Sun Life Financial (SLF) reported net income attribue to common shareholders of $3.5 billion for fiscal 2025, compared with the $3.1 billion announced a year earlier. This represents an increase in profits of $423 million or 14 per cent over 12 months.

For the full fiscal year 2025, SLF’s underlying net income totalled $4.2 billion, up $345 million or 9 per cent compared with the previous fiscal year. This measure is used to present operating results excluding exceptional items, such as the sale or acquisition of portfolios or other businesses.

In Canada

In Canada, the insurer reported net income attributed to common shareholders of $1.4 billion for fiscal 2025. This represents an increase of $185 million or 15 per cent over the previous fiscal year.

The company attributes this result to the increase in underlying net income (up 10 per cent), to “favourable assumption changes and management actions (ACMA), and market-related impacts primarily reflecting the favourable interest rates impacts, partially offset by unfavourable other market-related impacts.”

In its management’s discussion and analysis, the company lists several highlights for 2025. Sun Life notes in particular a 15 per cent year-over-year increase in gross sales of group benefits. This term refers to group life and health insurance solutions, including coverage for medical, dental or vision expenses, as well as administrative services for employers.

On the group retirement services (GRS) side, the company reports 130 per cent growth in net defined contribution sales as at December 31, 2025, compared with the same date a year earlier.

Individual insurance sales are up 10 per cent compared with fiscal 2024. The company also reports that, at the end of the third quarter, according to LIMRA data, it ranked first in the Canadian market year-to-date for critical illness insurance sales.

Sales

For the full fiscal year 2025, insurance sales reached $7.2 billion, compared with $5.7 billion in 2024. This represents an increase of 25 per cent.

More specifically, for the full fiscal year 2025, sales growth reached 32 per cent in Asia and 28 per cent in the United States. In Canada, the increase was 7.4 per cent.

Asset management

For the full year 2025, wealth product sales and asset management gross flows totalled $237 billion, compared with $196 billion in 2024.

As at December 31, 2025, assets under management stood at $1,154 billion, including $894 billion for MFS and $260 billion for SLC Management.

In real estate investments, the portfolio stood at $9.4 billion as at December 31, 2025, compared with $9.3 billion a year earlier. The increase “is predominantly driven by net property purchases in Canada, partially offset by declines in market value and unfavourable impacts from foreign exchange translation,” SLF states in its management’s discussion and analysis.

During the conference call with analysts, in response to a question on the company’s capital deployment, chief financial officer Tim Deacon highlighted the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) ratio of 157 per cent as at December 31, 2025, for Sun Life Financial, compared with 152 per cent a year earlier.

President and chief executive officer Kevin Strain also referred to the LICAT ratio in his remarks. He also pointed to 17 per cent growth in the contractual service margin (CSM) related to new business, which totalled $1.7 billion for fiscal 2025 and $11.3 billion as at December 31, 2025.

Deacon does not rule out resuming the share buyback program in 2026. The amounts allocated to such buybacks will be equivalent to organic capital growth, he notes. In 2025, a total of 10.1 million shares were repurchased and cancelled for $844 million.

Senior management also expressed satisfaction with the growth in results and sales in the U.S. stop-loss health insurance business.