"98 per cent of Canadians feel it's important to have some form of guaranteed income in retirement according to the most recent Sun Life Canadian Unretirement Index,” said Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada. “This type of benefit is especially important for close to 5 million Canadians who are within 10 years of retirement – they are looking for both investment growth and protection from market volatility that our new products will provide.”

Sun Life said the products address challenges currently facing Canadians, including: historically low interest rates and market volatility; the costs of living longer with nearly a fifth of 65 year-olds expected to live past the age of 95; and managing the transfer of wealth between generations as $607 billion of assets will be transferred between generations over the next 10 years.

Sun Life Financial and its partners have global operations including in Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda.