Six major American insurance companies have received preliminary approval to receive billions of dollars in government bailout funds, a Treasury official and the firms said. A Treasury spokesman named the six as Prudential, Lincoln National, Allstate, Principal Financial, Hartford Financial and Ameriprise.
"These life insurers met the requirements for the Capital Purchase Program because of their bank holding company status and each applied for CPP (Capital Purchase Program) capital investments by the deadline of November 14, 2008," the spokesman told AFP late Thursday. Details of the amounts set aside for the insurers were not immediately available but Hartford Financial said in a separate statement that it had been approved for up to 3.4 billion dollars.
"Applying for participation in the CPP was a prudent step for The Hartford, particularly given the continued economic uncertainty," said Hartford chairman and chief executive Ramani Ayer. Launched last year, the CPP directly infuses capital into viable banks in a bid to stabilise the financial system and enable banks to continue to provide credit to businesses and consumers. Through the CPP, the Treasury has already injected some 200 billion dollars in capital into nearly 580 banks. The total program commitment is up to 250 billion dollars.