Great-West Lifeco, Sun Life 2Q Profit Rise On Market-Related Gains Wall Street Journal
04.08.11
TORONTO (Dow Jones)-Two of Canada's largest life insurance companies posted better-than-expected second-quarter results late Wednesday, helped by surprisingly strong investment returns.
Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWO.T), a unit of Power Financial Corp. (PWF.T), said second-quarter earnings rose 16%, in line with Street expectations. The Winnipeg-based life insurer, which owns Boston-based money manager Putnam Investments LLC, said net income rose to C$526 million, or 55.3 Canadian cents a share, from C$455 million, or 48 Canadian cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected 49 Canadian cents a share.
Share earnings were lifted 6 Canadian cents from the release of a legal provision from Putnam, says Barclays Capital analyst John Aiken. Adjusted, the results would be in line with expectations.
"Great-West's conservative approach lends itself to much more consistent earnings" than its peers, says Aiken.
Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF), which owns Boston-based MFS Investment Management, posted net income of C$408 million, or 68 Canadian cents a share, a hefty jump from C$72 million, or 13 Canadian cents, a year earlier. Operating earnings per share was 73 Canadian cents, beating the Thomson Reuters mean estimate of 54 Canadian cents.
Source:
bGreat West/b Life Assurance Term bLife Insurance/b Quotes for Men
Back in July 2003, Great West Life acquired Canada Life. This is why premium quotes from both life insurance companies are exactly the same on the Term4Sale rate comparison website.
Simply put, it makes no sense for Canada Life to compete with its parent company on pricing issues that directly cut into both companies' profits.
This article presents rate comparisons for male non-smoker and smoker applicants at different ages and for a million dollar policy with premium rates guaranteed for 10-year and 20-year terms. Term life insurance quotes shown represent rates for both Canada Life and Great West Life policies.
10-Year Term Life Insurance Rate Comparison for Male Non-Smokers
Provided the applicant is a non-smoking male at the age shown below, the following annual premiums are guaranteed to remain the same for 10 years from purchase date.
Age 20 … $630 yearly premium for 10 years 30 … $550 40 … $770 50 … $1,870 60 … $5,660 70 … $18,410.
Note that level premiums are actually lower at age 30 than at age 20 for the million dollar policy.
20-Year Term Life Insurance Rate Comparison for Male Non-Smokers
Because 20-year term life quotes are guaranteed to remain fixed for a longer risk period, the following rates from Great West Life and Canada Life are higher for the same ages under the above 10-year rate comparison.
Age 20 … $860 yearly premium for 20 years 30 … $840 40 … $1,430 50 … $3,910 60 … $12,750.
For 20-year term, level premiums at age 30 are modestly lower than at age 20. The Term4Sale rate comparison website offered no term life insurance quotes with a 20-year rate guarantee at age 70 from either Great West Life or Canada Life.
10-Year Term Life Insurance Rate Comparison for Male Smokers
Term life insurance quotes for a million dollar policy for men who smoke are twice as expensive as 10-year term insurance for non-smokers. The difference becomes more extreme at older ages because of higher mortality rates for smokers.
