Manulife discontinues four products

Manulife Financial Corporation will no longer accept new business for four disability insurance products.

The insurer announced in a memo that effective September 30, it will stop selling the products Buy-sell Plus, ExpenseComp, Proguard, and Venture – disability insurance products aimed at executives, incorporated professionals, and business owners. Manulife also said that it had chosen to discontinue writing for the products due to “the shrinking demand for non-cancellable disability products.”

“Closing these products allows us to focus on the other areas, and we’ll continue to offer disability products through the other channels,” the company said in a statement provided to Advisor’s Edge. “We will continue to offer Affinity and Group Benefits disability products to Canadians as well as continue to provide coverage and fulfil the contractual obligations to those who already purchased disability coverage prior to and on Sept. 30, 2022.”

Non-cancellable insurance is a type of individual disability coverage wherein premiums cannot be raised, benefits cannot be reduced, and the insurer also cannot unilaterally cancel the contract.

A spokesperson for the brokerage NFP also confirmed with Advisor’s Edge that Manulife’s decision to drop the products leaves only RBC Insurance and Canada Life as the only remaining insurers offering individual disability products.

Read more: Manulife posts solid earnings for Q2 2022 despite market headwinds

For the second quarter of 2022, Manulife posted net income attributed to shareholders of $1.1 billion – a drop from Q2 2021’s $1.6 billion. Despite the slightly reduced earnings, president and CEO Roy Gori said that the company still managed to post “solid results” amid challenges posed by the macro environment.