PREMIUMS BY LINE

    Measured by premiums written, annuities are the largest life/health product line, followed by life insurance and health insurance (referred to in the industry as accident and health). Life insurance policies can be sold on an individual, or "ordinary," basis or to groups such as employees and associations. Accident and health insurance includes medical expense, disability income and long-term care. Other lines include credit life, which pays the balance of a loan if the borrower dies or becomes disabled, and industrial life, small policies whose premiums are generally collected by an agent on a weekly basis.

CREDIT LIFE INSURANCE

    Credit life insurance, a form of decreasing term insurance, protects creditors such as banks. The borrower pays the premium, generally as part of the credit transaction, to cover the outstanding loan in the event he or she dies. The face value of a policy decreases as the loan is paid off until both equal zero. When loans are paid off early, premiums for the remaining term are returned to the policyholder. Credit accident and health, a similar product, provides a monthly income in the event the borrower becomes disabled.

THE LIFE/HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY

    Whether measured by premium income or by assets, traditional life insurance is no longer the primary business of many companies in the life/health insurance industry. Today, the emphasis has shifted to the underwriting of annuities. Annuities are contracts that accumulate funds and/or pay out a fixed or variable income stream. An income stream can be for a fixed period of time or over the lifetimes of the contract holder and his or her beneficiaries.

    Nevertheless, traditional life insurance products such as universal life and term life for individuals as well as group life remain an important part of the business, as do disability income and health insurance.

    Life insurers invest primarily in corporate bonds but also significantly in corporate equities. Besides annuities and life insurance products, life insurers may offer other types of financial services such as asset management.

Premiums  

Rank

Company

2005

2006

1

Transamerica

$231.6

$178.2

2

Allstate

245.9

166.5

3

Liberty Life of Boston

151.4

131.4

4

Hartford

70.9

116.8

5

Lincoln National

49.4

62.1

6

OneAmerica

41.2

53.6

7

Aviva

51.7

52.6

8

Protective

35.0

49.5

9

Nationwide

33.1

28.4

10

John Hancock

13.0

15.5

Source: Kehrer-LIMRA.

Group

Revenues

Assets

1

MetLife

$53,150

$558,562

2

Prudential Financial

34,401

485,814

3

New York Life Insurance

29,280

179,621

4

TIAA-CREF

27,526

420,315

5

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance

25,268

172,911

6

Northwestern Mutual

22,597

156,547

7

AFLAC

15,393

65,805

8

Genworth Financial

11,443

114,315

9

Principal Financial

10,907

154,520

10

Lincoln National

10,738

191,435

11

Unum Group

10,567

52,433

12

Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America

10,071

41,319

13

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

6,133

57,412

14

Pacific Life

5,325

111,024

15

Western & Southern Financial Group

4,811

30,941

16

Conseco

4,572

33,515

17

Mutual of Omaha Insurance

4,337

17,746

18

CUNA Mutual Group

3,850

14,946

19

Torchmark

3,487

15,241

20

American National Insurance

3,071

18,465

(1) Revenues for insurance companies include premium and annuity income, investment income and capital gains or losses but exclude deposits.
Source: Fortune.