For close to a century we have been helping people be wise with money and live generously. There have been changes over the years, but one common thread that connects our past to the present is our mission to protect financial futures, live our Christian values – and ultimately, impact the lives of others to build a better world.

A History of Helping

Our roots go back to the 1920’s when two American fraternal benefit societies, Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) and Lutheran Brotherhood (LB), began issuing insurance policies in Canada. This made life insurance available to Canadian members – providing a much-needed safety net for families who had previously relied on church communities to come to their aid when faced with illness or the loss of a primary income. Lutheran Life Insurance Society of Canada was founded in 1972, sponsored by AAL and LB, and the heritage of neighbours helping neighbours, continued as the heart of the organization.

In 2008, we adopted the name FaithLife Financial and today, “faith” continues to be central to who we are as an organization. We are proud of our rich heritage of giving back to communities, alongside our members, and we believe that being wise with money and living generously are wonderful expressions of faith.

What is a Fraternal Benefit Society?

FaithLife Financial operates as a Fraternal Benefit Society. Fraternal organizations inspire their members to participate in one of the largest member-volunteer networks in the world. Serving others is at the heart of the organization and this is done through a variety of programs, which improve the quality of life in communities.

A fraternal benefit society is an institution that has a representative form of government and is operated for fraternal, benevolent or religious purposes, including the insurance of members, or the spouses/common-law partners or children of members, against accident, sickness, disability or death.

Fraternal organizations…
• Provide insurance and investment products.
• Have members instead of shareholders.
• Share a common bond with their members.
• Use revenue from financial services operations for member benefits and to give back to the causes members care about.

FaithLife Financial is federally supervised by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and is subject to the same regulations as other Canadian life and health insurers.

The Society monitors the amount of its capital available.  The amount of capital deployed is dependent upon regulatory requirements as well as the Society’s internal assessment of capital requirements in the context of its operational risks and requirements, and strategic plans. The Society’s practice is to maintain capital at a level that will exceed the relevant minimum regulatory capital requirements and the Society’s internal target capital levels.

In Canada, OSFI has established a capital adequacy measurement for life insurance companies incorporated under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada) and their subsidiaries, known as the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT). LICAT establishes the standards used by OSFI to assess whether a life insurer maintains adequate capital or an adequate margin to support risks specific to the life insurance business.

OSFI has established supervisory target levels of 100% for total ratio and 70% for core ratio. FaithLife Financial’s 2020 total ratio was a strong 149%, up 2% from 2019’s 147%. Our core ratio was 110%, which was in-line with our 2019 result of 111%.

To read more about the company’s 2020 financial and capital ratio results, please review our 2020 audited annual financial statements and annual report to members.