All articles by LII editorial
LII editorial
Chinese regulatory authority opens door wider to banks
Involvement of banks in Chinas life insurance industry is set to increase thanks to an accommodating stance being taken by the China Insurance Regulatory Authority (CIRC) towards insurance sales via banks and, potentially, investment by banks in insurers In the latest development Chinas official news agency Xinhua reports that the CIRC has granted permission to the state-owned Bank of China and private sector bank China Minsheng Banking Corp to commence insurance sales.
Decline in US term life premiums set to slow
Decline in US term life premiums set to slow Premium rates for individual term life insurance in the US will continue to fall in 2008 but at a much slower rate than has been seen for many years, predicts Steven Weisbart, vice-president and chief economist of insurance industry body the Insurance Information Institute (III) Indicative of premiums in 2008, the III estimates that, for example, the annual premium for a 40-year-old male non-smoker buying a $500,000 20-year level term life insurance policy in 2008 will be about $725 if he qualifies as a standard risk and $350 if he meets the more stringent requirements of a preferred risk
Costly US state regulatory system boosts federal lobby
US insurers and insurance industry bodies lobbying for approval of legislation that would permit insurers to choose between existing state regulation or an optional federal charter (OFC) have received a boost from a study undertaken by Martin F Grace and Robert W Klein of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research at Georgia State University Among positive findings from the perspective of OFC proponents was the rapidly increasing cost of maintaining state regulators According to the study, commissioned by industry body the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), over the budget years 2004 to 2008, the total of all state regulatory budgets increased by 47 percent, substantially more than inflation which, measured by changes in the consumer price index over the period, totalled 10 percent.
Bank deposit guarantee adds to UK pension woes
Bank deposit guarantee adds to UK pension woes The UK governments attempt to solve one major problem banking industry instability has made the pensions crisis a whole lot worse, warns independent policy adviser Ros Altmann. Quite simply, she explained, by providing a 100 percent guarantee on bank deposits it is now far safer for consumers to put their money into a bank than a pension or any other long-term investment where protection provided by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Pension Protection Fund only cover about 90 percent of investments up to a capped amount.
IBM fights insurance fraud
EBB has contracted to use IBMs new Risk Identification Analysis Service, developed in collaboration with health care organisations, to combat health care insurance claim fraud
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Insurers grapple with claims f
There is no end to the ingenuity of criminals reveals the first five-year review of claim fraud statistics in South Africa Between 2003 and 2007 the countrys life insurers identified 20,992 claim frauds ranging from identity theft to material non-disclosure and in the process prevented a total loss of ZAR1.33 billion ($185 million) Undertaken by industry body the Life Offices Association (LOA), the review was based on data collated by the LOA in an effort to assist member companies in reducing fraudulent claims through the sharing of information about fraud trends and patterns, said the LOAs CEO Gerhard Joubert.
New non-disclosure approach
New guidelines issued by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on the payment of critical illness, income protection and life insurance claims where medical information has not been disclosed have been widely welcomed by insurers as a means of improving consumer confidence and providing impetus to sales The number of protection claims that are turned down will fall, predicted the ABIs director general, Stephen Haddrill.
Aviva commits to Irish health insurance market
That pending regulatory reform of Irelands private health insurance (PHI) industry is set to improve its competitive landscape appears to underlie an announcement that Hibernian Group, UK insurer Avivas wholly-owned Irish insurance subsidiary, is to formally enter the market Hiberians entry comes via its proposed acquisition of a 70 percent stake in Irelands smallest health insurer Vivas Health from Allied Irish Banks (AIB) for an undisclosed sum. AIB will retain a 30 percent stake in Vivas which had total assets of 88.9 million ($140 million) at the end of 2007
Allianz continues down the outsourcing route
In the latest in a series of outsourcing deals, the European insurers US unit, Allianz of America (AOA), has entered into a 7.5-year outsourcing agreement with information technology company IBM in what AOA termed a major step in its drive to achieve $150 million in operational savings within the next three years The contract covers AOAs life insurance unit, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, and its general insurance unit, Firemans Fund Insurance Company, and is worth $330 million to IBM
Singapore sales boom could falter
Singapores life insurers enjoyed boom conditions in the first quarter of 2008 with industry body the Singapore Life Insurance Association (SLIA) reporting new business premium income of SGD2.993 billion ($2.2 billion), up 52 percent compared with the first quarter of 2007