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Non-Tech : Conseco Insurance (CNO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: donjuan_demarco who wrote (3594)	10/19/2000 2:42:28 PM
From: 44magnumpower	Respond to of 4155

Conseco's Berube on Plans for Bankers Life Unit: 0ct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The following are comments of Edward Berube, the newly named president and chief executive of Bankers Life & Casualty Co., the main insurance operating unit of Conseco Inc. Berube was named CEO of Bankers Life this week in one of Conseco Chairman Gary Wendt's first moves to overhaul the insurer's struggling insurance operating units. Commenting on analyst speculation about possible plans by Conseco to sell Bankers Life, Berube said: ``Gary has no intention to sell it. If Gary were to sell Bankers Life it would make it more difficult to get its `A-' rating back from A.M. Best Co. What Wendt wants to do is grow the business and Bankers is a key part of that strategy. He didn't put me up here to dress it up for a sale, he put me up here to grow the business.'' Asked about Bankers Life & Casualty's earnings this year and next, Berube said it was ``too soon to tell,'' but added the company has a good reputation for products sold to the senior market and consistent earnings growth of about 8 to 10 percent. About the effects of the loss of Conseco's ``A-'' credit rating from A.M. Best, he said ``the loss of the rating has hurt us, but it's stabilized. Sales did go down but it wasn't a precipitous drop. It's important for us to regain the rating because you can't be a major insurer without an `A-' rating.''