TORONTO, March 31, 2004 – Sun Life Financial Inc. today confirmed that its subsidiary, Massachusetts Financial Services Company (MFS), has settled administrative proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding disclosure of brokerage allocation practices in connection with fund sales. Under the terms of the $50 million settlement, MFS neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.
Donald A. Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Sun Life Financial, said, “Today’s announcement reflects our ongoing determination to resolve outstanding regulatory matters in the best interests of our customers and Sun Life Financial investors. We are continuing to work with the new management team at MFS to strengthen its policies and procedures to ensure they meet the highest possible standards.”
As previously disclosed, Sun Life Financial and its U.S. affiliates are cooperating with the SEC in their industry-wide investigations into market timing related issues and directed brokerage and revenue-sharing arrangements with distributors.
Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Tracing its roots back to 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2003, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of CDN$359.0 billion.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol SLF.
