Sun Life Financial Proposes Private Sector Pension Reform

    TORONTO, July 7 /CNW/ - Canada needs to close the gap in pension
coverage, and the private sector has the tools to do it, remarked Dean Connor,
President, Sun Life Financial Canada. Connor was speaking today at a meeting
at the Vancouver Board of Trade.
    Connor noted that "The main pension gap is with a subset of Canadians who
are not in a pension plan or are not saving enough on their own. This group is
estimated to be three to five million Canadians, which is about one-in-five
workers." He said, "We need to close the coverage gap and we need to find ways
to deliver not lump sums, but lifetime income at retirement."
    He explained that Canada needs to simplify regulation which will
ultimately reduce the cost of operating pension plans and free up more money
for pensions. And we have to find a way to make pensions affordable for
employers and their workers. To do so, we need cost-effective solutions that
involve Federal and Provincial Government participation and we need to take
the time to get it right.
    Connor added, "Our approach requires simple changes to pension law and
leverages the scale, expertise and prudence of Canada's insurance industry.
Creating a new layer of government-sponsored pension agencies is neither
required nor desirable." Connor proposed three changes Sun Life believes will
help bridge the gap in pension coverage:-   Multi-employer plans - allowing non-affiliated employers and the
        self-employed to aggregate into a single plan and benefit from
        economies of scale
    -   Auto-enrollment - of employees with the ability to opt-out
    -   Introduction of a high annual contribution limit, governed by an
        overall lifetime allowance, for Defined Contribution plans"Taken together," Connor added, "these proposed changes would make great
strides in closing the coverage gap."
    Connor applauded the BC government's leadership on the issue of pension
reform. He noted that collaboration between the private sector and governments
can work to solving Canada's pension problem by enhancing the private pension
plan system in BC and across Canada, while giving Canadians the tools they
need to make informed financial decisions for a better future.
    A copy of Connor's remarks is available on
www.sunlife.com/PensionReformPresentation

    About Sun Life Financial

    Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services
organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation
products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in
1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets
worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of
March 31, 2009, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets
under management of $375 billion. For more information please visit
www.sunlife.com.
    Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and
Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol SLF.

    Note to Editors: All figures in Canadian dollars.