Insurance Advisory Service November 2012

After finishing September in the red, net flows picked up substantially in October, reaching $107 million. Total segregated fund net flows year-to-date sat at $1.1 billion as Guaranteed Withdrawal Benefit (GWB) funds topped $3.2 billion for the period, thereby offsetting substantial net outflows that arose from traditional segregated. Assets were up 5.1% for the year, ending October at $91 billion, the second month in a row that assets finished above the $90 billion mark. GWB assets continued to reach new highs and crossed the $30 billion dollar threshold in October. Robust sales of GWB products continued through October and net flows reached $291 million. The net flow total was more than double that of the previous month. The success of GWB sales relative to September was connected to a sales rush on Great-West Life’s products before the announced reduction of payout rates took effect in the second half of the month. Great-West Life was the net flows leader with $130 million. Empire Life continued to attract investors as its GWB payout levels remained intact; net flows in October were $55 million, bringing the year-to-date total to $148 million. This month’s report provides further detail on asset and sales trends of segregated funds as well as recent developments in the insurance industry. If you already subscribe to the Insurance Advisory Service, the report is now available for download on our Client Extranet. If you do not, but would like to find out more about this research, please contact the Investor Economics team.