Monday, April 06, 2009
Brokers Fear Many Insurers Are Ignorant of Annuity Risks
More than 70% of financial advisers in a recent survey said they were concerned about the risks insurers have taken on with guaranteed-minimum variable annuities -- and nearly a third said they doubted the insurers themselves understood those risks...
...The advisers were polled amid a steady drumbeat of ratings downgrades for some of the biggest names in the U.S. life-insurance industry. About two dozen insurers saw their financial-strength ratings fall one or two notches during the first quarter, although most remain at least for now in categories denoting capitalization that is "strong" to "very strong." The ratings firms assigned a negative outlook to many of the insurers for the next 12 to 18 months and put some on watch for possible additional downgrade over the next few months.
WSJ: Brokers Fear Many Insurers Are Ignorant of Annuity Risks
...The advisers were polled amid a steady drumbeat of ratings downgrades for some of the biggest names in the U.S. life-insurance industry. About two dozen insurers saw their financial-strength ratings fall one or two notches during the first quarter, although most remain at least for now in categories denoting capitalization that is "strong" to "very strong." The ratings firms assigned a negative outlook to many of the insurers for the next 12 to 18 months and put some on watch for possible additional downgrade over the next few months.WSJ: Brokers Fear Many Insurers Are Ignorant of Annuity Risks
Permalink posted by markw @ 6:53 AM 
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