Reinsurance News
Life reinsurance news
Life reinsurance industry news, analysis and insights.
The life reinsurance market is a core piece of the sector and life risks, from mortality, to longevity, annuity risk, and more, are a key diversifier for the large global reinsurance carriers, while there are also numerous large specialist life and annuity reinsurers in the sector as well.
Our life reinsurance market news stories cover happenings in the life reinsurance industry, people moves, new company launches, life reinsurance company results, product innovation and more.
Global life sector stable despite low interest rates: Moody’s
12th December 2019
Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a stable outlook to the global life insurance sector in 2020, despite concerns about the adverse impact of low interest rates on profitability and solvency. Analysts believe the industry is supported by solid regulatory capital and relatively conservative investment portfolios, and has made efforts to adapt ... Read the full article
Stable Japan life outlook underpinned by strong underwriting: Moody’s
11th December 2019
Moody’s has assigned a stable outlook for Japan’s life insurers in 2020, as core profits and capital stay strong despite low interest rates. Analysts explained that the life sector is supported by strong and stable underwriting margins that will continue over the next 12-18 months. Capital is also expected to be supported ... Read the full article
Swiss Re selling ReAssure to Phoenix Group in £3.25bn deal
6th December 2019
Swiss Re has finally found its exit point from its UK closed life book consolidator business, ReAssure, agreeing to sell the ReAssure Group plc business to the largest pensions and life consolidation specialist in Europe, Phoenix Group Holdings plc in a deal worth UK £3.25bn. Swiss Re has been seeking to ... Read the full article
Fitch turns negative on North American life insurance
5th December 2019
Fitch Ratings has revised its 2020 sector outlook for North American life insurers to negative from stable, following an unexpected decline in interest rates over the past year. Although the sector outlook is negative, analysts still expect ratings for North American life insurers to remain stable in the coming year. That said, ... Read the full article
Reinsurers pushing higher life premiums for vapers, reports claim
4th December 2019
Global reinsurers are increasingly pressuring their US primary life insurer clients to charge higher premium rates for people who use e-cigarettes, according to reports from Reuters. People that vape or smoke have both typically had to pay almost double the premiums of non-vapers or non-smokers. However, new warnings issued by major reinsurance ... Read the full article
Fitch turns negative on French & German life insurance
4th December 2019
Fitch Ratings has revised its sector outlooks for French and German life insurance from stable to negative, citing the impact of ultra-low interest rates on capital, earnings, and business models. Ratings for most insurers still remain stable, however, due to strong capital positions and ongoing efforts to reduce sensitivity to interest ... Read the full article
Capital strength threatened by severe stress scenarios, reports Moody’s
29th November 2019
Severe stress scenarios could cause the risk-based capital (RBC) of US life re/insurers to deteriorate to an extent that would put credit ratings under pressure, according to analysts at Moody’s. The rating agency currently considers the US life industry to be well capitalised with a median RBC ratio of 447%. However, it ... Read the full article
Low interest rates hit French life sector solvency: Moody’s
16th October 2019
French life re/insurers’ Solvency II ratios declined during the first nine month of 2019 as falling interest rates signalled pressure on future profits, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Interest rates have fallen significantly in 2019, causing some large French life insurers’ Solvency II ratios declined between 15 and 23 percentage points ... Read the full article
Agam Capital sets up joint life venture with investment firm Värde Partners
9th October 2019
Agam Capital, a New Jersey-based insurance solutions provider, has announced plans to form a joint life and retirement venture with alternative investment firm Värde Partners. The parties said they have entered an agreement to pursue the acquisition, reinsurance and management of life and retirement businesses globally. The venture will price and manage ... Read the full article
Life segment still a “source of stability” for reinsurance market: AM Best
1st October 2019
The life reinsurance segment continues to function as a “source of stability” for the overall global reinsurance market, according to AM Best, who looked at the state of the sector in a recent report. The rating agency noted that the life reinsurance market continues to be dominated by just five large ... Read the full article
Time to challenge the traditional life reinsurance paradigm, says GC’s David Rains
13th September 2019
David Rains, Managing Director at Guy Carpenter (GC), has argued that "the time has come to challenge the traditional life reinsurance paradigm" and elevate solutions for volatility management to the enterprise level. According to Rains, purchasing reinsurance protection at the corporate level could avoid the issue of overpaying for unneeded risk ... Read the full article
Sirius Group names Florian Boecker as Head of Life Reinsurance
10th September 2019
Sirius Group, the global multi-line re/insurer, has announced the appointment of Florian Boecker to the newly created role of Head of Life Reinsurance. Boecker most recently served as Chief Solutions Officer for Life & Health at PartnerRe, based in Zurich. He has more than two decades of experience as an actuary and ... Read the full article
Slight fall in earned premiums for life, health reinsurers in H1 2019: Fitch
29th August 2019
Analysts at Fitch Ratings say that, for life and health reinsurers overall, net premiums earned declined slightly in the first half of 2019, although five of the eight companies monitored by the firm reported higher net premiums earned. Meanwhile, pre-tax income for life and health reinsurance business decreased somewhat in 1H19 ... Read the full article
U.S. life/annuity sector’s total income down slightly in H1 2019: A.M. Best
28th August 2019
Analysis from A.M. Best shows that total income in the U.S. life/annuity industry fell slightly in the first-half of 2019 to $422.4 billion, as a $26 billion decline in other income offset a $24.9 billion increase in premiums and annuity considerations. A.M. Best's analysis is derived from companies' first-half 2019 interim ... Read the full article
Aon forms Accident, Health & Life practice group for reinsurance business
27th August 2019
Re/insurance broker Aon has created a global Accident, Health & Life practice group in its Reinsurance Solutions business to help insurers take advantage of growth opportunities in the sector. The group will be chaired by Roger Smith, who was previously Head of Accident, Health & Life for EMEA in Aon’s Reinsurance ... Read the full article
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