Bermudian-based Sun Life Financial International has launched Sun Global Sentinel, a permanent participating whole life insurance product aimed at high net-worth clients.

The company is a unit of Sun Life Financial, the Toronto-based financial-services company with more than $1.01 trillion of assets under management as of March 31 this year.

Sun Life has strived to establish itself as a pioneer in ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth life insurance markets.

Sun Life Financial International focuses on high-net-worth life and wealth solutions for families in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, helping families and business owners protect their wealth and fund their business succession plans.

“We are pleased to offer Sun Global Sentinel to our high-net-worth clients,” Paul Courtney, chief commercial officer of Sun Life Financial International, said. “All our products are a great solution for global clients who seek to protect and grow their legacy for future generations.

“In particular, Sentinel is designed for those clients who seek a guaranteed lifetime protection combined with potential value accumulation through dividend earnings that can increase the death benefit and cash value.”

Whole life products — which include a death benefit and an investment growth component — have become increasingly popular with high-net-worth clients in recent years.

Sun Global Sentinel affords long-term security through permanent coverage and guaranteed death benefit, offers the potential for growing clients’ legacy through bonuses that may be applied to the contract, and offers flexibility of tailoring the contract to one of three benefit plans and choosing a payment schedule that best fits client needs, Sun Life said.

“Sun Global Sentinel is a great timely addition to our product portfolio,” Niall O’Hare, CEO of Sun Life Financial International, said. “We will continue working on expanding our product offerings, creating more product choices for our high-net-worth clients.”

The Sun Global Sentinel product is not available to citizens and residents of Bermuda, Canada and the US.