Litigation

Hartford, Genworth and AEGON apply to become Bank Holding Companies

By John Darer

Several insurance groups with ties to the structured settlement industry submitted applications to become bank holding companies to the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) on Friday November 14, 2008.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, parent of current structured annuity issuer Hartford Life Insurance Company, Genworth Financial Inc., and Aegon NV, parents of former structured annuity issuers were among the insurance groups.

Hartford is seeking to acquire the Federal Trust Bank for about $10 billion, according to a statement made by the company. Federal Trust Bank is a FDIC-insured savings bank owned by Federal Trust Corp. of Sanford, Florida.Genworth Financial Inc.applied to acquire the Inter Savings Bank, Aegon NV, parent of insurer Transamerica, applied to acquire Suburban Federal Savings Bank.

The Hartford said it would be eligible for anywhere between $1.1 billion and $3.4 billion in funds, under the current Treasury guidelines, with the final amount to be determined by the government.

"Securing capital at the terms available through the (Treasury's) Capital Purchase Program could be a prudent course in this market environment and would allow us to further supplement our existing capital resources," said Hartford CEO Ramani Ayer in the November 14th statement.

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on November 15, 2008 (boomark / email).