Free Asset Ratio drops to 0% at some offices

A handful of firms are "under pressure" from insolvency, says research by Mercer Oliver Wyman, as the median free asset ratio of life offices fell 2% last year to 5% while some have dropped to zero percent. Although Mercer Oliver Wyman (MOW) disputes there the situation is really is as bad as has been made out, there are still two or three companies - namely thought to be Britannic Assurance, London Life and Pearl - which carried a virtual "zero" FAR and faced insolvency in 2002 unless they saw some form of capital raising action. Reported FARs in the life sector deteriorated from...