Well, good afternoon. Bonjour. Bienvenue à tous and Aanii. My name is Kevin Strain, and I am President and CEO for Sun Life. Welcome to the annual meeting for Sun Life Financial shareholders and the annual meeting for Sun Life Assurance voting policy holders. I'd like to respectfully pause to acknowledge the land on which I'm speaking to you from today and consider the indigenous nations of whom we share territories and responsibilities. This land is the land of the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. It's also known as Toronto. For me and many of you, this is where we get to call home. This is treaty territory. I am not indigenous. My ancestors settled here from Scotland and benefited from living on this land as treaty people.
I give thanks that I'm able to live here and work here, able to live here and work here on this treaty land, and most importantly, that I've been able to raise my family in this community. In light of the history of our land and in the spirit of partnership and reconciliation, I'm committed to do more to support meaningful change for indigenous people. This means that I'm working to better understand and educate myself about our history with indigenous people and their culture beyond what I was previously taught. As well, I'm using my position at Sun Life to provide resources and opportunity, including pushing for a more diverse workplace and with more indigenous representation and creating an environment that encourages greater connection to our past, present, and future with indigenous people. I'd like to turn the meeting over to Scott Powers, Sun Life's Chair.
Thank you, Kevin. Good afternoon, everyone. My name, as Kevin said, is Scott Powers, and I am the Chair of your Board of Directors, and I'm pleased to extend a warm welcome to all of you. As the notices of the meeting have been duly given and a quorum is present, I will call order to the annual meetings of Sun Life Financial and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. My fellow shareholders, we continue to live in challenging times. 2022 was no exception. I think we all felt, either directly or indirectly, the turbulence in the world, whether it was supply chain disruption, political divisions, inflation, higher interest rates, volatile markets, or the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite all of these challenges, I continue to be inspired by the human spirit and resiliency people have demonstrated to get through these tough times. Sun Life's resilient team navigated through these challenges, making sure that we were there for our clients, guided by our purpose, which is to help our clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Over the last five years, Sun Life has delivered a total shareholder return of 8%. Throughout that time, our balance sheet and capital position remained strong with a dividend payout ratio of 41%. Underlying earnings per share delivered an annual growth rate of 9%, and underlying return on equity was 14.7%. More than CAD 6.6 billion has been paid in the form of dividends to shareholders in the past five years.
Since November of 2021, our dividends have increased by 31% after the pandemic restrictions for dividends were lifted by our regulator. We've also been active on the partnership and M&A front over the last year. We're very excited about our latest major acquisition, Advisors Asset Management in the United States, our asset management partnership with Phoenix Group in the U.K., and our newest bancassurance partnerships with CIMB Niaga in Indonesia and Dah Sing Bank in Hong Kong. Our approach to capital allocation and our focus on capital-light businesses has made a tremendous difference to our growth rates, and it has also increased our ability to invest in innovation, to deepen our relationships with our clients and attract new ones to Sun Life. We're seeing the results and the benefits from these transactions.
Through the contributions from DentaQuest and our 20-plus bank assurance partnerships in Asia, we're both enhancing our bottom line and importantly, providing access to health and financial security to more people around the world. I'm proud of the results Sun Life has delivered, and today's meeting is particularly meaningful for me as it marks my first year as Sun Life's chair after eight years on the board, and it's been a great journey so far. In the last year, we welcomed two new board members in Laurie Hylton and Joseph Natale. Both Laurie and Joe round out an exceptional group of board leaders who bring a disciplined approach to governance and an extensive set of skills, backgrounds, and ideas to their roles at the board. With these additions, our board reached an important milestone of gender parity. Leading around diversity, equity, and inclusion starts in our boardroom.
For me personally, I'm honored to represent our shareholders, policyholders, clients, and all of our stakeholders. It's a fulfilling role when you're working with a company that's built on a foundation of trust and one that's purpose-driven. I believe in our purpose, I believe in our leadership, I believe in our people, and every day, I see the difference Sun Life is making in the lives of our clients. On behalf of our board, thank you to all Sun Life employees and our advisors. This innovative and passionate group is behind all of the impact we deliver for our clients, shareholders, and policyholders. Thank you to our clients for their ongoing trust and loyalty and to you, our shareholders and policyholders, for your confidence and commitment. With that, I will now move to deal with some procedural matters.
For the first time in four years, our meeting is being held both in person and in a virtual format and is being recorded. As a courtesy to all in attendance, I ask that you silence your phones and any other electronic devices for the duration of the meeting. I also wish to advise you that the proceedings are being webcast and recorded. In accordance with Sun Life's bylaws, I will chair the two meetings. Kevin Strain will join me once again. Also joining us is Troy Krushel, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Troy will act as the secretary for the meetings. We are hosting the meeting and broadcasting live from Sun Life headquarters in Toronto. Also in the room with me today are my colleagues on the Sun Life Board and members of our executive team and senior management.
I will now outline today's proceedings and go through some procedural matters. We're holding two annual meetings today. The annual meeting of common shareholders of Sun Life Financial, and the annual meeting of voting policyholders and the sole shareholder of Sun Life Assurance. There will be two sets of formal business, one for each company. After all the votes are taken, Kevin will provide an update on Sun Life's business progress and the company's future and its priorities. A joint question and answer period will be held after the formal portion of the meeting has been completed. We will conduct the business of Sun Life Financial first, and then Sun Life Assurance. Only registered shareholders, voting policyholders, and duly appointed proxy holders who have standing at the meeting will be able to address the meeting and ask questions during the formal conduct of business.
For those attending virtually, you can ask a question at any time during the meeting by clicking on the messaging icon on the platform and following the instructions. To allow us to address your question at the appropriate time, please submit your question as early as possible and identify whether it relates to a motion being considered as part of the formal business or whether it is a more general question in nature. If you would like to address the meeting by phone, please provide your phone number in the messaging box. The Lumi technician will dial you into the conference, and you will hear the meeting from your phone. I'd remind you to please mute your computer in that case and listen to the live feed on your phone only. When called upon to ask your question, you will be unmuted.
If you would prefer to submit your question in writing, do not include your phone number in the box, but submit your full question in the messaging box. Troy, our corporate secretary, will receive your written question and read it out at the appropriate time. For those attending in person, please approach one of the microphones stationed around the room to ask a question at the appropriate time. Give your name, please, and state whether you are a shareholder, a policyholder, or a proxy holder, and direct all your questions to me as the chair of the meeting. We ask that you take up to three minutes to state your comment or questions, and I ask that you only ask one question each time you are recognized. Each item of business will be open for questions or comments before a vote is taken.
If your question does not relate to an item of business on the agenda, it will not be addressed until the joint question and answer period at the end. Written questions may be paraphrased in the interest of efficiency in addressing as many of the questions as possible. Rest assured, we'll not attempt to limit or filter legitimate questions, and we will do our best to address all the issues raised. Please also adhere to the meeting protocol outlined in the agenda in keeping to the appropriateness and relevance to the meeting. I will use my discretion and as circumstances dictate, to direct the meeting accordingly. Like last year, registered shareholders, voting policyholders, and proxy holders attending virtually who wish to vote at the meeting will be able to vote on each motion by online poll instead of in-person ballot.
In-person voting will be conducted by ballot. The ballots were provided to you at registration. The yellow ballot will be used by shareholders for the items on the Sun Life Financial agenda, and the pink ballot will be used by voting policyholders for the items on the Sun Life Assurance agenda. If you do not have a ballot and wish to receive one, please raise your hand, and one will be provided to you. As in past years, the vast majority of all votes were cast in advance of the meeting by proxy through various available channels, with only a small number opting to vote their shares at the meeting. On a poll, every shareholder entitled to a vote on the matter has one vote in respect to each share entitled to be voted and held by that shareholder, and every voting policyholder has one vote.
The poll will be open for all resolutions at the same time. This will allow you to choose to vote on each resolution immediately or wait until the conclusion of the questions or comments submitted on each resolution prior to casting your vote. You may vote at any time until the last item of business has been put to a vote, and I declare the voting closed. Most importantly, if you have voted in advance of the meeting and you do not wish to revoke your previously submitted proxies, you do not need to do anything. Once the poll is closed, the preliminary result of votes cast and the proxies received prior to the meeting will be provided to Troy, and he will read them out to the meeting, and the final results will be posted on our website. Excuse me.
To facilitate proceedings, I've asked Troy, who is also a duly appointed proxy holder, to move the motions related to the election of directors and the appointment of the auditor and advisory vote on executive compensation. I now appoint TSX Trust Company by its representatives, Pat Lee and Jennifer Anderson, to act as scrutineers for each meeting. I have the preliminary attendance reports of the scrutineers, and there are 5,516 shareholders holding 323,265,106 common shares of Sun Life Financial represented by proxy. This represents 55.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares as of the record date of March 17th, 2023. There are 4,080 voting policyholders of Sun Life Assurance represented by the proxy.
This represents 13.7% of the voting policyholders who asked to receive the materials for this meeting as of the record date of March 17, 2023. The sole shareholder of Sun Life Assurance, Sun Life Financial, is represented by proxy. A quorum is present for each meeting, and I declare these meetings to be properly constituted and declare the polls open on all resolutions. Our auditor, Deloitte LLP, is represented today by Anthony Cocuzzo, Chantale Leclerc, Margaret Tang, and Ed Hardy. Copies of the auditor's report and the annual financial statements of Sun Life Financial were published and sent to shareholders who requested them. We would be pleased to take any questions on the annual financial statements of Sun Life Financial at this time. An opportunity to submit questions about the annual financial statements of Sun Life Assurance will be provided later in the meeting.
Please hold any questions unrelated to the annual financial statements to the general question and answer period. Troy, are there any questions or comments from participants on the annual financial statements?
Chair, there are no questions or comments online on the annual financial statements.
We will now proceed with the election of directors of Sun Life Financial. We have two new directors standing for election for the first time at the meeting today, Laurie Hylton and Joseph Natale. Please join me in wishing a warm Sun Life welcome to each of them. I will ask Troy to nominate the individuals proposed for election as directors.
I'm pleased to nominate the following individuals to serve as directors of Sun Life Financial Inc. until the close of the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected or appointed. Deepak Chopra, Stephanie Coyles, Ashok Gupta, Marianne Harris , David Ho, Laurie Hylton , Helen Mallovy Hicks , Marie-Lucie Morin, Joseph Natale, Scott Powers, Kevin Strain, and Barbara Stymest.
Thank you, Troy. The company did not receive advance notice of any other nominations of directors, and therefore, I declare the nominations closed. Troy, are there any questions or comments from participants on the nominations?
Chair, there are no questions online on the nominations.
Shareholders attending virtually may now proceed to vote on the election of directors of Sun Life Financial by selecting your choice on the display screen. Shareholders attending in person will now proceed to vote on the election of directors of Sun Life Financial using the yellow ballots. We will collect the ballots at the end of the Sun Life Financial business. As a reminder, if you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there is no need to do anything unless you would like to change your vote. Please vote now. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of our auditor. I will ask Troy to make the appropriate motion.
I am pleased to move that Deloitte LLP be appointed the auditor of Sun Life Financial Inc. until the close of the next annual meeting.
Thank you, Troy. Are there any questions or comments from participants on the appointment of the auditor?
Chair, there are no online questions about the appointment of the auditor.
Shareholders attending virtually will now proceed to vote on the appointment of the auditor of Sun Life Financial by selecting your choice on the display screen. Shareholders attending in person will now proceed to vote on the appointment of the auditor of Sun Life Financial using the yellow ballot. We will collect the ballots at the end of the Sun Life business. Again, if you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there's no need to do anything unless you would like to change your vote. Please vote now. The next item of Sun Life business, Sun Life Financial business is an advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the management information circular. The resolution is set out on page 8 of the circular. I will ask Troy to make a motion approving this resolution.
I move that the resolution, the full text of which is set out on page 8 of the management information circular dated March 17th, 2023, be adopted by the shareholders of Sun Life Financial Inc.
Thank you, Troy. Are there any questions or comments from participants on the advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation?
Chair, there are no questions or comments online on the advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation.
Thank you, Troy. Shareholders attending virtually will now proceed with the advisory vote on executive compensation using the online poll. Shareholders attending in person will now proceed to vote on the approach to executive compensation using the yellow ballot. We will collect the ballots at the end of the Sun Life Financial business. If you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there's no need to do anything unless you'd like to change your vote. Please vote now. The next item of Sun Life Financial business is consideration of a shareholder proposal disclosed in the management information circular. The shareholder proposal is set out on page 119 of the circular. A representative from Investors for Paris Compliance appearing on behalf of the shareholder, the Salal Foundation, will now speak to the shareholder proposal.
Can you hear me? Good.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We attend a lot of AGMs, and this is probably the most efficient one I've ever been at. I think setting it at 5:00 P.M. might be maybe extra incentive to get out early, so congratulations on the speed of it. My name is Matt Price. I'm with Investors for Paris Compliance. We're a shareholder advocacy organization that tracks the net zero commitments of publicly traded companies in Canada. I was also wrestling with how to structure this presentation today, I'm gonna structure it around what's called the compliment sandwich, which you're probably familiar with, which is where you just wrap the spicy meat in the middle of some carbohydrates.
I know it also has a more colorful name, but because we're polite Canadians, we'll stick to compliment sandwich. Pardon me. Just gathering my thoughts without notes. I'll cheat. A few things. I mean, we'd like to thank you for your engagement. We had genuinely good meetings with your team. We didn't come to a resolution, but we did appreciate the sincerity of the team, and we believe that Sun Life is sincere about getting to net zero. We also want to acknowledge how complex this is for you. This is a huge company. You have many divisions, many subsidiaries, and no one's done this before.
No one's transformed to net zero, we're kind of learning how to build a plane as you're flying it. We acknowledge that. We also wanna acknowledge that you've got a fantastic reputation amongst the investor community. We do a lot of outreach to investors, and when we sort of said to the investors, we've got a proposal at Sun Life that they said, "Oh, they're good people." There's a lot of benefit of the doubt that you have, I think, with a lot of investors, and that's probably gonna show up, I imagine, in the voting results. I'd also like to thank you for your focus on mental health and your contributions. I think you said $6 million over the next three years that you've invested in mental health.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because of a data point in terms of, like, the climate impacts we're seeing now. There's so many climate impacts that kind of makes you numb. As we speak right now, people in North BC and North Alberta are breathing, you know, dangerous air because of the wildfires that were. This past weekend in Vietnam, their people were told not to go outside because of heat stroke because it was 44 degrees Celsius. It's, like, the highest ever clocked temperatures, this is early May.
You can get numb to all this, but one of the stats that broke through with me recently was a study that came out of Lakehead University that examined climate anxiety with youth, and they found that out of the 18 to 25-year-old cohort in Canada, that four out of 10 now have problems with their daily functioning because of climate anxiety. I'm not sure why this hit me so hard. I think partly it's because that's a huge number. If you extrapolate that out, that's like 2 million youth across the country who are struggling with mental health because of climate change. Also, you know, on a personal level, you know, I have a 17-year-old, so I not only worry about his future, but I worry about him worrying about his future.
For some reason, this one hit home to me. These are your people, right? These are your clients. You have 85 million clients around the world, they're not, you know, in a bubble wrap from climate change. This is literally your business is the health and well-being of these people, that's what you've built your business around. I think the key to this proposal is whether Sun Life is adequately managing the risk that the climate crisis is posing to your clients and also adequately acknowledging the role that your investments play in sort of contributing to that crisis as well. In your recent disclosures, I noticed three things. They really jumped out at me. One is in terms of your risk management framework.
You acknowledge that there is an interaction between the climate crisis and your business, whether it's on the health of your clients or on your investments. It's siloed. It's weird. In your disclosures, it's kind of like off at the side. In your disclosures about mortality, morbidity, or in your disclosures around climate, credit risk or client risk or operational risk, there's no mention of climate change whatsoever. It feels like it's a bit siloed. I know you have the intention of trying to spread that around the company in terms of integrating it broadly. We don't see that yet in your disclosures.
Second thing that jumped out was your conclusion, I think, that we found in your annual report that you said the scale and scope of climate-related life and health risks for Sun Life are relatively small at this point in time, although still a significant longer term concern we are monitoring. This speaks to the heart of the proposal that we filed, which is asking more disclosure on this very, very topic. We'd love to know what was behind this analysis that made you conclude that this is a small risk to you. What are the models? We know that the models are often underestimating climate impacts.
For example, last year, in Pakistan, if you had started at the beginning of the year, you would have said that the risks were quite small in terms of climate impacts. A third of the country was flooded. Millions of people were displaced. It was a perfect storm for malaria and for malnutrition for kids. We're gonna have more of these events increasingly over time, which are gonna have big shifts in mortality and morbidity. How is Sun Life factoring those events into its models and concluding this as a small risk?
This is also for your emerging markets where you're trying to build business, places like Indonesia, where they're literally moving their capital city because Jakarta is sinking into the water, right? The third thing we noticed in your disclosures was there was no real acknowledgement that Sun Life's investments in fossil fuels are actually having negative health impacts, whether that's directly through the burning of fossil fuels and the health impacts and it affects people's lungs and causes heart attacks and premature death or the indirect through climate change. Urgewald, which is a German NGO, put out a ranking of the global investors in fossil fuels just recently, and they found that Sun Life is the number one Canadian investor in coal, oil, and gas at $23 billion.
Your main competitor, Manulife, was on, also on that list, but at half the amount. This week, Manulife announced that it was developing a coal policy, which is something that we'd love to see Sun Life follow suit on. You do have a net-zero commitment, and we'd like to support you in that. As Kevin and I were talking before the meeting started, what we're missing is a lot of specificity in how you're going to get there. Without that specificity, we can't evaluate what you're actually doing and how you're addressing these issues. Maybe that's enough spicy meat. Go back to the bread just to wrap this up. You're not just another asset manager.
You know, you're grounded in people, and you yourself say clients are at the center of everything you do. We often talk to other asset managers, and it feels like they live in a bit of a cocoon where they're exempt from the laws of chemistry and physics. You're not like that. You're grounded in people. You're a values-driven company. Your purpose is to Help clients secure lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. I believe that you also believe that, you know, you can't have a healthy life without a healthy planet, and I think you're moving slowly to get there. We'd end by encouraging you to be bold and to move at the pace that the climate crisis demands.
We look forward to ongoing dialogue with you, and we hereby move this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Price. Are there any questions or comments from participants on the shareholder proposal?
Chair, there are no questions online about the proposal.
Shareholders attending virtually will now proceed to vote on the shareholder proposal using the online poll. The board respectfully, and thank you, Mr. Price, re-request that shareholders vote against this proposal for the reasons set out in the circular. Shareholders attending in person will now proceed to vote on the shareholder proposal using the yellow ballot. We will collect the ballots at the end of the Sun Life Financial business. If you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there's no need to do anything unless you would like to change your vote. Please vote now. The scrutineers will now collect the yellow ballots. Please ensure that you have printed and signed your name on the ballot and pass the ballot down to the end of your row. Thank you. We'll now proceed with the items of business for the annual meeting of Sun Life Assurance.
The audited annual financial statements of Sun Life Assurance were mailed to voting policyholders who requested them. Troy, are there any questions or comments from participants on the annual financial statements?
Chair, there were no questions or comments online on the annual financial statements.
Thank you, Troy. The next item of business is the election of directors of Sun Life Assurance. In accordance with the Insurance Companies Act, at least one-third of the directors must be elected by voting policyholders only. Five of the 12, Deepak Chopra, Stephanie Coyles, Marianne Harris, Marie-Lucie Morin, and Scott Powers, are proposed as nominees for election as the policyholder directors. Troy, would you please nominate the individuals proposed for election as the policyholder directors?
I am pleased to nominate Deepak Chopra, Stephanie Coyles, Marianne Harris, Marie-Lucie Morin, and Scott Powers to serve as policyholder directors of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada until the close of the next annual meeting.
The company did not receive advance notice of any other nominations of policyholders directors, and therefore I declare the nominations closed. Troy, are there any questions or comments from participants on the nomination?
Chair, there were no questions or comments online on the nominations.
Thank you. Policyholders attending virtually will now proceed to vote on the election of policyholder directors of Sun Life Assurance using the online poll. Shareholders attending In person will now proceed to vote on the election of directors of Sun Life Assurance using the pink ballot. I should say policyholders. We will collect the ballots at the end of Sun Life Assurance business. Again, if you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there's no need to do anything unless you'd like to change your vote. Please vote now. I now turn to the election of the shareholders directors by the sole shareholder of Sun Life Assurance being Sun Life Financial. Seven shareholders directors are proposed for election.
Sun Life Financial has, by written resolution, elected the following shareholders directors to serve until the close of the annual meeting to be held in 2024: Ashok Gupta, Laurie Hylton , David Ho, Helen Mallovy Hicks , Joseph Natale, Kevin Strain, and Barbara Stymest. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of our auditor. I'll ask Troy to make the appropriate motion.
I am pleased to move that Deloitte LLP be appointed the auditor of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada until the close of the next annual meeting.
Thank you, Troy. Are there any questions or comments from participants on the appointment of the auditor?
Chair, there were no questions or comments online on the appointment of the auditor.
Policyholders attending virtually will now proceed to vote on the appointment of the auditor of Sun Life Assurance, again using the online poll. Shareholders attending in person will now proceed to vote on the appointment of the auditor of Sun Life Assurance using the pink ballot. We will collect the ballots at the end of Sun Life Assurance business. If you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there is no need to do anything unless you'd like to change your vote. Please vote now. For those of you who have not voted on all the resolutions, please do so now as I will shortly close the poll. I'll close the poll on all resolutions in one minute to allow online viewers to catch up. It's amazing how long it takes for one minute to pass. The polls are now closed.
The scrutineers will now collect the pink ballots. Please ensure that you have printed and signed your name on your ballot. Please pass the ballot down to the end of your row. While we await the preliminary report of the scrutineers, Kevin will provide an update on Sun Life's business progress in 2022 and speak about the company's future and its priorities. Kevin, over to you.
Well, thanks, Scott. I wanted to start by thanking Matt for his thoughtful comments and offer further dialogue over the year to come, and I think further learning from each other. Thank you for the compliment sandwich, I think you called it. Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I wanna also say again, bonjour et bienvenue à tous. Bonjour tout le monde. Good afternoon, everybody. It's great to be here. We're pleased to hold our annual meeting both in person and virtually for the first time in 4 years. The last few years have challenged all of us. At the same time, many of us have surprised ourselves with resilience and ingenuity we summoned in the face of adversity.
I see resilience as interconnected with having a purpose that drives you forward and with having a strong mix of global businesses that deliver on our purpose to help clients achieve lifelong financial security and live healthier lives. To help paint a picture of our purpose in action, I would like to introduce you to Mason and his family and share their story.
She's there. Oh my goodness. It's mommy virtually. I'm just gonna freeze in time for a minute here because it's so overdue. I feel like I can't speak.
Know the weather will get colder. It can't always be spring. When I pushed you in a stroller, you were looking up.
I just remember sitting in that small doctor's office room. He handed us a piece of paper. There was the positive result that our son had Type I spinal muscular atrophy. It's typically a diagnosis that not even that many years ago there was nothing that could be done. They just tell you to go home and love your child because unfortunately all we can do is make them comfortable for the time that you do have. These children are never expected to sit up. They're not expected to reach their second birthday. That was kind of what we were prepared for. We were told that there was treatment. We were also told that this has been the reality.
It's this pure excitement, but at the same time almost crippling fear because it exists, but if we can't get it, if we don't have access, then does it really matter that that's out there? There's just so much uncertainty.
It was a Friday afternoon, I was called into a meeting with a few seniors at Sun Life. This was a highly escalated case. It was clear to me that this was not an eligible benefit based on Lindsay's current plan design. The difficult part was it's for a child, a brand new newborn child, right? You wanna do anything possible for a baby. This is what happens. I get emotional. Yeah, I just kind of put myself in her shoes.
Within the disease of SMA, you hear the kind of the phrase, "Time is neurons." The longer it took for us to get access to treatment for Mason, the more time the disease can progress. Typically, the life expectancy of somebody who has symptoms that early on is six to eight months.
This was not a one-person effort. This was teams of people. Like, there was multiple people working on this. My first call with Lindsay happened on a Friday, and a resolution on this, I think it was done on a Tuesday. There was lots of evening calls just to make sure that everybody was kind of expediting the approvals at a rapid pace. Once we had a look at this new information that had been sent to us, we were actually now thinking, "Okay, we're gonna be able to change the outcome of our original decision." As soon as I found out that, you know, it was a green light, we were gonna be good to pay this, I called Lindsay right away.
I just remember being so impressed that you are human. Just the kindness and support we felt is... I've never experienced anything like it. I think the best way I can put it is that we don't know what the future holds for Mason, but we know he holds a future. Without this, we would have said goodbye to our son by now. We can say now he can sit unassisted for a few seconds at a time. He has a wheelchair that he can self-propel. He's saying words now. The possibilities are endless of what he can achieve. Thank you isn't enough. I would start with thank you. What you do matters, and that's what I really want to stress because some days, you know, you go home, and did I make a difference in someone's life today?
You made a difference in ours. Thank you for what you do. Good job.
Thank you. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I am pleased to say that Mason is doing well. Sometimes to be able to speak after that, I have to not watch the video too closely. As a parent myself, so much of what Lindsay, Mason's mom, said resonated with me, but two things stand out for me as a Sun Lifer. She said, "What you do makes a difference, and you are human." These seem like simple statements, but they're at the heart of what we do and what makes Sun Life so special. We're a company of people serving people, seeking to deliver on our purpose and make a difference in the lives of our 85 million clients around the world. We're increasingly having a positive impact on our clients' lives by elevating our focus on health and access to healthcare solutions and coverage.
In the U.S., DentaQuest continues to expand its dental business, advancing our goal to increase access to oral health care in underserved communities. One example that brings our purpose to life is our partnership with America's ToothFairy Program. Sun Life and DentaQuest are shining light on dental care disparity and providing resources to increase awareness of oral health and healthy lifestyles for children and parents because oral health is critical to overall health. Through this program alone, we've helped make an impact for more than 92,000 children and their caregivers. We also wanna be part of the solution when it comes to mental health. Already a concerning health crisis, it is only being exasperated by the pandemic and current economic conditions. In Canada, we're increasing access to mental health programs and services, including our unique mental health coach solution.
We've also invested more than CAD 5 million to support youth mental health programs, helping young people connect with the care they need. When it comes to helping build lifetime financial security, we're here for our clients throughout their lives, helping them build and protect their financial futures. We wanna be there for you, whether you're just entering the workforce and thinking about your financial future or part of the growing middle class in Asia wanting to protect your family or preparing for retirement and worried about outliving your life savings. In Asia, more than 1 billion people are set to join the middle class by 2030. We're building quality distribution channels to make Sun Life products and solutions more accessible.
Through our more than 20 bank insurance partnerships across Asia, we are increasing our scale and reach, including recent agreements with CIMB Niaga in Indonesia and Dah Sing Bank in Hong Kong. Strong bank insurance distribution coupled with high-quality advisors provides a critical platform for creating more clients impact in Asia. At the same time, we've grown our agency force to more than 95,000 advisors in this region. We're also creating products that provide more choice and appeal to different needs. In Malaysia and Canada, we introduced new Sharia-based products, and in Hong Kong, we launched Stellar, the first ESG-focused savings plan in Hong Kong. It's one thing to diversify our products and services to meet the needs of our clients and advisors. It's another to make it easy to do business with us.
Whether that's by phone, online, in an app, or in person with an advisor, clients can reach us when, where, and how they want. The pandemic accelerated our path to digital, providing convenience and ease of access. Last year in Asia and Canada, the vast majority of applications were submitted digitally. Similarly, in the U.S., most of our dental claims are now submitted electronically. Nudges from our digital coach, Ella, drove CAD 1.4 billion in insurance coverage and almost CAD 700 million in wealth deposits for Canadians last year. In the U.S., we launched Sun Life Onboard, a new digital way for employees and brokers to simplify their benefits setup. Digital innovation gives us data and insight. It helps identify market opportunities and builds deeper and more personalized relationships with clients. We're also embracing our responsibility to create a more sustainable and brighter future.
Sustainability is a shared goal. It's why we believe in engaging everyone. We all have a role to play, whether as an organization, government, NGO, or individual. Our efforts focus on where we have the greatest impact: increasing financial security, fostering healthier lives, and advancing sustainable investing. We're also focused on climate change. Climate change is real. We all need to do our part, we also need to recognize that the transition to a low-carbon economy needs to be orderly and responsible. We're doing our part as a company and as an investor. As a company, we've committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and as an investor, we recently published our interim net zero climate targets. Since 2021, we've made more than CAD 14.2 billion in new sustainable investments.
This brings our total value of sustainable investments that support the transition to a low carbon, more inclusive economy to CAD 80.4 billion as of December 2022. This work continues. In Q1, SLC Management, one of our asset management companies, made an investment in two new vessels, two new vessel builds that will support long-term operation and maintenance of two offshore wind farms in the UK, which supply more power to 2 million UK households annually. This provides a sustainable long-term investment and an attractive yield while generating positive environmental impact. You can read about our plans and progress in our sustainability and net zero by 2050 reports available at sunlife.com. The last few years have been challenging, and our business has proven resilient. Our diversified business strategy enables Sun Life to remain in a position of strength.
That includes delivering solid financial performance for our shareholders. Sun Life reported Net Income for 2022 of CAD 3.06 billion, and underlying Net Income was CAD 3.67 billion, up by 4% over the previous year. We saw strong growth in our health and protection businesses, reinforcing the important clients continue to place on health and financial security. Our asset managements businesses remain strong. Like all financial institutions, they were affected by declines in global equity markets. We remain confident in our ability to perform and grow in these areas. Tonight, we're announcing our Q1 2023 results. Details will be available on our website. This is the Q1 reporting under the newly adopted International Financial Reporting Standards, known as IFRS 17 and IFRS 9.
This was one of the biggest projects in Sun Life's history. I'd like to thank all the Sun Lifers for their efforts and commitment to make this a seamless transition. While IFRS 17 and 9 are accounting and reporting changes, it does not change the fundamentals of our business. We have strong capital positions underpinned by our balanced and diversified business mix. This, combined with our established leadership team and approach to prudent risk management, are key strengths that will help us confidently navigate challenging economic environments. It's clear to me our caring people and purpose-driven culture differentiates us, guiding us, who we are, and what we do. Sun Life has been certified as a great place to work in many markets around the world. We were named in The Globe and Mail's 2023 Report on Business Women Lead Here list.
This is the fourth year Sun Life was recognized for its commitment to achieving gender parity at VP plus roles and helping women thrive in corporate Canada. Sun Life U.S. was also recognized among America's Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes Magazine. We're also expanding our commitment to indigenous communities in Canada and are working towards Progressive Aboriginal Relations or PAR certification. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our shareholders, our clients, our colleagues, and our communities. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is directly aligned with our purpose, business strategy, and ultimately company success. In closing, while we can't predict the year ahead, what we know is the macroeconomic environment impacting our clients' financial security and health. One thing that's as certain, Sun Life will continue to be there to help navigate these times.
We're staying true to our purpose, the company's reason for being. We're reshaping our future with digital leadership, sustainability, and access to care, driving our actions to a better experience. I'll close with some thanks. Thank you to our shareholders and policyholders for your ongoing trust and support. Thank you to our Board for the role they play in helping guide our journey. Thank you to our clients for trusting us with your financial security and health needs. Nothing is more important than that. Finally, thank you to the Sun Life team for bringing your best to work each day and delivering excellence to our clients and our partners. Together, we can create a more sustainable and healthier world.
Everything Sun Life does, every innovative tool, service, and solution we create starts with our belief in a better future and the knowledge that optimism isn't idealistic, it's realistic. I'll leave you with an inspiring story that shows our purpose, how our purpose helped a family who immigrated to Canada, helped them build their financial future and financial security. Part of that bright future brought their son, Luke, back to his roots in Asia to lead Sun Life's business in Vietnam.
Sun Life had a huge impact in our life when we first arrived in Canada. Hi, my name is Luke. This is my Sun Life story. Our family came from Vietnam. We didn't have much. My parents had to work really hard, sometimes not just one job, but two jobs each just to make sure that we had enough financially. She knew that if something happens to either my dad or herself, they wouldn't be able to support us financially. The first policy that we had was from Sun Life. It had a huge impact in our life. In Vietnam, you know, you're always part of a big family. When you are part of a big family, that is your life insurance, right? If something happens to you, your family will be there to support you.
Once we got to Canada, when it's just my parents and my brother and sister, so it's a very, very small family. We were on our own. That's when you start thinking, "Oh, I need a life insurance policy." That's the role of Sun Life, to play kind of like your family. My parents probably didn't know much which life insurance company was the best, but because we arrived in Montreal, and as you know, the head office of Sun Life used to be in Montreal, which is one of the best building in Canada. I think it had a lot of impact. There's a sense of trust towards the brand of Sun Life, and I think the role of the advisor was a Vietnamese advisor.
He knew that there was a lot of Vietnamese arriving in Canada during those years. He really got connected with every Vietnamese in that community to explain about the importance of life insurance. Having an advisor that is Vietnamese was able to bring in a whole different segment of the market. I think for me, that is what diversity is, and it really started with Sun Life 40 years ago, having advisors from different background, and they were able to connect with their own community and bringing everyone under the umbrella of Sun Life. It's funny, I think Sun Life has such a big influence in my life. I think growing up in Montreal, that head office of Sun Life was iconic and still is iconic. I remember doing my first actuarial exams in that building.
As a student, you know. I always said to myself, "You know, one of these days, I would love to work for this company." Sun Life has been there for me at key moments in my life, and so I'm really, really happy that now I'm able to be with Sun Life in Vietnam. For me, being a Vietnamese Canadian, I thought it was the best combination of bringing that understanding of the Canadian culture into Vietnam, mixing the two culture that I have in me, and then creating something that hopefully will be very beautiful for Sun Life in Vietnam.
Thank you. That was a great story. The scrutineers have completed their preliminary tabulation of the votes cast in respect of each of the items of business on the agenda. I will now ask Troy to speak to the preliminary voting results. Troy, over to you.
Thank you, Scott. For Sun Life Financial, the scrutineers have reported that over 55.1% of eligible shares have been voted at this meeting. I'm pleased to report that all 12 director nominees named in the circular have been elected, with votes ranging from 99.8%-97.8% in favor. Deloitte LLP was reappointed as our auditor with over 88% of the votes in favor. The advisory resolution on the approach to executive compensation was passed with over 95% of the votes in favor. The shareholder proposal was rejected with only 13.7% of the votes in favor. For Sun Life Assurance, the scrutineers have reported that over 13% of eligible votes have been cast at this meeting.
I'm pleased to report that all five policyholder director nominees named in the circular have been elected with over 91% of the votes in favor, and all seven of the shareholder directors have been elected. Deloitte LLP was reappointed as their auditor with over 99% of the votes in favor.
That concludes the formal business portion of our meetings for the year. We're now pleased to entertain questions from registered shareholders, voting policyholders, and duly appointed proxy holders. I'd like to remind you that questions should be of interest to all shareholders and not of a personal nature. If your question is related to a personal nature, a Sun Life representative will contact you after the meeting. If you're attending in person and you have a question, please go to one of the microphones situated around the room, give your name, and state whether you are a shareholder, a policyholder, or a proxy holder, and please direct all your questions to me as chair of the meeting. You'll have up to three minutes to state your comment or question, and I ask that you ask only one question each time you're recognized.
Additional questions may be recognized once we have heard from others who are waiting to speak. Virtual attendees can submit questions via the webcast. Click on the messaging icon on the platform and following the instructions. I'd now like to welcome Kevin back to the stage. He never left. I'll let Troy kind of manage the flow of questions. Are there any questions, Troy, from online?
Not.
Mr. Sambrook.
Thank you very much. My name is Richard Sambrook.
Sambrook.
I have two cards. I am a policyholder since 1988 and a shareholder since demutualization. I've been to quite a few of these annual meetings. It's great to be back, four years. Geez, everybody looks younger and happier than I remember. I'm not making a joke. I did promise my son, one of my beneficiaries, that I would be brief today. I do have a question as a shareholder, and I have a separate one as a policyholder, so I'll wait for that. The first is actually about IFRS. I did have a comment before about the financial performance of the company this year. In my career, I've been a chartered accountant and a CFA chartered financial analyst. I've seen a lot of the markets over time.
As an investor, you start to be able to anticipate sort of what kind of year a company will have based on what happens with the economy. I was expecting a terrible decrease in Net Income for Sun Life because 2022 was such an unusual year. Basically, all the equity markets on average were down 20%. The primary focus of your business or the return is really as an asset manager and administrator. What was so unusual, it's not that it was 20%, but all of us that know asset allocation, you know, have been conditioned that, "Oh, well, if you're concerned about volatility, you balance it with equities and Fixed Income." In most of my career, I've never. In fact, I can't remember a year where both Fixed Income and equities were down 20%.
If your business is getting a fee on asset management and administration so the fact that the company as a team, as a whole, actually produced a positive Net Income really an incredible achievement. Usually, we applaud people when things go well, you know, when there's a tailwind behind you. It's in the tough years that everybody works twice as hard. Anyway, that was it. IFRS, what a shock. IFRS 17 and 4 and 9 and the other things that were there. We had all heard about it previously that it was coming, it was going to be a prospective change. I got excited. I got my CPA magazine, and I saw the front cover of our relatively recent CFO. I don't believe Kevin ever got that status.
It was, it's quite flashy. I think it was the socks that really tilted it over. My compliments to his team. I was shocked when I first got the annual report and the management information circular. First thing that struck out was that audit fees went up 50%. What? You know, I'm sitting there going, "Oh, this is quite exciting. There must be more detail than that." I find out that equity, shareholder equity is gonna go down four and a half billion dollars and a huge amount from participating shareholders. Credit to the team. By the time I got to page... I think I finally understood what was going on when I got to page 141 of the report your team prepared, and I thank you for it.
I think what's really happened is that they changed the policy and moved it towards sort of a percentage of completion approach, like sort of matching years over a stream of payments, unless, of course, it lapses or there's a claim. They kind of like the matching principle more than the details of the contract itself, which really immunizes the company. That we've created a new thing called contractual service margin, which is, I don't know, not a great name. I think in the annual report, it was referred to as unearned profits. I consider it deferred income of some kind. At some point, I'm sure it'll be a tailwind as opposed to a headwind. I may not be around till that occurs. Anyway, that's where I started.
I finally think I understand. I want to thank the disclosure. It took me 141 pages till I finally got to the part where I understand what the allocation is and what it means going forward. Yes, it'll impact income. Where I started was the audit fee. It was up 50%. When I looked at it was originally sort of this was perspective. When I read the report, I realized, no, they wanted it retroactive in terms of the work and what had gone on. The auditors and the teams and the actuaries had to come up with a whole history to get opening balances to go forward. I'm assuming that will not repeat again.
There's nothing said in the report, but I assume our audit fees, I'll ask, or, you know, if you've talked with the auditor, that we will not have such a huge amount next year. It's somebody from the audience that should give the auditors a bit of a shake.
Yeah. Is that?
That's it. That's my question.
Okay. Okay. Thanks for that.
Is how about audit fees for next year?
Thanks for your question. You're absolutely right that the increase in audit fees from Deloitte last year was related to the IFRS 17. As you may have heard me say, and we talked earlier, IFRS 17, IFRS 9 were the largest projects we've ever done as a company, and it meant a ton of extra work for our people. Manjit and his team, Kevin Morrissey and Tom Murphy, the risk and actuarial and finance teams, IT teams also, Laura's team, did an incredible job on that project. We weren't the only ones with extra work. We had to have those numbers audited and extra audit work. I can assure you that Manjit does more than just take a good picture.
He negotiates those fees with zest and that we leave it that in his good hands to make sure that we don't get charged for IFRS 17 twice.
An observation. We were not immune to the fluctuation in both the equity and the Fixed Income markets. Over time, particularly in our Fixed Income holdings, we had over multiple years been executing an up in quality strategy that gave us some protection. Then you'll note that we've diversified the business. Kevin talked about the resilience of the business and the different business lines we have. We've diversified our business over the years into group benefits, both here in Canada and the United States, and with seven Asian markets, somewhat uncorrelated to the local markets. I think that led to some of the resilient business performance that you noted. Thank you for noting that.
Yeah.
Thank you for your questions. Question number two.
Yeah. Question number two. Participating policyholder. Sorry, mouth is getting dry. Better keep it short. I'll tell you the question, and I'd like to make a comment based on the materials that I've seen and seeing that we have an alumni CEO here. The question for participating policyholders, ever since demutualization, as I said, I was around since... for a long time, is that Sun Life Financial determines the expenses for the folks on the participating side. At one time, it was fine. The Board had an alignment of interest with us.
Somehow it's a little bit different, as much as everybody tries to do the right thing, but I'm just asking the question about whether there were expenses from the IFRS stuff or any others that are expected to change in affecting participating policyholders. I did have a comment.
Yeah.
that I did wanna make.
Okay. Maybe I'll answer your question first, Richard.
Sure.
IFRS 17, part of it would've been picked up by the par policyholders, but, because it's a major accounting change, also impacted how we account for the par policyholders. There is no impact on the dividend of the par policyholders. If you think about this was an accounting change and not an economic change, and there'd be no impact on the dividends going forward.
Yeah, we saw the equity portion for participating policyholders.
There's some changes in sort of there's a CSM, there's a contractual service margin for par as well. There's some changes, but that should not change the dividend.
Thank you. Before I make a comment, can I just drink a water?
Oh.
This is really good. Sorry, I'll try to honor my son's wish and keep this short. I'm gonna pass. 1988, just 'cause I keep referring to that, I can tell you what an annual meeting looked like back then. Very similar, large room. Of course, we just talked about how the company did and everybody shared that experience. Thank you very much. In the 90s, Sun Life showed its innovation and its evolution. It was known in the papers for its responsiveness because it did something very radical, which was noticed across the industry. They appointed a woman to the Board of Directors.
You can imagine how shocking that was at that time. I bring this up because of the evolution over that time. Now I see Dean Connor is here. I've drilled questions to him at many times. For years, I've asked, "Oh, what is the dividend rate, for example, on participating policyholders?" 'Cause it was never in our statement or in the information circular. Sure enough, this year I got my statement. I did the link to dividends, Sun Life dividends, and there's a whole history. I'm earning 6.5% on the par account. Congratulations to the investment team in such a year. I appreciate smoothing, the stability is really terrific. Also, about 10 years ago, I asked Dean, I had mentioned seeing the video.
It commented how everybody knew that Sun Life's agency force was the most diverse in the industry by far. I asked, "What, what was it like in head office and administration?" When I see the annual report, and we see the changes in the Board of Directors and in what happens with women and minorities and diversity, the diversity, equity, and inclusion aspect, the evolution in that 10-year period has been remarkable, and obviously, it's been a whole team thing. Clearly, the Board is reflective of that. It's just... I just wanted to highlight the contrast and say how impressive it was over that period of time. My son's probably phoning me to sit down.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. I think we have one question from online, Troy.
We do. We have a question for Kevin about the remarks in his remarks about what was meant by the introduction of Sharia-based products in Canada.
Sharia-based products are technical products that follow the Islamic law. We have a Islamic Sharia-based product we introduced through our advisor network. Great. Are there any other questions that anyone would like to address? Any shareholder, policyholder, or proxy holder would like to address to the meeting? Absent that, thank you all for your questions. Thank you to everyone once again for joining our annual meeting. We are thankful for the ability and the opportunity and the flexibility to hold this meeting in person and engage with our shareholders and voting policyholders virtually as well this year. Please stay healthy and safe. On behalf of Sun Life's Board of Directors, thank you for your continued trust and confidence in Sun Life, and enjoy the rest of your evening. We look forward to seeing you next year.