All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
China’s Ping An delivers positive performance in 2011
Chinas second-largest life insurer, Ping An pulled out all the stops in 2011 to produce a net profit attributable to shareholders of CNY9.475bn ($1.5bn). With its performance last year, Ping An trounced its larger rival, China Life, which has reported a 45.5% slump in net attributable profit for 2011 to CNY18.33bn.
Quotes of the month for April 2012
The actions will allow us to build on our strong financial foundation by concentrating our resources on a smaller number of businesses to position the hartford for long-term success – Liam E
Prudential’s Asian expansion pays off
Prudentials Asian expansion strategy paid off for it in 2011 by transforming what would have been a dismal set of results into reasonably positive set.
Life insurance sentiment turns positive
After a period in the doldrums, life insurance sentiment has returned to positive territory, according to a survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Respondents to the survey said they experienced stronger volumes of business during Q1 2012 and 95% saw new business as having increased
Five insurers make it onto ethical list
Nine insurers and one reinsurer have been named as being amongst the worlds most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute, a non-profit organisation focused on promoting ethical corporate behaviour
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More US insurers opt for long-term care exit door
Commenting, Prudential Group Insurance vice-president Malcolm Cheung said: The decision to exit the individual long term care business reflects the challenging economics of the individual market and our desire to focus our resources and capital on the group market where we see the greatest opportunity.
Busting European insurance myths
This is particularly true in the European life and pensions industry believes Ernst & Young (E&Y). In a study, Voice of the customer Time for insurers to rethink their relationships, theservices firm highlights what itterms myths pervading the European life,pensions and investments industry:
China Life dishes up more bad news
The warning from Chinas largest life insurer indicates that it had a very tough second half and will follow a 21.8% decline in its attributable profit in the first half of 2011 to CNY12.96bn ($2.05bn). Taken in the middle of China Lifes expected profit decline 45% its attributable profit in 2011 will come in at about CNY18.5bn
Global pension assets edge higher
Despite facing investment market headwinds during 2011, pension fund assets in the worlds 13 largest pension markets clawed their way to a record high by year-end, reveals a study by professional services group Towers Watson. Towers Watson estimates total pension assets in the 1 markets increased by 3.8%, taking them from $26.5trn in 2010 to $27.51trn in 2011, continuing an upward trend that began with a recovery in 2009 when assets grew by 17%
US’ flaw-ridden Death Master File
Prudential Financial has become the latest US life insurer to agree to pay beneficiaries of unclaimed life policies Under the agreement brokered by the California Department ofInsurance, Prudential will pay a total of some $17m to beneficiaries in 20 states. Prudential also agreed to regularly check the US Social Security Administration (SSA) Departments Death Master File (DMF) to determine whether any of its life insurance policyholders, owners of annuities and holders of retained asset accounts have died.