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Natural gas market volatility puts Canada and Europe on a very different footing  

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had a significant effect on natural gas markets worldwide. In response to the West’s sanctions, Putin weaponized energy, disrupting the flow of natural gas and causing volatility, but prices have since stabilized as the market ascribed a low probability to a flow disruption. 

Portfolio managers, Sara Shahram and David Mann provide perspectives on how both Canada and Europe were impacted by the headwind of skyrocketing natural gas prices and rapid inflation.

Fast & Full eBundle Bonus is extended until December 31, 2022!

Until December 31, 2022, you can keep earning 15% or 20% more FYC¹ by submitting new life and health insurance applications using the Fast & Full Life App when clients select and complete the Electronic Health Questionnaire (eHQ) and choose and receive eContract Delivery as compared to submitting paper applications and receiving a paper contract.

Underwriting: Adverse Decisions

One of our top new business reissue reasons is coverage or plan change due to adverse decisions. To provide advisors adequate time to review these cases with their clients prior to issue, we will now hold rated files in Underwriting until confirmation is received to proceed to issue.  If no response is received within 10 business days, the file will be not proceeded with and closed.  

Effective Tuesday, October 11th, 2022, when you receive an email from Underwriting to advise of an adverse decision, please ensure you review and discuss with your client immediately and advise how to proceed to avoid the policy being closed. Please ensure you reply directly to the original email from Underwriting to avoid any delays.  

Our Customer Service team will continue to assist you with any questions you may have.

Now available on demand:

Women, Finances, and Estate Planning Webinar 

This webinar focused on providing effective service to a female client, with tips and strategies designed to equip advisors with the necessary tools.

This session looks at:

• Why every financial advisor should be prospecting for and strengthening these relationships
• Common pain points and potential concerns
• How the proactive advisor can turn common gaps in service into practice growth opportunities
• A case study incorporating insurance-based solutions within an estate plan.

Watch the recording of this presentation and the Q & A session with a finance professional experienced in working with female clients.

CE credit offer available until December 31, 2022.
A quiz will appear after the webinar has been viewed. 

This webinar is also available in French

Best Practices

Compliance Templates

We are happy to announce that we have enhanced the Letter of Engagement and Privacy Statement and Consent templates. The templates are now available on the compliance section of the Empire Life website. 

Letter of Engagement template

Privacy Statement and Consent template

 New Business and Policy Change (Excluding Underwriting) Email Update

In order to streamline our email process, we will now have emails sent directly to our processing team. This will allow us to bypass our Customer Service team and decrease our overall handling time.

Effective September 1st, 2022, when you receive an email from our Insurance operations, it will be sent from ind_newbusiness@empire.ca. All replies to ind_newbusiness@empire.ca will be directly received by our Insurance Operations, who is processing the new business application or policy change.

Our Customer Service team will continue to assist on any new requests and/or status updates.

Please join us for our next TRIIPSS Webinar:
Creditor Protection, Insurance Products and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

Life insurance and life insurance products are often used to provide for family members in the event of a death. However, have you considered what happens in situations where an estate does not have sufficient resources to pay its tax liability and there are named individuals as beneficiaries of a life insurance or segregated fund policy?

This webinar will focus on creditor protection for life insurance/insurance products and how an estate’s tax liability can impact that protection.

Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. ET

This webinar is also available in French on Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. ET

Upcoming mailing to RRSP customers who are Age 71

In mid-October you will receive copies of letters being mailed to all of your customers who hold an RRSP/LIRA and will reach Age 71 by the end of this year. These customers must collapse their registered savings plans by the end of 2022. The letters explain what options are available to them and also indicate that their contract default will be applied if we have not received instructions by December 7^th, 2022. 

Incorporating Inflation into Financial Planning
Improving success in life and finances

In our new blog post, we explain how a properly structured financial plan that considers debt, cash flow and insurance can help provide investors direction, options, predictability and peace of mind in the face of inflation. This blog post will help clients understand the impact of inflation on their ability to reach their goals over time. Feel free to share this with your clients.