type public traded as tsx slf nyse slf pse slf industry financial services founded 1865 in montreal quebec headquarters sun life centre toronto ontario key people james h. sutcliffe fia chairman dean a. connor president and ceo products financial services financial planning and advice life insurance health insurance dental insurance disability insurance investments pension plans institutional asset management and retirement savings revenue 25.764 billion as of dec 31 2014 cad 1 net income 1.762 billion as of dec 31 2014 cad 1 number of employees 27 800 employees including joint ventures as of dec 31 2014 slogan an international leader in protection and wealth management services dedicated to helping customers achieve lifetime financial security website sunlife.com sun life financial inc. is a canada based financial services company known primarily as a life insurance company . it is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world and also one of the oldest with the history spanning back to 1865 . sun life financial has a strong presence in investment management with over cad 734 billion in assets under management operating in a number of countries . 2 sun life ranks number 236 on the forbes global 2000 list for 2010 as well as on the fortune 500 list . contents 1 history 1.1 pre world war ii 1.2 world war ii 1.3 post world war ii 1.4 1980s 1990s 1.5 2000 to present 2 asset management 3 headquarters 4 sun life stadium 5 corporate governance 6 notes 7 external links history edit pre world war ii edit founded in montreal quebec as the sun insurance company of montreal in 1865 by mathew hamilton gault 1822 1887 an irish immigrant who settled in montreal in 1842 its operations actually began in 1871 . by the end of the 19th century it had expanded to central and south america the united states the united kingdom west indies japan china india north africa and other international markets . during the next five decades the company grew and prospered surviving the difficulties of world war i and the large drain on its finances through policy claims arising from the large number of deaths caused by the great flu epidemic of 1918 . the company s original dominion square building in montreal was built in 1918 . capping a montreal construction boom that began in the 1920s the company completed construction of the expansion of its headquarters with its new 26 storey headquarters north tower in 1933 . although the head office of the royal bank of canada on st. james street was taller by several floors the sun life building was at the time the largest building in terms of square footage anywhere in the british empire . chartered in 1865 its traditional base business worldwide remains life insurance but it now also has significant asset management operations . in 1919 it was the first canadian company to offer group life insurance . having begun its first us operations in 1895 the company sold its first group life plan in the u.s. in 1924 . world war ii edit sun insurance wwii memorial now at the uk s national memorial arboretum in world war ii the gold reserves and securities of several european countries were secretly moved to the sun life building for safekeeping . a persistent rumour that the crown jewels of the united kingdom were illegally shipped out of the united kingdom during wwii and stored there was deliberately spread in montreal to account for increased activity at the building . 3 post world war ii edit during the post war period the company s successful business strategies made it one of montreal s largest white collar employers one of the top corporations in canada as well as a global player in the life insurance field . for the first half of the 20th century the city of montreal had been the economic hub of canada but it was losing ground to toronto . as early as 1950 toronto s economic activity surpassed montreal s with regards to stock market trading and capitalization . the advent in the 1960s of political and terrorist movements demanding the independence of quebec from canada cast a pallor of uncertainty over the business community . in 1977 the newly elected sovereigntist quebec government passed the charter of the french language known as bill 101 making the use of french language mandatory for medium and large scale companies when communicating with french speaking staff . this law was received negatively by the english speaking business community many of whom perceived that the historical rights of the english speaking minority should be respected . on january 6 1978 the company downsized the montreal facilities to serve as a branch service bureau while shifting its head office to rented space in toronto ontario . officially sun life said it was motivated by the political instability and economic uncertainty of quebec s future but skeptics said it was the company s unwillingness to comply with the requirements of bill 101 . in 1979 the company acquired a property at university avenue and king street in downtown toronto and constructed a new office complex the sun life centre which was completed in 1984 . bill 101 required more than french communications with french speaking staff . it made french the official language of the workplace . it also provided that present and prospective employees who could not speak english not be discriminated against because of their inability to speak english . sun life place in edmonton alberta for the largest employer of english speaking people in montreal this would make things very difficult . many if not most of sun life s head office employees in 1979 were not fluent in french . sun life was quite clear that this was the reason for its move when it made the announcement . the pq government was quick to label sun life bad corporate citizens and claimed that if they had only warned us we could have worked something out . 4 the downsizing of sun life s montreal office did not take place overnight . transfers and moves occurred on a departmental basis and did not commence until several months after the announcement . the transfer of sun life s head office from montreal to toronto is viewed by many to be the start of an exodus of corporate entities from montreal but sun life was not the first company to leave . many companies had left long before sun life did only on a much quieter private basis . there were several other key activities in the post war years including the decision by sun life to leave many markets including china and india because of economic and political changes . in 1962 sun life became a mutual company and repurchased its shares for 65 million in total . in 1973 sun life opened its american subsidiary s new headquarters in wellesley hills massachusetts outside boston . 1980s 1990s edit sun life continued to expand its wealth management business with the 1982 acquisition of massachusetts financial services mfs the boston based investment management and mutual fund company . it entered the mutual fund business in canada by forming spectrum mutual fund services in 1987 subsequently sold to ci financial and a decade later acquired mclean budden a canadian investment management firm subsequently folded into mfs . international expansion continued in the 1990s . in 1995 sun life entered the indonesia market through local company pt asuransi modern sun life now called pt sun life financial indonesia and opened a representative office in beijing in preparation to enter china . a year later sun life opened a services centre in waterford ireland to provide technology and business processing support for sun life business units . in 1999 sun life officially returned to india and china when it established two joint ventures birla sun life in india with local partner aditya birla group and sun life everbright in china with partner china everbright group . over the next decade both operations grew rapidly by september 2008 there were 132 460 birla sun life advisors working in 600 branches across india while sun life everbright opened its sixth branch in guangzhou bringing its presence to 18 cities in china . the sun life building in montreal quebec 2000 to present edit in early 1998 sun life announced its intention to demutualize . in march 2000 its initial public offering ipo started the trading of sun life financial inc. shares on the toronto tsx new york nyse and philippine pse stock exchanges . in 2002 sun life combined its operations with clarica life insurance company of waterloo ontario . founded in 1870 as mutual life of canada clarica was known as the mutual group before it went public in 1999 . the former head office for mutual life assurance company at 227 king street south in waterloo became the home to sun life s canadian operations while a regional office and sun life s corporate headquarters remained in toronto . the company also maintains regional offices in montreal ottawa edmonton vancouver halifax and calgary . after it integrated operations the company used the clarica brand name for certain products and activities until 2007 . in 2005 sun life opened a service centre in gurgaon india to provide business processing and technology support for sun life financial business units around the world . that same year sun life purchased cmg asia and commserve financial the hong kong insurance and pension operations of the commonwealth bank of australia tripling its customer base and adding group insurance and pensions to its business lines . in 2007 sun life purchased the u.s. employee benefits business of genworth financial placing itself in the top 10 in the u.s. group benefits market . in 2008 sun life sold its 37 % interest in ci financial income fund to scotiabank . sun life had originally acquired a significant ownership interest in the firm by selling its canadian mutual fund subsidiaries to ci financial in 2002 . 5 at september 30 2008 sun life had assets under management of c 389 billion and including joint ventures had more than 28 000 employees and 147 590 advisors in 22 countries serving more than 25 million customers worldwide . birla sun life insurance is ranked as one of the top six privately owned life insurers in india . 6 while in canada sun life is ranked 1 in several lines of business including defined contribution pension plans group rrsps and deferred profit sharing plans . 7 sun life financial inc. shares trade on the toronto new york and philippines stock exchanges . it is one of standard & poor s global 1200 companies . in 2009 sun life began an aggressive nationwide ad campaign in the united states touting its strength and the fact that it did not accept any bailout money . the commercials parody the concept of naming rights where a couple of na ve employees go around the country attempting to put the company s name on various sun themed things from kc and the sunshine band to cirque du soleil to the state of florida . in a case of life imitating art on january 18 2010 sun life purchased the naming rights for the home field of the miami dolphins in miami gardens florida for a reported us 7.5 million per year . 8 under the five year contract the stadium is named sun life stadium . in 2013 sun life acquired 49 % aviva plc s malaysian insurance joint venture with lender cimb group . sun life acquired the business along with malaysian state investor khazanah nasional which also purchased 49 % . they each paid approximately cdn 300 million . cimb retains 2 % interest . 9 asset management edit beside having a strong presence in asset management industry through mfs investment management and sun life