lifeco is indirectly controlled by Montreal billionaire Paul Desmarais through his stake in the Power Corporation of Canada (owned by the family since 1968) which owns 72% (down slightly from 74.6% in 2005) of Great-West Lifeco. In the first half of 2011 premium income made up 63.99% of total revenue up from 56.07%. The hyphen in the company's name was originally a typesetter's error.For the three months ended June 2013, 63% of revenue originated in Canada, 26% from the US, 10% from Europe. Group retirement products (Canadian sales up 49%) and 401k markets (US Great West Financial sales up 34%) remain key areas of growth for the company. Lower UK wealth management single premiums negatively affected growth. Boston-based Putnam Investments accounts for nearly a quarter of all assets under administration. Approximately half of company profit comes from Canada, a third from Europe and the rest of the United States.
In the third quarter of 2010 British sales outpaced all other regions with 45% growth followed by the USA financial services business (up 41%).In 2009 100% owned subsidiary London Life ranked 14th among Canada's largest private companies.