Consumer Duty

FAQs: target market and fair value information

• When should I refer to your product information?

  This information is designed to help you understand whether our products are a good fit to help your clients pursue their financial objectives. You should refer to this information before recommending our products to your clients.

• How regularly will your product information be updated?

  We review all our documents on a regular basis. The latest version will always be available on our website.

• Can I share this information with clients?

  Our product information documents are for adviser use only; however, we do have client facing brochures and information available on our website for you to share.

• What’s the difference between product eligibility criteria and identified target markets?

  Eligibility criteria are set requirements which apply in all cases. Our target market information gives an indication of who we’ve designed the product for and which characteristics they’re likely to have. There may be instances when the customer isn’t an exact match, but may still be appropriate in certain cases, such as when a product is one element of a wider customer portfolio.

• What should I do if I want to recommend a product to my client, but they don’t match your target market description?

  We understand that everyone’s circumstances are unique, so there may be times where the customer isn’t an exact match to the target market criteria. If your client meets our eligibility criteria, then you can still consider our product for them. You can also share feedback with us if you’d like us to consider an update to our product information.

• How will the introduction of Consumer Duty positively impact Canada Life’s relationship with intermediaries?

  We’ll continue to work together with intermediaries to ensure greater transparency and oversight across the distribution chain and to deliver good customer outcomes. We’ll also gather more customer and intermediary feedback on an ongoing basis to help us assess our products and services with greater clarity and insight. 

• How do you assess fair value?

  We assess fair value through four key areas and monitor a range of metrics to ensure that products continue to provide fair value to customers.

  We perform assessments on a regular basis and the outcomes are reported to the Canada Life Board annually.

  Fair features

  • We collect an understanding of customer need through (potential and existing) customer research and feedback
  • We benchmark the range and quality of our product features to competitors using publicly available information and industry-wide tools
  • We review how our features work for different customer segments including vulnerable customers.
    
    

  Fair services

  • We collect an understanding of customer need through (potential and existing) customer research and feedback.
  • We ensure the range, quality and delivery of services meet customer needs and expectations by setting and monitoring service levels.
  • We obtain regular customer feedback to ensure service delivery is strong.
    
    

  Fair price

  • We ensure that expected levels of profitability are in proportion with the costs and risks we bear and are not excessive.
  • We benchmark our pricing against other products available to the target market.
  • Our benchmarking includes an assessment of how well the underlying market functions.
  • We regularly review the pricing of terms and customer options to ensure these provide fair value.
    
    

  Fair distribution

  • Adviser remuneration and product charges are clearly disclosed to distributors and customers.
  • We set remuneration levels to be in proportion with value provided by distributors.
  • We monitor levels of remuneration to distributors to help ensure fair customer outcomes.
  • Any pricing differences available through different distribution routes are monitored and assessed to ensure we are providing fair value to all customers.

• When will you make target market and fair value information available for other products?

  Product information for all remaining products which are in scope, including those closed to new customers, will be available before 31 July 2024.

• How can I provide feedback or make suggestions to improve the product information you’ve provided?

  We welcome all feedback on how we can help you to meet your Consumer Duty obligations. Please get in touch with your usual Canada Life contact or reach us via our adviser support page.