The new year promises to be a tough one for the U.S. life and health insurance sectors, according to an industry report card released today by Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services.
Britain’s FSA has fined international reinsurance giant Aon 5.25 million pounds ($7.9 million) for failing to maintain effective anti-bribery systems.
Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner yesterday seized control of Penn Treaty Network America Insurance Co., a foundering long term care insurer, because it’s having difficulty maintaining appropriate capital levels.
Cigna anticipates that most of the layoffs will be completed by the middle of this year and that all of the affected employees will be eligible for severance benefits and outplacement support.
Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services today lowered its counterparty credit and financial ratings on Nationwide Financial, the life insurance division of Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., to A+, from AA-.
Tremont Group Holdings, which is owned by OppenheimerFunds Inc., a subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual, had $3.3 billion invested with Mr. Madoff — more than half of its total $5.8 billion under management.
Axa SA of Paris, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Springfield and Swiss Reinsurance Co., as well as other all-star companies, have also been exposed to Mr. Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Morgan Stanley downgraded ING Groep NV, Standard Life PLC and Aegon NV to “underweight” from “equal weight,” expecting more challenges ahead for the insurers, Reuters reported.
The Allstate Corp. of Northbrook, Ill., has announced the departure of James E. Hohmann, president and chief executive of Allstate Financial LLC, who is leaving on Jan. 5.
MetLife Inc. today said that its fourth-quarter profits will be up from the 2007 period and that it will reap the benefits of investment gains.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners of Kansas City, Mo., yesterday adopted a new proposal to modernize state-based regulation of reinsurance.
Shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. jumped this morning on news that the company has raised its earnings guidance for the end of the year.
AIG is in need of a federal government guaranty to meet counterparty collateral requirements, its former CEO Maurice Greenberg, said today.
Genstar Capital LLC, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm, yesterday agreed to buy Long Term Care Group Inc., an outsourced services administrator.
While variable annuity performance has plunged this fall, the hedging programs designed to protect the products have helped carriers save $40 billion during September and October, according to a study from Milliman Inc.
Fixed annuity sales in the United States hit $27.1 billion in the third quarter, up by 54% from the third quarter of 2007, according to data from Beacon Research of Evanston, Ill.
Many plan sponsors aren't focused on the investment strategies behind target date funds, creating an opportunity for financial advisers to play a greater role in the retirement-planning process, according to a survey by JPMorgan Asset Management Inc. of New York.
The New York-based accounting firm yesterday paid the settlement in connection with its auditing service for Philadelphia-based Reliance Insurance Co., a carrier that’s now in liquidation.
Ameritas Life Insurance Co. of Lincoln, Neb., will offer a new version of its new variable universal life policy Jan. 1 as the company tries to conform to new mortality tables.
As representatives from the American auto industry plead for a multibillion-dollar federal bailout, some financial advisers are already bracing for worst-case scenarios that could leave thousands of autoworkers, retirees and those working in related industries scrambling to fill retirement and health care funding gaps.
