Tag: life insurance market

Senate Report Reveals Tax Loopholes in Special Life Insurance Plans

Angela Linders
life insurance

In an era when tax strategies of the rich and powerful are under increasing scrutiny, a recent Senate report featured in The Washington Post, has shone a stark light on the life insurance market — not for its widely acknowledged benefits, but for its exploitation as a tax shelter by America’s wealthiest. The traditional purposes of life insurance, including estate planning and providing non-taxable benefits to heirs, are well-understood. Yet, as the Senate Finance Committee revealed, a niche offering known as Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) propels these advantages into…

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Life insurance market in Kenya now includes Barclays

H. Cutner
africa insurance market life industry growth

The formal entry into the country’s marketplace has now begun with a brand new launch. Barclays Africa Group Limited has now launched Barclays Life Assurance Kenya (in which it has a majority ownership of 66.6 percent), representing its formal entrance into that country’s life insurance market. This represents the fifth market in Africa into which Barclays has established its insurance business in that sector. The other African markets into which Barclays has taken its first steps include Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, and Mozambique. Among the other shareholders in this life…

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Life insurance industry in India to rise by 15 percent by 2018

G. Turner
india flag insurance industry

Recent estimates have shown that the sector is strong in the country and that it will see steady growth. The latest estimates from the life insurance sector of the industry in India has indicated that there will not only be increases in size over the next five years, but that it will be up to 15 percent compounded annual growth. There are many reasons for this high growth rate, but it is especially credited to two main ones. These two main factors that are sending the life insurance industry upward…

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Life insurance leader in the Philippines market declared

G. Turner
Life insurance market leader

A Canadian company has established dominance over the marketplace in the Asia Pacific country. It has just been announced that Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), has now been named the leading life insurance company in the market in the Philippines for the second year in a row. This ranking was based on premium income that was brought in through the sector in 2012. This official ranking for the local life insurance market was released by the Insurance Commission (IC), and confirmed that the insurer was still at the top of…

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MIB Life Index shows 4.2 percent increase in American life insurance activity this year

Life insurance market seeing a growth spurt. According to the data from the MIB Life Index, the American application activity, all ages combined, for the first quarter of 2012 in individually underwritten life insurance saw a 0.3 percent year-over-year increase. Though April has been seeing a slow decrease in this activity, the first quarter as a whole saw a year-over-year rise by 4.2 percent. This is the best improvement that the industry has seen since 2007. In February, the application activity was 4.5 percent higher than it was in March.…

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Mortality protection gap for life insurance in Australia nears $1 trillion

According to Swiss Reinsurance Co., the life insurance mortality protection gap in Australia has reached almost $1 trillion. Since 2000, estimates from Swiss Re. about the gap – that is, the size of the needed protection that is not protected by funding from savings or insurance – has risen by $432 billion to reach $972 billion. These figures were the outcomes of a survey conducted with 1000 participants who are working individuals between the ages of 20 and 40 in Melbourne and Sydney. According to the head of the life…

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Despite unsteady market, insurance companies hold their ground

Nordstrom

Insurance companies have been taking action to solidify their cash reserves since the start of the economic crisis, and have been working to decrease the number of high-risk investments within their investment portfolios, for example collateralized debt obligations. According to life insurance analyst Steven Schwartz, from Raymond James & Associates Inc., if they are not capable of borrowing money, holding companies are keeping notably more cash in order to cover their debts. In fact, they are currently holding twice to three times the amount that had been held in past…

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