Obama Plan Could Boost Revenue From Life Insurers: UBS
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Mon, 02/08/2010A positive for the industry could come from the proposed increase in tax rates for upper-income Americans, “which could help demand for tax-advantaged policies,” according to a note to investors by Andrew Kligerman, an analyst for UBS, New York.
Kligerman says an administration budget proposal to limit tax avoidance on life settlement arrangements would hurt life settlement firms, but he believes that strikes a positive note for life insurers’ policy margins, which are partly supported by lapse rates.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/2/Pages/Obama-Plan-C...
ACLI Calls For Life Settlement Securitization Ban
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Fri, 02/05/2010The ACLI, Washington, has put out a policy statement asserting that packaging life insurance settlements into securities increases the risk of fraud, by encouraging securitizers to lure seniors into participating in illegal, stranger-originated life insurance transactions; by encouraging seniors to help file fraudulent STOLI applications; and by encouraging investors to buy life settlement-backed securities without understanding the risks involved.
UPDATE: Check out Settlement Execs Blast ACLI Comment.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/2/Pages/ACLI-Calls-F...
Antitrust Bill To Drop Friday
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Fri, 02/05/2010Lawmakers plan to introduce a bill that would repeal the protection that the McCarran-Ferguson Act now gives health insurers and medical malpractice insurers against federal antitrust laws.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/2/Pages/Antitrust-Bi...
Life Web Searches Rise
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Thu, 02/04/2010Internet users searched for life insurance information on the Web about 16.6 million times in 2009, according to a Web traffic measurement firm.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/2/Pages/Life-Web-Sea...
ALU: Economic Impact August 2009
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Thu, 02/04/2010The Academy of Life Underwriting is proud to release the results of its recent survey on the impact of the current economic situation on insurance companies, their business and underwriting departments and underwriters. All survey questions were in the context of the economy and the impact it has created. The survey compiled responses between May 19th and June 12th. The intention was to compile ‘basic impressions’ from a 'current' context as far as timing was concerned.
http://www.alu-web.com/ContentManagement/ContentShow.aspx?s=q9LviJ1Ec3M=
As Impairments Rise by at Least 30%, D&O Insurers Feel the Pain (BestWeek)
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Wed, 02/03/2010An exclusive BestWeek story reports that impairments for both life/health and property/casualty writers are up by at least 30%, compared with 2008. At least 20 insurers became impaired this year, up from 15 in 2008 and 14 in 2007. And though the pain is widespread, it’s especially felt by a company’s directors and officers insurers, which pay for defense costs, as well as any settlements that arise from lawsuits, BestWeek U.S./Canada reports.
http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-122309-5.htm
New US rules set parity for mental health care
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Wed, 02/03/2010Employer-provided group health plans must offer the same level of coverage for mental illness and drug abuse treatment as other ailments according to new federal law.
http://insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-020110-he1.htm
Life & Longevity Markets Association
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Tue, 02/02/2010The LLMA has been established as a not-for-profit venture in order to promote a liquid traded market in longevity and mortality-related risk.
The LLMA’s founder members are: AXA, Deutsche Bank,
J.P. Morgan, Legal & General, Pension Corporation,
Prudential, RBS and Swiss Re.
Secondary Market of Life Insurance and Related Insurer Challenges Entering 2009
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010Report issued in January 2009 by the Insurance Studies Institute.
http://www.insurancestudies.org/research_product/Secondary%20Market%20of...
Gender Considerations in a Voluntary Individual Health Insurance Market
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010Setting premiums commensurate with the relative risk is a fundamental principle of any viable private, voluntary individual health insurance system. Incorporating risk characteristics, such as age, gender, and geographical location, has long been an integral part of calculating premiums for individual health insurance. (American Academy of Actuaries)
Bank Life Sales Soar
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010U.S. banks sold 32% more life insurance during the first 3 quarters of 2009 than they did during the comparable period in 2008, according to Kehrer-LIMRA.
Kehrer-LIMRA, Windsor, Conn., has published percentage change figures, not figures on the total volume of life insurance products sold. Bank life sales account for just a portion of all U.S. life sales.
But the growth rate for life sales at banks far outpaced the life sales growth rate for the U.S. life insurance industry as a whole, Kehrer-LIMRA reports.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/News/2010/1/Pages/Bank-Life-Sa...
Refining and Enhancing Simplified Underwriting
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010With the need for quicker turnaround time and swifter issue of policies, the life insurance industry was faced with a dilemma. How could the industry achieve this target to satisfy its customers’ needs without compromising its strict underwriting practices and its risk profile? The answer was simplified underwriting.
http://www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com/Exclusives/2009/12/Pages/Refin...
Positioning the Industry for Success
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010Transamerica Reinsurance President Paul Rutledge recently spoke with Fred Sievert, former president of New York Life and current chairman of the Actuarial Foundation, about the demanding issues facing life insurers since the onset of the financial crisis. Fred shares his view that a number of life insurers, in search of continued growth, became too comfortable with optimistic investment gains subsidizing increasingly risky business. When the financial markets began failing, the weaknesses of this dependency were exposed.
http://www.transamericareinsurance.com/Media/media_associateArticle.aspx...
Dynamic Policyholder Behaviour Survey
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010This 2009 Milliman survey examines European life insurance companies’ modeling of dynamic policyholder behaviour, which is the influence that external factors can have over policyholders’ propensity to exercise the options available in a life insurance policy.
http://www.milliman.com/expertise/life-financial/publications/rr/pdfs/dy...
Life insurers continue to face challenging environment, enhanced regulation in 2010: Ernst and Young
Submitted by Kathleen McGrath on Sat, 01/30/2010The US life insurance industry will likely face an extended period of weak earnings, slow growth and greater regulatory oversight as the economy slowly recovers from the financial crisis, according to Ernst & Young’s Global Insurance Center 2010 U.S. Outlook for the life insurance industry.
http://www.ey.com/US/en/Newsroom/News-releases/Life-insurers-continue-to...
