The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company Maintains Dividend Scale for 2013

The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company is pleased to announce that its board of trustees has approved a 2013 dividend award that maintains the same dividend scale as its 2012 award, allowing for equitable dividends for qualifying policyholders. The 2013 award of $31 million represents a two percent increase in total payout over the 2012 award.

“As a pioneer of mutual life insurance in America, Penn Mutual believes that purchasing life insurance is the most protective, responsible and rewarding action a person can take to build a solid foundation today and create a brighter future for generations to come,” said Eileen C. McDonnell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Penn Mutual. “Despite continued uncertainty in the economy, our commitment to mutuality and our financial strength have allowed us to pay equitable dividends to our participating policyholders, and we are proud to say that the 2013 scale will be no different, ensuring the sound financial stewardship of our policyholders’ interests.”

Dividends paid to policyholders at mutual life insurance companies, like Penn Mutual, are refunds of premium based on the actual experience of a block of policies. In contrast, dividends at publicly held insurance companies are paid to shareholders where the amounts of such dividends are based on the company’s overall profitability. It is important to note that the payment and amount of policy dividends are not guaranteed.

Since 1847, Penn Mutual has been driven by our noble purpose to create a world of possibilities. At the heart of this purpose is the belief that life insurance is the most protective, responsible and rewarding action a person can take, and is central to a sound financial plan. The company is committed to helping families unlock life's possibilities through life insurance and annuity solutions. This is accomplished through a national network of financial professionals, who help clients make great things possible. Penn Mutual supports its field representatives with brokerage services through Hornor, Townsend & Kent, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor and wholly owned subsidiary, Member FINRA/SIPC.

Life in Gaza Strip refugee camp Khan Younis

In Khan Younis refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip, residents went about business as usual early Sunday evening, shopping for groceries and filling roadside cafes.

Residents said that Khan Younis is a safer place to be right now than Gaza City to the north and Rafah—a stronghold of militant offshoots that even Hamas can’t control—to the south. But no one is really safe in such “closed” quarters, said Sami Harb, a resident of the camp, as his three-year-old son played on his shoulders.

On Sunday evening, Harb’s family gathered in the darkness of their modest home in Khan Younis camp; the power out and the hum of drones—even here, in the “quiet” part of Gaza—a constant overhead.

Basil Harb, a university lecturer, said he had started to add a new level to the family home last week before the Israeli air offensive started, but decided to put work on hold for now. “I still need to knock down a wall,” he said, and then added with a grin: “I thought

about calling the Israelis to send a drone to do it. But what if they sent an F-16 instead, and then the whole house would be flattened?”

His brother Sami and their aging mother burst into laughter. But the mood turned dark a moment later. Death has become so normal here, Basil Harb said. “War, after war, after war,” he said.

His four-year-old son Majed was playing outside Saturday when a nearby explosion shook the whole house. Harb ran outside to make sure Majed was okay, and found the child unfazed, playing in the dirt.

Talk of a ground invasion here in Khan Younis is fraught with worry. Some see it as inevitable, and others believe that Hamas is strong enough to deter it this time around, said Harb.

“People say the Israeli troops are afraid of coming into Gaza,” he said.

As the Harbs’ electricity flickered back on, and the family rushed to charge their cell phones, crowds swarmed into a local mosque next door for the evening prayer. Following the prayer, an imam delivered a fiery sermon filled with local news. Palestinian fighters had shot down an Israeli Apache helicopter over Gaza City to the north, the imam announced.

Rumors of downed Israeli aircraft have circulated for days—always turning out to be false. But some grumbled that this bit of news came from Israeli television channel 10—so it must be true—and they worried that it would most certainly lead to a ground invasion.

Gaza City was largely deserted Sunday night, as periodic explosions shook the city and lit up the sky. Drones hummed and Israeli fighter jets roared overhead.

My Life Savings Launches a Revolutionary Tool to Transform the Way Life Insurance Professionals Generate Leads

My Life Savings provides life insurance agents with a mobile and browser based application that can help generate new revenue by discovering the unrealized savings potential of any life insurance policy in just a matter of seconds.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) November 15, 2012
My Life Savings LLC, a technology company that develops software for the life insurance industry, has announced the release of a patent pending tool designed to help life insurance professionals generate leads while simultaneously helping policy owners save money. Studies have shown that more than 80% of policies could receive a 40% reduction in premium or a 40% increase in coverage for the same cost.

“With trillions of in force life insurance coverage, the life insurance industry is well aware of the untapped opportunity that lays at their feet,” says Josh Jenkins-Robbins, co-founder of My Life Savings, LLC. “Based on overall declining industry sales, it’s clear that the industry has not been able to unearth this sales opportunity.” The industry needs a “point of sale” tool which generates the conversation and quickly identities what’s in it for the client.

“The current method of continually discussing the importance of policy review has not motivated clients to go through a cumbersome review process,” says Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel, the fastest growing FMO in the nation. “We see My Life Savings as a great solution for bridging the gap and motivating clients to move forward.”  

The team at My Life Savings spent over 2 years developing the patent pending tool. Within seconds, and using only information found on a client’s policy statement, the advisor can quickly and easily display the unrealized savings potential of ANY policy (term, whole life, universal life). The tool can be accessed on a web browser or the mobile application making it easy for the “on the go” advisor.

Through exhaustive market research, My Life Savings discovered that clients and their advisors ultimately want to know three things:

“When we discovered My Life Savings, we knew we had found the only tool in the marketplace that helps clients immediately see their unrealized savings potential and thus allows the agent to generate immediate client interest and ultimately a replacement sale,” said Bruce Carleton of iGROUP, a national marketing organization with over 250 member brokerage agencies nationwide. “It seems so simple but that’s the beauty of the tool.”

Many large institutions have identified My Life Savings as a way to generate cross-selling opportunities. “The idea of cross-selling life insurance through banks and wealth management firms is a natural fit but has proven very difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is getting the representatives to bring up the topic of life insurance, especially when in it’s not their core competency or focus,” says Anne Long, a 30 year insurance industry veteran and president of Long Consulting Group.

“At $49.95 dollars a month, the system provides incredible value to our advisors” says Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel. “Brokerages are always looking for ways to add value to their advisors and ultimately their clients. This tool provides a major competitive advantage and a great return on investment.”

Conning--Life Settlements: Weak Investor Supply Despite Growing Consumer Demand

While consumer demand for life settlements remains strong, capital inflows remained weak in 2011, according to a new study by Conning.

"The life settlement market volumes remained low in 2011, reflecting weak capital inflows continuing as in the past few years. This in part due to investor concerns with standards of underwriting and pricing accuracy," said Scott Hawkins, analyst at Conning. "In fact, because of fewer new policies settled, we estimate that the amount of in-force life settlements actually declined for the first time in 2011 based on death claims and lapses on previously settled policies. While consumer demand for this product remains strong, the asset class has so far been unable to attract sufficient capital to meet that demand. Activity in the market has mainly centered on acquiring distressed portfolios rather than funding new policy purchases. But we may be seeing early signs of change."

The Conning study, "Life Settlements: Weak Investor Supply Despite Growing Consumer Demand" provides Conning's annual Life Settlements Market Review and Forecast, along with market guidance and lessons learned for new investors. This is the ninth study of this market published by Conning.

"In our view, the future of life settlements as an asset class seems to be contingent on developing stronger market structures and confirming pricing accuracy for potential investors," said Stephan Christiansen, director of research at Conning. "Yet the life settlements asset class continues to hold interest for investors struggling with today's low interest rate environment, and work is underway to restructure and to increase attractiveness to investors. In fact, in 2012 we are beginning to see early signs of renewed investor interest and commitment in the class for the first time since the financial crisis."

GLG Life Tech Corporation Announces Third Quarter 2012 Results

GLG Life Tech Corporation (GLG.TO) ("GLG", the "Company", "we" and "our"), a vertically-integrated leader in the agricultural and commercial development of high quality stevia and all natural and zero calorie food and beverage products, announces financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.

Our revenues were $5.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2012 and were up 232% compared to $1.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 driven by increased stevia product sales. Our revenues were $13.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 down 45% compared to $24.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 due to lower consumer product sales of our AN0C brand.

The gross loss during the period was significantly impacted by capacity and other fixed charges that were added to the cost of goods sold (approximately $1.7 million), and material sales of two products below list price (approximately $1.6 million).

General and Administrative Expenses have been significantly reduced by $7.2 million from $10.8 million in the third quarter of 2011 to $3.6 million for the third quarter of 2012.

We had a net loss attributable to the Company of $15.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2012 or a $9.5 million improvement compared to a net loss of $24.6 million reported for the three months ended September 30, 2011. The loss for the third quarter includes an additional inventory write-down of $5.2 million related to the two products sold in the quarter below list price. We had a net loss attributable to the Company of $29.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 or a $13.3 million improvement compared to a net loss of $42.9 million for the comparable period in 2011.

EBITDA for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 was negative $3.5 million or a $5.3 million improvement compared to negative $8.8 million for the same period in 2011. EBITDA for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 was negative $9.1 million or a $7.7 million improvement compared to negative $16.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011. The main drivers for the improvement in EBITDA are lower SG&A expenses in both the consumer products (AN0C) segment and stevia segment, which were offset by lower gross margin compared to the same period in 2011. The Company has been focused on reducing its cash burn rate in 2012 as it grows its stevia revenue base from the levels achieved in the second half of 2011.

Cash used by operating activities was $5.2 million in the nine month period ended September 30, 2012 compared to $29.9 million used in the same period of 2011 or a $24.7 million improvement. This decrease in cash used by operating activities can be attributed to an improvement in cash flow used in operations ($10.1 million) and an improvement in cash generated from non-cash working capital ($14.6 million) in the current period compared to the same period in 2011.

The Company has reduced inventories from their peak balance of $96.1 million at September 30, 2011 to $44.8 million as at September 30, 2012 or a reduction of 53% through a combination of sales and write-downs. This reduction is an important achievement in order to work through the legacy inventory cost on its balance sheet as the Company moves to its new lower cost structure that it has achieved with its H3 and H4 proprietary stevia leaf varieties.

The Company has made progress during the 9 months ended September 30, 2012 in reducing its short term banks loans by $5.5 million as well as decreasing its accounts payable of $4.6 million compared to these balances as at December 31, 2011. The Company continues to negotiate with its China Banks for the renewal of its short term loans.

Sun Life Partners with benefits to Grow Online Enrollment Capacity in Group and Voluntary Benefits

The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) and benefitsCONNECT®, a leader in web-based electronic enrollment and employee benefits administration software for small to mid sized employers, announced today an agreement allowing HR professionals who offer Sun Life group and voluntary products to manage their benefits programs on a fully integrated online platform.

The partnership allows brokers and HR executives to offer Sun Life group and voluntary benefits products using benefitsCONNECT®, an online benefits enrollment and administration system with fully automated EDI connectivity among employer groups, insurance carriers, TPAs, payroll vendors and brokers. Brokers and employers can access benefitsCONNECT®’s technology with Sun Life products at a negotiated per-employee fee.

"Sun Life's agreement with benefitsCONNECT® reinforces our commitment to providing our customers solutions that simplify the administration of benefits across the market segments we support," said Geoff Walton, assistant vice president, Voluntary Benefits with Sun Life Financial. "As a multi-carrier platform, with a focus on employers of 150 to 2,500 employees, benefitsCONNECT® provides one of the best online benefits administration and enrollment solutions in the industry, along with a valuable broker-centric business model.”

“We are thrilled to include Sun Life’s array of group and voluntary benefits options as part of benefitsCONNECT®’s platform-assisted enrollment experience,” said benefitsCONNECT®’s founder and CEO, Troy R. Underwood. “Partnering with Sun Life, a leading insurer focused on growing electronic enrollment, enables us to widely distribute the time and cost-saving advantages of online benefits management to brokers and employers.”

Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. In the United States and elsewhere, insurance products are offered by members of the Sun Life Financial group that are insurance companies. Sun Life Financial Inc., the holding company for the Sun Life Financial group of companies, is a public company.

It is not an insurance company and does not offer insurance products for sale in the United States or elsewhere, and does not guarantee the obligations of its insurance company subsidiaries. In the United States, Sun Life Financial provides a range of products and services to employers and their employees, including group and voluntary life, disability, dental and stop-loss insurance products. These products are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in all states except New York. In New York, these products are issued by Sun Life Insurance and Annuity Company of New York. Product offerings may not be available in all states and may vary depending on state laws and regulations. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Equitable Life Adds a Health and Dental Claim Mobile App for Android

Submitting a health or dental claim just got easier for more people covered under an Equitable Life of Canada® Health and Dental Benefits Plan with the EZClaim Mobile App for Android.

"In 2011 when we introduced the EZClaim Mobile solution for iPhone, iPad2 and BlackBerry users, we were excited to be one of the initial carriers offering this capability to the marketplace," says Karen Mason, Senior Vice President, Group - Equitable Life of Canada. "Mobile technology and how people use it changes quickly. Equitable Life has responded with the EZClaim app for Android to allow more of our customers to submit their health and dental claims using their mobile devices."

Things do indeed change quickly. According to an Ipsos Reid study released in September, phones using the Android Operating System gained 10 per cent of the market share in 2012 rising to 36 per cent of the market.

"Equitable Life wants to provide as many claims submission options as there is demand for," explains Norma Crouse, Assistant Vice President - Group Claims. "By introducing an application for Android-powered phones, we are giving more mobile device users who are covered under our health plans the option to submit their health and dental claims in a fast, convenient and paperless way."

According to the September Ipsos Reid release, Android-powered phones, iPhones and BlackBerry devices account for 92 per cent of the smartphone market.

Mobile app use is also on the rise. An April 2012 Quoros Consulting Cell Phone Consumer Attitudes Study prepared for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association revealed that 70 per cent of smartphone users say they downloaded apps to their mobile devices in 2012, up from 58 percent in 2011.

"It is clear that using mobile devices and mobile apps is popular," adds Mason. "At Equitable Life, we take pride in our ability to react to changes in the marketplace, not just by providing benefit solutions to our clients, but also by providing responsive self-service options for those covered under our Health Plans."