Executive Life Insurance Company

Last updated
Executive Life Insurance Company
Industry insurance
Headquarters
Key people
Fred Carr
Mike Milken
Robert Sobel
Subsidiaries Executive Life Insurance Company of New York

Executive Life Insurance Company (ELIC) was once the largest life insurance company in California. Its financial problems and subsequent insolvency in April 1991 shocked its policyholders and the financial world. [1]

Contents

At the time, First Executive was the biggest insurer ever to fail, which resulted primarily from money-losing investments in junk bonds. First Executive through Fred Carr had a strong association with Mike Milken and the brokerage firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, whereby at the end of 1990 the company-owned high-yield debt, much of it issued through Drexel, with a carrying value of $9 billion. [2] According to Robert Sobel, First Executive was involved in 90% of Drexel's underwritings, which accounted for about $40 billion in bonds from 1982 to 1987.

After the State of California took over Executive Life, it sold the company's junk-bond portfolio to Altus Finance, a unit of Crédit Lyonnais, in November 1991 for $3.25 billion. Because banks were prohibited under the Glass–Steagall Act from owning insurance companies, Crédit Lyonnais organized an investor group to buy the insurance company operations, with the new company named Aurora National Life Assurance Co. Majority control of Aurora National was sold to Groupe Artémis in 1994. [3] In July 1998, an anonymous French whistle-blower told the California Insurance Department that Crédit Lyonnais was the real buyer of the insurance company and controlled it through secret agreements. In early 1999, the California Insurance Department sued the bank and other parties, alleging fraud and seeking $2 billion in restitution. [4]

In 2003, Crédit Lyonnais and others agreed to pay $771 million in settlements resulting from false statements to bank regulators in connection with the acquisition of junk bonds and the insurance business of the failed Executive Life Insurance Company of California. [5]

In 2001, Swiss Re took control of the Aurora National Life policies; Swiss Re fully acquired Aurora National Life in 2012. [6] [7] In 2014, Aurora National Life was sold to Reinsurance Group of America. [8]

A subsidiary, Executive Life Insurance Company of New York (ELNY), was seized by the state of New York, who sold the majority of the business to MetLife, retaining the structured settlement book of business. Due to mismanagement, ELNY was ordered to liquidate. [9] Guaranty Association Benefits Company took over the assets of ELNY in 2013.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss Re</span> Swiss reinsurance company

Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, commonly known as Swiss Re, is a reinsurance company based in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the world's largest reinsurers, as measured by net premiums written. Swiss Re operates through offices in more than 25 countries and was ranked 118th in Forbes Global 2000 leading companies list in 2016. It was also ranked 313th on the Fortune Global 500 in 2015.

Chubb Limited is an American company incorporated in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the parent company of Chubb, a global provider of insurance products covering property and casualty, accident and health, reinsurance, and life insurance and the largest publicly traded property and casualty company in the world. Chubb operates in 55 countries and territories and in the Lloyd's insurance market in London. Clients of Chubb consist of multinational corporations and local businesses, individuals, and insurers seeking reinsurance coverage. Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance.

In finance, a surety, surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pay one party a certain amount if a second party fails to meet some obligation, such as fulfilling the terms of a contract. The surety bond protects the obligee against losses resulting from the principal's failure to meet the obligation. The person or company providing the promise is also known as a "surety" or as a "guarantor".

Carl Henry Lindner Jr. was an American businessman from Norwood, Ohio, a member of the Lindner family, and one of the world's richest people. According to the 2010 issue of Forbes Billionaires List, Lindner was worth an estimated $1.7 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drexel Burnham Lambert</span> Former American investment bank

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette</span> American investment bank

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) was a U.S. investment bank founded by William H. Donaldson, Richard Jenrette, and Dan Lufkin in 1959. Its businesses included securities underwriting; sales and trading; investment and merchant banking; financial advisory services; investment research; venture capital; correspondent brokerage services; online, interactive brokerage services; and asset management.

Guarantee Security Life Insurance Company, or GSLIC, represented one of the most severe cases of insurance fraud in Florida history. According to the Florida Insurance Commissioner:

[GSLIC] was, almost from the beginning, a massive fraud, aided and abetted by blue-ribbon brokers and licensed professionals motivated by their own self-interest. The fraud at Guaranteed Security was a carefully orchestrated bank robbery. But the thieves disguised themselves with the help of accountants and brokers and lawyers rather than wearing silk-stocking masks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur</span>

Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (Coface) is a credit insurer that operates worldwide' in addition to offering debt collection services, factoring and business information, and bonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MBIA</span>

MBIA Inc. is an American financial services company. It was founded in 1973 as the Municipal Bond Insurance Association. It is headquartered in Purchase, New York, and as of January 1, 2015 had approximately 180 employees. MBIA is the largest bond insurer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Life</span> American insurance company

Pacific Life Insurance Company is an American insurance company that provides a variety of products and services designed to create financial security for individuals and businesses in the retail, institutional, workforce benefits, and reinsurance markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroplus</span>

Petroplus Holdings AG was Europe's largest independent oil refiner by capacity. When the now defunct company was first formed in 1993, it was known as Petroplus International N.V., and was based in the Netherlands. In August 1998, it was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. In April 2005, it was delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange when the company was acquired by a holding company. In November 2006, the company went public on the Swiss Stock Exchange.

Bond insurance, also known as "financial guaranty insurance", is a type of insurance whereby an insurance company guarantees scheduled payments of interest and principal on a bond or other security in the event of a payment default by the issuer of the bond or security. It is a form of "credit enhancement" that generally results in the rating of the insured security being the higher of (i) the claims-paying rating of the insurer or (ii) the rating the bond would have without insurance.

The International Credit Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA) was founded in April 1928, forming the first trade credit insurance association. The Association is registered in Zurich (Switzerland) under Swiss Civil Code. The Secretariat is based in Amsterdam.

Berkshire Hathaway Assurance is a bond insurance company created by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. in December 2007.

The National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations is a voluntary, U.S. association made up of the life and health insurance guaranty associations of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. NOLHGA was founded in 1983 to coordinate the efforts of state guaranty associations to provide protection to policyholders when their multi-state life or health insurance company becomes insolvent. The organization is based in Herndon, Virginia.

Guaranty Bank was a major bank based in Austin, which collapsed in 2009. It was formed in 1988 as part of Temple-Inland and in 2007 became a standalone company. At the time of its collapse, Guaranty was the second largest bank in Texas, with 162 branches across Texas and California, and had $13 billion in assets and held $12 billion in deposits. Major shareholders included billionaire investor Carl Icahn and hotel tycoon Robert Rowling, who jointly invested $600 million in the bank in 2008.

Guaranty associations are organizations which guarantee insurance policies in the event of an insolvency event.

CenTrust Bank, A State Savings Bank was a Miami, Florida-based savings and loan. Its failure in 1990 was one of the largest and costliest failures of the savings and loan crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian National Reinsurance Company</span>

Russian National Reinsurance Company (RNRC) is the largest Russian reinsurance company. Central Bank of Russia is a full shareholder of RNRC. The state-owned reinsurance company was set up in 2016. RNRC is No 1 in terms of the authorized share capital and No 2 in terms of paid-in capital on the domestic insurance market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Build America Mutual</span>

Build America Mutual Assurance Company is a mutual, monoline bond insurer of essential public-purpose U.S. municipal bonds. Since its inception in July 2012, the company has insured more than $65 billion in par amount for more than 3,300 member-issuers. In 2018, it insured $8.36 billion par across 653 new-issue insured transactions. BAM also publishes a credit profile for every transaction it insures and updates them. More than 6,000 are now available. The company is the preferred provider of financial guaranty insurance on debt for member municipalities of the National League of Cities. NLC endorsed BAM upon its launch.

References

  1. Executive Life Insurance Company, Insolvencies and Impairments, NOLHGA website
  2. Loomis, Carol J. (May 6, 1991). "What Fred Carr's Fall Means to You". Money . New York.
  3. "The French Connection - Forbes" . Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  4. Rossant, John (July 29, 2001). "The Sword over Lyonnais". BusinessWeek . New York.
  5. "Credit Lyonnais and Others to Plead Guilty and Pay $771 Million in Executive Life Affair" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Justice. December 18, 2003. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  6. "Swiss Re Affiliate Acquires Policies Of Executive Life Successor". LifeHealthPro. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  7. "Aurora National Life deal closed in August" . Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  8. "Reinsurance Group buying Aurora National Life : Business" . Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  9. Coffin, Bill; Festa, Elizabeth; Hersch, Warren S.; Stanley, Michael; Moynihan, Shawn (November 2012). "The Complete ELNY Saga". National Underwriter Life & Health. Centennial, Colorado: Summit Business Media . Retrieved November 24, 2013.