INSURANCE NEWS

Please join us for our next TRIIPSS Webinar:
Business Owners and Estate Planning: Is there a role for insurance-based solutions?

This fast paced, thought-provoking session will explore
various scenarios and test whether life insurance-based
solutions can play a role in addressing issues and providing alternatives for advisors and their business clients. Attendees will walk away with hands-on questions to ask to get the conversation going with business owners and their families.
Date: April 26, 2022
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET
CE credits: Pending
Replay: Access to replay will be provided after the webinar

Great news:
Permanent changes to non-medical underwriting limits

Earlier this year we made our temporary $2,000,000 non-medical underwriting limit for life insureds aged 18 to 50 permanent. We have also made our other non-medical limits permanent!

Life insurance:

• Ages 51 to 55: up to $300,000
• Ages 56 to 60 up to $249,999 (was $300,000 as a temporary Covid-19 measure)
• Ages 61 to 70: up to and including $99,999 will require a PHI only
• Ages 71+: standard UW requirements apply (e.g., PHI and Vitals, BP)

Critical illness insurance:

• Ages 18 to 40: up to $250,000
• Ages 41 to 50: up to $99,999
• Ages 51+: standard UW requirements apply (e.g., PHI and Vitals, BP)

Please see the Information Circular for full details.

The BIGGER eBundle Bonus is extended until June 30, 2022!

Until June 30, 2022, keep earning 15% or 20% more FYC by submitting new life and health insurance applications using the Fast & Full Life App when clients select and complete the Electronic Health Questionnaire (eHQ) and choose and receive eContract Delivery as compared to submitting paper applications and receiving a paper contract.

Please refer to the Information Circular for full details

You can now quickly and easily update your clients’ primary addresses via My Advisor Dashboard!*

The newly added address change capability on My Advisor Dashboard allows you to make client address and phone number changes directly from the portal home page, by going to the “Quicklinks” section and clicking on “Update client address”.

Once submitted, you will see a confirmation screen that you can print out for your records

INVESTMENTS NEWS

Issue age expanded to 90 for Empire Life GIF 75/75

Effective April 4, 2022, Empire Life has extended the maximum contract issue age for our GIF 75/75 contract to age 90 to provide older customers with a more cost-effective estate planning solution. The Empire Life GIF 75/75 product provides the estate planning benefits of a life insurance contract with the opportunity for growth through a wide range of available investment options (up to 100% equity).

For details on this and other product changes (including restricting the use of DSC for clients over the age of 80 in some products) please read the information circular and advisor FAQ.

Download the information circular & advisor FAQ

Impact of Russia-Ukraine conflict on the Empire Life Dividend Growth GIF* 

In light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Senior Portfolio Manager, Doug Cooper provides an update on changes to investments within the Empire Life Dividend Growth GIF. The most notable change is a reduction in international equity exposure, primarily in the UK and continental Europe, and an increase in Canadian equity exposure.                                * The legal name of the fund is “Dividend Growth Fund”.

TRIIPSS Replay:
Now available on-demand: Complex family dynamics and estate planning using segregated funds

As your clients age, particularly high net worth clients and those with complicated family situations, wealth transfer becomes a priority. As their focus starts to change from accumulating assets to estate planning and wealth transfer, will they think of you as a trusted resource to guide them on this new journey? And can you answer: Why would they? And why should they?

CE credits are available until June 29, 2022. A quiz will appear after the webinar has been viewed.

Portfolio manager roundtable:
What does the Russia-Ukraine conflict mean for the markets?

The situation is changing very rapidly in Ukraine. Russian troops have invaded and the question as to whether an invasion was imminent has been answered. Between Russia invading Ukraine, troubling inflation levels and a Federal Reserve entering a tightening cycle, is the Pavlovian "buy the dip" approach that people have used in recent years still going to work?

Senior Portfolio Manager, Ashley Misquitta shares the team's thoughts on these recent events and how the Empire Life Investment Team's investment process and discipline have the potential to see investors through these challenging times.

CORPORATE NEWS

Empire Life Annual Report

Our 2021 Annual Report is now available online. 

Professional titles

In Ontario, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) recently announced that its proposed Financial Professionals Rule was approved by the Ontario Minister of Finance. Quebec has regulated professional titles since 1998 and Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are in the process of introducing similar frameworks. The reference document below provides a high-level summary of each regulator that has introduced or is in the process of introducing title protection rules.

Attention to those licensed in Ontario

On April 1, 2022, FSRA’s Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (UDAP) Rule went into effect. The UDAP Rule replaces the existing UDAP Regulations under Ontario’s Insurance Act and applies to insurers, brokers, intermediaries, adjusters and providers of goods and/or services engaged in the insurance sector. The UDAP Rule prescribes certain activities as “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance" and broadens the scope of the types of actions or inactions that may be considered “unfair or deceptive acts or practices”. Advisors licensed in Ontario should familiarize themselves with FSRA’s Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices Rule.

Introducing TruStone Financial Inc.

In March, we announced we’ve purchased six financial services firms and amalgamated them into one wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire Life, called TruStone Financial Inc. TruStone Financial will run as an independent MGA with full control over its day-to-day operations.

New series!
Best Practices

Limited Trade Authorization (LTA) allows advisors to execute financial and non-financial transactions on behalf of the policy owner. These transactions include but are not limited to purchases, withdrawals and switches. Policy owners give advisors this limited trade authorization when completing all new segregated funds applications. The policy owner can revoke the authorization at any time by sending Empire Life a signed request.
Activity under LTA should not be done without prior discussion with the policy owner.

Advisors using LTA are required to retain a record of the customer’s request for audit purposes. At a minimum the records retained should include:

• The date, time and manner for which the instructions were provided
• The policy number(s)
• Details of the transaction
• Confirmation of any fees or DSC

This information can also be found in the investment administrator reference guide.