October 6, 2022
Canada life insurance application activity finished Q3-2022 down -8.3% on a Year-to-Date (YTD) basis. However, on a Year-over-Year (YOY) basis, September 2022 activity was flat at +0.4% compared to September 2021, representing the second month in a row with flat or growing activity. On a quarterly basis YOY, activity during Q3-2022 finished down -2.0% compared to activity during Q3-2021.
All age groups showed YOY growth in September, except ages 31-50 which declined. On a quarterly basis, ages 61-70 saw growth YOY during Q3-2022 compared to Q3-2021, ages 31-50 saw a decline and all other age bands saw flat activity. On a YTD basis, Q3-2022 saw declining activity for all ages, in the double digits for ages 31-50. It is noteworthy that September 2022 saw Month-over-Month (MOM) growth or flat activity across all age groups over August 2022.
September and Q3-2022 saw YOY double-digit growth in application activity for all face amounts over $500K. Specifically, September saw declines YOY for face amounts up to and including $250K, flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K and double-digit growth for amounts over $500K. Activity during Q3-2022 saw a decline compared to Q3-2021 for amounts up to and including $500K, but double-digit growth for amounts over $500K. When examining age bands for activity during Q3-2022 compared to activity during Q3-2021, ages 0-30 saw double-digit growth for all face amounts over $500K, declines for amounts up to and including $250K, and flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K. Age 31-50 saw growth for all face amounts over $500K, in the double digits for face amounts over $1M, and declines for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts up to and including $250K. Ages 51-60 saw growth for all face amounts over $500K, in the double digits for amounts over $500K up to and including $1M and amounts over $2.5M, double-digit declines for amounts up to and including $250K, and flat activity for amounts over $250K up to and including $500K. Ages 61-70 saw declines for amounts up to and including $250K and growth for all other face amounts, in the double digits for amounts over $250K up to and including $2.5M and amounts over $5M. Ages 71+ saw growth for face amounts over $1M up to and including $2.5M and amounts over $5M, flat activity for amounts up to and including $500K, and double-digit declines for all other face amounts.
When examining activity patterns where a product type was submitted to MIB, Universal Life saw double-digit YOY growth of +42.7% in September, while Term Life was flat at -0.1%, and Whole Life was up +7.0%. Similarly, when comparing activity during Q3-2022 to activity during Q3-2021, Universal Life and Whole Life saw growth, in the double digits for Universal Life, and Term Life saw declines. When breaking down the Q3-2022 to Q3-2021 YOY comparison by age band, Universal Life saw double-digit growth for ages 0-70 and double-digit declines for ages 71+. Whole Life saw growth for ages 0-50, double-digit growth for ages 71+, and flat activity for ages 51-70. Term Life saw flat activity for ages 0-30 and 71+, declines for ages 31-60, and growth for ages 61-70.
About 28% of total Life Index volume reported for Canada in September did not include a product type. We believe the vast majority of these submissions are for Life Insurance applications and have included them in the composite analysis presented in this report. Missing product type information has a significant impact on the Canadian analysis. When looking solely at submissions identified as Life Insurance products, activity is up +8.5% YOY for Canada in September, up +6.8% when comparing Q3-2022 activity YOY to Q3-2021 and flat at-0.9% YTD as of the close of Q3-2022.