All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
Industry body prods UK consumers to shop around for annuities
The ABIs solution to the problem comes in the form of a compulsory code of practice that will compel insurers to remove the annuity application form in the communications they send to their customers
Direct marketing by US life insurers missing the mark
This is the view of Gary Wooley, director of insurance consulting at Mintel Comperemedia, a consultancy specialising in direct marketing
Solvency II regulation for pensions faces opposition from business
This warning comes from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UKs biggest business organisation, in a call on the British government to resist plans by the European Commission (EC) to treat defined benefit pension schemes as insurance contracts.
Prudential Financial gets go-ahead in China
The JV partners received initial approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) in mid-September to form what will be the first life insurance company in China that will be owned jointly by a non-state-owned enterprise and a foreign capital enterprise.
Life insurance takes a backseat in the financial planning process
A recent survey by a life industry consultancy paints a grim picture of the centrality of life insurance in the financial planning process in the US. Saybrus Partners teamed with Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey of American consumers on a variety of questions related to financial planning, investing and life insurance. The most disturbing finding, by far, was that only about half of adults who currently have a financial adviser and a financial plan have ever discussed adding life insurance to their plans at any point in the advising relationship.
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UK pension gloom
In a bid to prevent the UK from plunging into recession, the Bank of England has embarked on a new round of quantitative easing that will see it inject £75bn ($120bn) into the economy. There is no other choice, said the Bank of Englands governor Mervyn King, who warned that the current financial situation is “the most serious financial crisis at least since the 1930s, if not ever”. However, while the banks action may be the correct thing to do for the economy, it has negative implications for the incomes of pension funds and pensioners
Life premium income growth stalls in China
The industrys performance in the first eight months of 2011 represented a significant decline in momentum compared with the first half of the year which saw total premium income increase by 13% compared with the first half of 2010
Optimism fades in UK financial service sector
Sentiment in the UKs financial services industry in September fell for the first time since March 2009, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reported
A huge mortality protection gap to fill
But from all accounts life insurers are failing to capture the full potential of developing and developed markets in the region as evidenced by a massive mortality protection gap.
Intact on-sells Axa’s former Canadian life unit
Axa announced on 26 September that it had closed the sale of its Canadian general and life insurance operations to Canadian general insurer Intact Financial Corporation for C$2.6bn ($2.5bn) Simultaneously, Intact announced that it had agreed to sell the life insurance portion of the acquisition, Axa Life Insurance, to Canadian composite mutual insurer SSQ Financial Group for an undisclosed sum. Axa Life Insurance operates in the individual and groups life sectors, and in 2010 reported premium income of C$159m, assets of C$856m and equity of C$129m