The Standard to Acquire Elevance Life and Disability Business

Because Elevance is a publicly traded company, it would have had to apply the new long-duration targeted improvement guidelines to its disability insurance business if it kept it.

The new rules, which are part of the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, will require affected companies to put estimates of benefits obligation value changes in their earnings every quarter and could make some insurers’ earnings more volatile.

Because The Standard is not a publicly traded company in the United States, it will not have to apply the new account rules to its disability insurance business.

Both Elevance and The Standard report on the performance of their disability insurance business using statutory accounting, but the new accounting guideline affects only the GAAP accounting rules, not statutory financial reports.

The Deal

The Standard says the combined employee benefits businesses will operate under The Standard brand, and that The Standard will take on Elevance’s life and disability division employees and operations.

In addition to writing life and disability coverage, the Elevance benefits business sells products and services such as accidental death and dismemberment coverage, absence management services and paid family leave services.

The Standard would get to offer life, disability and other services to Elevance customers.

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