Sun Life Financial Inc (SLF.TO), Canada's third-largest insurer by assets, reported a 13.3 per cent fall in quarterly underlying profit, hurt by weakness in the United States.

The company's underlying net income fell to $560 million, or 91 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $646 million, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier.

Sun Life's underlying net income fell 9.7 per cent in Canada, the company's biggest market, while it plunged 45 per cent in the United States.

The Toronto-based company's net income rose 35.8 per cent to $728 million, or $1.18 per share.

Total wealth sales rose 29.1 per cent and life and health sales jumped 39.6 per cent.

Sun Life's total assets under management rose 1.3 per cent to $903.3 billion at the end of the quarter.

Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO), Canada's biggest life insurer, last week reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and met a long-held target to achieve an annual profit of $4 billion in 2016, helped by a strong performance in Asia.