iA Financial Group reported a net income attributed to common shareholders of $248 million for the last quarter of 2023, up 37% from $181 million in the same quarter of 2022.
Earnings per share were $2.46, up 44% from $1.71 a year earlier.
Core earnings for the quarter were $236 million, down from $254 million in Q4 2022.
The company restated its 2022 results after adopting new international reporting standards.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, the firm had $218.9 billion of assets under management and administration, up from $197.4 billion the previous year. The 11% increase came primarily from favourable equity market conditions, the rise in bond values and growth in sales of insured annuities and other savings products.
iA’s Canadian insurance segment earned $78 million in the final quarter of 2023, down 29% from Q4 2022’s restated amount of $110 million. The company attributed the drop mainly to unusual gains in 2022 from using new accounting standards, as well as the negative impact of long renewal periods for some large group employee insurance plans.
In Canada, individual insurance sales were $95 million for the quarter, similar to the previous year. Total premiums for group insurance of employee plans were $390 million (up 4% year over year), but sales fell to $6 million, compared to $18 million in the same quarter of 2022.
Individual wealth management sales totalled $711 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 74% compared to the same quarter last year. The increase came from investors’ preference for cash-equivalent products.
Segregated fund gross sales for the quarter were $837 million (up 19% year over year) with net outflows of $21 million, and mutual fund gross sales were $393 million (up 12% year over year) with net outflows of $219 million. The combined net sales of segregated and mutual funds for 2023 were positive, at $83 million.