Notice of Annual Meeting of common shareholders and Management information circular
Notice of annual meeting of common shareholders
Management information circular
Contents
Letter to shareholders............................................................................................................3
Notice of our 2025 annual meeting.....................................................................................4
Management information circular.......................................................................................5
About the meeting.................................................................................................................................5
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•Delivery of meeting materials.......................................................................................................5.........
-Notice and access..................................................................................................................5
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•How to attend..................................................................................................................................7.........
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•What the meeting will cover.........................................................................................................8.........
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•Voting................................................................................................................................................1.0........
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• Director nominees at a glance......................................................................................................1.5........
Governance..............................................................................................................................................23
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• Governance philosophy and approach........................................................................................2..3.......
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• Governance roles and responsibilities........................................................................................2..4.......
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• Building an effective Board...........................................................................................................3..1.......
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• Shareholder engagement and communications.......................................................................4..1.......
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• Committee reports.........................................................................................................................4..4.......
Director compensation.........................................................................................................................53
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• Compensation discussion and analysis.......................................................................................5..3.......
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• Compensation details....................................................................................................................5..6.......
Executive compensation......................................................................................................................57
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• Letter to shareholders....................................................................................................................5..8.......
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• Compensation discussion and analysis.......................................................................................6..2.......
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• Compensation details....................................................................................................................8..9.......
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2024 compensation decisions and approvals................................................................... |
62 |
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Changes for 2025................................................................................................................... |
63 |
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Comparing shareholder value to executive compensation............................................ |
64 |
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Compensation philosophy and approach.......................................................................... |
65 |
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Compensation governance.................................................................................................. |
67 |
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Alignment of compensation programs and risk management...................................... |
68 |
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Decision-making cycle.......................................................................................................... |
71 |
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Our compensation program................................................................................................. |
73 |
Other information..................................................................................................................................
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Individual pay and performance outcomes....................................................................... |
89 |
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Summary compensation table............................................................................................. |
101 |
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Incentive plan awards............................................................................................................ |
103 |
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Pension benefits..................................................................................................................... |
110 |
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Change of control benefits and termination agreements.............................................. |
112 |
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Aggregate compensation for Material Risk Takers......................................................... |
117 |
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Securities authorized for issue under equity compensation plans............................... |
118 |
119 |
Letter to shareholders
Dear shareholder:
You are invited to attend our annual meeting of common shareholders on
Shareholders will have the opportunity to attend the meeting, ask questions and vote on a number of important matters by way of live webcast atmeetings.lumiconnect.com/400-542-265-283.
The meeting will also be held at Sun Life's head office at
The business of the meeting is described in the accompanying notice of our 2025 annual meeting and management information circular.
We will be conducting the annual meeting of the voting policyholders and sole shareholder of
If you cannot attend the meeting, please vote by submitting your proxy by mail, internet or telephone by
Scott F . PowersChair of the Board
Kevin D Strain
President & Chief Executive OfficerSi vous désirez recevoir l'avis de convocation à l'assemblée annuelle et la circulaire d'information en français, veuillez communiquer avec le secrétaire en écrivant au
Letter to shareholders
Notice of our 2025 annual meeting
You are invited to our annual meeting of common shareholders:
When: Where:
Online
Via live webcast atmeetings.lumiconnect.com/400-542-265-283Password: "sunlife2025" (case sensitive)
In Person
What the meeting will cover
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1. Receipt of the 2024 consolidated financial statements
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2. Election of the directors
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3. Appointment of the auditor
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4. A non-binding advisory vote on our approach to executive compensation
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5. Consideration of other business that may properly be brought before the meeting.
A total of 568,816,706 votes are eligible to be cast at the meeting.
The annual meeting of
The attached circular is being sent to you because you owned common shares of
The board of directors has approved the contents of this circular and has authorized us to send it to you.
Vice-President, Associate General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Notice of our 2025 annual meeting
Management information circular
In this document,we,us,our,the company,Sun Lifeand
Unless otherwise stated, information in this management information circular (Circular) is provided as of
About the meeting
Delivery of meeting materials
Notice and access
We are making this Circular available online instead of by mail according to a set of rules developed by Canadian Securities Administrators called notice and access, and pursuant to an exemption received from the Office of the Superintendent
We are also using notice and access for delivery of our management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) to registered shareholders and for delivery of our financial statements and MD&A to non-registered (beneficial) shareholders and share ownership account participants. Please see page11for a description of who falls within each of these categories of shareholders.
This means that instead of receiving a paper copy of such materials, you will receive a notice (Notice) explaining how to access them online. You will also receive a form of proxy for registered shareholders and share ownership account participants, or a voting instruction form for non-registered (beneficial) shareholders so you can vote your shares.
Registered shareholders who have not opted out of receiving our financial statements will receive them by mail, unless they have agreed to electronic delivery (e-delivery). Please see Go Digital! below for more information on signing up.
How to access the meeting materials online
This Circular, the financial statements and our MD&A are available on our website (sunlife.com/2025agm), on the website of our transfer agent,
Go digital!
You can receive meeting materials, including the Notice, proxy form and voting instruction form, by email. E-delivery reduces paper and energy consumption and gets the documents to you faster.
Go digital! How to sign up for e-delivery |
|
Registered shareholders and share ownership account participants |
Non-registered shareholders in |
Go totsxtrust.com/SL/GoDigitalor check the box on the |
Sign up atproxyvote.comusing the control number from |
reverse side of your proxy form and provide your email |
your voting instruction form, or after the meeting by |
address. |
obtaining a unique registration number from your financial |
intermediary. |
How to request a paper copy of materials provided to you through notice and access
You may request a paper copy of this Circular or our financial statements and MD&A up to one year from the date the Circular was filed on SEDAR+. If you would like to receive a paper copy prior to the voting deadline, please follow the instructions provided in the Notice or make a request by no later than
Questions?
If you have questions about notice and access or to request a paper copy of this Circular after the meeting at no charge, you can call
How to attend
You can attend the meeting online, securely vote and participate in real time by following the steps below. You can also attend in person at Sun Life's head office at
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• Step 1:
Log in atmeetings.lumiconnect.com/400-542-265-283
We recommend that you log in 30 minutes before the meeting starts.
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• Step 2:
Follow these instructions:
Registered shareholders: Click "I have a control number" and then enter your control number and password "sunlife2025" (case sensitive). Your control number is the number located on the form of proxy or in the email notification you received from
TSX Trust . If you use your control number to log in to the meeting, any vote you cast at the meeting will revoke any proxy you previously submitted. If you do not wish revoke a previously submitted proxy, you should not vote during the meeting.Duly appointed proxyholders: Click "I have a control number" and then enter your control number and password "sunlife2025" (case sensitive). Proxyholders who have been duly appointed and registered with
TSX Trust as described in this Circular will receive a control number by email fromTSX Trust after the proxy voting deadline has passed.Guests:
Click "Guest " and then complete the online form.
Please allow ample time to log in to the meeting online before it begins. You may need the latest version of your web browser.Please do not use Internet Explorer. It is possible that internal network security protocols, including firewalls and VPN connections may block access to the webcast. If you are experiencing any difficulty connecting or watching the meeting, please ensure your VPN setting is disabled or use a computer on a network not restricted to security settings of your organization.
Additional information and updates on how to attend the meeting will be made available on our website atsunlife.com/2025agm. Please see Voting on pages10to14for further instructions. This Circular is available on our website, on the
What the meeting will cover
Financial statements
You will receive the consolidated financial statements for the year ended
Electing the directors (pages15to22)
You will vote on the election of 12 directors to serve on our Board until the next annual meeting. All of the director nominees currently serve on our Board. All 12 individuals are also nominated to serve as directors of Sun Life Assurance, a principal operating subsidiary which we wholly own.The Board recommends voting FOR each nominee. If you do not specify in your proxy form or voting instruction form how you want to vote your shares, the persons
2024 vote: average99.3%supportFORour director nominees.
named in the form of proxy will vote FOR electing each of the director nominees profiled below.
We expect that all of the nominees will be able to serve as director but if for any reason a nominee is unable to serve, the persons named in the proxy form have the right to vote at their discretion for another nominee proposed according to the company's by-laws and applicable law.
Our policy on majority voting
The election of directors at the meeting is expected to be an uncontested election, meaning that the number of nominees will be equal to the number of directors to be elected. If a director receives more "withheld" than "for" votes in an uncontested election, they must tender a written offer to resign to the Board. The Board will accept the resignation within 90 days unless there are exceptional circumstances and will disclose the reasons for its decision in a news release. The impacted director will not participate in these deliberations.
Appointing the auditor
You will vote on the appointment of
We maintain independence from our auditor through Audit Committee oversight, a robust regulatory framework in
2024 vote:92.7%supportFORthe appointment of Deloitte as our auditor.
every five years, and Deloitte's own internal independence procedures which are designed to comply with Chartered Professional Accountants of
Auditor's fees
The table below shows the fees relating to services provided by Deloitte for the past two years.
($millions)
For the year ended |
2024 |
20231 |
Audit fees |
26.7 |
34.0 |
Audit-related fees |
1.7 |
1.6 |
Tax fees |
0.7 |
1.6 |
All other fees |
2.1 |
0.9 |
Total |
31.2 |
38.1 |
1Adjustments to 2023 fees of
Audit feesrelate to professional services rendered by the auditors for the audit of our annual consolidated financial statements, the statements for our segregated funds and services related to statutory and regulatory filings. Audit fees of
Audit-related feesinclude assurance services not directly related to performing the audit of the annual consolidated financial statements of
Tax feesrelate to tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.
All other feesrelate to products and services other than audit, audit-related and tax as described above.
The Audit Committee pre-approves any services that are to be provided by the external auditor. The committee has, subject to reporting requirements, pre-approved certain audit, audit-related and other permissible non-audit services that are consistent with maintaining the independence of the external auditor. You can find more information about this policy in our annual information form which is available on SEDAR+ (sedarplus.ca) and on EDGAR (sec.gov/edgar).
Having a "say on pay"
You will participate in a non-binding advisory vote on our approach to executive compensation, giving you an opportunity to express your view on the Board's approach to setting executive compensation, as described in the Executive compensation section starting on page57.
2024 vote:96.0%supportFORour approach to executive compensation.
We will ask the shareholders to consider and vote on the following resolution.The Board recommends that shareholders vote FOR
the resolution. If you do not specify in your proxy form or your voting instruction form how you want to vote your shares, the persons named in the form of proxy will voteFORthe resolution:
"RESOLVED THAT on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the Management Information Circular dated
One of the Board's primary responsibilities is to ensure Sun Life is able to attract, retain and reward qualified executives. While shareholders will provide their collective views on our approach to executive compensation through the advisory vote, the directors are still fully responsible for their compensation decisions. We will file the results of the votes, including the advisory vote, on SEDAR+ (sedarplus.ca) and publish them on our website. In 2024, we received 96.0% support for our approach to executive compensation (301,696,983 votes for and 12,719,236 votes against). If a significant number of shareholders oppose the "say on pay" resolution, the Board will consult shareholders to understand their concerns, and then review our approach to executive compensation with their concerns in mind. Our executive officers have a material interest in the outcome of the vote because it may affect our process for determining their compensation. It is impossible, however, for us to describe the impact of the vote or the consultations before they have taken place.
Considering other business
You can vote on other items of business that are properly brought before the meeting. As of the date of this Circular, we were not aware of any other items to be brought forward.
Voting
Who can vote
You are entitled to receive notice of and vote at our annual meeting of common shareholders if you were a shareholder of record as of
As of
At least two persons holding, or representing by proxy, at least 25% of the shares entitled to vote constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the meeting.
Common shares beneficially owned by the following entities and persons cannot be voted (except in circumstances approved by the Minister of Finance):
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• the
Government of Canada or any of its agencies. -
• the government of a province or any of its agencies.
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• the government of a foreign country or any political subdivision of a foreign country or any of its agencies.
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• any person who has acquired more than 10% of any class of our shares.
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• any person, or any entity controlled by any person, that represents, in total, more than 20% of the eligible votes.
To our knowledge, no person or company beneficially owns or exercises control or direction over, directly or indirectly, more than 10% of the voting rights attached to our common shares.
Attachments
Disclaimer
Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A)
Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A)
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