Case Study

Sun Life Financial of Canada

Sun Life Financial of Canada chooses Equiniti Paymaster for key strategic partnership

Sun Life Financial of Canada operates a business model, which retains governance and outsources administration functions to industry specialists. The organisation has long viewed Equiniti Paymaster as an industry leading annuity administrator, resulting in the signing of a framework agreement in 2010.

In June 2012, Equiniti Paymaster successfully migrated a book of 37,000 paying annuities to their administration platform ensuring excellent service for a total of 150,000 policies.
Equiniti Paymaster worked in partnership with Sun Life Financial of Canada to provide a seamless transition for their clients annuities
Equiniti Paymaster has a reputation for delivering long-term performance excellence and strong client partnerships. It has the ability to deliver to tight implementation timescales, going above and beyond the projects scope to improve administration for the future. This is achieved through strong planning and preparation resulting in a seamless transition for our clients annuitants. Sun Life Financial of Canada in the UK is focused on providing excellent customer service by offering the highest levels of customer care. They have been servicing customers in the UK for over 100 years and currently have 12.5 billion of assets under management.

When Sun Life Financial of Canada sought to integrate their annuity administration under one central supplier Equiniti Paymaster was confirmed as the supplier of choice. Chosen for the integrated annuity administration service, based on a history of providing high levels of service through the existing contract. Having these services brought together under the one supplier delivers greater control, improved management information and economies of scale for Sun Life Financial of Canada, as well as ensuring continuity of service for their current and new internal vesting annuitants.

Having provided us with a strong service for our annuitants for many years, we have seen evidence of ongoing continuous improvement and experienced operations management capability. Equiniti Paymaster was the obvious choice.
Gerry Hodson, Head of Operations, Sun Life Financial of Canada

The solution: excellent performance over a 12-year contract, resulting in a strong client partnership
Sun Life Financial of Canada chose Equiniti Paymaster due to its heritage as an industry leading annuity administrator and also its history of solution-driven results.

The depth of their planning and preparation for both migration and post migration operational processing resulted in a seamless transition for our members. We are very satisfied with Equiniti Paymaster as our key annuity outsource supplier and look forward to maintaining a strong relationship in the future.
Gerry Hodson, Head of Operations, Sun Life Financial of Canada

The project to integrate the book of business to Paymaster commenced in January 2012 with a target migration date of end June 2012 a target which Paymaster was able to achieve.

Financial of Canada, which mitigated any potential impact on their annuitants. This resulted in Paymaster delivering an improved level of service across multiple processes.

Committed to a successful outcome

Successful migration

This success was the result of the strong project and change management disciplines and capabilities already in existence at Equiniti Paymaster, which were adapted to the specific requirements of the client. A partnership approach was taken with the client, as well as with the incumbent supplier, which generated a positive working relationship, ensuring that timescales were met and the transition was implemented seamlessly. Equiniti Paymaster was also able to add value to Sun Life Financial of Canada during the due diligence phase of the project. It was during this stage when a number of process and transition challenges were identified. Paymaster proposed and developed solutions, in agreement with Sun Life Equinti Paymaster pays over 600,000 annuities across ten insurance clients, every year.

The migration project encompassed the following:

Steering committee Project governance.
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The partnership between Equiniti Paymaster and Sun Life Financial of Canada has created a successful outcome for all stakeholders. It supports Sun Life Financial of Canadas operating model, has engendered a stronger partnership between the two organisations and ensured continuity of service for Sun Life Financial of Canadas annuitants.

Data workstream Transfer of annuitant records to Equiniti Paymasters administration platform. Extensive data cleansing. Robust testing and parallel runs. Operations workstream Process mapping. Process design and documentation. Resource planning.
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Equiniti Paymasters service offering includes:

Daily payment processing  (in both UK and foreign currencies).
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Taxation of payments including HMRC submissions.  Full maintenance of annuitant records including seamless migration, where required. Death claim processing.

Communications workstream Mass communications exercise at migration. Two post-migration sub-projects.

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Finance workstream Accounting and reconciliations. Actuarial reporting. HMRC reporting and submissions.
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Call and e-mail enquiry handling  (via an in-house call centre operation).
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Change management.

For more information, contact one of our experts on 01293 604 949 or email sales@equiniti.com

Contact us:

t 01293 604 949 e sales@equiniti.com www.equinitipaymaster.com

The copyright of this case study is owned by or licensed to Paymaster (1836) Limited. Equiniti Paymaster shall not be liable for technical and editorial errors or omissions contained in this case study or in any reproduced, translated, or transmitted copies. Equiniti Paymaster reserves the right to revise and/or change product/service features or specifications without advanced notice. Equiniti Paymaster is the trading name of Paymaster (1836) Limited. Registered Office: Sutherland House, Russell Way, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 1UH. Registered in England and Wales No. 3249700. Paymaster (1836) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. 1022 EP 07/13