Sun Life Financial Inc. says its fourth-quarter 2022 net income was $951 million, down 12% from a year earlier.
Earnings per share were $1.62, compared to $1.83 in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Earnings for the full year were $3.1 billion, down 22% from 2021.
Global insurance sales were $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1.6 billion a year earlier.
In Canada, fourth-quarter insurance sales increased 2% year-over-year to $246 million, with higher sales of large group benefits largely offset by lower sales of total life insurance to individuals, the insurer said in a release.
Canadian asset sales increased 16% to $6.6 billion in the fourth quarter, driven by higher defined contribution asset sales in group plans, but partially offset by lower individual asset sales.
As of Dec. 31, Sun Life had $1.33 trillion in assets under management, up from $1.27 trillion in the prior quarter but down from $1.44 trillion year-over-year. The 8% year-over-year decline was partially attributable to client distributions, declines in the value of segregated and managed funds and outflows from segregated and retail funds.
In the fourth quarter, the company’s net income in its Canadian business segment increased 3% to $367 million.
The company said the decline in net income was primarily due to an unfavorable market as well as integration costs from its recent acquisition of DentaQuest.
On February 1, Sun Life sold its sponsored marketplace business (including its affiliate and affinity group business) to Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company.