Empire Life' net income is down.
The insurer reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $32 million in second quarter 2021, compared with $48 million in Q2 2020.
This decrease of 33.3 per cent or $16 million is “primarily due to less favourable claims results in the Employee Benefits line and losses on assets classified as Available for Sale in the Capital & Surplus segment compared to gains for the same period in 2020,” the insurer explains.
“While our Q2 earnings reflect an increase in employee benefits claims, this is an indication that Canadians are resuming some of the important health care activities perhaps not available to them during the height of the pandemic,” Mark Sylvia, President and CEO, points out.
Benefits and claims climb
Empire Life reported total net benefit and claim payouts of $154 million in second quarter 2021, up from $131 million in Q2 2020. This is an increase of 17.6 per cent or $23 million.
Looking at the results in detail, benefits and claims results soared by 54.5 per cent or $24 million in Employee Benefits and by 5.3 per cent or $2 million in Wealth Management. This growth was offset by a decrease of 6.2 per cent or $3 million in Individual Insurance.
Premiums
Net premiums were $223 million in second quarter 2021, versus $202 million in Q2 2020.
They increased by 10.4 per cent or $21 million “primarily due to strong growth in the Employee Benefits and Individual Insurance lines compared to the same period in 2020.” However, this result was “partially offset by lower net premiums in the fixed annuity portion of the Wealth Management line,” Empire Life explains.
Net premiums thus:
- Increased by 17.9 per cent or $15 million in Employee Benefits, to $99 million
- Increased by 7 per cent or $7 million in Individual Insurance, to $107 million
- Decreased by 10.5 per cent or $2 million in Wealth Management to $17 million
Investments
Empire Life reported investment income of $85 million in second quarter 2021, compared with $82 million in Q2 2020, an increase of 3.7 per cent or $3 million.
Manulife, Sun Life, Great-West Lifeco, iA, Desjardins, Intact and Co-operators General also released their financial results for the second quarter of 2021.
