Prudential, which sells health and disability insurance, has $1.38 billion in two tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco, while its subsidiary, Prudential Financial, has $264.3 million invested among three American tobacco companies, including Reynolds America and Philip Morris. Massachusetts Mutual Life’s investment portfolio includes $585.3 million in tobacco, and Northwestern Mutual’s has $235.8; both have invested heavily in Phillip Morris stock.

 

Philip Morris is also popular with Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., seller of life, disability and health insurance. It has $890 million in the American tobacco giant. United Kingdom-based Standard Life has almost $1 billion tied up in Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.

 

The lead author of the study, Wesley Boyd, a faculty member of Harvard Medical School, said insurers continue to put their profits above the public’s health. “It’s clear their top priority is making money, not safeguarding people’s well-being,” he said. “Although investing in tobacco while selling life or health insurance may seem self-defeating, insurance firms have figured out ways to profit from both.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Canadian, U.S., U.K. Life, Health Insurers Investing Heavily in Tobacco Companies (Agence France-Presse)

Excerpt: Insurance-Industry Investments in Tobacco (New England Journal of Medicine) (PDF)

Insurance-Industry Investments in Tobacco (New England Journal of Medicine)