Hard times are on the horizon for insurers as commercial mortgage exposure haunts carriers and capital levels shrink, according to Fitch.
Insurers have begun bidding for American Life Insurance Co., the life insurance unit of American International Group Inc.
Investors' concerns about negative market returns are likely to create a greater demand for guaranteed products such as variable annuities, but the downturn in the markets has changed the insurers' cost of managing the hedging risk of VAs.
Advisers may complain about variable annuities, but most still endorse the product.
As this year's returning chairman of the NAIC's Life Insurance and Annuities (A) Committee, Eric R. Dinallo's priorities are making sure that consumers are protected while helping carriers steer a course through choppy economic waters.
Seeking to assess the strength of the insurance carriers they do business with, many smaller independent broker-dealers — flummoxed by the insurers' opaque balance sheets and arcane accounting practices — are relying on a time-tested tool: their own observations.
The Iowa insurance commissioner has eased accounting rules for 11 insurers based in the state, allowing them to polish up their balance sheets.
John W. Goff, owner of the Goff Group, may face at least 20 years in prison after his conviction yon charges of mail fraud, embezzlement and filing false documents.
When the SEC declared that equity index annuities are securities last year, it ignored the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group Inc. yesterday said that would no longer be able to participate in a federal commercial paper program.
The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group received approval from the Connecticut insurance commissioner to change accounting practices.
Insurers are eager to continue developing products in the variable annuity arena — with the search for ways to reduce risk as a top priority.
The Retirement Income Industry Association gave a sneak peek into an initiative designed to encourage financial advisers to take a risk management approach.
Providers will push forward with the development of the income guarantee paired with a unified managed account, and with other vehicles, despite hurdles.
Advisers are admitting now more than ever before that insurers’ solvency and financial strength are at the forefront in their minds when they recommend products.
Seeking to wrest market share from the asset management industry, life insurance executives will embark on a campaign of simplified consumer communications and stress real-life contexts for the use of their products.
Client interest in establishing spendthrift trusts for beneficiaries is picking up steam, partly due to the fact that wealthy clients are becoming more risk-averse, according to financial advisers.
Mary Jo Hudson, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, yesterday adopted three accounting rule changes that would grant insurers based there some reserve relief.