The protection provider will not accept applications for life insurance or life insurance plus critical illness within its fixed term cover range.
It will continue to honour its contracts with existing customers and pay claims in line with its usual processes.
Canada Life will also enter a consultation period with impacted employees working in this part of the business.
The firm said it remained committed to protecting its position in the market and would continue to focus on other areas of insurance such as home finance, annuities and international protection.
Tim Stoves, managing director of protection at Canada Life, said: “I’m proud of what we have achieved since 2016 in the individual protection market, but it has become clear we need to make priority calls on where best to utlilise our resource as we continue to focus on our core areas of growth.
“Our exit from the onshore individual market allows us to refocus on other areas of our business, including group protection and the international (offshore) protection market.”
Reacting to the news, Phil Jeynes, director of corporate strategy at Reassured, added: “In a market which has lost many high profile brands over recent years, it is disheartening to hear this news. It highlights the difficulty in making headway in a sector dominated by established, successful firms without a discernible USP.
“Differentiated treatment of vaping customers simply wasn’t enough for Canada Life, despite no shortage of effort from a team of impressive, experienced individuals.”
