(Bloomberg) — Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE:GNW) has picked James Boyle to run its U.S. life insurance business — the unit that writes long-term care insurance (LTCI).
The move comes as Tom McInerney, Genworth's chief executive officer, works to reshape the company's management.
Boyle was previously president of John Hancock Financial Services Inc., the U.S. division of Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC).
McInerney is working to improve LTCI and retirement products results, after striving in 2013 to bolster the credit rating of the business that guaranties mortgages.
Results at the life unit have been squeezed by low interest rates and higher-than-expected LTCI costs.
"It's not as simple as straight life insurance," Mark Palmer, an analyst at BTIG LLC, said in a telephone interview before the announcement. "What they really need is someone who is sufficiently grounded in several areas of insurance such that they'll be able to add value across multiple units."
McInerney committed to LTCI as rivals pulled back from the market.
Genworth is counting on periodic LTCI premium increases of 2 percent to 4 percent to maintain profit targets, McInerney said in a Dec. 4 interview.
The LTCI unit accounted for about 52 percent of the revenue generated by Genworth's U.S. life unit in the first three quarters of 2013.
