Disintermediation

Life insurance companies risk disintermediation when interest rates are high because investors will withdraw their funds to take advantage of the higher rates. This concept makes sense … but when I think of loan products I don’t immediately think of insurance companies … do they take deposits or something?

Edited: Looked it up. Policy loans provisions can trigger a need for greater liquidity. Policy loan rates are generally low, which allows investors to take advantage of higher rates (borrow low / lend high).

Policy Loan - A loan issued by an insurance company that uses the cash value of a person’s life insurance policy as collateral.

What really drove disintermediation years ago was that older policies had caps on the maximum loan interest rate charged. Naturally, policyholders took out the maximum loan possible and reinvested elsewhere. Of course, life policies issued over the last few years don’t have a cap.