Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern) is pleased to report that, for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018, the company earned record net income of $721.2 million on revenues of $4.7 billion versus $620.7 million on revenues of $3.8 billion for all of 2017, which included a large one-time tax benefit.
This record performance was driven by the solid performance of all the various business units, strong investment gains, improved government regulations, and tax reform.
Operating income, a key measure for managing the business, was $415.1 million for the year. This was a $12.2 million increase over the prior year, and the second highest ever. Operating income excludes realized gains and losses as well as income taxes.
The balance sheet at year-end also reached an all-time high as owned assets exceeded $50 billion for the first time ($51.6 billion). This was aided by the acquisition of Gerber Life Insurance Company (Gerber Life) on Dec. 31, 2018.
Western & Southern leveraged its incredible financial strength to complete the acquisition of Gerber Life, the largest acquisition in the company’s history. This brings a leading direct-to-consumer life insurer and renowned brand to Western & Southern’s diversified family of financial services businesses. With the acquisition, Western & Southern now has nearly $133 billion of life insurance in force.
“Years of disciplined investment and expense management made it possible for Western & Southern to successfully complete the highly sought-after Gerber Life acquisition, while maintaining an industry leading capital position,” said John F. Barrett, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Western & Southern. “The acquisition is part of our continued commitment to serve current and future customers in a way that is most convenient for them while providing them with financial security for years to come.”
With GAAP net worth of $8.8 billion and a GAAP capital-to-asset ratio of 17.1 percent, more than double the average capital-to-asset ratio of the 15 largest publicly traded life insurers doing business in the U.S., Western & Southern continues to enjoy high financial strength ratings from independent rating agencies.
About Western & Southern Financial Group
Founded in Cincinnati in 1888 as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc. (Western & Southern), a Fortune 500 company, is now the parent company of a group of diversified financial services businesses. Its assets owned ($51.6 billion) and managed ($23.3 billion) totaled $74.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2018. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. Its seven life insurance subsidiaries (The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Gerber Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company and National Integrity Life Insurance Company) maintain very strong financial ratings. Other member companies include Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.;1 IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Peppertree Partners LLC;1 Touchstone Advisors, Inc.;1 Touchstone Securities, Inc.;2 W&S Brokerage Services, Inc.;2 and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of six major community events every year, including the Western & Southern Open, a premier event in the U.S. Open Series played each August by the world’s top-ranked professional male and female tennis players.
1 A registered investment advisor.
2 A registered broker-dealer and member FINRA / SIPC.
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