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Retail Advisor COVID-19 FAQ
Empire Life has instituted a number of process changes to help ensure that we can continue to do business and that you can continue to serve your clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please find answers to the most frequently asked questions here and check back regularly for updates.
March 18, 2020: Letter from our President and CEO Mark Sylvia
If you have clients who are concerned about our strength, capitalization, our ability to serve our customers and our investment management strategy in response to COVID-19, please share this comfort letter from our President and CEO Mark Sylvia.
Consumer Updates
We will continue to post any changes and updates to our current situation for consumers on our website at empire.ca/updates.
May 20, 2021: Great News! Empire No-fluids underwriting for new life insurance coverages up to $2 million
Empire Life has changed our standard underwriting requirements for life insurance coverage amounts up to $2,000,000 on life insureds age 18-50 so that they no longer include medical tests in most cases. Customers have the choice of applying for Preferred/Elite rates by providing fluid tests, or they can choose the convenience of applying without fluid tests for Standard rates between $1,000,001 and $2,000,000.
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NEW VIDEO: How to use the Fast & Full Life App for NFTF meetings
This new instructional video will show you how you can use the integrated co-browser in the Fast & Full Life App to complete an application, including how to use it in a non-face-to-face meeting with a client.
October 15, 2020: COVID-19 Screening Application now part of Life and Health Insurance Application
To make it more convenient to submit paper life and health insurance applications, the mandatory COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Exposure Questionnaire has now been integrated into our form D-0082 Life and Health Insurance Application. You can find the updated application on our forms page under the "Printable applications" tab.
September 9, 2020: Life Insurance New Business Update and Tips to speed up time to issue
Thank you for helping to make our Summer eBundle Bonus on the Fast & Full® Life App a huge success with an all time record of applications submitted in both July and August! We have been working hard to resolve delays while continuing to prioritize the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers and business partners. To help clear pending business even faster, we began hiring additional staff on August 31.
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June 26, 2020: Resuming In-Home Paramedical Exams
We are pleased to announce that beginning July 1, 2020, Dynacare and ExamOne will resume in-home paramedical collection services in most regions across the country, with the exception of areas still considered COVID-19 hotspots by health authorities.
We have compiled a list of these areas. As the situation changes rapidly, please check the list regularly.
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June 10, 2020: Enhanced Life and Health Application with Increased Non-Face-to-Face coverage limits
To help ensure you can continue to serve your clients and meet their insurance needs during this unprecedented time, we have updated our Life and Health Insurance Application (D-0082) so that it can now be used for non-face-to-face (NFTF) sales in addition to in-person sales.
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June 3, 2020: Managing service levels during COVID-19 and
how you can help
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way our industry does business. Over the past three months, we have changed many of our policies and procedures to help ensure you can continue to serve your clients and meet their insurance needs.
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May 11, 2020: No Fluid/Non-Medical Limit increase to $250,000 for Individual Critical Illness Products
Effective May 11, 2020, Empire Life will be raising the limit for No Fluid/Non-Medical underwriting for our critical illness insurance as follows:
- Ages 18 to 40 up to $250,000
- Ages 41 to 50 up to $99,999
- Ages 51+ - standard UW requirements apply (e.g. PHI & Vitals, BP)
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April 17, 2020: Earn up to 15% more FYC with eHQ and ePolicy delivery
Until June 30, 2020 you can earn up to 15% more FYC when you submit Life and Health applications electronically using the award winning Fast & Full Life App. You’ll still earn 10% more FYC just for using Fast & Full and now you can earn an additional 5 % more if you select both the Electronic Health Questionnaire (eHQ) and the ePolicy Delivery options when completing your application.
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April 9, 2020: Maximum TIA increase to $1 Million & new COVID-19 UW Questions
Effective April 9, 2020, Empire Life has increased the maximum coverage provided in our Temporary Insurance Agreement (TIA) from $500,000 to $1,000,000. We have also added 7 additional UW questions for applicants of life and health insurance applications to complete during the pandemic.
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March 31, 2020: No Fluid/Non-Medical Limit increase to $1 Million
Effective March 31st, Empire Life will be adjusting the No Fluid and Non-Medical Limits as follows.Life: extend non-med limit guidelines for non-preferred risk classes:
ages 18 to 50 up to $1,000,000; ages 51 to 60 up to $300,000; ages 61 and up issue within the non-med limits.
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March 20, 2020: NEW Non-Face-to-Face options for Life Insurance
We want to inform you of new process enhancements, for both the Fast & Full® Life App and conversions using the paper form, so you can continue to help clients get life insurance products that meet their needs where they may want to minimize face-to-face interactions or in person meetings.
October 14, 2020:
From the Desk of the CIO:
How the U.S. General Election May Affect the Stock Market
In this issue of From the Desk of the CIO, Ian Hardacre takes a historical look at the equity markets under previous U.S. presidents. He also shares his views on the short-term impact the current election may have on policy, laws, regulations and foreign relations.
September 25, 2020:
COVID-19 and the K-shaped recovery
In this Off the Cuff video, David Mann discusses how COVID-19 may be resulting in a K-shaped recovery which is exposing relative strengths and weaknesses in operating models.
September 10, 2020:
From the Desk of the CIO:
What's (G)old is New(s) Again
In this issue of From the Desk of the CIO, Ian Hardacre takes a look at the price fluctuations of gold year to date. Ian also discusses why gold mining companies might provide diversification benefits to the overall portfolio in the current pandemic environment.
September 2, 2020: Earn up to an extra 15% commission with
Empire Life GIF
Until December 31, 2020, earn an extra 10% commission for paper or an extra 15% for digital deposits with Empire Life Guaranteed Investment Funds.
This includes GIF applications using the Fast & Full Investment App, Fundserv deposits via Wire Order, additional GIF deposits processed through the Empire Life My Advisor Dashboard, Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD), paper applications and deposits.
Empire Life GIF digital deposits will earn an additional extra 5% commission bonus.
August 19, 2020 - Leveraging market opportunities
Greg Chan discusses how our disciplined investment approach allowed us to take advantage of a short term market dislocation in this Off the Cuff video.
July 29, 2020 - From the Desk of the CIO: Staying disciplined as speculation heats up
Ian Hardacre shares his views on the current equity markets. Ian also discusses the importance of active management and how a good asset allocation practice can improve a portfolio’s risk-return profile.
May 29, 2020: Off the cuff with Sara Shahram: The relationship between COVID-19 and gold
Sara Shahram discusses the relationship between COVID-19 and gold in this Off the Cuff video.
May 22, 2020: Investment Team COVID-19 Update
The investment team at Empire would like to provide an update on how we are navigating headwinds related to COVID-19, including our views on equity and corporate bond markets. While we remain constructive on equity and corporate bond markets longer term, we are increasingly cautious short term considering the recent strong rally in the markets.
April 23, 2020: Positioning Empire Life Dividend Growth Fund during COVID-19 and beyond
Find out how Doug Cooper is positioning the Empire Life Dividend Growth Fund during
COVID-19 in this Off the Cuff video.
April 17, 2020: Portfolio Update – Empire Life’s Dividend Growth Fund
Over the past nine months we have made meaningful progress opportunistically acquiring high quality companies with more predictable and attractive medium term growth prospects. While COVID-19 introduces considerable uncertainty in the short term, taking a longer term view we are seeing this as an opportunity to further high grade the portfolio.
April 14, 2020: The effect of COVID-19 on the corporate bond market
Albert Ngo discusses how the COVID-19 situation has impacted the corporate bond market in this Off the Cuff video.
Empire Life is launching the Early Redemption Charge Credit Program to support clients who wish to transfer funds to an eligible Empire Life product but have outstanding eligible early redemption charges at their current financial institutions.
March 30, 2020: Replay for Latest CIO Call with Ian Hardacre
Missed our CIO Conference Call "Market update: Navigating markets in uncertain times" on March 27, 2020 or would you like to listen again?
The replay is now available.
The Fast & Full Life Investment App has been designed to enable Non-Face-to-Face sales with features like integrated screen sharing, automated T2033 transfer, same day deposits with one-time pre-authorized debit (PAD) option* and e-signatures.
Ashley Misquitta discusses how the investment team continues to manage investments in these uncertain times and where they are finding opportunities in this Off the Cuff video.
WEBINAR: Succeeding in a Digital and Non-Face-to-Face World
Watch Peter Wouters as he discusses strategies on how to succeed in a non-face-to-face environment as an advisor. This session will review the evolving expectations of consumers in dealing with finances and financial advisors in an environment of mandatory physical distancing.
Life Insurance Underwriting Requirements
Envision Software
Version 11.7
