The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, July 9, edition that Canaccord Genuity is more bullish on Canadian life insurance stocks than on banks. The Post's David Pett writes in the Trading Desk column that analyst Gabriel Dechaine says: "Our more aggressive stance on the lifecos not only reflects our higher growth expectations, but our views on capital deployment and capital regulation. ... In short, we believe that, not only is capital deployment going to act as a catalyst for the lifecos, but also a more supportive regulatory environment for the lifecos will be more valuable to investors." Over the past year, the banks have been raising the bar for target capital to a current range of 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent, up from about 8.5 per cent previously, but Canadian life insurers are not doing the same, choosing instead to leave capital thresholds at current levels, notes Mr. Dechaine. He believes banks that regularly raise the bar for target capital have become a source of frustration for investors, one that should help lifecos outperform over the next 12 months. "We are raising our lifeco price targets by 8 per cent on average and our bank targets by 4 per cent."