Northwestern Mutual pays another healthy dividend to policy owners; Fiserv reports robust quarter; WWBIC receives $100,000 SBA grant; West Bend Mutual ranked #2 in national survey of agents
Northwestern Mutual pays another healthy dividend to policy owners
The board of trustees of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has approved a dividend payout of more than $4.7 billion for participating policy owners for the year 2010, an increase of $200 million over its 2009 payout.
With the payout, the Milwaukee-based financial security company expects to continue to lead its industry in total life insurance dividends.
The company credits its dividend payout to diversified investing, careful underwriting, rigorous expense management and strong performance in other operating fundamentals. Policy owner dividends for 2010 will be the second-highest in company history.
"We are proud to pay the industry’s highest dividends while maintaining a strong capital position," said Edward Zore, chairman and chief executive officer of Northwestern Mutual. "Our dividends and surplus demonstrate the strength of our company, and they both deliver exceptional value to our policy owners over the long term."
Unlike stock companies, which may pay dividends to shareholders, Northwestern Mutual’s structure as a mutual company allows it to return a portion of its investment gains and favorable results from claims and expense experience to participating policy owners in the form of dividends. While dividends are not guaranteed, Northwestern Mutual has paid dividends to policy owners in each of the past 139 years.
"Our status as a mutual company is a great advantage because it allows us to focus on the long-term interests of our clients and policy owners, which helps them achieve financial security," Zore added.
About 90 percent of the $4.7 billion will be paid to participating permanent life insurance policy owners. Zore noted that more than half of policy owner dividends paid on permanent policies comes from favorable claims and expense results.
Nearly $120 million in policy owner dividends is expected to be paid to term life insurance policy owners in 2010, as compared with $83 million in 2009.
About one-half of the company’s expected 2010 dividend payout is attributable to the performance of Northwestern Mutual’s $142 billion investment portfolio, which backs the company’s participating permanent insurance products.
"At the end of a 12-month period of turmoil and doubt in the financial industry, we believe our policy owners can take great satisfaction in this substantial dividend payout," said Zore. "As a company, we are most proud of our record of consistency, creating this type of long-term value for our policy owners while maintaining our financial strength year in and year out."
Fiserv reports robust quarter
Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield-based global provider of financial services technology solutions, posted third quarter net income of $115 million, or 74 cents per share, which was up from $78 million, or 48 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company’s total revenues fell in the quarter to $992 million from $1.0 billion a year earlier.
During the most recent quarter, Fiserv announced the sale of its Loan Fulfillment Solutions business (Fiserv LFS). Accordingly, the financial results of Fiserv LFS are reported as discontinued operations for the third quarter of 2009.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009 subject to customary closing conditions.
"We continue to deliver high-quality earnings and free cash flow, which is a testament to our market-leading value proposition," said Jeffery Yabuki, president and chief executive officer of Fiserv. "Although top-line revenue growth remains challenged in the current environment, our results continue to showcase the attractiveness of our business model."
Fiserv expects its full-year 2009 adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations to be within a narrowed range of $3.63 to $3.68. The company expects adjusted internal revenue growth in the fourth quarter to be in a range of 0 to 2 percent.
"We remain on track to achieve earnings within our full-year guidance in what has been one of the most challenging periods in the history of financial services," Yabuki said. “We continue to deliver solid performance while investing to ensure an even brighter future."
WWBIC receives $100,000 SBA grant
The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. (WWBIC) is receiving a $100,000 grant under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME) to assist low-income and very low-income entrepreneurs with training and technical assistance to start, operate, and grow their businesses.
The SBA’s PRIME grant funding is intended to establish management and technical assistance, access to capital and other forms of financial assistance, and business training and counseling to small businesses with five or fewer employees that are economically disadvantaged, and to businesses owned by low-income individuals including those residing on Indian reservations and tribal lands.
“WWBIC was thrilled with this SBA award and this additional support allows the organization to truly work with entrepreneurs and business owners that, with support, can meet with great success,” said WWBIC president Wendy K. Baumann.
The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), established in 1987, is an economic development corporation providing quality business education, technical assistance and access to capital for entrepreneurs. They consult, educate and mentor owners of small and micro businesses throughout Wisconsin.
West Bend Mutual ranked #2 in national survey of agents
West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. recently received the second highest ranking in a survey of more than 8,600 property and casualty agents around the country by Deep Customer Connections Inc., a P&C provider service business. Participants were able to choose from more than 250 P&C carriers across the country.
“I am extremely proud of the outstanding work our associates do every day to exceed the expectations of our independent agents,” said Kevin Steiner, West Bend president and CEO. “Our consistently-high ease-of-doing-business rankings aren’t the result of one or two key initiatives, but the one thousand little things our associates do every day to set us apart from our competitors. All of us at West Bend are committed not only to continuing our efforts, but also to raising the ease-of-doing-business bar for our industry.”
