The U.S. life and annuity sector has been doing so well that Carmi Margalit, the life insurance sector lead at S&P Global Ratings, has no big current concerns about the companies that S&P rates.
"It's a very stable, very highly rated sector," Margalit said Wednesday in New York at S&P's 41st annual insurance conference.
Interest rates look good, sales of products like individual annuities have been strong, and the impact of the new generation of anti-obesity drugs might eventually increase people's life expectancy enough to reduce life insurance claims, Margalit said.
Overall, "it's not a bad time to be in the life insurance business," Margalit said.
But this year's conference did not include any panel discussions about events in Washington.
The chief executive officers who participated in a CEO panel acknowledged that the world has changed since April 2, when President Donald Trump began unveiling his plans for import taxes.
So far, the effects on strong life and annuity issuers and reinsurers have been benign, the CEOs said.
The impact "was a bit more dramatic than one would expect," said Tony Cheng, the CEO of Reinsurance Group of America. "We like a complex environment, and the backdrop right now is quite complex."
"I'd rather that the volatility not be there," Christopher Hilger, the CEO of Securian, said. "But we're not seeing any stresses in our portfolio."
Securian is happy to see that U.S. employment has been strong, Hilger said.
David O'Malley, the CEO of Penn Mutual, said talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax package has been helpful for sales of life and annuity products.
"It reminds people that we have deficits, that we have challenges," O'Malley said. "I see it as a great opportunity for our industry, where we take a long-term perspective and have the capital to manage through these periods of uncertainty."
Heena Abhyankar, an S&P lead analyst, moderated an S&P Global Ratings insurance conference panel Wednesday in New York. The panel featured (from left to right) Tony Cheng, the CEO of RGA; Christopher Hilger, the CEO of Securian; and David O'Malley, the CEO of Penn Mutual. Photo: Allison Bell/ThinkAdvisor
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