Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Great West Lifeco Fourth Quarter twenty twenty Results Conference Call. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Paul Mann, President and CEO of Great West Lifeco.
Please go ahead.
Thanks very much, Ariel. Good afternoon, and welcome to Great West Lifeco's fourth quarter twenty twenty conference call. I hope you and your families are safe and healthy. Before we move on to management's formal comments on the quarter and the full year, I want to take a few moments to reflect on the significant change and challenge our world has faced in 2020 and how our companies are responding. Firstly, the impacts of the COVID pandemic have had a profoundly negative effect on the health and financial well-being of so many, particularly the vulnerable.
Our companies have responded to ensure we can operate with customer, advisor and staff health and safety as a number one priority. Beyond this, we work to help our customers and communities manage through the financial impacts of the crisis through accommodations and financial support. We recognize there are continuing challenges ahead as we face second waves and lockdowns and remain committed to the needs of all of our stakeholders. 2020 also highlighted the challenges we face as communities, countries, and across the world with respect to diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice. Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation are just two important examples of a societal response to these challenges.
As a company, we recognize that we must be active supporters and participants in change for a better world. Climate change is also front and center as a challenge that we collectively face and must collectively address. The steps we have taken to date were reflected in the A rating Great West Lifeco received in the twenty twenty CDP rankings, putting us among the top five insurance companies globally. We remain committed to playing our part in responding to the challenges that climate change presents today and for future generations as well. I'll now turn to our formal remarks.
Joining me on today's call is Gary McNicholas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Gary and I will deliver today's formal presentation. Also joining us on the call and available to answer your questions are David Harney, President and Chief Operating Officer, Europe Arshal Jamal, President and Group Head, Strategy, Investments and Reinsurance Jeff McCown, President and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Ed Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Empower Retirement and Bob Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer, Putnam Investments. Before we start, I'll draw your attention to our cautionary notes regarding forward looking information and non IFRS financial measures on Slide two. These cautionary notes apply to today's discussion and presentation materials.
Moving to Slide four, you'll see a high level summary of the key themes we'll cover today. We reported a very strong fourth quarter to close out the year, driven by solid underlying performance across businesses. Base earnings in the quarter were $741,000,000 and net earnings were $912,000,000 On a full year basis, Lifeco delivered base earnings of $2,700,000,000 in line with the prior year, while net earnings increased 25 to $2,900,000,000 These are outstanding results given the extraordinary health and economic crisis since early twenty twenty. I couldn't be more proud of my 24,000 Lifeco colleagues whose hard work and creativity enabled these results. We'll get into the details of the fourth quarter shortly, but to summarize, we've experienced modest business and financial impacts related to COVID-nineteen to date.
While we're optimistic about improving trends as vaccines rollout, we are maintaining our heightened vigilance given uncertainty around the recent wave of the virus. We are, however, confident in the resiliency of our business and our ability to manage any future COVID challenges. As you know, 2020 saw us advance several strategic initiatives, particularly in The U. S, where we acquired Personal Capital and the retirement services business of MassMutual. We're focused on integrating these businesses and realizing the synergy and accretion targets we've set.
We're also focused on leveraging our digital investments to build out strategies to provide additional advice and services to group plan participants. We have over 20,000,000 plan participants across our group businesses globally. We're focused on extending our direct relationships with these customers at Empower and Canadian Group Customer and at Irish Life using innovative digital platforms we've either built or acquired in recent years. We will capitalize on these and other strategic initiatives to drive further value creation in the year ahead. We'll now turn to Slide five for an overview of the fourth quarter results.
Base EPS of $0.80 was down 11% year over year from an elevated Q4 twenty nineteen. This year over year change reflects a $122,000,000 European tax settlement included in Q4 twenty nineteen that did not repeat, and that equated to about $0.13 a share. Excluding that, results were relatively unchanged year over year. Net earnings of $0.98 per share were up 78% year over year. The $0.43 swing was due in a large part to the positive impact of the reevaluation of a U.
S. Deferred tax asset compared to the negative impact when this portion of the deferred tax asset was derecognized in Q4 twenty nineteen. Gary will provide details later in the presentation regarding this matter. Net earnings this quarter also included a net gain on the sale of GLC in Canada, as well as some offsets including restructuring and acquisition related transaction costs. Turning to Slide six, I'll provide an update on our invested assets portfolio.
While performance continues to be strong, COVID related pressures still exist and we continue to closely monitor the portfolio. First, we'll look at the bond portfolio. At $153,000,000,000 it represents 71% of our total invested assets. It's diversified and high quality with 99% rated investment grade and 75% rated A or higher. You will note our BBB holdings of $37,500,000,000 are up from last quarter.
The increase was primarily due to assets we acquired through the MassMutual transaction. While MassMutual has a very good investment portfolio, it was a little less conservative than Lifeco's with a higher SKU to BBB and below investment grade. This is very much in line with our competitors in The U. S. Insurance industry.
The portfolio we acquired was a carve out from the company's larger portfolio. We worked through a rigorous asset selection process with MassMutual and are very comfortable with the acquired assets. We've added additional disclosure in the appendix to give you a clear picture of our bond portfolio by rating post the MassMutual transaction. Turning to in quarter experience, the impact of credit was negligible across both bonds and mortgages. We received a modest number of requests for mortgage and rent payment deferrals.
Cumulative commercial mortgage loan deferrals were $3,000,000 at the end of Q4, and we've approved $5,000,000 in rent payment deferrals year to date. Our UK property related portfolio also saw limited in quarter impacts. While valuation certainty is returning to some sectors of the real estate market, we're maintaining a cautious outlook for segments of the office and retail subsectors. We continue to monitor closely and believe the high quality, diversified nature of our portfolio will help mitigate potential future pressures. Please turn to Slide seven for an overview of in quarter COVID-nineteen business impacts.
As you know, we've included this slide since the pandemic began in Q1 last year. Since then, the impacts and the outlook have largely been stable to improving, and it is no different this quarter. While sales and quote activity in certain businesses continue to be muted by lockdowns, the impacts remain consistent with a slight improving trend. Despite continuing pandemic impacts in Q4, our businesses have performed well, highlighting the resiliency of Lifeco and the benefits of our disciplined and diversified business model. Looking ahead, we are optimistic regarding our sales pipeline and the momentum we saw in the fourth quarter performance, which I'll speak to on the next slide.
Turning to Slide eight. In Canada, individual insurance and individual wealth sales were strong with increased momentum through digital channels. Although Canadian group sales were lower year over year due to reduced quotation activity, we led the market in group life and health sales in the quarter. In The U. S, sales were down 14% primarily due to lower large plan sales at Empower for the quarter, but with a strong pipeline of quotation activity going into 2021.
U. S. Results also included a full quarter of personal capital and institutional sales, which were higher at Putnam. In Europe, sales were flat to last year in constant currency. While wealth sales continued at a slower pace in the current environment, we benefited from the reopening of the bulk annuity market and completed two large deals in quarter.
While not captured by traditional sales metrics on this slide, Capital and Risk Solutions completed a GBP 3,000,000,000 longevity transaction in The UK. We continue to see strong demand for European longevity and life capital solutions in The U. S. And Europe. Please turn to slide nine for fee and other income.
Overall Lifeco fees were up 4% year over year. Excluding those related to personal capital, fees were up 1%. In Canada, fees were largely consistent with Q4 twenty nineteen, in line with markets. Turning to The U. S, fees were up 11%, primarily due to improved performance fees at Putnam along with higher equity markets and the inclusion of Personal Capital.
If we exclude Personal Capital, U. S. Fees were up 6% year over year. And in Europe, fees were lower due to legacy block sales in The UK and The Ipsi sale in Ireland, partially offset by higher management fees in Germany. Next on Slide 10, we'll look at expenses.
Lifeco operating expenses excluding personal capital and the one time U. S. Pension credit last year, were up 4% year over year. This is in line with our expectation of overall expense growth and reflects good discipline across regions. In Canada, expenses were up 4%, reflecting investments in digital and an increased focus on building the Canada Life brand.
Looking to The U. S. And removing transaction costs, expenses grew 20%. However, excluding personal capital, the one time and the one time pension buyout credit last year, growth was a more modest 4%. European expenses were slightly lower year over year in constant currency.
And Capital and Risk Solutions, which has a smaller expense base, saw increases reflecting strong new business growth. I'll now turn the call over to Gary to review financial highlights. Gary?
Thank you, Paul. Please turn to Slide 12. Base earnings per share of $0.80 was down 11% compared to the prior year. And as noted earlier, Q4 twenty nineteen included a $0.13 per share positive impact from a tax settlement in Europe. This quarter, we've had strong base earnings results pretty much across the segments, and I'll touch on highlights momentarily.
Net EPS of $0.98 was up 78% year over year. While there were a number of items related to closing on recent strategic initiatives, a large part of the swing year over year comes from deferred tax asset movements. The revaluation this year, given the expected growth in taxable income from our recent acquisitions, had a positive $0.21 per share impact compared to a negative $0.22 when this portion of the DTA was derecognized in Q4 twenty nineteen. On a segment basis, starting with Canada, base earnings were $348,000,000 up 27% from last year. Lower health and LTV claims and solid yield enhancement contributed to strong experience gains this quarter.
New business also contributed positively as a result of repricing actions earlier in the year and higher sales volumes. In The US, base earnings overall were unchanged year over year, although there were a number of moving parts. One of these was an unusual 9,000,000 gain on an asset prepayment at Empower last year. Taking that into account, Empower's base earnings continued their strong trajectory with higher fees from growth and equity markets, partly offset by a catch up in technology investments. Personal Capital recorded a base loss of $7,000,000 in line with our expectations as Personal Capital continues to invest in new customer acquisition to fuel growth and future profitability.
Putnam's results were nearly double the prior year due to a strong turnaround in performance fees and seed capital investment gains. In Europe, base earnings were down 38% year over year, mainly due to the positive impact of that 122,000,000 tax settlement in last year's results. Excluding that, base earnings were comparable to last year with favorable longevity and morbidity experience offsetting higher life claims. Capital and risk solutions saw another solid quarter of base earnings, although down from a record quarter last year. The decline was primarily due to upfront strain on a large longevity swap transaction in the quarter compared to new business gains on a similar type of transaction in the fourth quarter last year.
While both of these deals meet or exceed our pricing hurdles and contribute nicely to future expected profit, the specifics of a given transaction can lead to either strain or gain at the outset. And lastly, in, in reinsurance, reflecting on continued COVID impact on mortality rates, higher claims in the life reinsurance business were partly offset by favorable longevity claims experience. Turning to Slide 13. This table is a new disclosure we've added this quarter. It shows the segment and total Lifeco source of earnings from a base earnings perspective.
You'll note the management actions and changes assumption line as well as the other line are excluded. We thought it would be helpful to present a base SOE given the number of adjustments to get from net to base earnings this quarter and also the impact those items had on the tax line. We have also added historic eight quarter SOE displays by segment in the supplemental information package to better highlight trends, particularly with the introduction of the Capital and Risk Solutions segment earlier this year. Turning to the source of earnings table. Expected profit was up 10% year over year with strong business growth in Capital and Risk Solutions, growth at Empower, higher performance fees at Putnam, improved profitability at Irish Life Health and an appreciation in European currencies all contributing.
Regarding new business impacts, due largely to the longevity reinsurance transactions, which I noted earlier is driving expected profit growth, Capital and Rich Solutions went from upfront gains of £53,000,000 in 2019 to a strain of £40,000,000 this year, a swing of $93,000,000 pretax. Other notable changes included the improvement in Canada due to repricing and sales volumes as well as increased new business strain in The U. S. As a result of personal capital customer acquisition costs. Experience gains contributed positively in the quarter, and I'll cover these on a later slide.
Earnings on surplus of $6,000,000 was in line with the prior quarter, but down from the prior year. This is partly due to lower prevailing interest rates and also 2019 included onetime gains in Europe of about 28,000,000. The effective tax rate on base shareholder earnings was 13%, and it is not unusual to see our more normalized, if I could call it that, tax rate in that low to mid double digit range. Turning to Slide 14. The table on this slide is a reconciliation of base to net earnings, highlighting the key items that are not included in base earnings.
As noted, net earnings in the fourth quarter included several adjustments, the largest of which was the $196,000,000 positive impact of the revaluation of The U. S. Deferred tax asset. Net earnings also included a net gain on the sale of GLC of $143,000,000 Other restructuring integration costs in Canada and The U. S.
Totaling $67,000,000 and then transaction costs with Personal Capital MassMutual of 47,000,000 Assumption changes in the period netted to a negative, which I'll come back to. And the market related impacts included some unfavorable changes in certain UK and Irish tax estimates as a result of market increases and the negative impact of lower interest rates and lower property values on or lower growth in property values on insurance liabilities. Turn please turn to slide 15. This table shows segment and total Lifeco net earnings results from a source of earnings perspective, and it essentially combines the information from the base earnings SOE with the adjustments for excluded items on the prior slide. The management actions and changes assumptions line includes integration costs and transaction costs associated with our US acquisitions and the gain of on sale of GLC, plus, of course, the actual basis changes.
The other line is where we record restructuring costs, which you can see the totals for the Canadian and US strategic initiatives noted earlier. Recall these are all pretax numbers. And then lastly, the tax line, this reflects the tax impacts of the above, most notably the revaluation of the deferred tax asset. Please turn to Slide 16. These tables expand on the experience results as well as management actions and changes in assumptions to highlight various items in the quarter, most of which we have touched on earlier.
Starting on the left, yield enhancement continue continued to contribute positively, particularly in Canada. And I'd also like to call out there was a positive combined impact of mortality, longevity, and morbidity. In many cases, it is difficult to determine exactly what is COVID related versus other factors. But again, we benefit from a diversified book of business. Expense variances reflect strategic project spend as well as higher technology and other expenses.
This reflects a ramp up of activity in the fourth quarter, a bit of catching up from earlier in the year when certain projects had slowed. As Paul noted earlier, credit related impacts were negligible this quarter, which is a good outcome, reflecting the quality of the portfolio, and we will continue to watch that closely. Looking at the right hand side, you'll see the gain on sale of GLC, showing gross of restructuring charges and The U. Acquisition related transaction costs. Assumption changes in the period netted to a negative, primarily due to updates to policyholder behavior assumptions in Canada.
This quarter, we reviewed assumptions for our universal life and term life business based on recent experience. Policyholder behavior updates were partly offset by longevity assumption reviews, which primarily affects The UK and reinsurance business units, life mortality reviews, and other updates, which were generally positive. Please turn to Slide 17. The Q4 book value per share of $22.97 was up 7% year over year and up 2% sequentially, driven largely by the increased retained earnings. The LICAT ratio at Cat Life remained strong, although down two points from Q3.
Continued phase in of the new most adverse LICAT scenario impacted the ratio by one point. Assuming we stay in this LICAT interest scenario, the full impact will continue to be smoothed in over the next four quarters at just under one point per quarter. We've also seen growth in asset related capital requirements from both asset mix and market appreciation, And this largely offsets the normal growth levels that have typically been about 1% per quarter. Lifeco cash of $900,000,000 is not included in the LICAT ratio. And that concludes my formal remarks.
Paul, back to you.
Thanks, Gary. We'll wrap up our formal comments on Slide 18. So in summary, I believe Q4 was a great end to an unusual and remarkable year. And I have to say, I'm so proud of the company's performance. Looking ahead, we'll continue to capitalize on the strategic investments and initiatives undertaken in 2020, all of which have set us up for exceptionally well in the future.
In The U. S, we're focused on building out our retail wealth strategy as we integrate personal capital with Empower and expand our offering to our 12,000,000 plan participants. We're also driven to realize the synergies and accretion targets we set out when we announced the MassMutual transaction. In Canada, our focus remains on elevating our wealth management strategies through the combination of GLC Asset Management with Mackenzie, and we will continue to capitalize on digital capabilities to drive further revenue growth. In Europe, our focus remains on unlocking value from the investments we've made in our wealth and retirement platforms, including wealth tuck ins in Ireland and our extension into the group corporate pension space in Germany.
And finally, in Capital and Risk Solutions, we will continue to leverage our expertise and experience in longevity and life capital solutions to grow this business within our risk appetite. I'll close my formal comments with a few important thank yous. As the COVID-nineteen vaccination programs roll out around the world, we would like to thank the scientists and healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to advance vaccine research, deliver immunizations, and care for COVID patients. We also share our continued thanks with essential workers whose selfless dedication has ensured the smooth functioning of our communities since the start of the pandemic. And to advisors and employees, thank you for your ongoing efforts to serve our clients and deliver on our commitments while balancing family and other responsibilities as you continue to work from home.
With that, Ariel, please open the line for questions.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Menin Grauman of Scotiabank. First
question is on yield enhancement. It was a nice benefit this past quarter. I'm just wondering if you could give us a little bit more detail in terms of what drove that and I think most importantly, the sustainability of that going forward.
Thanks, Meny. I'll start out by just saying that one of the things that we really advanced over the last number of years is starting to look at opportunities for invested assets backing liabilities on a more global basis. So we're not constraining ourselves to available assets in the Canadian market. We're really looking for opportunities. For example, we look to equity release mortgages to back, for instance, our Canadian liability.
So backing our yield enhancement is really starting to leverage some of those you might almost call it sort of alternative assets that allow us to yield enhance. But with that, I will turn it to Gary to add a little bit more color.
Sure. Actually, Paul, you've hit it on the head. Certainly, Canada benefited from the access in the equity of lease mortgages originated in The UK, and that added to a good bit to the yield enhancement there. And then in The UK itself, we had property lease extensions that also contributed to our yield enhancement because those flow into our cash flows. So we had it both on the lease extension side gains and and on those equity.
Those would be the large ones, and there's just other other trading. I don't know if Raman wants to give any more color, I think those would be the two I'd call out.
Yeah. It's Roman here. I I I think I agree that the only color I would add is it was, you know, diversified across a number of different sources. And then, you know, within the context of tightening public market spreads, but there were a number of opportunities in the private markets, which really helped. So that's the only thing I would add, but you covered it well.
How sustainable go ahead.
Meny, I was going to kind of try and wrap it up and say from so as we think about that, we continue to be very active in the equity release mortgage market. So we will continue to be sourcing that as a source of assets backing liabilities. We, I would say, have strengthened our capabilities in private markets and we're looking to both private markets and partnerships. So obviously, there'll be volatility from quarter to quarter in terms of opportunity, but we do view these as relatively sustainable ways for us to continue to strengthen the portfolio. Anything else you'd add to that, Roman?
No, I agree with that.
Do you sort of have targets in terms of you're talking about sort of a shift more to alternatives? Like, is is there a big opportunity there in terms of what percentage of the of the portfolio you'd like to see in in those kinds of assets?
I'll start off by saying, we continue to be very disciplined in terms of diversification and making sure that we have a high quality diversified book. But we also look for yield opportunities to both support pricing and to support earnings growth. I would say that we're very balanced. Ramana, is there anything else you'd add to that?
Yes, I guess maybe just to give you a bit more color. If you think about 02/2020, not just the quarter, but the year, and the yield enhancement, some of it came back in the spring when there was a lot of opportunities in the public markets, and we're able to, you know, engage in a lot of trading and and really benefit from wider spreads there. You know, has been a consistent source for us. I think, you know, other parts of the private markets, whether it be in the mortgage side or or corporate bond markets, have been a good source of of gains for us. You know, as we increase our exposure via partners, as Paul mentioned, I think that will continue to provide some tailwinds for us to access some of these opportunities.
So it's hard to pinpoint and give budgets exactly, but I think there's a number of different ways we've been able to access yield enhancement.
Thanks, Grant.
Thanks, Manny.
Our next question comes from Gabriel Dechaine of National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. First, on the Canadian group business, you had some positive morbidity experience in the LTD. But in your, you know, your outlook commentary in the slide, you talk about, you know, mental health as still a, I guess, a risk factor, which I I I can understand. Can you kind of expand on on what you're seeing in your your your book of business?
What kind of trends are evolving? And and how you're positioning yourself from a claims management or a pricing standpoint there?
Thanks, Gabrielle. I'll actually defer I'll defer that one over to Jeff McCown, and then perhaps Gary might add a little bit of color after that. Jeff?
Thank you, Paul. And Gabriel, thanks for that question. Perhaps a couple of comments I would make. We've always been very diligent on our LTD block. As you know, it is renewed generally the most of the block on yearly basis.
So
we're quite aggressive in making sure that we take care of that on an annual basis. You are correct that we have seen lower incidents, and we've seen this now for a couple of quarters in a row. And terminations are in line with the incident. So we've seen good experience on that. From a mental health perspective, we continue to monitor that and manage that very closely.
We haven't seen anything at this point that that concerns us, but, obviously, we continue to monitor it very closely. And and, you know, our outlook is that, you know, we'll watch things at from a COVID perspective, it's interesting that in times of like this, we do see people, making sure they're hanging on to their jobs, if I can call it that, and we have seen a decrease on short term disability at this point. Gary, did you wanna add anything to that?
I think I'd just comment, Jeff, a little bit I hate
to
go into the detail, but a little bit on the source of earnings geography. Just some of that caution you'd expressed where I think it's a very thoughtful approach we take, does and we did lower our expected profit outlook in this area, but we haven't seen that come through and we've had very positive experience. So obviously, we're managing the book for the total outcome, both the expected and the experience. So we may have been a little cautious on the expected this quarter in particular. And so I think that's contributing to some of the geography.
Got you. Then moving on to Empower, I guess, I mean, the sales in The US down 12%. I'm just looking at the slide deck. US sales have includes personal and Putnam as well, but sales down. And then strain in The US is up a fair bit despite the the drop in sales.
And you've the scale of Empower quite a bit. So I'm just wondering why some of those arrows are moving in opposite directions than what I would expect to see.
So I'll start out with that. Sales is something that occurs when you book the sale. And then obviously, as we're bringing the customers on, that can take especially when you're looking at large plans, the incidence of the cost you're taking in terms of acquiring the customer can occur over a period of a number of quarters, especially with when you're looking at the mega cases. So I think sales and strain are always not going to line up in the same moment. Maybe I'll let Gary speak to the strain a little bit and then he can refer it on to Ed to provide you with a little context on sales.
But the reality is it was more or less the absence of any very large sales. But as I said, we like the look of our pipeline going into 2021. So we've seen this type of volatility. It can be quite lumpy. But Empower's value proposition is such that we're we really do like the pipeline we have in terms of quotation activity.
But, Gary, do you wanna speak to the strain and then Ed can talk to sales?
Yeah. Sure. Just quickly on the strain. I mean, really, the the movement year over year in The US, I think the movement year over year was 14,000,000. And of that, 17,000,000 movement is personal capital.
Just the, and we do outline the, the Canadian, pretax, and it's remember, these are all pretax. It's a, customer acquisition cost of personal capital.
So Right. Okay.
Absent personal capital, it dropped a bit, which I think what you were thinking.
Alright. Perfect. Thanks. And then my last quick one. Putnam, I mean, that's not a massive number, but the performance fee, 30 some odd million bucks.
Normally, it's single digits. Was there anything noteworthy there?
Gary, why don't you start up? Gary, you can just provide a little bit of context for sort of timing. And then Bob, I mean, I think behind that, Gabriela, is strong performance. We've had a really strong year. But Gary can speak to the timing issue, then I think it's good if Bob can share some insights into performance.
Yes. I think it's worth it. The one thing on timing is that the institutional, performance fees, a lot of those are in q four. So there is, there is more in q four than you'd see earlier in the year. And then, the other thing I'd note is that over the past few years, we did have a you may have we had a bit of a drag on performance fees from completely different mandates that were slowly running off, and these were, you know, we just had to had to have the runoff of those that were three year, averages that were just running off.
So what, I think what you're you're seeing now is the the strong performance is really, shining through. So maybe Bob would add a little more color on the performance.
Thank you. To
add
to that, obviously, is strong performance that drives that fee. But what we see are performance fees in the mutual fund part of the business, the institutional, and we have seen growth, significant growth in hedge fund business. And all three of those contributed to the performance fee number, and, we're off to a great start this year. So we're very encouraged by that.
Great. Thank you.
Welcome.
Our next question comes from Paul Holden of CIBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good afternoon. I want to go back to the question on mPOWER. It seemed like you came into 2020 with a lot of positive momentum in that business with all the investments and integrations you had done. And then growth kind of slowed in 2020.
So what I'm trying to figure out is to what extent is that simply related to a slowdown in the economy and particularly, I guess, with respect to employment and with job growth starting to pick up in The U. S, like is that something that should be a nice tailwind for Empower? Is that material?
Thanks, Paul. First off, in the context of growth, to your point, I think COVID has had an impact on things like quotation activity, especially when you're looking at group businesses. But as I said before, we're seeing our pipelines improve really across most of our group businesses, including Empower. So there's no doubt there's sort of a there was a bit of a COVID slowdown. But I think to a large extent that's starting to get behind us.
I'll let Ed provide a bit of context as to how that played out through 2020. Ed?
Sure. Thanks, Paul. Yeah, I would say with regard to the book of business, typically you would see companies hiring during the course of the year and enrolling new participants. So if you look at our base of business, because of the economy, we did not see a lot of growth within the existing base of customers in terms of participant growth. But as Paul referenced, and I think Gary might have mentioned this too, mean there's some lumpiness to the sales, particularly in the upper end of our business.
And we certainly have seen that. We only had one significant large market sale in the fourth quarter. That being said, if you look at January and where we're positioned in 2021, we have commitments now that exceed all of our sales in 2020. So I think really good growth. We did see some lag in terms of activity as companies focused more inwardly in their own situations, but now the RFP activity has picked up dramatically.
And our pipeline, frankly, is at the highest it's ever been in the history of the company. So I'm I'm pretty optimistic about, 2021.
And then so you you've commented on, on the pipeline now a couple of times. Wondering if you can give us some kind of sense on closing rates or at least from the perspective you don't want give us a closing rate, at least from the perspective of have closing rates for Putnam or sorry, for Empower improved over time with the new technology and scale that you've built in that business?
Yes. Paul, we're certainly we don't want to get into providing the specifics on the actual size of the pipeline and closing rates. But for sure, I think Ed can provide some context around how technology has I think it impacts two things. I think number one, when you become significantly differentiated, advisors can almost can't afford to not have you on the docket when they're doing an RFP. And then the question is, do you have a better value proposition?
So Ed, maybe you can provide a bit of context around that.
Yeah. I think there's a lot of dynamics. Obviously, the value proposition and and the breath of one's capabilities is important. You know, we're we're a significant scale player in the market, so we bring some cost advantages and pricing advantages to the market. And historically, if you look at our growth as measured by net participant growth, we typically have been growing at multiple of markets, and we expect that to continue.
The other factor that's playing out in the market is consolidation. It's, you know, a disproportionate amount of the new business and the flows are essentially going to the top players in the market. And so we expect that trend to continue and see further consolidation, and we think Empower is well positioned to benefit from that.
Okay, great. All that color is helpful. One last one for me, and this is on the CRS business. With the great growth there, spent a little bit more time looking at some of the, I guess, the non earnings numbers like premium growth, asset growth, liability growth. And it's hard for me to correlate the type of base earnings growth you've seen in that business relative to some of those other metrics I just mentioned.
So just wondering if you can help us understand how we should be looking at the primary underlying drivers of that base earnings growth and if there's anything we can track in your sub path to help us with that.
Thanks, Paul. I'm going to turn that one to Arshil to provide a bit of color. Arshil?
Thank you, Paul. So I I I really, you know, described the business that we have within our reinsurance operating unit as, you know, focusing on four or five product lines. So we have sort of our core US traditional and our property catastrophe, businesses that have been long standing parts of the businesses, and they are relatively low growth. It's really been the financial solutions businesses both in The US and various European markets. And then over the last couple of years, really, the longevity transactions,
that
have been driving, you know, the 22% growth that we've seen in expected profit over the last twelve months. So those those are the areas. We've added in the fast supplements, you know, a little bit more detail on the expected profit, and we will think about how best to communicate some of those forward looking, metrics or whatever, but it's very difficult to put sort of a longevity swap that is to offsetting long term cash flows, through a p and l and get something that, you know, is is comparable to something like a traditional payout annuity or a US, traditional life reinsurance. So we we struggle with that ourselves. But, know, the areas that we're seeing very, very strong growth is on the longevity side, particularly in Europe and in the life solutions business, both in Europe and in in and in The US.
And and those are the the fastest growing parts of the reinsurance business, But we're committed to continuing both in the life of traditional business in The US and the property catastrophe, but that will be at a slightly slower growth rate.
Yes. Arshil, I might add that our continuing commitment to U. S. Trad life and the property catastrophe is the fact that when you think about this business, it's nicely diversified across a range of different risks. And it actually diversifies well with the broader Lifeco portfolio.
And beyond that, it actually provides us with expertise as we face off against different other businesses and think about trying to either leverage internal reinsurance or leverage expertise. So it's a book. And as Arshil said, the growth has been more in the financial solutions and longevity. And it's transaction by transaction. So it's hard to kind of put a sales forecast, but we tend to think about it more in the context of an overall risk appetite in terms of how much do we want.
So we'll think about whether there's a better way to guide on that.
Okay. That would be great. Thanks for your time.
Thanks, Paul.
Our next question comes from Tom MacKinnon of BMO Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks very much. Good afternoon. Question on Empower and then a question about, experience gains. In the supplement, the Empower if I look at the Empower, revenue, it is, it's the lowest it's been in fourth quarter was the lowest we've seen in terms of Empower revenue for all of 2020 even if we flip them into US dollars.
I'm wondering why is that the case? Why why wouldn't the revenue be the highest in the fourth quarter as a result of the equity markets being so resilient? So, and then I have a couple of follow ups. Thanks.
Okay. I will let, Gary start off on revenue. And Gary, you might wanna turn that one that one back to Ed.
Yeah. Certainly. On the revenue, when, when you're looking in the, in the supplemental pack, Tom, and I think we've talked with this before, the revenue that's shown there is what the insurance revenue. So this is the on balance sheet or the general account option at Empower. So and that's that risk based premiums line or or revenue premiums.
I think you're you're looking at there, or total net premiums line. I think it's, it's also referred to as think those are ones you're looking at.
So I'm looking at total what total income. So it includes fee income, investment income, and total net premiums.
Yeah. Or your your net investment income is, of gonna have a lot of movement in around fair value, so you always have to be a little cautious there. It's really the and the fees, I think, have been been very steady increase as you'd expect. And then the the premiums there are the general account premiums. And so what we saw and particularly saw in in q one and q three, you see a real jump up in money going into the general account as a bit of a a safe saver haven is what that was considered.
And then you see that's what's causing the ebb and flow this year. And you'll see those numbers are up quite a bit from, from what they would have been in 2019. So that's that's really the dynamic. There is money going into the general account. And then, overall, obviously, the money going into Empower is, seg fund deposits, mutual fund deposits, and and so on.
And why were the net why were the net earnings on that, exhibit for Empower in US dollars 30,000,000 below what they were in the third quarter?
Yeah. The third quarter, we would recall this had a it's a fairly large I don't remember off top of my head, but it's a fairly large basis change in the third quarter. Remember, this is just the full net earnings. Right? And there was a a basis change at Empower, again, to do with that general account.
And I I think it was quite positive. I just don't have the number right in front of me from q three. But that's what that that's what the jump up is.
I think it was 23,000,000.
Yeah. A p
and l a p and l on base for Empower would actually certainly help if that's the metric to use rather than the reported. And if I if I
go into a follow-up here,
it has to do with The source
of earnings might help you there, by the way. Just that we did have a source of earnings now for The US, and and we've got platinum so
you can
get back
to It's got it's got run off individual insurance. It's got platinum. It's so anyways
Okay. Yeah. And we can we can help with Empower on that. Good good idea.
Yeah. I I mean, I I don't look at Empower as being a source of earnings type business. I I look at it as being, you know, a p and l type business. So nonetheless. If if I move into, experience gains and losses, there's an item called expenses and fees.
Now I assume the fees are ASO fees. Is that correct? And then what are are the expenses just the degree to which your, your maintenance expenses are coming in line with what you thought? And why is this number running negative?
Gary, I'll I'll let you take that one.
Sure. Yeah. I I think, what we have is we have a certain level of expense, baked into our expected profit, as you can imagine. And then there's certain type of expenses where it says it's not really in the running of the business. And some of these are are planned.
Like, if we undertake you know, a short term strategic initiative over you know, it could be a period of time. That's not in our sort of ongoing expected profit for the business, but it's it's gonna cover a few quarters or a couple of quarters, then you can see some expenses from that. And, again, it's all that's all part of the bottom line. But it we put that in as an experience loss rather than an underlying expected profit for the business. And then this quarter, I think I referenced it earlier, what, some of what we saw was really just a a bit of a catching up of where we had some expenses, that were lower down, whether it's technology, whether it's accruals for certain, items.
There was a bit of a catch up in q four, so there's a bit of a a a jump up in expenses that we wouldn't expect to carry through, going forward, but it, it did cause an expected sort of an experience loss in in the quarter.
Okay, Gary. And the fact you say fees, is that is
that because you're including a
so Fees is gonna be all of your, that's also any variance from just generally from market movements relative to what you expected at the start of the quarter just in your asset, all your various asset related fees, then that usually, you know, moves a few million every quarter up or down. Because we reset the expected profit for the fee based businesses, the wealth management businesses at the start of every quarter based on asset levels. But, obviously, it might unfold slightly differently than planned during the quarter, and so that variance also goes into the fees.
So even to the extent Putnam fees aren't in line with anticipated shows up there?
Yeah. That would all be in the, expenses and fees section.
Okay. And and, sorry, just the the last one, if I look over at management actions and changes and assumptions, generally towards the end of the year is when you do a lot more actuarial reviews. And if we take out the transaction and the gain on the sale, you're net negative in terms of changes in assumptions here.
Is that indicative of how should
we be thinking of this thing going forward? Traditionally, has been a bit of a source of earnings to Great West in the past. How should we think about the fact that in this quarter, it was negative?
Yes. I think the quarter was really dominated by the one large negative item in Canada on the policyholder behavior. That's a bit of an outsized relative to what I think we've historically been seeing across our book. Overall for the year, I haven't tallied up, but I think it was it was probably a small positive for the year on on the assumption changes. And certainly, going forward, while I'm sure there will be some pluses and minuses, I think we still do expect and typically have seen a positive contribution from that source.
It's we can't get ahead of ourselves on predicting it, but there's nothing fundamentally different in our our balance sheet than what we would have had in in prior years. So, obviously, we've we've also got the transition to IFRS 17 coming up soon. So that's, we just gotta, manage that to transition over the next couple of years. But I there's nothing really different in the balance sheet. So, you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see a modest positive, going forward out of that.
We just have to do the experience work next year.
Okay. Thanks thanks so much.
Thanks, Sean.
Our next question comes from Darko Mihelic of RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, thank you. Just as a follow-up to that question, the updated policyholder behavior assumptions in Canada. If I step back and look at Canada and so this year, profit growth was actually less than 1%. So I'm just trying to understand a bit better, now that you've made these changes.
Is should we be expecting or all else equal, would expected profit growth be similar, in Canada, you know, similar rate, or should we expect something different? Like, what was it that kept expected profit growth so low this year? I mean, I I think I can make a few guesses, but I'd rather hear, what you guys are are thinking on that and and maybe provide a little bit of color on what we should be expecting for 2021.
I'll start out, I'll turn it to Gary. I'll just echo one thing that Gary talked about before where we saw the significant experience gains on the group morbidity side. We tend to think about expected profit and experience gains that are going through a period like that. We look at it more holistically and in total, because we're repricing that book. We're trying to get a handle on how much of the improved experience that we've seen this year will be continuing, how much of it should we be have a degree of caution.
And I think to the extent that we use caution in our expected profit, which we sort of set out at the start, then we end up seeing stronger experience gains rolling off. And I think that's what you saw in particular this quarter. You would have seen the degree of caution as we thought about go forward. And then you saw actually a better outcome than our cautious approach. So there's generally that theme as we look at some of these in Canada.
But I'll let Gary get into a little bit more of the color on the broader expected profit in Canada.
Thanks, Paul. Yeah. I I think I think the moving group was probably the largest single item. I mean, you you've got some business growth in in some areas. You know, this is often a little bit of fee compression that goes just goes on in the in the wealth businesses.
So that's that's all it. But the largest change you saw year over year was in the in the group area, and it was downward in the group area. And, again, not the results have actually been quite good, but the geography was was different. So we've got you know, as we've as we've now had a couple of good quarters of of experience gains, then that will certainly factor into our you know, perhaps taking a little less cautious view on expected profit going into next year. And then also, we do have quite a number of initiatives.
Know, Jeff hasn't talked about them in this call, but we have referred them on prior calls, just a number of initiatives to, to grow our our business and our expected profit in Canada. So we'd expect to see some of those coming online in, in 2021 as well. So I'd yeah. I'd cost is optimism for for some growth there, but I think some of it will just be reflecting on the last couple of quarters of strong experience. How you know, do we have more confidence in putting that into the expected profit next year?
Okay. Thank thank you for that. Maybe just one follow-up. You mentioned the longevity business in in The UK as being a driver. We are seeing the PRA is considering altering the capital requirements.
There are some views out there that says it should be altered to the benefit of players there. Should we expect, you know, if if if the solvency regime is relaxed a little bit and there's there's more capital available, would it be would that be negative? I I I would think there'd be more competitive pricing and more just more activity in the bulk annuity space. Maybe you guys can can speak to that a little bit. Is that a is that a risk to to the to the business, as you see it?
Darko, it's Paul. I'll start out by saying that we like our approach to the overall longevity side because we don't just participate in U. K. Bulks, we also participate with our reinsurance, our capital and risk solutions group. And we also look to diversify out of The UK, and we've actually had a fair bit of participation in Dutch longevity exposure via the reinsurance business.
So we tend to look at that sort of more holistically, and we look for places where we can add value and where there's strong returns for us. So that would sort of be a broader perspective. I think Arshil can give you some context around our views on if there were in fact relaxation of some of the drag from Solvency II, how that might play out. Arshil?
So thank you, Paul. You did highlight that our on the reinsurance side, our longevity swaps are not just in The UK, but also include a number of EU countries, most notably The Netherlands. So any change in The UK will impact sort of the competitive landscape in in those other countries. But the demand side of it from pension funds so we often the client is not another insurance company, but it's a defined benefit pension plan derisking. So I think those dynamics continue to be very, very favorable if you look look ahead to where DB plans are, funding levels, interest rates, and sort of the risk preferences of corporate sponsors, you know, we think there's quite a a strong tailwind there.
If there are sort of capital reductions in The UK, I think it might help us actually compete in the retail payout annuity market, where we could offer even better value to customers. So, you know, I I'd be sort of cautiously optimistic that notwithstanding any regulatory changes, that, you know, we we will continue to see sort of strong demand for all of these types of products, both on the reinsurance side and on on the direct side in in The UK to retail customers and to and and on a bulk basis.
Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Doug Young of Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon. Just have a few quick just maybe clarifications. In based on slide 14, you removed 23,000,000 of management actions. Can you just let me know what what does that relate to?
Doug, I'll it's Paul. I will that is a an I'm gonna I'm gonna allow Gary to take that one. Gary, over to you.
Sure. That's the, I'm just looking for the actual page numbers here. That's what we outlined a little later in the slide. So it's it's on the, on Slide 14, the let's see. Just pull up your pages here.
On slide 14, the, the assumption changes management actions, we've actually outlined those on page 17. Yeah. Can see the vast majority of those there. I think that's if that adds up to to '29, which is getting it. So to be some of the restructuring won't be in this.
Restructuring is another. But that's a lot of what's pulled out there. It's three of the actuarial assumptions and the the management actions. We called out some of the specifics down below. So you've got in that, you've got, the basis changes we we touched on.
You've got the the you know, both both the pluses, minuses. You had a, we recaptured some, some reinsurance, and that went into, again, that was positive that went in there. And, again, it's mostly just the netting out of the basis changes. That's the bulk of it, plus recapturing as part of our mortality review, which was positive. We also recaptured some, some mortality risk, and that, again, with a positive bringing it onto our basis.
So, those would be the drivers there. It's it's basically other than some of the big, strategic initiative related items we we put out below. Most of it's the basis changes.
I I guess what I was confused about was because it's a gain management actions was a gain, but you're actually adding back an amount in base earnings, such that you would think it was a loss. And so that's why I was just, like, the 23,000,000 doesn't really match up to I I we can follow-up afterwards.
Yeah. Let's let's do that
after it. It's it's just walking through the pieces. Yeah.
Yeah. And then there was a
big jump in expected profits in in The US operations. What what did that relate to? Was that in the inclusion of the MassMutual business?
No. That was not. The MassMutual other than the restructuring, that we've noted in the transaction cost, MassMutual is not in the close right at December 31. So that's really, it's it's pretty much split between, Putnam and Empower in terms of increased some of that could be market growth, some of it's the outlook because we knew the we could see the the performance and how that would lead into performance fees. So you had the performances and then the the margins, and the growth that Empower has been driving that.
So pretty much split between Putnam and Empower.
Okay. And then lastly, I
think there's a restructuring charge in in Canada. Like, I get the restructuring charges in The US, but I think there was one in Canada, correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe that was related to some strategic initiatives, if I recall. Can you maybe just delve a little bit into that? Do you have an idea of what the cost saves would come from that?
Gary, I'll let you start there, and then Jeff may want to provide some color on on the work we've actually been doing in Canada in relation to strengthening our overall distribution and marketing efforts. Gary?
Yeah. So, there were there were a couple of things in there, in in Canada. You're part of that, that's all that's where we we quoted earlier a net gain on the, the distribution, the divestiture of, GLC, our Canadian asset manager, to Mackenzie. And so the restructuring that went with that is part of that number. And then I believe there were some restructuring in the Canadian distribution that maybe Jeff would want to touch on briefly.
Think that's the bulk of that.
Yes. Thanks, Gary. Yes, we were very pleased with the quarter, of course, and you did see some very strong sales both on the individual side and the group insurance side. In part, we made some changes in the latter part of the year on our wholesaling efforts, those individuals calling on advisers out in the marketplace. And we established an internal wholesale organization, which we didn't have that muscle before, and that has proved to be very, very positive for us in the marketplace.
And it's allowed us to reach advisers like we never have before, whether that be digitally or through other methods. And as well, we've strengthened our external wholesaling organization. So that's the bulk of the story there. The other part that Paul referenced to is that we've undertaken a pretty strong total review of our distribution organization. We've added a fair bit of muscle to our value propositions in each of the markets that we operate in, both on the individual and group side.
So that would be the bulk of what it is.
Okay, great. Thank you.
This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Mann for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Ariel. To close, I would really just like to thank everyone for attending today's call. I wish everyone well in terms of health and safety as we work through hopefully a bit of an opening through the lockdowns that we're all going through. So I wish health and safety to your families. And we look forward to connecting with you again at the end of the first quarter.
Thanks very much.
This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.