- Assuris
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Assuris is a non-profit organization under Canadian Federal regulation to protect policyholders in the event that a life insurer should become insolvent. It is designed to allow a block of policies to be transferred to a solvent company, where the polices will continue to be honoured (similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the USA). Per the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions: "Assuris' mission is to mitigate the impact on Canadian policyholders of the financial failure of a life insurance company." [1]
Every life insurer that is authorized to sell policies in Canada is required by the various provincial, territorial and federal regulators to become a member of Assuris. Assuris was founded in 1990 as CompCorp, changing their name to Assuris in 2005.[2][3]
Policies are protected as follows:
- monthly income, health expense, death benefits and cash values policyholders receive at least 85% of their promised benefits.
- 100% protection is provided by Assuris for amounts below the following cash values:
Monthly income polices up to $2000, health expenses polices up to $60 000, death benefits on policies up to $200 000 and cash values up to $60 000 [4]
The last insurer to have its policies guaranteed by Assuris was Confederation Life.[5]
References
- ^ http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/app/DocRepository/1/eng/practices/supervisory/sup_guide_life_e.pdf
- ^ Assuris - Protection for your life insurance products
- ^ CompCorp
- ^ How does Assuris protect my money? - The Globe and Mail
- ^ Assuris - Past Insolvencies
External links
Categories:- Canadian federal departments and agencies
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