Life insurance blamed for first half earnings plunge

Investment losses are responsible for a 98.6% fall in life insurance earnings during the first half of 2008

Despite a 16.3% real-term increase in premiums, which reached US$3.33bn, Chilean insurers saw net earnings drop by 93.5% in the first half of 2008, falling to US$28.4bn. The deterioration is entirely due to the life sector, where earnings sunk by 98.6% as a result of investment income dropping by 41.7%.