Sun Life Financial, Great-West Life and Manulife Financial have all reported higher Q2 earnings.
Sun Life’s net income from continuing operations came in at $425 million, compared with $391 million in the same period last year.
The company cites continued growth in assets under management (AUM) for the improved results. AUM grew 16% from the second quarter of 2013 to $684 billion due to favourable markets, stronger sales and the positive impact of currency movements.
“Our Canadian operations had strong gains in its wealth businesses, reporting sales of $3 billion in the quarter, up from $2 billion in the same period last year driven by higher mutual fund sales by Sun Life Global Investments and higher new defined contribution pension sales,” says president and CEO Dean Connor.
Great-West Lifeco’s earnings rose 18%, partly due to the acquisition of Irish Life.
Net income was $615 million, up from $521 million in last year’s quarter.
The company’s premiums and deposits during the quarter were $20.4 billion, up 33% from a year ago, including $2.4 billion from Irish Life.
And over at Manulife, net income nearly quadrupled in the second quarter to $943 million, compared with $259 million in the year-ago period.
Wealth results were strong, driven by the success of its North American mutual fund businesses and improved momentum in Asia, says Manulife president and CEO Donald Guloien.
“Most notably, we generated strong sales growth in Japan and in other parts of Asia, but insurance sales in Canada were lower than what we would have liked.”
Net flows in its asset management and group pension businesses exceeded $6 billion for the quarter and $13 billion year to date.
The insurer also hiked its quarterly dividend by 19% to 15.5 cents, the first increase in five years.