NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - Insurer Aflac Inc's financial holdings may be a lot safer than some skeptics fear, Barron's reported in its July 26 edition.
Concerns about the company's investments in the debt and other securities of European banks may have gone too far, the financial paper said quoting analysts and investors in the world's largest seller of supplemental disability insurance.
Aflac has $9 billion of shareholder equity, $1.5 billion of excess regulatory capital, and sufficient cash flow to absorb future writeoffs, the paper said.
Also, Aflac's exposure to Germany's Hypo Real Estate, one of seven banks that European regulators said Friday would have to raise capital to weather a future crisis, is small, representing just 0.34 percent of the insurer's $73 billion investment portfolio, the paper said.
'Skeptics would do well to focus on the portfolio's three major strengths,' the paper said, adding Aflac was well- diversified by position. Also it is invested mostly in long-term debt and has little liquidity risk, Barron's pointed out.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan) Keywords: AFLAC/ (dhanya.skariachan @thomsonreuters.com; + 1 646 223 6191; Reuters Messaging:dhanya.skariachan.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Concerns about the company's investments in the debt and other securities of European banks may have gone too far, the financial paper said quoting analysts and investors in the world's largest seller of supplemental disability insurance.
Aflac has $9 billion of shareholder equity, $1.5 billion of excess regulatory capital, and sufficient cash flow to absorb future writeoffs, the paper said.
Also, Aflac's exposure to Germany's Hypo Real Estate, one of seven banks that European regulators said Friday would have to raise capital to weather a future crisis, is small, representing just 0.34 percent of the insurer's $73 billion investment portfolio, the paper said.
'Skeptics would do well to focus on the portfolio's three major strengths,' the paper said, adding Aflac was well- diversified by position. Also it is invested mostly in long-term debt and has little liquidity risk, Barron's pointed out.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan) Keywords: AFLAC/ (dhanya.skariachan @thomsonreuters.com; + 1 646 223 6191; Reuters Messaging:dhanya.skariachan.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.