(Interest) rate increase: The life insurance life saver
January 27, 2014 by Arthur D. Postal
Signs that a period of ultra-low interest rates may be coming to an end has stirred optimism that revenues, profitability, employment and stock prices of insurers will skyrocket, with agents – as well as mutual insurance companies – benefitting. In its outlook for the life insurance industry for 2014, released in early January, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service said that low interest rates “remain the primary impediment” to life insurers’ earnings and “appear poised to increase.” The reality, however, is far more nuanced.