Latest Life Insurance Headlines

All the headlines from our Life Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Baloise of Switzerland Profit Jumps on Life Insurance Sales

Aug 28 2014 // Baloise Holding AG, Switzerland’s third-biggest insurer, said first-half profit jumped 43 percent, boosted by earnings from life insurance. The shares rose on expectations for a higher dividend. Net income increased...

MAPFRE Enters Life Insurance Market in Massachusetts

Aug 27 2014 // MAPFRE U.S.A. said it has begun selling a term life insurance product in Massachusetts, where MAPFRE’s affiliate Commerce Insurance Company is the largest auto and home insurance carrier. MAPFRE said it is seeking to...

Ping An Profit Rises 19% on Higher Bank Revenue, Premium Income

Aug 20 2014 // Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s second-largest insurer, said first-half profit grew 19 percent as premium income climbed and banking revenue increased. Net income rose to 21.4 billion yuan ($3.5 billion), or a...

Lawsky: Regulators’ Stance on Life Insurers’ Captives Leaves Gaping Problem

Aug 14 2014 // New York’s financial-services regulator told fellow watchdogs they are failing to address a “gaping regulatory problem” that he said allows life insurers to artificially inflate reserves. There should be...

AIG’s 13-Year Wait Gets Longer as Modi Rebuffed: Corporate India

Aug 14 2014 // American International Group Inc. has waited 13 years in India to raise its stake in a local venture from a maximum allowed 26 percent. That wait is about to get longer. Opposition lawmakers, during the current session of...

Baloise Jumps as First-Half Profit Boosted by Life Insurance

Aug 5 2014 // Baloise Holding AG, Switzerland’s third-biggest insurer, rose the most in nearly three years after saying profit increased more than 40 percent in the first half. Profit will reach more than CHF 340 million ($375...

Apollo’s Life Insurance Unit Athene Holding Said to Be Examined for Caesars Link

Jul 22 2014 // Apollo Global Management LLC’s dual stakes in an insurer and the largest operator of U.S. casinos are drawing scrutiny by New York’s top financial regulator, who doesn’t want policyholders exposed to the...

Best Takes Rating Actions on AXA Financial, Certain Subsidiaries

Jul 21 2014 // A.M. Best has revised the outlook of the issuer credit ratings (ICR) to stable from negative and affirmed the ICR of “a-” and debt ratings of New York-based AXA Financial, Inc., and has revised its outlook on...

Iowa Agent Gets 41 Months in Prison for Defrauding Insurance Companies

Jul 15 2014 // A former Des Moines, Iowa, insurance agent was sentenced to 41 months in prison for insurance fraud, the Iowa Insurance Division announced. Melissa Ilene Williams, of Dike, Iowa, also was ordered to pay restitution for...

Under New CEO Hancock, Smaller AIG Expected to Focus on Growth

Jun 11 2014 // American International Group Inc. promoted Peter Hancock to chief executive officer as the company focuses on growth after his predecessor stabilized the insurer and paid back a 2008 government bailout. Hancock, 55,...

Best Upgrades State Farm General’s ICR; Affirms State Farm and Subs FSR’s

Jun 2 2014 // A.M. Best has upgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a+” from “a” and affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) of State Farm General Insurance Company, and...

Australia’s Suncorp Plans $462 Million Write-down, Cuts Growth Target

May 27 2014 // Suncorp Group Ltd., Australia’s largest general insurer by market value, plans a A$500 million (US$462 million) write-down at its life insurance unit and cut its growth target for the year to June 2015. The...

Florida Revises Insurer Solvency Review Process

May 4 2014 // The Florida legislature has approved legislation setting out new insurer solvency requirements while also requiring individuals to disclose information about any affiliated company. Sponsored by Senator David Simmons...

Life Insurers Flock to ‘Easy’ Iowa As More Federal Oversight Looms

Mar 28 2014 // After Symetra Financial Corp. was formed in 2004, the life insurer set up shop in a 25-story glass tower outside Seattle, put its name on the building and pushed the state to adopt more favorable rules for its...

Canada Pension Plan Board to Buy Wilton Re for $1.8 Billion

Mar 21 2014 // The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) announced that it has agreed to buy U.S. life insurance and reinsurance provider Wilton Re Holdings Ltd for $1.8 billion from a group of private equity firms, the first...

China’s Ping An Declines after Profit Trails Estimates

Mar 14 2014 // Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s second-biggest insurer, fell to the lowest in more than a month in Hong Kong trading after reporting profit that trailed analysts’ estimates. The shares fell 1.1 percent...

Insurers Urge Lawmakers Not to Impose Bank Capital Requirements on Industry

Mar 11 2014 // Insurance companies will urge U.S. lawmakers today to stop the Federal Reserve from imposing bank- like capital standards on their industry. A provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act that overhauled U.S. financial regulation...

AIG Rebranding, Expanding Retirement Services As Others Retreat

Jan 13 2014 // American International Group Inc. plans to add 600 advisers and expand their offerings to boost sales as rivals retreat from some retirement products. The insurer will increase the number of career agents at its newly...

Former California Broker Charged With Identity Theft And Forgery

Dec 19 2013 // Former insurance agent Eugene Shy-Ren Hsu, 31, of West Covina, Calif., was arrested by Department of Insurance officers and charged with multiple felony counts. The charges include grand theft, forgery, and identity theft...

Axa Germany Sees Higher Profit; Plans New Life Insurance Product

Dec 4 2013 // Axa Konzern AG, the German unit of Paris-based Axa SA, plans to increase operating profit this year as it reduces costs and readies a new life insurance product for 2014. “Our cost-reduction program is proceeding...