Conseco reports 2Q earnings of $27.6M, its second straight quarter of profit

Conseco Inc. reaped a second-quarter profit of $27.6 million, or 15 cents a share, marking its second consecutive quarter in the black. The Carmel, Ind.-based insurer posted a loss of $488.5 million or $2.65 a share, for the second quarter of 2008. Conseco booked $13.2 million in net realized-investment losses in the latest quarter, with total losses of $53.7 million, barring temporary impairments. Conseco subsidiaries Bankers Life & Casualty Co. in Chicago and Colonial Penn Life Insurance Co. in Philadelphia also reported stronger results. Bankers Life's earnings rose to $63.3 million in the second quarter, from $34.6 a year earlier, while Colonial Penn's profits rose to $11 million, from $8.3 million. Conseco also noted that though its risk-based capital ratio — a measure that regulators use to determine how much statutory capital and surplus carriers must hold — had risen slightly from the first quarter, it was still down from a year earlier. The insurer finished the second quarter with an RBC ratio of 247%, bolstered by insurance regulators' decision to modify the way they look at a company's portfolio of commercial mortgage loans. The company's RBC ratio was 230% in the first quarter this year and 271% in the second quarter of 2008.