newsfeed
Developing markets:
FREE ARTICLE
REINSURANCE
Converium opts out of the US
National Indemnity, a subsidiary of US financial services group Berkshire Hathaway, has bought the North American business unit of Swiss Life and non-life reinsurer Converium for $295 million. The purchase price comprised $95 million in cash and $200 million in assumption of debt.
Commenting, Converium CEO INGa Beale said: “We can now fully concentrate on building Converium’s future, with our business strategy focused on markets outside the US.”
Converium, which was spun off by Zurich Financial Services in 2001 as a separate company, has experienced considerable problems with its North American business. In 2004 the reinsurer announced that losses related primarily to underwriting between 1997 and 2001 would require a $420 million capital injection to strengthen its reserves.
Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and AM Best, which downgraded Converium harshly in 2004, have greeted positively the ownership change positively, placing the reinsurer on credit watches with positive outlook implications.
Converium opts out of the US
National Indemnity, a subsidiary of US financial services group Berkshire Hathaway, has bought the North American business unit of Swiss Life and non-life reinsurer Converium for $295 million. The purchase price comprised $95 million in cash and $200 million in assumption of debt.
Commenting, Converium CEO INGa Beale said: “We can now fully concentrate on building Converium’s future, with our business strategy focused on markets outside the US.”
Converium, which was spun off by Zurich Financial Services in 2001 as a separate company, has experienced considerable problems with its North American business. In 2004 the reinsurer announced that losses related primarily to underwriting between 1997 and 2001 would require a $420 million capital injection to strengthen its reserves.
Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and AM Best, which downgraded Converium harshly in 2004, have greeted positively the ownership change positively, placing the reinsurer on credit watches with positive outlook implications.
FREE ARTICLE
DEVELOPING MARKETS
Metlife pumps capital into India
Metropolitan Life Insurance ( Metlife) is to inject an additional $100 million in capital over the next two years to fund aggressive growth plans in India. The US insurer has a 26 percent interest in Metlife India, a company formed in 2002 as a joint venture between itself, J&K Bank, industrial group M Pallonji and private investors. Plans include a doubling of the number of Metlife India’s branches.
Metlife pumps capital into India
Metropolitan Life Insurance ( Metlife) is to inject an additional $100 million in capital over the next two years to fund aggressive growth plans in India. The US insurer has a 26 percent interest in Metlife India, a company formed in 2002 as a joint venture between itself, J&K Bank, industrial group M Pallonji and private investors. Plans include a doubling of the number of Metlife India’s branches.
Oct 11 2006
PREMIUM INCOME
Rates continue to slide steadily downwards
Premiums for individual life insurance in the US will fall by 4 percent in 2007, predicts the Insurance Information Institute (III). This decline is expected to be seen in universal life products, which pay a death benefit no matter when the insured person dies, and term life products. A 4 percent decline would be in line with the average 5 percent per year drop since 2000 and continue a trend that began several decades ago, said III economist Steven Weisbart.
He explained that life insurance rates are dropping because death rates for the 25 to 44 age group – the primary age range for purchasing life insurance – have decreased significantly over the past ten years.
Weisbart noted that in 1996 the death rate per 100,000 for the 25 to 44 age group was 177.8; by 2004 it had dropped to 161.8, based on preliminary data from the National Vital Statistics Reports.
“That is nearly a 10 percent drop in the death rate in less than a decade for the prime insurance-buying ages,” he stressed.
The result is that, in 2006, premiums are less than half of what they were just over a decade ago.
Providing an example of expected premiums for term policies in 2007, the III said it estimates that the annual premium for a 40-year-old male non-smoker buying a $500,000 20-year level term life insurance policy will be $615 if he qualifies as a “standard risk” and $340 if he meets the more stringent requirements of a “preferred risk”.
Rates for women, younger people and for larger amounts of insurance would be lower.
Rates continue to slide steadily downwards
Premiums for individual life insurance in the US will fall by 4 percent in 2007, predicts the Insurance Information Institute (III). This decline is expected to be seen in universal life products, which pay a death benefit no matter when the insured person dies, and term life products. A 4 percent decline would be in line with the average 5 percent per year drop since 2000 and continue a trend that began several decades ago, said III economist Steven Weisbart.
He explained that life insurance rates are dropping because death rates for the 25 to 44 age group – the primary age range for purchasing life insurance – have decreased significantly over the past ten years.
Weisbart noted that in 1996 the death rate per 100,000 for the 25 to 44 age group was 177.8; by 2004 it had dropped to 161.8, based on preliminary data from the National Vital Statistics Reports.
“That is nearly a 10 percent drop in the death rate in less than a decade for the prime insurance-buying ages,” he stressed.
The result is that, in 2006, premiums are less than half of what they were just over a decade ago.
Providing an example of expected premiums for term policies in 2007, the III said it estimates that the annual premium for a 40-year-old male non-smoker buying a $500,000 20-year level term life insurance policy will be $615 if he qualifies as a “standard risk” and $340 if he meets the more stringent requirements of a “preferred risk”.
Rates for women, younger people and for larger amounts of insurance would be lower.
Oct 11 2006
JOINT VENTURES
ING’s smart Malaysian move
Netherlands bancassurer ING’s Malaysian subsidiary, ING Insurance Bhd, has clinched a deal that positions it to greatly increase its market share. In terms of a memorandum of understanding signed with Malaysian company Nu-Efektif Sistem Sdn Bhd, ING will gain access to members of 5,354 co-operatives via the former’s SmartCOOP Programme that offers members benefits including term life and personal accident coverage to be underwritten by ING. To date about 500,000 of a potential 7 million co-operative members have joined the programme.
ING’s smart Malaysian move
Netherlands bancassurer ING’s Malaysian subsidiary, ING Insurance Bhd, has clinched a deal that positions it to greatly increase its market share. In terms of a memorandum of understanding signed with Malaysian company Nu-Efektif Sistem Sdn Bhd, ING will gain access to members of 5,354 co-operatives via the former’s SmartCOOP Programme that offers members benefits including term life and personal accident coverage to be underwritten by ING. To date about 500,000 of a potential 7 million co-operative members have joined the programme.
FREE ARTICLE
HEALTH CARETowards medical cost transparency US President George W Bush has signed an executive order ...
FREE ARTICLE
ADMINISTRATIONAon takes outsourcing routeInsurance broker Aon has entered into a ten-year outsourcing ...
FREE ARTICLE
DEVELOPING MARKETSMore signs of liberalisation in ChinaIn an ongoing wave of deregulation in China, ...
FREE ARTICLE
The global life insurance industry produced a generally solid performance in 2005, reported Swiss Re...
FREE ARTICLE
Marketing and research organisation Limra International’s survey of first quarter 2006 US individual life insurance sales reveals sales of $2.7 billion, up 15 percent compared with the corresponding period in 2005.
FREE ARTICLE
COMPANIES
AIG’s results disappoint
The share price of the world’s largest insurer by market capitalisation, American International Group ( AIG), tumbled 5 percent immediately following release of its first quarter results to 31 March 2006. In particular, the market was displeased with net income that came in at a lower than expected $3.20 billion, a 15.8 percent fall compared with the corresponding period in 2005.
AIG’s results disappoint
The share price of the world’s largest insurer by market capitalisation, American International Group ( AIG), tumbled 5 percent immediately following release of its first quarter results to 31 March 2006. In particular, the market was displeased with net income that came in at a lower than expected $3.20 billion, a 15.8 percent fall compared with the corresponding period in 2005.