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August 16, 2008 at 08:00 PM
If two words could be used to sum up the performance of The Top 200 life insurance companies for 2007, those words would be “strong growth.”
Fully half of the 10 life and annuity categories that appear in the charts on the following pages and are tracked in our annual statistical report reported double-digit growth rates, ranging as high as 21% for net gain after dividends. The category with the slowest growth was group life in-force at 6%.
The data for these charts is from Highline Data, an affiliate of National Underwriter. All charts are listed at the bottom of this article.
What follows are some highlights in each of the 10 life and annuity categories. Click here for our story for health insurance.
Net Admitted Assets
Net admitted assets for the top 200 companies grew 9% in 2007 to $4.9 trillion compared with $4.5 trillion in 2006. The 9% increase is consistent for the top 10, the top 25 and the top 200 companies.
That consistency is also evident when the net admitted assets of the top companies as a percent of assets for the top 200 are examined.
In 2007, the top 10 companies represented 30% of the assets of the top 200 and the top 25 companies represented 58% of the top 200, unchanged from 2006.
Four companies reported triple-digit increases including Lincoln Life & Annuity of New York with a 536% increase; Reassure America Life, 309%; CUNA Mutual, 260%; and the U.S. business of Canada Life Assurance, with a 101% increase.
Forty-six companies posted double-digit increases, and 9 of those companies had increases of between 30% and 91%. Among those companies was Monumental Life with a 91% increase; Ameritas Life, up 79%; and Assurity Life with a 65% increase.
Thirteen more companies posted increases of between 20-29%.
Premium Income
Premium income increased 9% in 2007 for the top 200, jumping to $594 billion from a 2006 total of $546 billion.
Growth was weighted more toward the top companies with the top 25 posting a 10% increase, growing to $357 billion from $325.4 billion. The top 10 companies posted a 12% increase to $201.5 billion up from $180 billion.
In 2007, the top 10 companies represented 34%, and the top 25 represented 60% of the premium income of the largest 200 companies in this category. The totals were roughly comparable to 2006′s 33% for the top 10 and 60% for the top 25.
Nine insurers posted triple-digit increases. The largest of those were: Scottish Re U.S. with a 923% increase; AIG Annuity, 657%; Pyramid Life, 531%; Commonwealth Annuity & Life, 428%; Lincoln Life & Annuity of New York, 374%; and First Health Life & Health, 209%.
Twenty-nine companies posted 30%+ increases including: Fidelity Security Life with a 90% increase; Pennsylvania Life, 88%; CUNA Mutual, 82%; Reassure America Life, 75%;
Other 30%+ increases were reported by top insurers including American Life, up 33%; Lincoln National Life, 47%; Hartford Life, 41%; and Humana, 33%.
In spite of the 9% growth for the top 200, 67 companies posted declines, although most were relatively small changes in 2007 over 2006.
The largest drop was recorded by Genworth Life with a 76% decline in 2007 over 2006 followed by AGL Life Assurance, 57%; Great West Life & Annuity, down 56%; American Medical Security Life, 55%; and Pacificare Life & Health, off 52%.
Net Investment Income
Net investment income grew by 7% for the top 200 with 2007 results totaling $166.4 billion compared with $155.1 billion in 2006, the same as rate of growth registered for the top 25 and just a tick under the 8% increase posted for the top 10.
In 2007 as in 2006, the top 10 insurers represented 37% of the total for the top 200 and the top 25 accounted for 59%.
Triple-digit increases were posted by 9 companies with the largest posted by Lincoln Life & Annuity of New York with a 378% increase. Others reported the following: Reassure American Life, 341%; Humana, 182%; Genworth Life & Annuity, 157%; and Household Life of Del., 144%.
Double digit growth of 30% or more was recorded by 10 companies, with the biggest increase in this group reported by Lincoln National Life at 75%, while others reported the following: Assurity Life, 61%; AGC Life, 58%; Primerica Life, 57%; and the U.S. business of Canada Life Assurance, 52%.
Twelve companies posted increases of between 20-29% and 13 companies saw a decline of 10% or more in 2007 compared with 2006, including Conseco, which fell by 69%.
Net Gain After Dividends
A 21% increase was posted for the top 200′s net gain after dividends, raising the total to $41 billion in 2007 from $33.9 billion in 2006. The increase was due to some extent to larger insurers. For both the top 10 and the top 25, a 33% increase in 2007 was posted over 2006.
The larger companies represented a slightly larger share of net gains after dividends for the top 200. In 2007, the top 10 represented 35% of the top 200 and the top 25, 58%, compared with 2006 when the respective totals were 32% and 53%.
Several insurers posted net gains after dividends that increased by 1000% or more in 2007 over 2006. These include: a 10,819% year-over-year increase for American Republic; a 2,262% increase for Medico; 1,030% for UNUM Life of America; 990% for Hannover Life Reassurance of America; 722% for Sun Life & Health; 587% for Humana; and a 547% for First Health Life & Health.
