Press Releases
ING sees loss, job 7,000 cuts, gives state risky assets - posted by Steven Wevodau
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Bank and insurer ING Group NV said Monday it will book a large fourth quarter loss, cut 7,000 jobs and change its CEO. It also said the Dutch government will take ownership of most of euro27.7 billion (US$35.8 billion) in troubled U.S. mortgage-backed securities.
There was no immediate word on whether the job cuts would impact ING Canada (TSX:IIC0, the roup’s Canadian subsidiary.
In a statement published Monday, the company estimated its “underlying net result,” - an unaudited and nonstandard measure - will be euro3.3 billion when it reports earnings on Feb. 18.
Under the complex deal with the Dutch state, the government will assume 80 per cent of risk and payments from the portfolio, in exchange for an annual payment to ING of about euro600 million.
The securities derive from “Alt-A” mortgages, which are from prime borrowers, but don’t conform to typical mortgage terms - for instance, some documentation may be missing, or the property might be a vacation home.
“Market prices for these securities have become depressed as liquidity dried up, which had an impact on ING’s results and equity far in excess of reasonably expected credit losses,” the company said.
For ING, the benefits of the deal include further deleveraging of its balance sheet. It said its Tier-1 ratio - the measure commonly used to rate a bank’s strength - will improve to 9.5 per cent from 9.1 per cent.
That ratio was boosted from 6.5 per cent to eight per cent in October, when ING received a euro10 billion investment lifeline from the Dutch state.
Shares rose 13 per cent to euro5.96 in early trading in Amsterdam as solvency fears eased.
ING said Monday’s deal frees up resources so that it can lend euro25 billion in the Netherlands, of which euro10 billion will be eligible for state guarantees under a program introduced by the government last year.
ING said in the fourth quarter “market conditions deteriorated sharply, making it the worst quarter for equity and credit markets in over half a century.”
It suffered euro2 billion in impairments and losses on stocks, bonds and real estate.
Provisions against bad loans rose by euro600 million. It didn’t give details of the performance of its insurance arm.
The job cuts represent five per cent of the company’s total work force.
The company said CEO Michel Tilmant’s abrupt departure should be seen “in light of the extraordinary developments over the past few months and given his personal condition.”
Tilmant, 56, is not known to have any health issues. The company could not immediately be reached to elaborate.
ING said Tilmant will remain an adviser to the company until Aug. 1.
The company nominated its own supervisory board chairman, Jan Hommen as Tilmant’s replacement, pending approval at the company’s annual meeting on April 27. Executive board member Eric Boyer will fulfill the CEO’s duties until then.
Hommen is a former chief financial officer of Royal Philips Electronics NV who left the company after being passed over for the chief executive job in 2005. He is also a former CFO of the Aluminum Company of America, Alcoa.
Four Major Insurers Move Toward Government Bailout
Hartford, Genworth, Lincoln National and Aegon seek permission to acquire thrifts which would qualify them for government support
In a significant move, four major insurance companies are now asking the government to allow them to buy thrifts so they can qualify to receive federal capital infusions.
Hartford Financial Services Group, Genworth Financial, Lincoln National Corp., and Aegon who owns Transamerica, each asked the Office of Thrift Supervision for permission to acquire an existing thrift.
“This development should not be a significant shock to the market” said Steven Wevodau, an independent insurance industry consultant. Wevodau added “the insurance industry has sustained a variety of economic factors that have stressed their capital base. Matters such as catastrophic losses, elevated labor costs, depleted investment portfolios, and risky investments in derivatives have all contributed to the erosion of the industry’s equity”.
Wevodau went on to mention that “insurance is a cyclical industry and any time that you have a confluence of negative factors at one time, major erosion of capital is bound to occur. The market is beginning to signal that product rates, which have been softening for three years, are beginning to firm. This is the natural course in the evolution of economic events in this industry”.
Insurers that own thrifts are eligible to apply for a piece of the $250 billion the government is spending to buy shares in banks and other financial companies.
Steven Wevodau is an independent industry consultant to the insurance and financial services industry.
Berkshire Hathaway has 84M ConocoPhillips shares
By Josh Funk, AP Business Writer
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reveals big investment in ConocoPhillips, new stake in Eaton
Berkshire reduced its stake in Bank of America Corp. from 9.1 million shares on June 30 to 5 million shares on Sept. 30. The other change to Berkshire’s bank holdings is an increase of 4.3 million shares in its US Bancorp holdings to give Buffett’s company 72.9 million shares.
Berkshire officials do not typically comment on the company’s stock investments beyond what they are legally required to disclose, and spokeswoman Jackie Wilson said no one was available Friday afternoon.
In its last quarterly update, Berkshire received permission to conceal the status of its investment in Houston-based ConocoPhillips, the nation’s third-largest oil company. Buffett’s company often asks the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to not disclose information that could hurt its trading strategy because the market likes to follow what the “Oracle of Omaha’s” company does.
Friday’s filings reveal that Berkshire’s stake in ConocoPhillips grew from 17.5 million shares in March to 59.7 million shares in June and about 84 million in September.
The filing does not differentiate between investments Berkshire makes, investments any of its more than 60 subsidiaries make, or investments Buffett himself makes as chairman and chief executive.
Berkshire revealed several other changes in its holdings, including:
– Reducing its holdings in home improvement chains Home Depot and Lowe’s. Berkshire cut its Home Depot Inc. stake to 3.7 million from 4.2 million share. Its stake in Lowe’s Cos. shrunk to 6.5 million from 7 million shares.
– Boosting its stake in power wholesaler NRG Energy Inc. to 5 million shares from 3.2 million.
– Cutting its stake in auto retailer Carmax Inc. to 18.4 million from 21.3 million shares.
– Trimming its holdings in health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. to 6.38 million shares from 6.4 million shares.
– Reducing its stake in Wellpoint Inc. to 4.78 million shares from 4.8 million shares.
Berkshire subsidiaries include insurance, clothing, furniture, candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms. Berkshire also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Brown & Brown, Inc. Announces the Asset Acquisition of Agency Associates, Inc.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL and TAMPA, FL–(MARKET WIRE)–Nov 13, 2008 — J. Scott Penny, Regional Executive Vice President of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO - News), and Frederick W. “Fred” McClaine, B. Michael Haffey and Ronald L. “Ron” Smith, principals of Agency Associates, Inc., today announced the asset acquisition of Agency Associates, Inc. and certain affiliated entities by a subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc.
Agency Associates and its affiliates, with combined annual revenues of approximately $5.2 million, offer property and casualty insurance, individual and group employee benefits insurance, and financial planning products and services to individuals and businesses throughout Indiana. Agency Associates serves numerous professional and trade associations and their members, as well as individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations, throughout Indiana and the region. Fred McClaine, Michael Haffey, Ron Smith and their producers and staff will join Brown & Brown and continue serving their clients from their Zionsville, Kokomo, and Mishawaka, Indiana locations. In coordination with Brown & Brown of Indiana, Inc.’s Executive Vice President, Eric E. Anderson, Brown & Brown’s Indianapolis office and Agency Associates’ Zionsville office will move into one location in “Northside Corridor” of the greater Indianapolis area. At that time the combined office will be under the leadership of Fred McClaine.
Mr. Penny commented, “We are excited to join forces with Fred, Michael, Ron and their exceptional team. Their insurance expertise, particularly in serving the needs of professional and commercial trade groups, is hard to match.”
Mr. Anderson noted, “The greater Indy marketplace has been a vibrant place to do business. I look forward to working with Fred, Michael and Ron to integrate our two operations and to leverage the best of our teams’ talents for the benefit of our clients.”
Added Mr. McClaine, “Coming together with Brown & Brown means greater resources and career opportunities for our employees; stronger, deeper relationships with our insurance companies and trade association partners; and a wider portfolio of insurance and financing planning products and services, for our clients as well as Brown & Brown’s clients. Michael, Ron and I are eager to work with Scott and Eric to build the preeminent insurance and financial planning operation in the State of Indiana.”
Brown & Brown, Inc. and its subsidiaries offer a broad range of insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, third party administration, managed health care, and Medicare set-aside services and programs. Providing service to business, public entity, individual, trade and professional association clients nationwide, the Company is ranked by Business Insurance magazine as the seventh largest independent insurance intermediary in the United States. The Company’s Web address is www.bbinsurance.com.
CEOs: Opportunity Is Still Out There
Life insurers should look beyond today’s rocky financial environment.
Gary Bhojwani, president of Allianz Life Insurance Company of America, Golden Valley, Minn., and Catherine Smith, chief executive officer for U.S. insurance at ING, Amsterdam, gave that assessment here during a life insurance industry executive conference.
The conference, the 19th in an annual series, was co-sponsored by Dewey & LeBoeuf L.L.P., New York; Ernst & Young L.L.P., New York; and Summit Business Media L.L.C., New York, the parent of National Underwriter.
Bhojwani noted that the current volatility in the investment market is a 3 in 10 million to a 1 in 1 trillion event, 5 to 7 standard deviations from the norm.
In the last 60 to 90 days, the investment banks that usually fixed crises appear to have caused the crisis before disappearing, Bhojwani said.
Despite the current turmoil, there will be tremendous opportunity over the next 5 years to change the lives of consumers in need of life insurance products, Bhojwani said. For example, he said, by 2020, the number of Americans in retirement will grow by 30%.
A total of $25 trillion in retirement money is getting ready to move, Bhojwani said.
Both Bhojwani and Smith said the value that life insurers provide in uncertain times is the certainty offered by products such as life insurance that offer a high degree of safety.
But Bhojwani said business leaders still need incentives to think in terms of 5-year to 10-year time horizons, rather than seeing the world from a quarter-to-quarter perspective.
The quarter-to-quarter approach creates “stupid thresholds that result in stupid behavior,” Bhojwani said.
Other challenges include companies’ lack of understanding of the complex financial instruments they are using and the fact that there is “way too much comfort with debt at the citizen level, the government level and corporate level,” Bhojwani said.
ING’s Smith discussed insurers’ chance to help 68 million Americans who are either underinsured or do not have insurance at all.
In times of economic crisis, with lost jobs and diminished incomes, this chance to provide certainty is particularly important, Smith said.
One way to help underserved consumers is to reach out to the middle market, but that is difficult, both because the number of advisors is shrinking and because the cost of doing business is causing advisors to focus on higher-income prospects, Smith said.
The monthly premium for a healthy 30-year-old who buys $250,000 in term coverage may be just $10 per month, Smith said, observing that it is hard for an agent to live on commissions from selling such an inexpensive policy.
Another obstacle is the lack of advisors from diverse ethnic backgrounds who can reach prospects in their communities, Smith said.
By 2042, white Americans will make up less than half of the U.S. population, and members of “minority groups” will be in the majority in communities such as Denver and Las Vegas within 2 years, Smith said.
Meanwhile, only 30% of Hispanics have life insurance, even though they express a strong desire to protect their families, Smith said.
One solution, Smith said, is to help agents make better use of their time, by encouraging consumers to use the Web for research and then talk to live agents when they are ready to buy coverage.
A second solution is selling through banks, Smith said.
Smith predicted that the bank channel will continue to offer great opportunities for growth even as banks consolidate.
New Study Shows Half of Individual Health Insurance Policy Holders Paid Less Than $130 per Month
eHealth, Inc. Releases Analysis of Cost of Individual Health Insurance Premiums, Comprehensiveness of Major Medical Benefits
– The average premium for family policies was $366
– The average deductible for individual policies was $1,972
– The average deductible for family policies was $2,610
– The majority of family policies had annual premiums between $3,400 and $4,650
– Half of all individual policy holders paid less than $130 per month for monthly premiums
– More than half of all family policy holders paid less than $300 per month for monthly premiums
– Women paid, on average, 18% more than men did for individual health insurance premiums
– The average plan lifetime limit was $3.9 million(1)
– A vast majority of individual and family policyholders had lab x-ray, emergency, prescription and chiropractic coverage
“With high unemployment and the nationwide economic crisis, Americans are now, more than ever, seeking cost-effective health insurance,” said Gary Lauer, president and CEO of eHealth, Inc. “The good news is that there are options. This is especially critical for those seeking alternatives to costly COBRA coverage. For consumers, health insurance isn’t a discretionary item, but rather something they need and can afford through the individual market.”
Women paying more than men, on average
The new analysis shows that on average, women are paying 18% more than men for individual health insurance premiums. Among major medical plans sold to individuals, women paid an average of $171 per month, compared to the average monthly premium of $145 paid by men.
Premiums vary widely across U.S. states, regions
The range of average monthly premiums in 2007 for individual plans across the United States was between $83 in North Dakota and $388 for New York residents, representing a monthly disparity of $305, or $3,660 per year. Regionally, the Northeast had the highest average monthly premium for individuals, at $239, while the Midwest had the lowest at $130. In the West, eHealthInsurance members paid on average $150 per month for an individual plan, while those in the South paid an average of $154 per month.(2)
Children’s plans continue to be affordable
The report found that in 2007, sixty percent of children’s plans had monthly premiums of $100 or less, with an average monthly premium of $92 for individual children. Individual health insurance for children is an important and affordable option for families that may be shouldering a larger — potentially more expensive — portion of the dependent premium with employer-based health insurance.
New data on Health Savings Accounts
New to the evaluation this year is data on eHealthInsurance members that have chosen an HSA-eligible plan. Of the 227,000 plans surveyed, 14 percent were HSA-eligible plans. Of these plans, the average premium for an individual plan was $133 and the average premium for a family plan was $302. The majority of HSA-eligible plan holders were between the ages of 25 and 44 years old.
The first Cost and Benefits of Individual Health Insurance Plans study was issued by eHealthInsurance in 2001, and in the past the company has commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an analysis on their behalf. eHealthInsurance is one of the few organizations with national source data that can best reflect consumer buying patterns and purchase prices in the individual health insurance market. More data on premiums, deductibles and major medical benefits can be found in the report at www.eHealthInsurance.com/AboutUs/News/Reports.
Methodology
The 2007 plan data referred to in the The Cost And Benefits Of Individual And Family Health Insurance Plans report is derived from over 227,000 individual and family (IFP) major medical policies purchased through eHealthInsurance that were active in August 2007. The report analyzes monthly premiums paid on individual and family major medical health insurance policies in 2005, 2006, and 2007, along with the benefits associated with those plans. For more information on methodology, please refer to the report at www.eHealthInsurance.com/AboutUs/News/Reports.
About eHealth
eHealth, Inc. (NasdaqGM:EHTH - News) is the parent company of eHealthInsurance, the nation’s leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses. Through the company’s website, www.ehealthinsurance.com, consumers can get quotes from leading health insurance carriers, compare plans side by side, and apply for and purchase health insurance. eHealthInsurance offers thousands of health plans underwritten by more than 180 of the nation’s leading health insurance companies. eHealthInsurance is licensed to sell health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. eHealthInsurance and eHealth are registered trademarks of eHealthInsurance Services, Inc.
Footnotes:
(1) This average applies only to policies with specified limits. Sample size was over 125,000 individual and family plans. Plan data that did not indicate a lifetime limit were excluded from this sample.
(2) Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont were excluded from the regional breakout for the Northeast because eHealthInsurance did not sell individual and family major medical plans in these states at the time the data for this report was collected. Rhode Island was also not included in the regional breakout for the Northeast because the sample size was too small to extrapolate insights to the larger population.
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Prudential dividend down 50 percent from 2007
Prudential 2008 dividend half of the 2007 payout
Genworth slumps on concern about investments
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
AIG Expected to Post Third Quarter Loss
Industry consultant, Steven Wevodau, expects divestitures and additional government bailout restructuring
PRLog (Press Release) – Nov 09, 2008 – When insurance giant AIG announces its third quarter results on Monday, many analysts expect the company to post a significant loss. This announcement coupled with the recent liquidity crisis facing the company is causing unrest among shareholders.
“The company is facing market capitalization declines which exacerbate matters and possibly force divestitures. Additionally, AIG may need to restructure terms of the government’s capital infusion.” said Steven Wevodau, an insurance industry consultant. Wevodau added “It appears that the company’s problems are primarily related to its financial services operations as a result of insuring mortgage-backed securities. The traditional insurance businesses are still very viable and reasonably strong.”
AIG shares have lost over 87% during the third quarter and are expected to drop further ahead of the earnings announcement.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Profits Plummet
Derivative contract losses contribute to disappointing results
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