Industrial Alliance (iA) has released its financial results for the first quarter, and both group and individual insurance sales were up compared to the same period last year. There was, however, a significant decline in the sales of both mutual funds and segregated funds.
iA reported unadjusted net income attributed to shareholders of $102.4 million for the quarter, which is 10% lower than the $114.4 reported in 2015. However, when the results are adjusted for tax recovery and premium for redemption of preferred shares, iA reports net income attributed to shareholders of $98.3 million which is a gain of 9% over the $89.8 million earned in Q1 2015.
Canadian individual insurance sales up
Individual insurance sales in Canada were up by 10% and reached $42 million during the first three months of the year, while sales in the United States jumped 38% to $23.4 million. Group insurance sales also advanced, with sales of employee plans, dealer services, and special markets solutions increasing by 18%, 5%, and 7% respectively for a combined total of $174.5 million, which is 6% than in Q1 2015.
iA's individual wealth management division did not fare nearly so well. Net sales of segregated funds declined 28% to $142.6 while mutual funds saw net redemptions of $291.2 million for a decline of $24.2%. Overall, iA experienced a 52% drop in the net sales of its wealth management products.
Strong policyholder experience
"On top of the normal growth of our business this quarter, we are particularly pleased with the results from our retail insurance operations, employee plans and car dealer services, all of which reported strong policyholder experience," comments René Chabot, Executive Vice-President, CFO and Chief Actuary. "Our strain ratio came in below our guidance for the quarter which also contributed to our solid earnings."
