Assuris
Assuris in French
Quick definition
Assuris is the industry-funded not-for-profit that protects Canadian policyholders if a life insurance company fails. It guarantees that your annuity income, death benefits and cash values continue, in full or in large part, when a member insurer becomes insolvent.
The safety net behind every life insurer
When you buy an annuity, a life insurance policy or a segregated fund contract, you are relying on promises that may need to be kept for decades. Assuris exists so those promises survive even the failure of the company that made them. Every life insurer authorized to sell policies in Canada is required to be an Assuris member, and the protection is funded by the industry itself, not by taxpayers.
Like CDIC on the deposit side, coverage is automatic. There is nothing to sign up for, no premium to pay and no claim form to keep on file. If your insurer is licensed in Canada, your policy is protected from the day it is issued.
What is protected, and up to how much
Assuris protects the guarantees in your contracts, with limits that were substantially enhanced in 2023. For each type of benefit, you keep the higher of a dollar cap or 90% of the promised amount (as of July 2026).
- A life annuity paying $4,000 per month is fully protected: it sits under the $5,000 cap.
- A $2,000,000 life insurance death benefit keeps at least 90%, or $1,800,000, because 90% beats the $1,000,000 cap.
- Segregated fund guarantees also benefit from Assuris protection if the insurer fails, though the market value of the fund itself always moves with markets.
| Benefit | You keep at least |
|---|---|
| Monthly annuity income | $5,000 per month or 90%, whichever is higher |
| Death benefits (life insurance) | $1,000,000 or 90%, whichever is higher |
| Cash values | $250,000 or 90%, whichever is higher |
| Health expense benefits | $250,000 or 90%, whichever is higher |
What it does not cover
Assuris protects promises, not performance. The market value of investments inside a segregated fund or universal life policy rises and falls with markets, and no protection plan covers those swings. Assuris steps in only for the contractual guarantees a failed insurer can no longer honour: the income stream, the death benefit, the cash value, the maturity guarantee.
How a failure actually plays out
A life insurer failing does not mean your policy vanishes and a cheque arrives. The standard resolution is a transfer: the failed insurer's policies are moved to a solvent insurer, which takes over the obligations, and your coverage continues without interruption. You keep paying premiums, and payments keep arriving.
Assuris's role is to make that transfer work. It tops up any shortfall so that every policyholder receives at least the protected amounts, and in practice transfers have often preserved benefits well above the minimums.
The track record
Life insurer failures in Canada are genuinely rare. Only a handful have occurred since Assuris (originally called CompCorp) was founded in 1990, the largest being Confederation Life in 1994. In every failure, policies were transferred to a solvent insurer and the protection worked as designed.
In Canada
Assuris is the insurance-side sibling of CDIC and CIPF in Canada's three-part protection system: CDIC for bank deposits, CIPF for brokerage accounts, Assuris for insurance contracts. An annuity is an insurance contract, so a retiree comparing an annuity against a GIC is also comparing Assuris protection against CDIC protection.
The 2023 enhancements raised the limits considerably, notably lifting annuity income protection from $2,000 to $5,000 per month. Retirees placing very large sums into annuities still sometimes split the purchase across two or more insurers so that each contract fits more comfortably within the protected amounts.
Worked example
Claire, 72, receives $6,000 per month from a life annuity. Her insurer fails, an event with no precedent of loss in Canada but worth understanding anyway. Her protection is the higher of $5,000 or 90% of her income: 90% of $6,000 is $5,400, so $5,400 per month is guaranteed (as of July 2026).
In the resolution, her annuity contract is transferred to a solvent insurer. If the transferred contract can only support $5,200 per month, Assuris tops it up to her protected $5,400.
Reviewed by Alexandre Bernier, CFP®, CIM®, PFP®·Updated July 2026