Accelerating on our ambition

Sun Life has taken a bold leap forward by announcing the extension and formalization of its asset management pillar to bring all of Sun Life’s asset management businesses together.

To lead the newly formalized and extended pillar, Tom Murphy, Sun Life’s Executive Vice-President & Chief Risk Officer will assume the role of President, Sun Life Asset Management. With over 25 years of global asset management experience, Tom is the ideal leader to helm Sun Life Asset Management to accelerate distribution through the company’s proprietary insurance and wealth channels, develop new strategic partnerships, leverage our global balance sheet, and seek new sources of permanent capital. Tom will remain in his role as EVP & Chief Risk Officer until his successor is appointed and he will help ensure a smooth transition. Tom’s role and the new structure will be effective January 1, 2026.

For Kevin Strain, Sun Life’s President & CEO, this announcement signals more than just creating a new pillar — it's accelerating the company’s ambition to be the best asset management and insurance company in the world.  

“Sun Life is among the largest asset managers and insurance companies in the world, with CAD $1.54 trillion in assets under management. Tom’s leadership and the additional businesses now within our asset management pillar mark an important next step for Sun Life, enabling collaboration and co-creation between our market leading asset management companies and our global insurance and wealth businesses to unlock new growth opportunities and to better serve our Clients.”

Highlights from the announcement

In addition to MFS, a global provider of equity and fixed income solutions, and SLC Management, a global leader in alternative assets and fixed income, Sun Life Asset Management will include:

• Defined Benefit Solutions, the largest pension risk transfer provider in Canada,

• The Office of the CIO, including the Asia General Account team,

• Asia Asset Management,

• Our stake in Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management, one of the largest asset management businesses in India.

Together these businesses generated over CAD $1.4 billion in earnings for Sun Life in 2024.

Our legacy, our future

Sun Life’s history as an asset manager runs deep. The company has built a diverse and scaled asset management business over the last four decades.  

What Mr. Strain sees as truly impressive is the depth and breadth of the Sun Life global asset management capabilities, combined with its strong insurance and wealth capabilities that will enable the company to innovate and co-create solutions to the benefit of asset management, insurance, and wealth Clients worldwide.

He says, “Sun Life has an enviable range of public and private asset classes including equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit. We intend to unlock further growth opportunities between our asset management, insurance, and wealth businesses by accelerating the distribution of our asset management solutions through Sun Life’s proprietary wealth channels, developing new strategic partnerships, leveraging our global balance sheet, and seeking new sources of permanent capital to drive revenue growth, enhance scale, and provide access to seed capital.”

Preserving our unique strengths 

Each asset management company will maintain their individual brand identities, governance structures, and investment philosophies. This ensures the unique strengths that have made each business successful remain.

Our insurance and wealth businesses rely heavily on our asset management businesses to invest Client assets. By extending our asset management pillar, we’re reinforcing this connection and ensuring our full global asset management capabilities are consistently leveraged to deliver value, performance, and innovation across the enterprise.

For Mr. Strain this is an exciting time for Sun Life with significant opportunities to expand the range of offerings we deliver to Clients - a win-win across our Clients and our business.