Churning the honest status of profit and loss

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Is it just me or is it finally the case that analysts and other industry observers are finally beginning to get their heads around the concept of persistency and its interfering little brother, churn? I see it as a rather straightforward issue.

For years, the life industry has celebrated results season with a plethora of good news stories, each one finer than the previous. In stark contrast to the reality of life inside many of these organisations, it seemed as though providers could do no wrong. Given that so many companies found their actuaries being forced into hiking commission rates by broker consultants chasing their yearly bonus, it has long staggered me that shareholders remained oblivious to what was really going on. All we were essentially seeing was a recognition in cashflow (but strangely not profit and loss) terms...

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