BestWeek: US Life Industry’s New Business Issued Fell in 2009 in Four of Five Segments

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- New business issued (insured amounts) by the United States life insurance industry fell in all categories in 2009 from 2008 except for group life, which rose 7.6%, according to an annual Best’s statistical study that appears in this week’s BestWeek U.S. Canada.

Hardest hit was credit life, which fell 34.5% to $67.4 billion. However, this line is by far the smallest category. By comparison, term life issued last year amounted to nearly $1.3 trillion, which was a 5.9% decrease. The insurer most adversely affected in 2009 was AIG Life Group, which fell from industry-leading ranking in three categories, BestWeek said. AIG fell from first to seventh in ordinary life, first to sixth in credit life and first to eighth in term life.

And in BestWeek Europe, Vhi Healthcare, Ireland’s state-owned health insurer, believes the government’s plan to privatize it offers the prospect of growth within Ireland and abroad.

Vhi welcomes the coming changes, said Declan Moran, director of marketing and business development for the Dublin-based organization. “For quite a while, we’ve been trying to get commercial freedoms to expand into other areas.”

Also in BestWeek U.S./Canada, the number of global natural catastrophes in the first half of 2010 has more than doubled since 1980, and insured losses for the first half of 2010 were $22 billion, more than double the first-half average of the past decade, according to Munich Re. This was even higher than the figure for 2008, when the previous record for first-half losses was set, Munich Re said in a webinar presentation. The first half of 2010 was marked by an “exceptionally large” number of natural catastrophes and the scale of the losses they caused, Munich Re said.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals. To subscribe, visit http://www.ambest.com/sales/BestWeek.

Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Co. is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial and health care service industries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health care system providers. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

CONTACT:

A.M. Best Co.
Caroline Saucer, 908-439-2200, ext. 5774
caroline.saucer@ambest.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  Europe  North America  New Jersey

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Professional Services  Banking  Finance  Insurance

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