Industry Commentary
#441 | F&G and The Insurance Origination Model
What’s a life insurance company? We’ve asked this question a few times in The Life Product Review because the answer isn’t as clear-cut as it might seem. Life insurers exist on a spectrum. At one end sits the classic, true-blue…
#435 | The Securitization Frontier
A Primer on Securitization Securitization is one of those words that means nothing to the vast majority of humans and yet, unbeknownst to them, their financial lives intersect with securitization on a regular basis. If you have a mortgage, chances…
#425 | Waking the Japanese Giants
Earlier this month, Legal and General announced that it was selling its US entity, Banner Life, to Japanese mutual company Meiji Yasuda. The sale marks the next chapter of the continuing retreat of European insurers from the United States life…
#420 | A Question of Value
12/16/24 Update - The South Carolina Department of Insurance has also mandated that A-CAP's South Carolina entities, Atlantic Coast Life and Southern Atlantic Re, stop writing new business as of 12/31. This decision was inevitable and probably unavoidable because Atlantic…
#419 | The PHL Variable Plot Thickens
After 6 months of near-silence on the state of PHL Variable, the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) released updated financial statements last week – and they’re absolutely jaw-dropping. As of Q3 2024, PHL Variable’s surplus position has deteriorated to negative $2.1…
#409 | Who Killed Columbian?
About 3 weeks ago, the New York Department of Financial Services moved to place Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company into rehabilitation. Crucially, the petition to rehabilitate Columbian Mutual did not include a moratorium that blocks the ability for policyholders to…
#405 | Lincoln VULone and the End of an Era
In the pre-dawn hours of October 31st, 2018, you would have found me sitting in my chair with my computer in my lap writing an article about Voya formally ceasing to write new life insurance business at the end of…
#404 | Who Killed PHL Variable?
Introduction I have to start this article with an admission. When I first saw the news about PHL Variable Insurance Company (PHLVIC) being put under administration and then rehabilitation by the State of Connecticut, I didn’t think much of it.…
#403 | The Double Edged Sword – Assets
Writing insurance is a double-edged sword. One side of the blade are the risks covered by the insurance policies themselves – the liability structure. The other side of the blade are the assets that support those liabilities. Successfully managing an…
#401 | Assurance IQ and the End of an Era
Prudential’s first quarter earnings release held a simultaneously shocking and yet completely predictable announcement – Assurance IQ is being formally shut down. It’s completely predictable because Prudential had already booked hundreds of millions in operating losses on Assurance IQ, pivoted…
