The Best Bank-Owned Life Insurance in Canada
What is bank-owned life insurance?
The term bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) refers to a tax-sheltered strategy that banks use to fund employee life insurance benefits. It’s not a product that individual Canadians can buy; instead, it’s better understood as a corporate tax tool.
That said, bank-backed life insurance is a common option for Canadians, defined by purchasing life insurance from a financial institution that also offers banking services. In this guide, we’ll compare the top bank-backed life insurance plans from RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), Desjardins, and BMO (Bank of Montreal) with more traditional life insurance options.
Pros & cons of bank-owned life insurance
The best bank life insurance options, compared
Many of Canada’s best life insurance companies are also banks or credit unions. To help existing bank clients evaluate how well their institution’s insurance offerings measure up against the rest of the industry, we analyzed term and permanent life insurance policies from three of the leading Canadian life insurance companies backed by banks.
- RBC Insurance: Backed by the Royal Bank of Canada, RBC offers competitive term policies, along with whole and universal life insurance.
- Desjardins Insurance: In addition to banking services, credit cards, and other financial services, Desjardins offers a wide slate of insurance products including term and whole life insurance.
- BMO Life: Backed by the Bank of Montreal, BMO Insurance offers term and permanent life insurance products to Canadians.
* Our star rating system assigns three stars for financial stability, one star for competitive pricing, a half-star for customer satisfaction, and a final half-star for ease of purchase.
** For each product, we averaged the monthly premiums for healthy female non-smokers between the ages of 30-44 across every term length available. The results show the approximate cost of a 10-30-year term life insurance policy with $500,000 of coverage.
RBC, Desjardins, and BMO aren’t the only Canadian life insurance companies that also offer banking services. Other providers that didn’t make the final cut in our analysis include Manulife, which offers online personal banking, and Equitable Life. While their policies weren’t as competitive in our analysis, they may still have viable options for your family.
Methodology
PolicyMe’s rankings are based on an independent, data-driven review of Canada’s best life insurance products and providers.
Our analysis combines 450,000+ quotes for 50+ life insurance products with in-depth research on 20+ providers. We assigned each product a star rating out of five based on a mix of average pricing, Google Review scores, and shopping convenience, then ranked the results in 12 categories.
Rankings are determined first by star rating and then by price, with preference given to expert recommendations by PolicyMe’s team of life insurance advisors. Our findings are entirely data-driven and do not include paid placements, but should not be considered a substitute for personalized financial advice.
Best alternative to bank-owned life insurance: PolicyMe
While there may be perks and convenience factors that come with bank-backed insurance, it’s important to remember that banking and insurance are two different financial services. The best company for your banking needs isn’t necessarily the one with the best life insurance products for you and your family.
If you’re not fully satisfied with the life insurance options on offer from your bank or credit union, it’s worth looking at plans from a company dedicated exclusively to insurance — like PolicyMe.
Pros & Cons
PolicyMe insurance vs. bank-owned insurance
* For each company, we averaged the monthly premiums for healthy female non-smokers between the ages of 30-44 across every term length available. The results show the approximate cost of a 10-30-year term life insurance policy with $500,000 of coverage.
How much does bank-owned life insurance cost?
The cost of bank-backed life insurance varies depending on the bank as well as the age, sex assigned at birth, and coverage details of the applicant. As you’ll see from the term life insurance quote table below, the cost of bank-owned life insurance is comparable to the industry average, hovering between $20/month and $30/month (with higher rates for older applicants and those assigned male at birth).
* Rates shown are average monthly premiums for 35-year-old non-smoking applicants in good health with a $500,000 death benefit for a 20-year term.
FAQ: Best bank-owned life insurance
*** The life insurance premium rates in this article are based on publicly available figures as of December 2025.
Jessica is a content marketing manager with PolicyMe. She has over a decade of experience creating content, including 10 years freelancing for nonprofits and small businesses in North America and beyond. She was previously the senior editor handling car insurance content for Silicon Valley startup, and the managing editor for creditcardGenius. She's passionate about breaking down complex financial topics into clear, approachable content that helps readers feel confident about their decisions.
Jessica is a content marketing manager with PolicyMe. She has over a decade of experience creating content, including 10 years freelancing for nonprofits and small businesses in North America and beyond. She was previously the senior editor handling car insurance content for Silicon Valley startup, and the managing editor for creditcardGenius. She's passionate about breaking down complex financial topics into clear, approachable content that helps readers feel confident about their decisions.