Analyst: Life Companies Still Strong

The U.S. government may be having financial discipline problems, but big, publicly traded U.S. life insurers look good.

Suneet Kamath and other analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. L.L.C., New York, come to that conclusion in a recent comment on the market volatility associated with the turmoil in Europe and the decision by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, New York, to cut the U.S. government’s AAA rating to AA plus.

“Clearly, we acknowledge that the operating environment remains uncertain,” Kamath and the other analysts write in the note.

A challenging economic environment could certainly hurt life insurers, the analysts say.

But the analysts contend that life insurers’ finances – and understanding of their finances – have improved greatly since the beginning of the financial crisis.