All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
Ping An’s costly learning curve
Ping Ans costly learning curve A year ago Ping An, Chinas second-largest life insurer, trumpeted its 5 percent equity stake in Belgo-Netherlands bancassurer Fortis acquired for $3.5 billion as a major step in its goal of becoming a major player in global financial markets Its an investment Ping An has come to regret in the wake of Fortis near-demise and lead it to seriously question its future strategy.
An unfinished growth story
Polands emergence as a free enterprise economy and accession to the European Union has spurred dynamic growth in its life insurance industry, now the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe In less than a decade Polands life insurance industry has emerged as one of Europes big success stories with premium income rising from PLN7 billion ($3.1 billion) in 2000 to PLN27.8 billion in 2007, a CAGR of 21.8 percent
Franklin Templeton and China Life launch new joint venture
Franklin Templeton and China Life launch new joint venture A new asset management joint venture (JV) formed in Hong Kong has brought together two of the worlds largest financial institutions, China Life and US asset management company Franklin Templeton Investments
ING revs up its image
ING revs up its image With the 2007 Formula One (F1) racing season just ended, Netherlands bancassurer ING Group is upbeat about the results of its first year of sponsorship of the ING Renault F1 Team
News Briefs
CSC joins forces with LOMA in India… Hanover Insurance exits life industry… ING closes Mexican sale…
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Optional federal chartering would save billions of dollars
Optional federal chartering would save billions of dollars US insurers and insurance industry bodies lobbying for approval of legislation that would permit insurers to choose between existing state regulation or a new optional federal charter (OFC) have received a significant boost from a study authored by Laureen Regan, associate professor with Temple Universitys Fox School of Business and Management
China Life faces strong headwinds
His comments accompanied the release of China Lifes 2007 annual results, which revealed a sharp fall in market share and vulnerability to a weak equity market
McCreevy pulls no punches
Its blame time in the worlds financial markets and to date few have done a more thorough job than Charlie McCreevy, the European commissioner for internal market and services. Addressing a plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels on 22 September, McCreevy systematically chastised role players in the current financial market fiasco and left no doubt that a new regulatory approach lies ahead. Unsurprisingly, it was US banks that were first to come under attack from McCreevy for their pivotal role in creating a global financial crisis described by the European Central Bank governing council member Miguel ngel Fernndez Ordez as the worst since the 1929.
UK mortgage providers take the gap
When it comes to life insurance, home mortgage providers customers represent an ideal cross-selling opportunity, and in the UK it is one often taken advantage of at a high cost to customers, indicates a study undertaken by Post Office Life Insurance (POLI), a unit of the countrys postal service utility Indeed, in some instances the study found that customers could pay up to £1,971 ($3,900) too much in total over a 25-year period for term life cover bought via their mortgage provider. The extra £1,971 was based on the difference in the cost of £100,000 cover for a non-smoking male aged 40 next birthday over 25 years available from POLI (total cost £4,119) and from mortgage provider Natwest (total cost £6,090)
State regulators hit back at critics
Fighting a tough battle against proponents of an charter under which US insurers would be able choose between current state-only regulation and federal regulation, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has come out strongly in defence of its role in the American International Group (AIG) debacle. Some insurance lobbyists hope to politicise and mislead policymakers by suggesting AIGs problems are a result of state insurance supervision, and could have been averted by federal oversight, the NAICs president and Kansas Insurance Commissioner, Sandy Praeger wrote in a letter to the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.