Tag: life reinsurance

COVID-19 Deaths Cause More Than $700M in Q1 Claims

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/05/09/covid-19-deaths-continue-to-hit-life-insurers-hard/

Excerpt:

COVID-19 returned to killing older Americans at a much higher rate than younger Americans in the first quarter, and that helped to hold down life insurers’ death claims.

The pandemic killed about 155,000 U.S. residents in the latest quarter. That was up from 127,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021, but down from 191,000 in the first quarter of 2021, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public and private sources.

Some life insurers and reinsurers that posted earnings last week skipped COVID-19 mortality details.

…..

MetLife: $230 million in world group life claims this quarter, down from $280 million a year earlier.

Hartford Financial: $96 million before taxes this quarter, down from $185 million a year earlier.

Unum: 1,400 deaths at an average of $55,000, or $77 million, down from 1,725 deaths at an average of $65,000, or $112 million, a year earlier.

Lincoln Financial: $53 million in group life claim claims and $18 million in group disability claims this quarter, down from $83 million in group life claims and $7 million in group disability claims a year earlier.

Voya: $35 million in group life claims this quarter, up from $29 million a year earlier.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 9 May 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Tax Rules Shape U.S. Life COVID-19 Impact: Fitch Analysts

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/04/21/tax-rules-shape-u-s-life-covid-19-impact-fitch-analysts/

Excerpt:

At big life reinsurers, U.S. claims have averaged about $5 million to about $25 million per 10,000 COVID-19  deaths reported for the entire  U.S. population, according to the analysts.

RGA could be facing $15 million to $25 million in claims per 10,000 U.S. population  COVID-19 deaths, the analysts estimate.

Even at RGA, however, 2020 COVID-19 claims amounted to only about 6% of net premiums earned, and all of the life reinsurers were profitable in 2020, the analysts say.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 21 April 2021

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Life and Health Reinsurers Only Moderately Affected by Coronavirus Pandemic

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.fitchratings.com/research/insurance/life-health-reinsurers-only-moderately-affected-by-coronavirus-pandemic-19-04-2021

Excerpt:

Despite more than 2.8 million coronavirus pandemic-related deaths globally so far, the world’s five largest life and health (L&H) reinsurers – Hannover Rueck SE, Munich Reinsurance Company, Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated, SCOR SE and Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd – have only been moderately affected by heightened mortality losses and remained profitable in 2020. Fitch Ratings expects pandemic-related mortality claims to decline in 2021 due to the global rollout of vaccines. This assumes that virus variants will not diminish the effectiveness of the vaccines. L&H Reinsurers Remained Profitable in 2020The five largest L&H reinsurers reported declines in net earnings in 2020 from 2019 due to pandemic-related mortality claims. However, they remained profitable despite the high number of deaths globally.The key reason for this is the very low penetration rate of mortality covers amongst the older age cohorts globally, with very few exceptions such as the US, Canada or the UK. People aged 75 or higher have been most affected by the pandemic.Mortality Claims Will Decline in 2021Fitch believes that the global rollout of vaccines will prove successful, leading to a lower number of deaths linked to the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, and bases its credit analysis on this assumption. Virus variants pose the largest risk to this scenario as they may render vaccines less powerful or even useless.

Publication Date: 19 April 2021

Publication Site: Fitch Ratings