New Dividend Scale effective July 1, 2021
The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada Board of Directors has approved a change to the dividend scale for the period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
*The dividend scale interest rate is not the same as the participating account rate of return in any given calendar year. The dividend scale interest rate smooths out the ups and downs experienced by the participating account.
Policyholder dividends in the next dividend scale year would be approximately $85 million, compared to $67 million in the prior dividend scale year.
The sustained low interest rate environment continues to put downward pressure on the experience in the participating account. If low interest rates continue, investment returns in the participating account will also be lower, and we may need to decrease the dividend scale in the future.
Your participating whole life clients will receive a notice of the dividend scale change with their annual policy statement. The Equitable Sales Illustrations system will be updated to reflect the new dividend scale. Updated illustration software will be available for download after 9 a.m. ET on June 25, 2021.
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- The dividend scale interest rate* will decrease from 6.2% to 6.05%.
- All series of participating whole life policies issued in the 2012 series and beyond other than the most recent Equimax Estate Builder® series will see an improvement in the mortality component. The most recent Equimax Estate Builder series, for sale as of September 12, 2020, already incorporated better mortality and its mortality component will remain unchanged. Series issued prior to 2012 will see an increase in the overall dividends but results will vary by series and policy.
- Other factors that are used to calculate the dividend scale will remain unchanged.
- The interest rate for dividends left on deposit will decrease from 2.75% to 2.25% for all participating whole life policies.
- The policy loan rate will remain unchanged at 6.2%. This applies to all new and existing policy loans, including automatic premium loans on Equimax® policies that have a 9-digit policy number beginning with a “3” or an “8”. The policy loan rates on some older blocks of policies may increase or decrease because they are tied to the prime interest rate.
*The dividend scale interest rate is not the same as the participating account rate of return in any given calendar year. The dividend scale interest rate smooths out the ups and downs experienced by the participating account.
Policyholder dividends in the next dividend scale year would be approximately $85 million, compared to $67 million in the prior dividend scale year.
The sustained low interest rate environment continues to put downward pressure on the experience in the participating account. If low interest rates continue, investment returns in the participating account will also be lower, and we may need to decrease the dividend scale in the future.
Your participating whole life clients will receive a notice of the dividend scale change with their annual policy statement. The Equitable Sales Illustrations system will be updated to reflect the new dividend scale. Updated illustration software will be available for download after 9 a.m. ET on June 25, 2021.
Find out more