Dividend Notice    

Equitable Life of Canada announces dividend scale for 2023/2024

The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has approved a change to the dividend scale for the period of July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

  • The dividend scale interest rate will go from 6.05% to 6.25% on July 1, 2023.
  • Other factors used to decide the dividend scale will stay the same.
  • The interest rate for participating whole life insurance policies with dividends on deposit will also stay the same at 2.25%.
  • The policy loan interest rate1 will go from 6.20% to 6.50% on June 30, 2023. This will apply to all new or active policy loans and automatic premium loans. The change is for Equimax® policies that have a 9-digit policy number starting with “3” or “8”. Some older policies may have other policy loan rates as they are based on the prime interest rate.

Once the next dividend scale year starts, we expect policyholder dividends to be close to $105 million until the end of June 2024.

Participating policyholders can get some of the participating account earnings back as dividends. Every year, we look at how much was earned from the participating account. We use a formula called a dividend scale to figure out how much of the earnings can be paid as dividends. From that, we find the dividend payment. If a dividend is declared, it will get paid towards the policy. Many things in the participating account, like death benefits we paid and how our investments did, can affect the earnings. This changes how much is paid as dividends. Each year, we make sure the dividend scale is set at a proper level to reflect how all these things did in the participating account.

Dividends are not guaranteed. They could change and be different based on how well the investments do, how many claims are made, and other factors. Dividends are paid at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors. How much is paid will depend on the dividend scale.

 

How are dividends calculated?

Premiums paid for participating whole life policies cover benefits and expenses, as well as a contribution to the company’s surplus. The remainder flows into the participating account and is invested. The participating account is mainly impacted by returns earned on investments and by death benefits, but also other factors such as policy loans, terminated policies, taxes and expenses. Dividend calculations consider the difference between the assumed and actual experience of the participating account. That difference can have a positive or negative impact on the dividend paid.

It’s important to keep in mind that dividends and their future performance are not guaranteed and that dividends are payable at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors.

The illustration you received when you purchased your participating whole life policy was based on the dividend scale in effect at that time. It was neither a projection nor a prediction of future performance. The purpose of that illustration was to highlight that performance is based on both guaranteed and non-guaranteed values. It shows how the policy would perform if the dividend scale illustrated remained unchanged for the life of the policy. The illustration also includes sample alternate dividend scale scenarios to help highlight the potential impact a dividend scale interest rate change has on the non-guaranteed values in the policy. It was not a prediction of the largest dividend scale change that could occur over the life of your policy.

 

Would you like more information?

For more information on the 2023/2024 dividend scale contact your advisor or Individual Customer Service at 1.800.668.4095 for questions about the 2023/2024 dividend scale.

 

About Equitable Life of Canada® 

As one of Canada’s oldest and largest mutual life insurance companies, we provide financial security differently by focusing exclusively on our clients. We work with you and independent advisors across Canada to find the best ways to meet your financial needs. Our life insurance, savings and retirement, and group benefits solutions help you protect what matters. Together with you, our purpose is protecting today and preparing tomorrow.

At Equitable Life, we pay attention to all the details and deliver on our promises. Your trust in our knowledge, experience, and financial strength helps us keep our commitments to you. Our company is owned by people like you who count on us and use our services. This lets us focus on plans that help our company grow and stay strong now and in the future.

 

 Thank you for trusting Equitable Life to help you protect what matters most.

 

TOGETHER – Protecting Today – Preparing for tomorrow™

As a MUTUAL we provide financial security DIFFERENTLY by focusing exclusively on our CLIENTS.

® and TM denote trademarks of The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada.