Globe Life Insurance Offers $50,000 Life Insurance for $1

Seems almost unrealistic .. but check out this site and see it yourself.

Quite funny .. when I visited Globe Life web site, I found following text for this scheme in the bottom of their site with the most faint shade of gray.
It read as follows -
"*$1 pays for the first three months children’s coverage, except in FL and MI where $1 pays for the first month of children’s coverage. Then the rate is based on your child’s present age and is guaranteed to stay the same for the rest of their life. †Policy Form #GWLC/GWLP, GWL2000 or GWLA000 *$1 pays for the first month’s adult coverage. Then the rate schedule is based on your current age and is guaranteed for the life of the policy. ††Policy Form #GRTG or SRTCV **A.M. Best Company rating as of 6/10. For the latest rating, access http://www.ambest.com/."

Full story: Globe Life Insurance Offers $50,000 Life Insurance for $1
Source: http://www.damego.com/

CSC Receives 'Positive' Ratings in Life Insurance Policy Administration MarketScope Report

CSC is one of 11 insurance software vendors whose 12 policy administration systems were evaluated by Gartner. No system received a higher rating than "Positive."
The fact that CSC signed five new policy administration systems deals in 2009 indicates insurers are looking to simplify their systems environment, speed and enhance support for new products and services, and improve customer service," said Michael W. Risley, president of CSC's Life Insurance and Annuity Division.

Read on: CSC Receives 'Positive' Ratings in Life Insurance Policy Administration
Source: www.marketwatch.com/

IRDA proposes tougher norms for agents

Jul. 18, 2010 (The Hindu Business Line) -- Hyderabad, July 18

Life insurance agents may lose their licences if the annual persistency ratio of their clients' policies is less than 50 per cent.

In an exposure draft on persistency in life insurance policies announced on Saturday, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority proposed norms for enhancing the performance of agents.

Conditions
It has proposed a minimum of 20 policies per agent a year and the first year premium income to be procured by an agent at Rs 1.5 lakh per annum.
If these two conditions were not met, the agent would have to achieve proportionately more in either one to make up for the shortfall in the other.
Spouses and close relatives of employees of insurers should not be engaged as agents.

Disincentive
Further, there should be a disincentive for lapse in the form of commission clawback by the insurer, on a proportionate basis, the draft said.

“These proposals would be a step forward in protecting the interests of policyholders, who stand to gain if persistency is high, both in terms of protection of life and profitability of the life insurance business,'' Mr A. Giridhar, Executive Director, IRDA, said.

Feedback on the proposals could be sent to the Authority on or before, July 31.
Persistency is the percentage of business retained without policy lapse or surrender.

Source: newsystocks.com

Symantec to Buy VeriSign's Security Business

SAN FRANCISCO - Symantec Corp agreed to buy VeriSign Inc's widely used technology for securing payments over the Internet in a deal worth $1.28 billion, the companies said Wednesday.
The acquisition gives Symantec, the world's biggest maker of security software, VeriSign's Internet security business including its crown jewel -- the SSL technology for securing electronic payments and other Internet transactions by scrambling the data when it travels over the Web.

Read on: Symantec to Buy VeriSign's Security Business
Source: www.insurancetech.com

SBI Life - Sabse Bada Income !!!

Well ..... SBI still stands for State Bank of India ... but the way they have posted their profit and growth, I feel the new expansion - "Sabse Bada Income" suites more :)

SBI Life Insurance has posted a whopping Rs 276 crore net profit in 2009-10, as against a net loss of Rs 26 crore in the previous year.

The private life insurer crossed the Rs 10,000 crore mark in gross written premium, growing by over 40% during the year. Its assets under management jumped 96% to Rs 28,551 crore and new business annualised premium equivalent (APE) rose 37% to Rs 6,358 crore. It reported a 31% rise in new business premium of Rs 7,040 crore.

Read more - SBI Life swings to big profit
Source - http://www.dnaindia.com/

So... how much commission my agent is getting ?!!

No kidding.. as per the IRDA new circular, Life insurance firms will now have to spell out to customers the commission they pay to agents on each policy. This will be effective July 1, 2010.
Guess what ..?! customers will start asking more cut on the premiums they pay :) !!!

Read on more on - Disclose agent commissions to customers: IRDA
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC

The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering.

Read on: Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC
Source: MSN News

Practice makes one Outstanding

Truly amazing teamwork !!!
Body and mind coordination at it's best !!!
I am totally speechless....

Watch it to believe it: Practice makes one Outstanding

Top 10 M&A Deals in Insurance Sector

The following list ranks the top 10 M&A deals in the insurance sector: Britain's Prudential said it would buy AIG's Asian life insurance arm for $35.5 billion, in a deal set to make the insurer the undisputed leader in one of the world's fastest-growing financial services markets.

Date -- Target Name -- Acquirer -- Value
1. 03/01/10 -- American International Association (AIA) -- Prudential -- $35 bln
2. 04/03/01 -- American General -- AIG -- $23.39 bln
3. 06/19/98 -- General Re Corp -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. -- $22.30 bln
4. 04/17/00 -- Allied Zurich PLC -- Zurich Financial Services AG -- $19.39 bln
5. 08/20/98 -- SunAmerica Inc -- AIG -- $18.11 bln
6. 10/13/97 -- BAT Industries PLC-Financial -- Zurich Financial Services AG -- $17.05 bln
7. 11/17/03 -- Travelers Ppty Casualty Corp -- St Paul Cos Inc -- $16.13 bln
8. 10/19/08 -- ING Groep NV -- Netherlands -- $13.41 bln
9. 09/27/01 -- Fortis(NL)NV -- Fortis SA/NV -- $12.46 bln
10. 12/19/01 Travelers Property Casualty -- Shareholders -- $12.21 bln

Source: ThomsonReuters (Compiled by Carl Bagh, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Edited by David Cutler)

Copyright 2010 by Reuters. All rights reserved.

Prudential P.L.C. in Talks to Buy A.I.G. Asia Unit

Prudential P.L.C., the British financial services firm, is in talks with the American International Group over a potential deal for the American firm’s giant Asia life insurance operations that could be worth more than $30 billion, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Saturday.

Read on: Prudential P.L.C. in Talks to Buy A.I.G. Asia Unit
Source: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com