Sun Life Financial Inc. today reported a 15% rise in its second-quarter and boosted its quarterly dividend.

The insurer said net income was $590 million, or $1.02 a share, in the quarter ended June 30, up from $512 million, or 88¢ a share, a year earlier.

The company also boosted its quarterly dividend to 34¢ a share from the previous 32¢ a share.

Sun Life said revenue was $4.5 billion, down from $6.23 billion a year earlier, due mostly to lower investment income.

Quarterly return on equity was 14.5%, up from 13.6% a year ago.

“Sun Life Financial has achieved strong earnings while making significant on-going investments in distribution and customer-focused innovation,” said Donald Stewart, CEO, in a news release.

“This quarter, we continued to realize the benefits of our investments in distribution and new products in the U.S. and Canada. We are pleased with the success of our U.S. variable annuity strategy, which is generating positive net flows in our U.S. variable annuities business,” he added.