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Fitch Releases Special Report on U.S. Life Insurers' GAAP Results
[August 27, 2014]

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


CHICAGO --(Business Wire)--

Link to Fitch Ratings' Report: U.S. Life Insurance GAAP Results Dashboard
http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=765868

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 2014 operating results for publicly traded life insurance organizations. The report compiles data from 17 publicly traded life insurers in Fitch's debt rating universe.

Pretax operating income increased 8% for GAAP reporting companies in Fitch's rating universe in first-half 2014. The improvement was primarily driven by higher fee income, earnings from recent acquisitions, and the continued benefit from expense control initiatives.

Operating profitability for the U.S. life insurance industry improved during first-half 2014, as average operating ROE increased to 12.4% from 11.6% in the prior-year period.

Major market segments that showed the strongest improvement include variable annuities, retirement plans and asset management, which all benefited from higher account values caused by improved equity markets and strong sales. Iterest margin compression on spread-based products remained modest in first-half 2014 despite ongoing pressure from low interest rates.



The full report 'U.S. Life Insurance - GAAP Results' dated August 28, 2014, is available at 'www.fitchratings.com' under 'Insurance' and 'Special Reports'.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.


Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

--'Insurance Rating Methodology' (November 2013).

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

Insurance Rating Methodology

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=723072

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