Over 96 Companies Downgraded or on Watchlist

[Mark]

Someone just emailed this to me and I wanted to share it with you guys. I don't know if this is correct or not. I think it is.

96 Insurance Companies Recently Downgraded or Placed on the Watch List!
AGL Life Assur
AIG Annuity Ins Co
AIG Life Ins Co
AIG SunAmerica Life
American Comm Mutual Ins
American General Life
American Genl Life & Acc
American Intl Assur
American Life Ins
Americo Financial Life & Ann
Aviva
Bankers Conseco Life
Bankers Life & Cas
Banner Life
Celtic Ins Co
Colonial Penn Life Ins Co
Columbus Life Ins
Conseco Health Ins
Conseco Ins Co
Conseco Life
Continental Life Brentwood
EquiTrust Life Ins
First MetLife Investors
First Penn-Pacific
First Security Benefit L&A NY
First Sunamerica
General American
Genworth Life & Annuity
Genworth Life Insurance Co
Genworth Life Insurance NY
Hartford Intl Life Re
Hartford Life
Hartford Life & Acc
Hartford Life & Ann
Independence Life & Ann
Integrity Life
John Hancock Life
John Hancock Life & Heath Ins
John Hancock New York
John Hancock U.S.A.
John Hancock Variable
Lincoln Life & Ann of NY
Lincoln National Life Ins Co
Merrill Lynch
MetLife Ins Co of CT
MetLife Invest USA
MetLife Investors
Metropolitan Life Ins Co
Midland National
ML Life on NY
Monumental Life
National Integrity
National States Ins Co
New England Life Ins Co
North American Co L&H
Orkney Re Inc
Pacific Life
Pacific Life & Ann
PHL Variable Ins Co
Phoenix Life
Principle Life
Professional Ins Co
Protective Life & Ann
Protective Life Ins Co
Pruco Life Ins Co
Pruco Life of NJ
Prudential Ann Life Assr
Prudential Ins Co of Amer
Prudential Retire Ins & Ann
Reassure America Life
Reliable Life
Resource Life Ins Co
Scottish Re (US) Inc
Scottish Re Life Corp
Security Benefit
Security Mutual Of NY
Shenandoah Life Ins Co
Slovene National Ben
Stonebridge Life Ins Co
Sun Life & Annuity
Sun Life & Health Ins US
Sun Life Assur (US)
Sun Life Assurance
SunAmerica Life Ins
Swiss Re L&H Amer
Transamerica Financial Life
Transamerica Life Ins
Union National
United Family Life
United Ins of America
United States Life
Variable Annuity
West Coast Life Ins Co
Western & Southern
Western Reserve
Western-Southern

This list is from Feb. I bet there are even more now. WOW!!

 

[insuranceexec]

Thanks for sharing, Mark.

 

[LGilmore]

I don't know if this is much of a Wow as it is good..

It's good because it shows our industry is watched closely by alot of people. It should give clients some reassurance that somebody's watching the store. Sliding a tier or two in the vast majority of cases isn't a sign that the end is near.

These services and state oversight are probably the reason our industry isn't in the s hitter compared to banking and investment. My worry is now that the SEC has decided the grass is greener over here that they won't screw up insurance in the same way they've screwed up investment oversight.

Lemonaide my friend Lemonaide...

 

[GreenSky]

I took a quick look and it appears that Best Rating has deemed many life insurance companies to have a negative outlook and being downgraded.

I find this interesting but (as an example), WCL is still listed as A+ XV with a negative outlook. Prudential has the same ratings but a stable outlook.

Don't know how this should affect our marketing though.

Rick

 

[myinsurebiz]

Good to see my main carriers not listed . . .

LOL @ people referring to the carriers I represent as 2nd tier and 3rd tier WHEN they aren't on this list and many Top Tier are . . .

Too funny.

Tom

 

[xrac]

Here is a link where this appears:

https://www.theinsuranceadvisor.com/?id=338

 

[somarco]

Not so conspicuously absent are Guardian, Mass, NWML, NYL.

Maybe they are "second tier" . . .

 

[DT1970]

MoO is also missing which, I gather, is indicative of their strength? Are they AAA like NY Life?

Is there a good site that gives the financial strength rankings of these companies in either Moody's or whatever form?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One question I have to those of you who specialize in Life insurance...how sensitive are your clients to whether or not the carrier took TARP money and/or their financial strength rating? Is this something that you stress with new potential clients?

 

[somarco]

Carriers that took TARP (or other funds) were stupid. AIG is not (in reality) a carrier, but a holding company for some very large, and financially sound, insurance carriers.

AIG's problems have no direct bearing on the financial stability of the subsidiary firms.

The problem with carriers, banks, etc that have "toxic" assets is the devaluation affects their statutory reserve ratio's. This limits their ability to borrow money or even write new business. For most of the carriers, tainted mortgages represent a very small portion of their investment portfolio but the problem is more complex than that.

Stocks are down as well which further erode the reserve ratio's. Real estate holdings (carriers invest quite a bit in commercial property) are also part of the mix and as the economy winds down so do rental receipts.

Most carriers have enough money to pay ongoing liabilities and expenses but would have difficulty paying everyone in the event of a "run" on the carrier.

Here are a list of banks that have been taken over by the FDIC in the last two years.

How many insurance carriers have been taken over by the DOI? Other than Shenandoah, I can't think of any.

 

[Mark]

This list is from FEB. might be some updates by now. SOme more to add to the list.