Insurers watched pools of assets earmarked for specific customers grow much more quickly than their general account assets during the first quarter.
Analysts at TheStreet.com Ratings, New York, a successor to the old Weiss Ratings, say total life and health insurance company assets increased to $4.9 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 6.7% from the total recorded a year earlier.
General account assets increased only 3%, to $3 trillion, while separate account assets increased 14%, to more than $1.8 trillion, TheStreet.com analysts report.
Industry earnings increased 3.2% from the total for the first quarter of 2006, to $10 billion, and much of the growth in earnings came from gains obtained from the sale of investments, the analysts report.
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