Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO), Canada’s biggest life insurer, would consider share buybacks and expects a “pause” in acquisition activity, Chief Executive Donald Guloien said on Thursday.

“Given that we’ve done most of the things that we want to do on the acquisition front, we’ll have to take a look at stock buy-backs,” Guloien said at the Scotiabank Financials Summit in Toronto.

Meanwhile, Sun Life Financial Inc is continuing to look for acquisitions, provided they help the Canadian insurer meet its target of a 12 to 14 per cent return on equity, Chief Executive Dean Connor said on Thursday.

“We continue to look for opportunities. We think we have the bandwidth to do more,” Connor told the summit.

“The bar continues to be high,” Connor said. “Our hurdle rates for M&A continue to fit with the 12 to 14 per cent RoE targets we put out for the company. We have not lowered our hurdle rates.”