U.S. Life Insurer Exposure to Less Liquid Bonds

Life insurers have long held a mix of assets with various liquidity profiles, from the very liquid to the
nearly illiquid. Investments with the highest liquidity include investment grade bonds (especially
government bonds), securities with a short remaining duration, and cash and cash equivalents. Less liquid securities include mortgage loans, below investment grade bonds, and alternative investments.

Mortgage Loan Exposure for Life Insurers

Mortgage loans have long been one of the most important asset classes for life insurers. Life insurers do not have substantial direct investments in real estate, but they do participate in real estate investing by loaning money directly to property owners or real estate developers……

Liquidity and Risks for Life Insurers

There has been considerable client interest in the liquidity of life insurance and annuity companies in the wake of
bank regulatory actions against Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank of New York (SBNY) over the
last several days. The concerns are understandable given a number of similarities between banks and life insurance companies, including the following:

Topa Insurance Gets Lifeline from Granada Financial Group

This past week Granada Financial Group (GFG) agreed to acquire a majority stake in Topa Equities, parent company of Topa Insurance Company and subsidiary Dorchester Insurance Company. Per our recent release on the upcoming sale of Argo Group, this is yet another example of a commercial specialty lines carrier taking remedial action in the face of poor operating results. What makes this transaction more interesting is the acquirer.

The Spectrum Approach to Insurer Financial Oversight – PC

Adopting a binary approach to the consideration of an insurer’s financial strength; i.e. that the carrier is either solvent (good) or insolvent (bad), is a common and potentially costly due diligence mistake. As historically not many insurers become insolvent (though more do so in the property & casualty and medical health insurance sectors) , distributors of their products may conclude that carrier financial oversight is therefore either unnecessary or something to be passed over lightly. While we agree that insolvency always equals a bad outcome, it does not follow that all solvent companies are necessarily “good.”

Unpacking Hurricane Ian Losses

As ALIRT prepares to digest the 9 month 2022 statutory financial filings issued late last week, we pause to consider the impact of Hurricane Ian which struck Florida with sizeable force in late September.