January 18, 2016

Advisors speaking out about their experiences with Fast & Full

Advisors have been speaking out about Fast & Full, our easy-to-use, online life insurance application process that helps them save time, see more clients, and eliminate paperwork.

To hear first hand what Fans of Fast & Full are saying, check out these videos.

Discover how Emblem brings together the art and science of investing.

Here's to the next 93 years!

January 11, 2016 marked our 93rd anniversary. Thank you for helping us reach this milestone. We’re honoured to work with you, and are looking forward to the next 93 years!

Empire Life December 31, 2015 Investment Statements

We will mail the Empire Life December 31, 2015 Investment Statements to customers beginning January 26, 2016.  A PDF copy of these statements will be available on the Business Centre.

Information has been included with all statements providing information to customers on the CRA budget changes that reduced the amount that must be withdrawn from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) for the 2015 and subsequent taxation years. We are also advising customers that they may be eligible to re-contribute a portion of the amount that they received as payments from their RRIF in 2015 based on the changes to the new minimum amounts. 

Please see Information Circular 2016-05 for all the details.

Life and Health Insurance Application

Our current stock of the Life and Health Insurance Application (D-0082 French only), omits the 'yes' and 'no' radio buttons for the Health Information question 6.6a. We have amended the printed applications by using a sticker to replace question 6.6, until our next application update. Please continue to use existing stock in your office (version 10/15) and clearly answer the question for each Insured. Note: the Life and Health Insurance Application online version has been updated.

Empire Life Money Market Fund – Temporary management fee waiver

Starting January 15, 2016 and continuing for up to one year, Empire Life is temporarily waiving part of the Money Market Fund management fees to partially offset the impact of negative returns experienced by some customers. Details can be found in the Information Circular.

MDRT Certifying Letter

Make sure your letter gets to the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT). Follow these steps and ensure your letter is received at Empire Life by
Monday, February 22, 2016.

Visit the MDRT website to download the qualifying letter and complete the appropriate sections.

- Mail the completed letter:                                                                       Empire Life,                                                                                                            259 King St East,                                                                                      Kingston ON  K7L 3A8                                                                           Attention: Dealer Services or

- Email: a scan of the completed letter to dealerservices@empire.ca
Once received, we will complete the letter and send it back to you.

Reminder For RRIF Policy Holders

You may have some RRIF policy holders that are eligible to re-contribute a portion of the amount that they received from their RRIF in 2015. Changes came into effect on April 21, 2015 as part of the federal government’s budget ("Economic Action Plan 2015”) that reduced the amount that must be withdrawn from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF) for the 2015 and subsequent taxation years. Your customers have up until February 29, 2016 to make a re-contribution.

Additional information about re-contributions related to changes in the RRIF minimums is available online here.

The CRA website also provides more information on the RRIF minimum changes here.

Did you miss the conference call with CIO Gaelen Morphet?

Summary notes and a recording of the conference call on the Canadian and global markets with Gaelen Morphet, Chief Investment Officer, Geoff Johnston, Senior Portfolio Manager, Fixed Income and Lieh Wang, Senior Portfolio Manager, Canadian Equities are now available. Find out where Empire Life Investments sees opportunity and how their funds are positioned for the year ahead.

Annuity-Funded Life Insurance Strategy

The Annuity-Funded Life Insurance Strategy is quite simple. Clients purchasing a life insurance policy from Empire Life can fund the insurance premiums for a period of time by purchasing a term certain annuity where the annual annuity income matches the annual premiums of the life insurance contract. Click here for more information. 

E-L Financial solidifies long-term interest in Empire Life

Our parent company, E-L Financial announced it has agreed to purchase Guardian Assurance Limited's 19% share of the holding company E-L Financial Services Limited (ELFS) for approximately $200 million.  As a result of this agreement, E-L Financial will own 100% of ELFS, which owns 98.3% of Empire Life.

"For years, Empire Life has been an important long-term investment for E-L Financial,” said Duncan Jackman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of E-L Financial in the news release. “We are very excited about being able to increase our stake in this great company and reinforce our continued commitment to its ongoing success.”

CLHIA Guideline G18 “ Insurer-MGA Relationships”

As you know, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) released Guideline G18 “Insurer-MGA Relationships” to help insurers and MGAs address regulator recommendations outlined in the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators’ (CCIR) position paper “Strengthening the Life MGA Distribution Channel”.

CLHIA member insurers are expected to comply with Guideline G18 and are working to clarify MGAs roles and responsibilities in light of Guideline G18 through contract changes and notices. Please refer to Information Circular 2015-37 for more details.

DBRS confirms our “A” Issuer Rating and assigns Financial Strength Rating of “A”

DBRS has confirmed its Issuer Rating of “A”  and Subordinated Debt rating of A (low) for Empire Life and assigned our company a Financial Strength Rating of “A”.  All ratings have a Stable trend. Read the news release.

SimpleQuote Now Available for Download from the App Store

We are pleased to announce that our SimpleQuote Insurance Quick Quote apps for both the iPhone and the iPad are now available for download from the App Store. And, the new version of the SimpleQuote apps is fully compatible with Apple's new operating system iOS9.1.

SimpleQuote allows you to quote rates and create compliant illustrations for Empire Life Solution 10, Solution 20 and Solution 100 life insurance products directly from your iPhone or iPad, with the ability to instantly display illustrations for clients or send them the illustration by email. 

To download the app, go to the Apple Store and search for SimpleQuote. Check it out!

Tip of the Week

Did you know that the email address producer.doc@empire.ca has been changed to contracting@empire.ca?