Pursuing his objective of purging
portfolios of insurers licensed in California of any Iran-related
investments, the state’s insurance commissioner Steve Poizner has
released the names of 50 companies doing business with Iranian
nuclear, energy and defence sectors. The release follows an
instruction issued by Poizner in June 2009 to the 1,327 insurance
companies licensed in the state to report all shares they hold in
companies that have connections with Iran.
Poizner announced that the shares involved in
portfolios of the 341 insurers that had reported holding
Iran-related shares had a total market value of some $6bn.
According to Poizner, insurers acquired $1.8bn in Iran-related
investments in 2008 and $2.4bn in the first quarter of 2009.
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Beyond the considerable sum involved, the list
of companies released by Poizner could pose some serious concerns
to insurers reluctant to become forced sellers of shares in what
are in some of the world’s largest corporations.
The insurers will have 90 days in which to sell
the shares, failing which they will not be allowed to include them
in their statement credit for investments, thus reducing the
capital and surplus reported on their financial statements. In
addition, Poizner will subpoena executives of insurers who refuse
to sell the shares to testify under oath and ask them why they
believe it is in the interest of California policyholders for their
premiums to be invested in companies “propping up Iran’s energy,
nuclear, and defence sectors”.
Companies targeted for sale include British oil
company Royal Dutch Shell, German technology conglomerate Siemens,
the world’s biggest offshore oil and gas company, Statoil of
Norway, Brazilian oil giant and Latin America’s largest company,
Petroleo Brasileiro, and French oil company Total.
Justifying his drive to force insurers to sell
Iran-related shares Poizner commented: “We need to do whatever it
takes to put maximum pressure on Iran to change its behaviour.”
He added that $6bn in Iran-related investments
account for only 0.15% of the total estimated $4trn in investments
by insurance companies licensed to do business in California.
