All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
Canadian crackdown on banks’ online insurance marketing loophole
A regulatory loophole that has enabled Canadian banks to circumvent draconian restrictions on their ability to sell insurance is about to be closed by Canadas minister of finance, Jim Flaherty. Acting on a warning he issued in January this year, Flaherty has announced plans to prohibit the promotion of non-authorised insurance products on the web pages of Canadian banks Use of their websites by banks to promote their insurance operations has enabled them to overcome to an extent a regulation that limits them to sell non-authorised insurance products only through specialist insurance branches separate from those of their banking operations.
Old Mutual talks up South African mega-fund
Old Mutual South Africa (OMSA) has launched what it claims is the countrys largest multi-employer umbrella pension fund, the Old Mutual SuperFund Aiming to drum up business in South Africas pension market, OMSA Corporate umbrella fund product manager Hugh Hacking said the fund initially has 300,000 member accounts from some 5,000 employers.
Prudential licks its wounds after AIA bid failure
Speculation is rife in the UK media as to whether Prudentials CEO Tidjane Thiam will survive the collapse of the insurers bid to acquire AIA Group, American International Groups (AIG) Asian subsidiary, for $35.5bn The deals failure thwarts Thiams ambition to make Asia “the groups future growth engine” and increase the proportion of business derived from Asia from 50% to 80%
Fixed annuities lead slide in US annuity sales
Annuity sales in the US got off to a bad start in the first quarter of 2010, coming in at $47.4bn, down 6.9% from $50.9bn in the previous quarter and 27% on the first quarter of 2009 Data was supplied by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and for the first time combines fixed annuity data from fixed annuity research firm Beacon Research and variable annuity data from financial information specialist Morningstar
E&Y wins Equitable Life fine appeal
Another chapter in the Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS) saga is complete, with a £500,000 ($730,000) fine for Ernst & Young (E&Y) relating to shortcomings of audits carried out on ELAS between 1997 and 1999 The fine was handed down to E&Y by the UK accountancy professions Appeal Tribunal following an appeal lodged by E&Y against a £4.4m fine imposed by the professions Joint Disciplinary Tribunal (JDT) in 2008
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Mixed signals from new US life settlements index
Now in its fifth month, an index of activity and prospects in the US life settlements market is providing mixed indications of whether the market has begun a sustained recovery following its setback in 2009. Produced by life settlements information specialist Amrita Financial the index produced a positive picture in April, rising 92.8 points (28.6%), from 324.6 points in March to 417.4 point
Dai-ichi Life and IBM team up to streamline business processes
Japans third-largest life insurer Dai-ichi Life and US technology giant IBM have joined forces in a research programme aimed at developing technology solutions for insurers using IBMs semantic analytics technology.
Sun Life launches mutual fund business in home market
Sun Life Financial has decided to apply its own investment skills in the Canadian mutual fund market with the launch of its own mutual fund management company Canadas third-largest life insurers initiative includes offering the investment capabilities of MFS Investment Management, Sun Lifes US-based asset manager, to Canadian retail investors. Establishing a mutual fund company is an important step in Sun Lifes strategy to grow our wealth management business in Canada, Kevin Dougherty, president of both Sun Life Financial Canada and Sun Life Global Investments, said.
Conseco looks to name change for new image
US life and health insurer Conseco formerly changed its name to CNO Financial Group, Inc on 11 May In addition, it establishes a unique identity that investors will recognise and that all our stakeholders will be able to keep separate from the identities of our principal insurance companies Bankers Life, Colonial Penn and Washington National.
Discovery Holdings deal shakes up UK private health insurance market
South African insurer Discovery Holdings has acquired Standard Lifes health insurance unit Standard Life Healthcare (SLH) for £138m ($100m) in cash Trebling membership of its UK health insurance business, the deal was struck at a 47% discount to SLHs £258.5m net asset value. After closing of the deal, SLH will form part of Discoverys venture with UK insurer Prudential, PruHealth, following which Discoverys stake in PruHealth will rise from 50% to 75%.