On Nov. 12, Sun Life Financial and National Bank announced that they would become strategic partners. They are following the footsteps of players like B2B Trust.  

The 3000 advisors affiliated with Sun Life can now access National Bank credit products. Starting this month, they can offer RRSP loans. In March 2010, they can promote the National Bank All-in-One account, and conventional mortgages, and this coming spring they can offer clients investment loans guaranteed by the National Bank.

"We already had an RRSP loan agreement with B2B Trust, which is remaining in place, but the agreement with National Bank will let us cover a larger niche," says Stéphane Beaumier, Regional Vice President, career network at Sun Life. This move is an obvious advantage for Sun Life advisors, who can now better compete with their counterparts at Manulife Financial, who have been offering the Manulife One account for some time.

Martin Lavigne, Senior Vice President, third-party business solutions at National Bank, confirms that this partnership signals the bank's strategy of extending its third party distribution. "This type of alliance gives us an excellent opportunity to grow outside Quebec where over 75% of our third party sales already originate," he says.

The third party business solutions division has signed several agreements with partners including other insurance companies. Mr. Lavigne points out that this entity also offers investment funds, back-office services and in-house products that partners can sell under their own brand. For now, the partnership with Sun Life is limited to the four products mentioned above.