Empire Life reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $177 million for the third quarter of 2024. This compares to the same period a year earlier, when the company reported a net loss of $5 million.

The company explains this increase by “net investment and insurance finance result gains, driven by improvements in the interest rate environment and the impacts of management assumption updates in the third quarter.”.

As can be seen in the table below, this is the insurer’s highest level of earnings reported in a single quarter since 2014.

After the first nine months of 2024, net income attributable to common shareholders totaled $265 million, compared with the $46 million reported for the same period in 2023. This represents an increase of 476%.

“The declining interest rate environment contributed to our favourable earnings in the period, and bolstered our already strong capital position,” stated Mark Sylvia, President and Chief Executive Officer. He also underlined that the company launched several new segregated fund products during the quarter.

Investment income  

The investment result, excluding segregated fund and account balances, reported net income of $483 million for the third quarter of 2024, compared with a net loss of $547 million announced for the same period last year.

The increase in this result is particularly attributable to the investment and financing activities of the individual insurance segment, whose net income reached $371 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared with a loss of $448 million in the third quarter of 2023.

“Net investment gains from non-fixed income assets also supported the favourable third quarter result, driven by favourable market movements,” the company stated in its October 30, 2024 press release. The report to shareholders was published a week later.

Net investment gains from non-fixed income assets also supported the favourable third quarter result, driven by favourable market movements. 

Insurance service result  

The net insurance service result amounted to $62 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared with $60 million for the same quarter of 2023.

Also, in further detail, the company posted net insurance income in the third quarter of $26 million in wealth management, $19 million in individual insurance and $17 million in group insurance.

At September 30, 2024, Empire Life's assets under management stood at $19.6 billion. This represents an increase of $927 million compared with assets under management of $18 billion at September 30, 2023.

The company’s Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) Total ratio was 154% at September 30, 2024, compared with 152% at the same date in 2023.