Description: Just as the U.S. is dealing with a new surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations and death, the pandemic’s impact on the nation’s mortality rate is generating heightened interest. Two new reports issued from the Society of Actuaries provide important insights.

Description: As term carriers continue dealing with the implementation of PBR, the 2017 CSO mortality table, accelerated underwriting programs and predictive models, one wonders what the next significant challenge will be for the term market. The implications of these changes are yet to be seen fully, and monitoring of the results will be important in the years to come. ...

Description: A nationally recognized market research firm recently conducted a consumer survey pertaining to income term life insurance. Income term life insurance offers a death benefit which includes an upfront-specified income stream, commencing upon death of the insured during the term period, to a surviving beneficiary until (a) a predefined date or (b) death of the beneficiary. This article provides an overview of the results of the survey.

Description: Key findings from Milliman's 2018/2019 UL/IUL survey. Provides benchmarking for UL/IUL competitors relative to trends in the industry.

Description: The life insurance industry has experienced dramatic changes since the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020. Growing competition, a rise in online shopping, and the impact of COVID-19 have all led to an increase in contactless and completely digitized life insurance options. At Policygenius, we wanted to dig deeper into these big industry changes and better understand how they affect life insurance buyers. What our 2022 life insurance trend report found was a changing industry, making tremendous strides, and creating even better pricing and policy options for customers.

Description: Latest outlook on the market size and recent trends associated with the U.S. and Canada Life Reinsurance markets. The SOA Life Reinsurance Survey is an annual survey that exhibits individual and group life data from U.S. and Canadian life reinsurers. Survey results are based on financial information self-reported by reinsurance entities and include new business production and inforce figures.

Description: This article discusses the results of the 2018 SOA Life Reinsurance Survey and looks at overall life reinsurance trends.

Description: An analysis of US population mortality trends and the impact of COVID.

Description: This article is the first in a series of articles on insurance applicant mortality risk analytics. From Small Talk Newsletter, Issue 37, January 2012.

Description: Businesses across the board have been drastically impacted by the effects of COVID-19 over the course of 2020, and insurance was not immune. Perhaps most relevant to this industry’s current capital and liquidity concern is the prevailing low interest rate environment. This has been a global trend in the last decade, and treasury rates in much of the developed world are at or near zero. Reduced investment returns limit an insurer’s ability to achieve their desired return on equity, eliminating previously profitable strategies that depended on the leverage of life and annuity balance sheets. Focus and activity have instead shifted to other methods to counteract the low interest rate markets and accompanying capital strain. Examples include increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity within the insurance industry and an increasing focus by private equity firms in the insurance market for asset-intensive products, both of which reflect the goal of increasing yield rates on capital.