Fitch Releases Special Report on U.S. Life Insurers' Midyear GAAP Results

The following is from Fitch Ratings on September 4:

Link to Fitch Ratings' Report: U.S. Life Insurance GAAP Results Dashboardhttps://fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/ report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=870656

Fitch Ratings today released a special report summarizing GAAP results for U.S. life insurance companies.

In this report, Fitch analyzes key drivers for first-half 2015 operating results for publicly traded life insurance organizations. The report compiles data from 17 publicly traded life insurers in Fitch's debt rating universe.

Pre-tax operating income increased a modest 2 percent for GAAP reporting companies in Fitch's rating universe in first-half 2015, as higher fee income was partially offset by lower investment margins and unfavorable mortality.

Operating profitability for the U.S. life insurance industry remained relatively flat during first-half 2015 with average operating ROE of 12.8 percent in first-half 2015 compared with 12.7 percent in the prior-year period.

Variable annuities, retirement plans and asset management segments continued to benefit from higher account values caused by strong equity markets and solid sales during first-half 2015. Results in individual life and fixed annuities were adversely affected by unfavorable mortality and continued interest margin compression during the period. The group benefits business benefited from favorable claims experience but continues to face competitive pricing pressure.

The full report 'U.S. Life Insurance - GAAP Results' dated Sept. 3, is available at 'fitchratings.com' under 'Insurance' and 'Special Reports'.

Additional information is available at 'fitchratings.com'.

Applicable Criteria

Insurance Rating Methodology (pub. 14 Jul 2015)

http://ift.tt/1EOt0Td report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=868367

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