Assuris Funding

Assuris pays for the cost of providing coverage for members that fail by maintaining a Liquidity Fund of $100 million and by levying assessments, following the failure, on the continuing Member Companies. All life insurance companies licensed in Canada are required to become members of Assuris and to remain members as long as they have any business in Canada.

There are limits on the amount that may be assessed; however, assessments may continue indefinitely. The current annual maximum is approximately $150 million in addition to a one-time loan assessment limit of approximately $900 million. The maximum assessment rates have been set with regard to maintaining the solvency of continuing companies and exceed the requirements of the Insurance Companies Act.

Assuris' assessment system is designed to raise sufficient funds to deal with insolvencies that have company-specific causes. As an industry funded protection plan, Assuris may not have the capacity to deal with an external event causing an industry-wide failure.

The present value of Assuris' assessment capacity exceeds $4 billion, more than 15 times the cost of any insolvency incurred to date.