{"id":69910,"date":"2026-02-13T16:09:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T16:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/02\/13\/sun-life-helping-canada-and-canadian-businesses-diversify-trade-ceo-says\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:09:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T16:09:31","slug":"sun-life-helping-canada-and-canadian-businesses-diversify-trade-ceo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2026\/02\/13\/sun-life-helping-canada-and-canadian-businesses-diversify-trade-ceo-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun Life helping Canada and Canadian businesses diversify trade, CEO says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<br \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Canada needs to get out of its own way: Goldy Hyder\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Eq6p9xh7NYE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p> <span>After Sun Life Financial Inc.\u00a0reported\u00a0strong\u00a0quarterly results,\u00a0the head of the Toronto-based insurer\u00a0said\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0optimistic about\u00a0growth as the world goes through a \u201ctruly transformative time.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>In an interview, chief executive Kevin Strain said that, over the last year, shifts in how businesses work have had a \u201cmuted\u201d impact on the economy so far. He noted that equity and credit markets are strong, inflation is under control and the interest rate yield curve has steepened.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cAs\u00a0much as geopolitical risk is getting talked about a lot, I think the impacts\u00a0have been fairly small to date,\u201d he said. \u201cBut\u00a0it does mean that we have to spend\u00a0more time working with governments and regulators in all of our markets\u00a0and\u00a0focusing on our purpose in those markets.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>In its latest earnings report, Sun Life said underlying net income grew 13 per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, to $1.1 billion. Underlying net income was $4.2 billion in 2025, up nine per cent from 2024.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>As a \u201ctruly global Canadian company,\u201d Sun Life has been involved in helping Canada diversify its trade, Strain said.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cWe take our deep experience in Asia as being an important thing that we can (use to) help other Canadian companies establish presence there,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been on trade missions in Southeast Asia and Japan. We\u2019ve hosted trade missions of people here from Korea. I think as a company, our involvement in helping Canada with that diversification is important.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>On a call with analysts,\u00a0Strain\u00a0highlighted\u00a0Hong Kong\u00a0and Indonesia as\u00a0\u201cstandout markets\u201d\u00a0in the company\u2019s Asia unit, where\u00a0underlying net income increased 18 per cent to $207 million.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cYou have four billion people, you\u2019ve got growing economies, you\u2019ve got\u00a0growing high net worth, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing as a big tailwind there,\u201d said Strain, who was president of Sun Life\u00a0Asia\u00a0before assuming\u00a0the role of CEO.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>In its earnings report, the company said growth and favourable mortality experience in Asia also contributed to underlying net income in the company\u2019s individual protection business, which rose 17 per cent to $362 million.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>Underlying net income for its\u00a0group\u00a0health and protection\u00a0unit\u00a0came in at\u00a0$308\u00a0million, up 16\u00a0per cent,\u00a0based on\u00a0growth in Canada and\u00a0improved medical stop-loss morbidity\u00a0in the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>National Bank of Canada analyst Gabriel Dechaine said the quarterly results \u201cshould come as a relief\u201d to investors who were concerned about the recent performance of Sun Life\u2019s U.S. business, with its higher claims and higher claims severity.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cNotably, the stop-loss business benefitted from improved claims cost trends,\u201d Dechaine said in a note. \u201cThese should improve even more in 2026 as (Sun Life) is expected to implement another round of repricing that should get closer to target margins.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>The company\u2019s\u00a0American\u00a0operations posted a 30 per cent jump in underlying income to\u00a0$210\u00a0million, and Strain\u00a0said he sees room for growth in the world\u2019s largest economy.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cIt has a massive employee\u00a0benefits\u00a0industry and\u00a0need, and we align well to\u00a0that. We have scale,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0a top 10 provider in the employee benefits space,\u00a0so we still think that it\u2019s a really good place for us to do\u00a0business.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>Sun Life\u00a0reported\u00a0$1.6 trillion\u00a0in assets under management\u00a0at the end of 2025, up from\u00a0$1.54 trillion\u00a0in 2024.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>Underlying net income for Sun Life\u2019s asset\u00a0management and wealth business grew 10 per cent to $534 million,\u00a0driven by lower credit losses and higher fee income in\u00a0Canada and higher fee income from average net asset growth\u00a0at\u00a0MFS Investment Management.\u00a0The unit\u2019s results were offset by\u00a0Sun Life Capital Management\u2019s lower net seed investment income.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>Underlying earnings per share was $1.96, up 17 per cent over last year. The company declared a common share dividend of 92 cents per share, unchanged from the previous quarter. <\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>Strong\u00a0sales\u00a0helped underlying net income rise 14 per cent to $417 million in\u00a0Canada,\u00a0which\u00a0Strain said is \u201cfoundational\u201d to the company\u2019s business.<\/span><br \/>\n<span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <span>\u201cIt\u2019s where we started. We\u2019ve been in this business for 160 years, and we\u2019re growing faster than the GDP of the country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe expect to grow in Canada at six-per-cent-plus, with strong growth in the wealth space in particular, and strong growth from investments we\u2019re going to make in digital.\u201d<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <em>\u2022 Email: jswitzer@postmedia.com<\/em> <\/p>\n<ul class=\"related_links\">\n<li>Goldy Hyder: Canada needs to get out of its own way<\/li>\n<li>Jack Mintz: Trade policy uncertainty is bad for investment and jobs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K5U9wsUVpT0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K5U9wsUVpT0<\/a><br \/>\n<\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<br \/>Sun Life helping Canada and Canadian businesses diversify trade, CEO says<\/a><br \/>\n<br \/>2026-02-13 16:09:31<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Sun Life Financial Inc.\u00a0reported\u00a0strong\u00a0quarterly results,\u00a0the head of the Toronto-based insurer\u00a0said\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0optimistic about\u00a0growth as the world goes through a \u201ctruly transformative time.\u201d \u00a0 In an interview, chief executive Kevin Strain said&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-69910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/69913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}