28 HќќѠіђџȱ юћјђџ юџѐѕȱ2014 DIRECTORS / SENIOR MANAGEMENT More than half of all the banks in the country now have bank owned life insurance (BOLI) on their executives’ lives. So what is BOLI, and what do boards need to know about it? What is BOLI? BOLI is a widely ȱȱȱȱȱęȱ ȱȱȱ¢ȱęȱȱ as health care and supplemental executive retirement plans on a taxadvantaged basis. In a BOLI plan, the bank typically pays a single premium ȱȱȱ ȱȱę¢ȱȱ life insurance policies on one or more ȱĜȱȱǯȱ ȱȱ ȱěȱęȱǰȱȱȱěȱ a higher after-tax yield than most other investments of similar risk and duration. What are the yields now on BOLI assets? Despite the low interestrate environment, some of the top insurance carriers in the market ȱ¢ȱěȱȱ¢ȱȱ approximately 3 percent to 4 percent with tax equivalent yields of 4.84 percent to 6.45 percent for a bank in the 38 percent tax bracket. There are several reasons they can do this, including investing longer on the yield curve than banks because their ȱȱDzȱȱěȱ investments in their portfolio such as corporate bonds and private Dzȱȱȱěȱ investments made several years ago when market yields were higher. What will happen to the value ȱȱȂȱ ȱȱȱȱ rates start to rise? Even if market rates rise, the carrying value on BOLI assets in the standard nonvariable general account and hybrid separate account products will not be negatively impacted. BOLI assets in these portfolios are not subject to a mark-to-market adjustment. In fact, the yield on the BOLI policy will generally follow changes in market rates, but because of the portfolio’s longer duration, the changes will occur over time and lag market changes. ȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ¡ȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱȱęȱȱȱ BOLI program? Banks often share a portion of their life insurance ęȱȱȱ ȱ¢ȱ with key executives and/or board members who designate their own ęǯȱ ȱ¡ȱȱ executives are frequently provided ȱȱȱęǰȱ¢ȱȱȱ ęǰȱȱȱȱȱ ȱ ȱ¢ȱȱȱĚȱȱȱ from $50,000 to $1 million. The ȱęȱȱȱȂȱ What Bank Boards Need to ȱ ȱ
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