Reinsurer Says Mortality, Investment Spreads Look Fine

By Allison Bell

July 28, 2017 at 06:51 AM

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A company that protects issuers of life and annuity products against spikes in death rates and big investment market fluctuations says the United States and Latin America looked pretty good in the second quarter.

Reinsurance Group of America Inc. is reporting $232 million in net income for the quarter on $3.1 billion in revenue, compared with $236 million in net income on $3 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2016.

The traditional life reinsurance business produced $91 million in net income for the quarter on $1.3 billion in revenue. Operating income was down from $112 million in the year-earlier quarter, mainly because of higher mortality in group life plans, but individual mortality rates looked good.

At the "asset-intensive" unit, which reinsures blocks of annuity business and other arrangements that involve large asset-management operations, operating income fell to $50 million, from $54 million.

Experience on the payout annuities the company backs was poor, but investment spreads looked favorable, RGA says.

Anna Manning, the president of the Chesterfield, Missouri-based company, said in a statement that the company is happy with the results.

"We deployed a significant amount of capital both into stock transactions and organic business growth," Manning said.

The company is continuing to look for opportunities to take over in-force blocks of business and to pursue "other attractive transactions," Manning said.

— Check out Analyst Sees 'Great Restructuring' of Life Industry on ThinkAdvisor.

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