Guaranteed Investment Contract (GIC)

A stable value investment contracts (typically a group annuity contract) issued by an insurance company that pays a specified rate of return for a specific period of time, offers book value accounting, typically pays benefits to plan participants, and provides annuities upon request. These contracts are also known as guaranteed insurance contracts or guaranteed interest contracts and may be backed by either an issuer’s general account assets or separate account assets. In all cases, the insurance company owns the invested assets and the obligation to the contract-holder is backed by the full financial strength and credit of the issuer. A GIC that is held as an investment by a stable value investment option is typically known as a traditional GIC, while a GIC offered as the sole stable value investment option is more generally known as a guaranteed insurance account.