| | Roy W. Craik, Founder of RCF entered the life insurance business in 1966, leaving his position as Senior Trust Officer and Estate Planner with a major Canadian trust company. He quickly established himself as a leader in tax and estate planning, working with wealthy families and corporations. Roy’s contribution to the Canadian insurance industry has been a remarkable blend of innovation backed by a solid understanding of the Income Tax Act. For example, his analysis of the 1969 Benson White Paper on Tax Reform was syndicated by the Winnipeg Free Press and published across Canada. In response to the changing needs of his clients, he participated as a member of the team that designed Adjustable Single Premium Whole Life. Subsequently, he created Term to 100 and, later, the concept of the side fund. It was not long after the introduction of the Retirement Compensation Arrangement (RCA) legislation in 1986 that Roy launched Retirement Compensation Funding. A new company in name only, it already employed the expertise of individuals with many years experience with life insurance and trusts. Research with actuaries, pension consultants and insurance companies provided the basis of an RCA funding product design. Working closely with Canada Life, RCF developed the first pure RCA funding product available in Canada in the late 1980’s. Aimed primarily at public corporations, this product enabled them to deal with pension shortfalls from Defined Benefit Pension Plans relative to the promised pensions for their executives. Registered Retirement Savings Plan and Money Purchase Pension Plan contribution levels were expected to increase so that pension shortfalls would not occur for owners of private corporations. However, these increases did not take place as scheduled and RCF identified an increasing need for the use of RCAs to provide supplemental pension funding for companies using defined contribution plans as the basis for the provision of retirement benefits. In 1998 the Canadian Revenue Agency clarified that owners of private corporations could also contribute to RCAs according to the generally accepted guidelines and significantly expanded the market for RCAs. In addition to working with Canada Life, RCF developed strategic alliances with insurance companies such as ITT Hartford Life for the provision of pension shortfall funding products. In 2000, RCF entered into an exclusive four-year contract with Canada Life during which time the RRSPWrapTM and PENSIONPlusTM were successfully branded and marketed across Canada. Since the arrangement with Canada Life ended in April 2004, RCF has continued its mission to transform pension needs into retirement realities but now has the ability to use a number of major insurers, such as BMO Insurance, Canada Life, Desjardins Financial, Empire Financial Group, Equitable Life, Industrial Alliance, Manulife Financial, RBC Insurance, Standard Life, Sun Life Financial and Transamerica. In addition, RCF continues its long-standing arrangement with BMO Trust Company to provide third-party trust services for all its RCAs. In 2010, RCF reorganized itself again and has returned to its origin of providing RCA services directly to companies and their key executives. All RCA Trust Services continue to be provided by BMO Trust Company. In 2011 a strategic decision was made that funding for new PENSIONPlusTM will be primarily funded and underwritten by BMO Insurance. |  |
