Cinven Ltd. has announced that it has purchased the life and pension unit of U.K. Guardian from the Dutch insurance company which owns Scottish Equitable, Aegon NV, for $449 million, in the effort to reduce its expenses within the United Kingdom. According to Aegon, which is based in the Hague, by the end of June 2011, the U.K. Guardian unit had recorded a value of approximately $445 million. Its unit for asset management will still be responsible for Guardian’s approximately $12 billion in assets on Cinven’s behalf. By 2015, Aegon’s…
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Kemper will be the new name for Unitrin
The Unitrin Inc. insurance company made the announcement that it will be changing its name before the end of the month, at which time it will be known as Kemper Corp. Unitrin is based in Chicago, and in 2002 it had purchased the personal lines business from Kemper, another insurer that was still operational at the time. Today Unitrin has announced that its purchase has become the largest unit in the company, having brought in slightly under $1 billion in premiums in 2010. According to Don Southwell, Chairman and CEO…
Read MoreMassachusetts health insurer posts earnings, shows marked increase in profits and narrowing of losses
Despite a tumultuous year, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is reporting high earnings in the second quarter. Thus far, 2011 has proven to be relentless in the number of natural disasters occurring throughout the U.S. While speculations regarding the losses faced by insurance companies have been somewhat grave, the fact of the matter is that many insurers are earning more than they did before the disasters. There can be no doubt that these insurers, most of whom operate in the property market, have, indeed, suffered losses, but their ability…
Read MoreS&P’s downgrade could impact the nation’s insurance industry
Recently, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a major financial research and analysis company based in the U.S., downgraded the U.S. government debt. The firm now classifies the nation’s finances as having a “negative” outlook. S&P’s actions have spurred the nation’s insurance and finance companies to take another look at their practices and portfolios, keen to spot any compliance violations spawned from the downgrade. The search for such violations has been slow going so far, as the U.S.’ long-term ratings have never before been downgraded. The downgrade has left many major insurance…
Read MoreInvestment losses cause health and accident insurers to struggle
Health and Accident insurance companies are finding themselves facing a hit in their earnings, recently, as a result of investment losses coming from struggles in the shaky European economy. Banks from Ireland, Portugal, and Greece, have all faced challenges which have led companies such as AFLAC Inc., who have placed a good deal of their investments with them, to experience some notable losses. AFLAC has announced that it will likely face losses in the second quarter that will reach $610 million as a direct result of these investments. The insurer…
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