Summary

  • Sun Life Financial is a leading financial services company serve millions in Canada, the U.S., Asia, the U.K. and other parts of the world.
  • To serve its client the company has good network of Sun Life advisors, third-party partners and other distributors.
  • Sun Life Financial started in Canada, and now make life brighter for millions of people around the world.

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Company Overview

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF, TSX:SLF) is a leading financial services company that helps its Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

The company serve millions in Canada, the U.S., Asia, the U.K. and other parts of the world. Sun Life Financial has a network of Sun Life advisors, third-party partners and other distributors. Through them, we’re helping set its Clients free to live their lives their way, from now through retirement. We’re working hard to support their wellness and health management goals, too. That way, they can enjoy what matters most to them. And that’s anything from running a marathon to helping their grandchildren learn to ride a bike.1

To do this, the company offer a broad range of protection and wealth products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including:

  • Insurance. Life, health, wellness, disability, critical illness, stop-loss and long-term care insurance
  • Investments. Mutual funds, segregated funds, annuities and guaranteed investment products
  • Advice. Financial planning and retirement planning services
  • Asset management. Pooled funds, institutional portfolios and pension funds

The company also help its Clients live healthier lives, both as individuals and as part of healthy communities. The company do this through programs and initiatives such as:

  • Team Up Against Diabetes – millions of dollars supporting diabetes awareness, prevention, care and research across the globe
  • Health-screening clinics
  • Workplace peer-support programs
  • Disease-prevention programs

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Geographical Presence

The company began in Canada, and the company now make life brighter for millions of people around the world.2

Canada

The company's roots run deep in Canada, where the company were founded more than 150 years ago. Starting with life insurance, we’ve expanded to also offer health, wealth, financial planning and asset management solutions to its Clients. Today Sun Life Financial is an industry leader in group benefits, group retirement services and individual insurance and wealth, and its asset management businesses are growing.

  • Sun Life Canada
  • SLC Management
  • Sun Life Global Investments

United States

Sun Life Financial is a leading provider of employee benefits in the U.S., helping people protect what they love about their lives. The company also serve a large number of individual life insurance Clients. The company's company MFS Investment Management has clients across the U.S. and the world and the company also have growing Sun Life Investment Management businesses in the U.S.

  • Sun Life United States
  • SLC Management
  • MFS Investment Management

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China

The company formed Sun Life Everbright in 1999 in partnership with the China Everbright Group. It offers a wide range of individual and group life, health and wealth products in China’s most populous regions. It also provides asset management services through Sun Life Everbright Insurance Asset Management.

  • Sun Life Everbright Life

Hong Kong, SAR

The company started business in Hong Kong in 1892, and today offer its Clients a wide array of protection, health and pension products and services. As well, its company BestServe Financial is a leading 3rd-party pension administrator in the Hong Kong market. Hong Kong is also home to Sun Life’s Regional Office for Asia.

  • Sun Life Hong Kong

India

The Birla Sun Life companies are its joint ventures with the Aditya Birla Group. BSL Insurance provides individual and group life, health, savings and retirement products, and BSL Asset Management offers mutual fund and investment products. Sun Life’s Asia Service Centre in Gurgaon provides services and support to its operations worldwide.

  • Birla Sun Life
  • Asia Service Centre (India)

Indonesia

Since opening in 1995, its Indonesian operations have grown to offer a broad range of protection and wealth management products nationwide, including life and health insurance, education plans, shariah products and investment plans, as well as offering its products through bank branches in the country.

  • Sun Life Indonesia

International

The company launched its Bermuda-based international business in 1996, providing life insurance services and solutions to High Net Worth markets around the world. The company also serve a group of existing individual Clients in Bermuda, through its operations on the island that date back to 1881.

  • Sun Life International

Ireland

Opened in 1998, its office in Waterford provides software development, business administration and service desk technical support to Sun Life businesses.

  • Sun Life Ireland

Malaysia

Sun Life Malaysia is its joint venture with Khazanah Nasional Berhad and the CIMB Group, a partnership formed in 2013. It offers a comprehensive range of life insurance and takaful products and services to Malaysians nationwide.

  • Sun Life Malaysia

Philippines

Sun Life Financial is the oldest and largest life insurance business in the Philippines, with operations reaching back to 1895. Through its companies there, the company offer a wide spectrum of life and health insurance, pension plans, education plans and mutual funds. Sun Life’s Asia Service Centre in Manila provides services and support for its operations worldwide.

  • Sun Life Philippines
  • Sun Life Grepa
  • Asia Service Centre (Philippines)

Singapore

Sun Life offers research-based life insurance solutions to affluent and High Net Worth (HNW) Clients in Singapore. Having pioneered HNW life insurance in the 1990s, the company remain a recognised leader in the many markets the company serve. Sun Life is a global company with a successful history and strong reputation.

  • Sun Life Singapore

United Kingdom

The company's heritage in the U.K. reaches back to 1893. Today, its U.K. team supports a large number of existing U.K. individual life and pension Clients.

  • Sun Life United Kingdom

Vietnam

Sun Life Vietnam has provided life and health insurance, education plans and pension products to Clients throughout the country since 2013.

  • Sun Life Vietnam

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Financial Highlights

Sun Life Financial Inc. today announced its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021. Third quarter reported net income was $1,019 million and underlying net income was $902 million.3

"Sun Life delivered strong third quarter results," said Kevin Strain, President and CEO for Sun Life. "The company continue to see positive momentum, enabled by digital tools and solutions, at a time when several of its markets are impacted by COVID-19. The company's third quarter results highlight the value of its diversified business mix, supported by strong wealth and asset management results. With a track-record of delivering on its objectives, combined with the ongoing shift to fee-based capital-light businesses, Sun Life Financial is pleased to announce an increase in its medium-term financial objective for underlying ROE to 16% plus."

Sun Life is also continuing to build on its long-term environmental and social commitments when it comes to integrating sustainability within its business strategy and aligning it to Sun Life's Purpose to help Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives.

"The role of its business is to serve its Clients, its communities and society. We're doing its part by advancing its commitment to a cleaner, more inclusive and sustainable future with its announced goal to achieve net-zero by 2050 as an asset owner and manager and the appointment of its first Chief Sustainability Officer, Alanna Boyd," added Strain.

Q3'21 reported net income of $1,019 million increased $269 million or 36% compared to the same period in 2020, driven by favourable market-related impacts from changes in the fair value of investment properties, and ACMA(2), partially offset by a par allocation adjustment(3). Underlying net income of $902 million increased by $60 million or 7%, driven by business growth, favourable credit experience and higher tax-exempt investment income. This was partially offset by morbidity and expense experience, and the unfavourable impacts of foreign exchange translation. Mortality experience was elevated in the U.S. and Asia, but relatively in line with the prior year. During the third quarter of 2021, the impacts of foreign exchange translation led to a decline of $41 million in reported net income and $36 million in underlying net income. Refer to the Non-IFRS Financial Measures section in this document for a reconciliation between reported net income and underlying net income.

SLF Inc. ended the quarter with a LICAT ratio of 143% and $2.8 billion in cash and other liquid assets.

Canada: A leader in insurance and asset management

Canada's Q3'21 reported net income of $393 million was in line with the prior year, driven by favourable market-related impacts from changes in the fair value of investment properties, partially offset by a par allocation adjustment. Underlying net income of $290 million was in line with the prior year,as business growth, higher tax-exempt investment income and favourable credit experience were offset by unfavourable Group Benefits ("GB") morbidity experience and higher expenses. The prior year included favourable morbidity experience in GB, driven by lower disability claim volumes.

Canada insurance sales were $182 million in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of $35 million or 24% compared to the same period in 2020, driven by higher individual participating whole life insurance sales, and higher large case sales in GB. Canada wealth sales were $6 billion in the third quarter of 2021, a decrease of approximately $1 billion or 13% compared to the same period in 2020, reflecting lower defined contribution sales in Group Retirement Services ("GRS"), partially offset by higher individual wealth mutual fund sales.

In Canada, the company continue to make strides in helping its Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. This quarter, the company partnered with Conquest Planning Inc. to roll out a digital financial planning tool to empower all Clients with personalized financial plans. This complements its holistic advice model, which addresses a broad need for all Canadians to have a financial plan in place. Sun Life Financial is the first Canadian organization to introduce this digital capability across all wealth and insurance service platforms, enabling it to proactively respond to Clients' personalized needs. In addition, the company introduced the new Lumino Health mobile app to make it easier and more convenient for Canadians to access the resources they need. This app helps Canadians navigate and book appointments with paramedical providers to support their health journeys, empowering them to live healthier lives. In the third quarter, Lumino had over 1.4 million digital searches, yielding more than double the amount of paramedical provider connections with Canadians than the previous year.

U.S.: A leader in health and benefits

U.S.'s Q3'21 reported net income of $46 million, increased $159 million compared to the same period in 2020, driven by ACMA impacts largely pertaining to In-force Management. Underlying net income of $110 million decreased $26 million or 19%,reflecting an increase in COVID-19-related claims impacting its employee benefits' mortality and morbidity experience and the unfavourable impacts of foreign exchange translation. This was partially offset by favourable morbidity experience in medical stop-loss, and mortality claims experience in In-force Management. The impacts of foreign exchange translation led to a decline of $3 million in reported net income and $7 million in underlying net income. The trailing four-quarter after-tax profit margin for Group Benefits(1) was 7.7% as of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 7.8% as of the third quarter of 2020.

U.S. insurance sales were $199 million in the third quarter of 2021, a decrease of $31 million or 13% compared to the same period in 2020, reflecting lower employee benefits and medical stop-loss sales.

On October 3, 2021, the company entered into an agreement to acquire DentaQuest Group, Inc. ("DentaQuest"). DentaQuest is the largest provider of Medicaid dental benefits in the U.S., with growing Medicare Advantage, commercial and U.S. Affordable Care Act exchange businesses, and serves more than 33 million members. The acquisition of DentaQuest aligns to its business strategy of being a leader in health and group benefits. Upon close, DentaQuest will more than double the size of Sun Life's U.S. employee benefits business by revenues and will position it as a leading dental benefits provider.

In the third quarter, the company launched a unique offering in its medical stop-loss portfolio, Health Navigator powered by PinnacleCare(2). Health Navigator offers a concierge approach to guiding members through the U.S. health care system by helping ensure they get the right diagnosis, doctors and treatment for their conditions to create better health outcomes and experiences. The company also expanded its absence management offering for smaller, self-administered employers who want help in meeting absence regulatory compliance obligations. The company's AbsenceTech BundleSM provides a cost-effective solution to manage compliance with support from Sun Life experts, paired with access to a digital self-administration absence technology platform.

Asset Management: A global leader in both public and alternative asset classes through MFS and SLC Management

Asset Management's Q3'21 reported net income of $301 million, increased $50 million or 20% compared to the same period in 2020, driven by an increase in underlying net income of $68 million. The increase in underlying net income was driven by MFS and SLC Management, partially offset by the unfavourable impacts of foreign exchange translation. The increase in MFS was driven by higher average net assets ("ANA"), partially offset by higher variable compensation expenses. The increase in SLC Management was driven by gains on real estate seed investments, partially offset by prior year performance fees and sales incentives related to fundraising in the current quarter. The impacts of foreign exchange translation led to a decline of $17 million in reported net income and $19 million in underlying net income. Pre-tax net operating profit margin ratio for MFS(1) for the third quarter of 2021 was 42%, compared to 40% in the same period in 2020.

Asset Management ended the third quarter with $1,009 billion in AUM, consisting of $833 billion (US$657 billion) in MFS and $176 billion in SLC Management. SLC Management reported net inflows of approximately $5 billion in the third quarter of 2021, of which approximately $4 billion is fee-eligible. MFS reported net outflows of approximately $3 billion (US$2 billion).

The company's Asset Management businesses continued to build on their commitment to sustainable investing, as MFS, InfraRed(3) and BGO(4) joined the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, pledging to achieve net-zero emissions for their portfolios by 2050. SLC Management added global ESG(5) expertise to its diverse investment platform through the appointment of a Global Head of ESG.

In the third quarter of 2021, 92%, 84% and 83% of MFS's U.S. retail mutual fund assets ranked in the top half of their Morningstar categories based on ten-, five- and three-year performance, respectively.

Asia: A regional leader focused on fast-growing markets

Asia's Q3'21 reported net income of $288 million increased $52 million or 22% compared to the same period in 2020, driven by favourable ACMA and market-related impacts. Underlying net income of $145 million decreased $19 million or 12%, reflecting unfavourable mortality experience in Indonesia and the Philippines related to COVID-19, an increase in digital investments, and the unfavourable impacts of foreign exchange translation. These were partially offset by business growth. Other experience included higher mortality from its India joint venture(1). The impacts of foreign exchange translation led to a decline of $20 million in reported net income and $10 million in underlying net income.

Asia insurance sales were $247 million, a decrease of $57 million or 19% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020,  reflecting lower sales in Hong Kong and International, partially offset by higher sales in the Philippines and India. Asia wealth sales were $4 billion, an increase of approximately $1 billion or 48%, driven by mutual fund sales in India, money market sales in the Philippines, and the pension business in Hong Kong.

The company continue to strengthen its High Net Worth profile in Asia by providing innovative asset management and life insurance solutions to meet Client needs. In the Philippines, the company established SLIMTC(2) to provide multi-strategy, local and global portfolio management services to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for both individual and institutional investors. In Singapore, the company launched its first High Net Worth life insurance product which helps Clients grow, protect and transfer their wealth to the next generation. This extends its presence to eight markets in Asia and reinforces its position among the global leaders in the international High Net Worth life insurance market.

Corporate

Corporate's Q3'21 reported net loss of $9 million was in line with the same period in 2020, as the improvement in underlying net loss of $40 million was offset by favourable ACMA impacts in the prior year, predominantly pertaining to the UK. Underlying net loss was $5 million, an improvement compared to the prior year driven by higher tax-exempt investment income and favourable credit experience, partially offset by higher project spend.

References

  1. ^ https://www.sunlife.com/en/about-us/who-we-are/
  2. ^ https://www.sunlife.com/en/regions/
  3. ^ https://www.sunlife.com/en/investors/financial-news/announcement/sun-life-reports-third-quarter-2021-results/123594/
Created by Asif Farooqui on 2022/01/20 15:44
     
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