Insurer

There is a new long term care entitlement in the current healthcare reform bills in both the House and Senate. The long term care provision is known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act ("Class Act"). The Class Act is projected to run a surplus during its first few years of existence, but will be in deficit within 10 years. This budget projection excludes the present value of the program's future liabilities--in other words, the type of accounting that any private...

"In-Plan" annuities refer to the use of annuities within defined contribution pension programs such as 401k plans. The concept is relatively new, but the timing should be a perfect the concept to gain traction: The financial crisis has devastated the portfolios of many retirees and near-retirees. Millions of baby boomers will add to the 70 million or so U.S. residents over the age of 55. People are starving for stable, guaranteed sources of income in light of market volatility and increasing...

The UK pension market is in tough shape post financial crisis. According to a Bloomberg article, "about 87 percent of the U.K.’s 7,400 final salary pension plans are in deficit following the financial crisis." This crisis offers an unprecendented opportunity for companies that insure the pension liabilities of private corporations through bulk purchase annuities. “The bulk-purchase annuity market is going to continue to be a good market because companies want to get their pension...

Life and annuity insurer MetLife reported strong operating results for the second quarter. Earnings from operations exceeded analyst forecasts and came in at $723 million for the quarter. Derivatives losses of $1.8 billion affected reported net income . MetLife's variable annuity business is strong with deposits increasing 27% to a record $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2009. This stands in contrast to rival Hartford Financial which reported variable annuity deposits of $701 million for...