Insurers' M&As in the United States during the 1990‒2022 period: Is the Fed monetary policy a causal factor?

Abstract We investigate the causes of the gap in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) between life and nonlife insurers in the United States from 1990 to 2022. Our causality analysis indicates parallel trends between M&As in the life insurance and nonlife insurance sectors from 1990 to 2012, and a significant difference after 2012. There was a shock in the life insurance market that resulted in a reduction in M&As after 2012. Variable annuity sales and profitability in the life insurance sector declined after 2012. We find evidence that low interest rates observed after the implementation of the Fed's quantitative easing policy from 2008 to 2012 caused the difference in M&As between the life and nonlife sectors after 2012.