May 6th, 2026

The call emphasized strong underlying operating performance, particularly in Asia, Canada wealth, and stop-loss in the U.S., along with meaningful progress on strategic M&A and scale in asset management and continued capital returns to shareholders. Offsetting items included one-time charges and market-related impacts that reduced reported net income, short-term underperformance at SLC driven by timing of catch-up and seed fees, MFS U.S. retail outflows, and near-term pressure in the U.S. Dental business due to deliberate repricing and exits. On balance, operational momentum and capital strength outweighed the transitory and timing-related challenges discussed.

Company Guidance

Management reiterated its medium‑term guidance and capital priorities while providing metric targets and near‑term outlook: Q1 underlying net income was $1.05B with underlying EPS up 4% and underlying ROE of 18.6% (on a path to the 20% MTO), dividend raised 4% to $0.96/share (quarterly +$0.04) with a 49% payout ratio and an NCIB to repurchase up to 10M shares (~1.7%); capital and balance‑sheet metrics included a LICAT of 143% (down 14 ppt from 157% — ~10 ppt from $2.4B of SLC deployments, ~250M deployed per 1 ppt), holdco cash $1.3B, financial leverage 23.2%, book value per share $41.10 (+2%), and total CSM $14.7B (+8% YoY, converting to earnings at roughly 8–10% over time). Business guidance highlighted continued momentum and targets: total insurance sales $1.7B (+17% YoY; individual $1.2B, +32%; group $552M), Asia sales +49% to >$1B (Hong Kong +75%, Indonesia +40%; Asia CSM $7B, +12%), Canada AUMA $261B (+12%), Sun Life Asset Management AUM $1.4T with SLC being built into a $400B platform, SLAM underlying net income $265M (‑3% YoY) but SLC fundraising/net flows ~US$4.4B/~$4B and $2B net inflows into ETFs/FI/SMA; outlook: SLC expected to be moderate in 2026 but to rebound solidly through the rest of the year (20% CAGR medium‑term target unchanged), U.S. medical stop‑loss sales +43% YoY with morbidity improvement (CAD 8M), a path to improved U.S. dental margins in H2, and a combined Group Benefits after‑tax margin target of ~7%.