Despite a blockbuster month of sales in December 2020 – December had the strongest year-over-year growth of any month in 2020 – the strong finish was not enough to offset months lost at the beginning of the year. Canadian life insurance application activity finished flat in 2020, according to the Canadian MIB Life Index.
From the MIB Group Inc. of Massachusetts, the new Canadian MIB Life index shows flat growth for the year, coming in at -0.3 per cent. December application activity jumped 12.2 per cent year-over-year during the last month of 2020, continuing a growth trend that began in September 2020, which offset negative patterns in the first six months of the year.
“The first five months of 2020 saw declines with March and April in double digit declines due to the impact of COVID-19,” MIB writes. “Recovery began in June and July, with a slight decline again in August. As of September, the numbers began to grow with December having the strongest year-over-year month of the year. However, growth was not enough to fully offset declines on a cumulative basis for the year.”
The MIB Group says when looking at 2020 compared to 2019, 2.9 per cent growth in applications for clients in the 0-30 age group was offset by declines of 6 per cent in the 51 to 60 age group and declines of 3.5 per cent among those between 61 and 70. Application activity for clients between 31 and 50 and for those over age 71 remained flat at 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
By product, MIB says year-over-year term submissions remained flat, while universal life application activity declined 40.5 per cent and whole life submissions climbed 11.1 per cent.
