Two of the largest Canadian life insurers reported increased profit for the fourth-quarter and full year of 2021. 

Sun Life Financial Inc. had fourth-quarter net income of $1,078 million, up 45 per cent with underlying net income of $898 million increasing four per cent in the fourth quarter. 

For all of last year, it reported net income of $3,934 million, up 64 per cent and underlying net income of $3,533 million up 10 per cent, compared to 2020. 

"Sun Life delivered strong performance in 2021 as we continued to navigate uncertainties of the ongoing pandemic across our markets," said Kevin Strain, president and CEO of Sun Life. "We ended the year with a solid fourth quarter driven by growth in wealth and asset management. Our assets under management grew to $1.4 trillion, up 15 per cent from prior year. Insurance sales were strong, increasing 13 per cent from prior year, contributing to 16 per cent growth in the value of new business." 

Manulife profit up for Q4 and all of 2021 

Manulife reported net income attributed to shareholders of $7.1 billion for all of 2021, up $1.2 billion from 2020, and $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up $304 million from the fourth quarter of 2020. 

Its Global Wealth and Asset Management division had net inflows of $27.9 billion in 2021 compared with net inflows of $8.9 billion in 2020. Net inflows were $8.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with net inflows of $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. The company’s retail wealth business reported a record year with net inflows of $29.2 billion 

"I am incredibly proud of the way our colleagues around the world have continued to make decisions easier and lives better for our customers,” said Manulife president and CEO Roy Gori. “We are delivering on our strategic priorities, enhancing our organizational culture and ESG capabilities, and achieving top quartile employee engagement scores.”