CNA Completes Sale Of Individual Life Business

By Allison Bell

May 03, 2004 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, May 3, 2004, 4:47 p.m. EDT – CNA Financial Corp., Chicago, is out of the individual life business.[@@]

CNA has completed previously announced plans to sell its individual life operation to Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc., Stamford, Conn., for $690 million, CNA says.[@@]

The block includes 1 million individual life and annuity contracts that generate about $440 million in annual premium revenue. The life policies in the block are term, universal and permanent policies.

The deal also includes the CNA life administration building in Nashville, Tenn., and responsibility for 300 former CNA employees.

The deal excludes CNA's long term care insurance and structured settlement businesses.

Swiss Re Life's Admin Re unit will administer the in-force policies and end the sale of new individual life policies, Swiss Re Life says.

Swiss Re Life, an arm of Swiss Reinsurance Company, Zurich, may still be in the market for similar deals, according to Swiss Re Life Chief Executive Weldon Wilson.

The CNA life "acquisition is consistent with Swiss Re's strategy to expand our business, specifically in the area of administrative reinsurance," Wilson says.

In related news, Fitch Ratings, Chicago, says it wants to know more about Swiss Re Life's capital objectives and strategic plans before making a decision about the A plus rating of Valley Forge Life Insurance Company, a former CNA unit that is now a unit of Swiss Re Life.

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