Sun Life hasn't finished tweaking its variable annuity products yet.
In the wake of 2008's stock market plunge, life insurers have been changing their variable annuity products to reduce their risk. Variable annuities are akin to personal pension plans for individual investors, who give the insurer money that is invested on their behalf and who are guaranteed certain payments and benefits down the road.
Of Canada's life insurers, the business proved to be most damaging to Manulife, because the company chose for a number of years not to hedge the stock exposure backing it. But the market crash was a wakeup call for all life insurers, and they've been moving to raise the prices on the products and reduce the guarantees in order to ensure that they aren't taking on too much risk.
Sun Life has already made some changes to its product lineup. But a further reworking of the product will take place later this year, and it will make the product set more "enduring," says chief executive Don Stewart. The goal is to ensure that customers are taking on a fair share of the risk from the product, while ensuring that it still offers those customers good value.
The focus will be on the U.S. variable annuities, he said. "We've already made most of the changes we'll be making on the Canadian individual product."