Annuity Market News articles from January 2003

Annuity Market News archives from January 2003

At Deadline.(briefs)
January 1, 2003... Conseco Files Bankruptcy Conseco has filed bankruptcy but says its life insurance businesses remain safe and stable. Conseco has arranged with its debtors to unload parts of Conseco Finance, originally GreenTree Financial, the company...

Pru Shells Out $1.3 Billion for Skandia:" Deal Takes Industry by Surprise, Creates 4th Largest VA Company.(Prudential Insurance, American Skandia, variable annuity)
January 1, 2003... Despite recent published rumors that American Skandia was off the block, the company has announced it will be sold to Prudential Insurance of Newark, N.J., for total considerations of $1.265 billion, which includes $115 million in liability....

Death Benefit Flaws Exposed in Media.(life insurance)
January 1, 2003... Some carriers are inadvertently giving away free life insurance. Many carriers are now touting the value of enhanced death benefits, which guarantee more than principal, pointing out that accounts whose cash value has sunk with the stock...

More VA Write Downs To Come in 2003.(variable annuity)
January 1, 2003... It's stacking up to be another bad year in 2003 for variable annuity writers, particularly if the stock market continues to perform poorly. Analysts expect hundreds of millions of dollars in write downs due to insurers' guaranteed minimum...

How the Hartford Simplified Life Insurance.
January 1, 2003... SAN FRANCISCO Everybody knows that carriers need to simplify life insurance in order to attract the attention of brokers, but that is no simple matter. Hartford Life of Hartford, Conn., shared its simplification strategy in a breakout...

Insurers, Be Good to Your Mom.
January 1, 2003... Annuities are sold, not bought, as everybody knows, but what does this really mean? As a product, annuities are paradoxically easy to explain in concept yet so complicated in reality that normal people don't really want to know what they...

Guardian Life Appoints Manning New Chief Exec.(Dennis J. Manning )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has appointed Dennis J. Manning as chief executive officer, effective this month. Manning replaces Joseph D. Sargent, the retiring chief executive, but will retain his current position as president....

Lincoln Financial Recruits Dineen from Merrill Lynch.(Robert W. Dineen )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Lincoln Financial Group has hired Robert W. Dineen as president and CEO of Lincoln Financial Advisors, the firm's distribution arm. Dineen replaces Michael Hemp, who is retiring. Dineen comes from a 10-year stint at Merrill Lynch, where...

Jackson National Promotes Whole Slate of Executives.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Jackson National Life Insurance (JNL) has announced several executive promotions. Clifford Jack, formerly president of Jackson National Life Distributors (JNLD), is now EVP and chief distribution officer at JNL. According to Clark Manning,...

Prudential Financial Taps Mariconti from Neuberger.(Janet Mariconti)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Prudential Financial has appointed Janet Mariconti senior vice president at Prudential Investments. Mariconti comes most recently from Neuberger Berman, where she was vice president and director of business development. Mariconti, a board...

Index Annuities Continue to Mount Record Sales.
January 1, 2003... Uncertainty in the equity markets and declining interest rates continued to fuel record sales of index annuities during the third quarter of 2002. Sales reached $3.32 billion, a whopping 109% increase over the same period in 2001 and a 21%...

Annuity Execs Bear Arms Against Market Timers.
January 1, 2003... NEW YORK The subject of market timing drew a great deal of interest here at the recent annual meeting of the National Association for Variable Annuities of Reston, Va. Many attendees, expecting to hear about tactics to defend against such...

VAs Lead Sales Surge in Banking Channel.(variable annuities)
January 1, 2003... Sales of annuities through banks rebounded to near-record levels in September, led by a renewed interest in variable annuity products. Bank sales of fixed and variable annuities climbed to $4.3 billion in September, a 5% climb from August...

Phoenix Bets Again on Income Annuities.
January 1, 2003... Despite years of hype about the impending income-annuity boom, that market has failed to explode, but that isn't stopping the Phoenix Companies from staking its claim on another piece of the income pie with a new fixed income annuity. ...