Still recovering: life insurers' portfolio net drops for the third consecutive year.The life insurance industry continued to recover in 2003 from the effect of the "Perfect Storm" during which low interest rates, weak equity market returns, worsening wors·en tr. & intr.v. wors·ened, wors·en·ing, wors·ens To make or become worse. Noun 1. worsening - process of changing to an inferior state decline in quality, deterioration, declension corporate credit, declining fee income and large investment losses negatively impacted the industry. Despite a volatile With regard to computer memory, it means "temporary" and not "highly changeable," which is the usual meaning of the word. See volatile memory. 1. (programming) volatile - volatile variable. 2. (storage) volatile - See non-volatile storage. economic environment, the total assets of the U.S. life insurance companies continued to grow at a healthy rate of 12.7% in 2003, spurred by the increase in separate account assets. The growth rate was even more prominent for the larger companies, which increased their asset base by $366 billion, or 14.6%. After three consecutive years of decline in separate account assets, a significant stock market surge See power surge. SURGE - Sorter, Updater, Report Generator, Etc. IBM 704, 1959. Sammet 1969, p.8. , in the latter part of the year, renewed re·new v. re·newed, re·new·ing, re·news v.tr. 1. To make new or as if new again; restore: renewed the antique chair. 2. interest in allocation The apportionment or designation of an item for a specific purpose or to a particular place. In the law of trusts, the allocation of cash dividends earned by a stock that makes up the principal of a trust for a beneficiary usually means that the dividends will be treated as to separate account options by account holders. As a result of the improving equity markets and higher allocation to equity funds by policyholders, total separate account assets rose by 23% to more than $1.186 trillion One thousand times one billion, which is 1, followed by 12 zeros, or 10 to the 12th power. See space/time. (mathematics) trillion - In Britain, France, and Germany, 10^18 or a million cubed. In the USA and Canada, 10^12. . With the drop in market interest rates, portfolio net yields continued to drop to 6.1% from 6.6% in 2002 and 7% in 2001. However, allocation to bonds and equities remained relatively unchanged as many portfolio managers shortened short·en v. short·ened, short·en·ing, short·ens v.tr. 1. To make short or shorter. 2. overall durations and increased portfolio liquidity in anticipation The performance of an act or obligation before it is legally due. In patent law, the publication of the existence of an invention that has already been patented or has a patent pending, of higher interest rates in 2004. Given the relatively flat yield curve Flat Yield Curve A chart that shows that the yields of bonds with short maturities are equal to the yields of bonds with longer maturities. for most of 2003, it did not make economic sense to ride the yield curves, since spreads had narrowed and managers remained concerned with volatility Volatility 1. A statistical measure of the tendency of a market or security to rise or fall sharply within a period of time. 2. A variable in option pricing formulas that denotes the extent to which the return of the underlying asset will fluctuate between now and the of longer maturity investments. Instead, many insurers allocated new funds to mortgage bonds in order to minimize In a graphical environment, to hide an application that is currently displayed on screen. For example, in Windows and Mac, the application's window is removed from the screen and represented by an icon on the Windows Taskbar. In the Mac, the icon is placed in the Dock. See Win Minimize windows. the resulting drop in portfolio yields.
Asset Distribution, Top Life Writers, United States--2003
Rank is based on total assets for 2003.
($ Millions)
Rank Group Name AMB# Bonds
1 Metropolitan Life & Affiliated Cos 70192 $142,518
2 AIG Life Group 70342 173,410
3 Prudential of America Group 70189 88,777
4 Hartford Life Group 70116 33,251
5 Aegon USA Inc 69707 87,257
6 TIAA Group 70362 109,122
7 ING Group 70153 63,464
8 NY Life Group 69714 79,705
9 Northwestern Mutual Group 69515 55,571
10 Nationwide Life Group 70350 28,020
11 MassMutual Finl Group 69702 34,850
12 Equitable Group 70194 26,988
13 Principal Life Ins Co 06150 33,047
14 John Hancock Finl Svcs Group 70170 44,042
15 Citigroup 70128 37,880
16 Lincoln Natl Corp 70351 30,991
17 Cigna Group 70173 21,460
18 Genworth Finl Group 69555 55,472
19 Allstate Finl 70106 42,264
20 Manulife Finl 69542 9,730
21 Amer Express Finl Corp 69689 26,489
22 Pacific Life Group 69720 22,119
23 Sun Life Finl Group 69740 21,459
24 Jackson Natl Group 69578 35,420
25 Thrivent Finl for Lutherans 06008 26,823
Total Top 25 Life Writers $1,330,128
Total U.S. Life Industry $1,941,081
% of Preferred % of Common % of
Rank Assets Stock Assets Stock Assets
1 50.0 $2,735 1.0 $1,835 0.6
2 62.4 283 0.1 9,508 3.4
3 36.4 519 0.2 4,760 2.0
4 19.7 300 0.2 764 0.5
5 54.5 732 0.5 729 0.5
6 70.8 925 0.6 3,195 2.1
7 43.6 280 0.2 648 0.4
8 58.3 331 0.2 3,575 2.6
9 48.8 796 0.7 5,781 5.1
10 27.5 28 0.0 50 0.0
11 36.0 243 0.3 2,001 2.1
12 28.0 1,425 1.5 1,321 1.4
13 36.5 667 0.7 1,059 1.2
14 51.1 670 0.8 737 0.9
15 44.7 3,473 4.1 1,252 1.5
16 37.6 152 0.2 449 0.5
17 28.4 120 0.2 1,075 1.4
18 73.6 204 0.3 285 0.4
19 57.7 486 0.7 93 0.1
20 15.6 9 0.0 407 0.7
21 43.6 573 0.9 155 0.3
22 36.5 102 0.2 214 0.4
23 41.7 16 0.0 547 1.1
24 69.4 61 0.1 410 0.8
25 59.2 160 0.4 1,409 3.1
46.2 $15,292 0.5 $42,259 1.5
50.1 $29,319 0.8 $64,186 1.7
Net Yield
Before Tax
Separate % of Total
Rank Accounts Assets Assets 2003 2002
1 $76,401 26.8 $285,146 5.8 6.7
2 60,095 21.6 277,820 6.0 6.5
3 109,064 44.7 244,061 5.8 5.9
4 126,725 75.2 168,487 6.2 6.4
5 45,970 28.7 160,247 5.6 6.1
6 6,098 4.0 154,116 6.9 7.3
7 63,102 43.4 145,435 5.6 6.4
8 16,921 12.4 136,757 6.0 6.3
9 12,662 11.1 113,822 6.3 6.5
10 61,378 60.3 101,868 5.9 6.6
11 30,334 31.3 96,827 6.5 7.1
12 54,735 56.8 96,312 6.8 7.3
13 42,583 47.0 90,550 7.0 7.4
14 19,469 22.6 86,203 6.6 6.9
15 31,556 37.2 84,766 5.7 6.6
16 41,061 49.8 82,378 6.3 6.6
17 38,687 51.2 75,530 7.0 7.3
18 8,788 11.7 75,356 5.7 6.1
19 21,216 29.0 73,193 6.3 6.6
20 43,694 70.2 62,284 7.2 7.2
21 28,037 46.1 60,803 5.2 5.5
22 25,162 41.6 60,551 6.8 7.9
23 21,443 41.7 51,407 5.0 5.4
24 7,048 13.8 51,058 5.7 6.0
25 6,427 14.2 45,297 5.7 6.2
$998,660 34.7 $2,880,274 6.1 6.6
$1,186,193 30.6 $3,876,704 6.1 6.6
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