The Unum building is a prominent part of downtown Chattanooga sitting at the intersection of Lookout and Fifth Streets.
Tom Watjen, chief executive officer of the Unum GroupChattanooga-based Unum Group announced Monday it is ending sales of its group long-term care insurance in the midst of improved operating results in the fourth quarter.
Unum joins other insurers like MetLife which have halted long-term care sales, a market where payouts have become more expensive. Unum previously discontinued sales of individual long-term care insurance in 2009.
The move produced a net loss for Unum in the fourth quarter, but the insurance giant reported higher operating earnings from its core businesses. Earnings from operations in the fourth quarter were 78 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations of 75 cents per share with after-tax operating income of $227.6 million.
Unum also beat its fourth-quarter 2010 results of $208.6 million from operations, or 66 cents per share.
But net income fell into negative territory as the company took a $561.2 million charge to discontinue selling new long-term care group insurance policies, according to a news release.