While this is not the same as a Federal guarantee, no state life insurance fund has ever let one of its members renege on its claims.

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Life insurance is typically used to fund buy-sell agreements that are triggered by the death of an owner.

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In these schemes, donors gave money to a charity and took a deduction, and the charity used the "donation" to fund a life insurance policy benefiting not only itself but the donor.

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Theoretically, Japan has enough savings to do this but in practice the savings don't get intermediated through the banking and life insurance companies and the trust fund bureau and the post office savings account in sufficient quantities to buy these bonds.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek

Life-insurance companies and trust banks still largely monopolise pension-fund management.

ECONOMIST: Japanese finance

Ameriprise, which was spun out of American Express in 2005 is a wealth management and mutual fund operator, but it has a significant home and life insurance business as well as an annuities business.

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While it has a 15% market share in traditional fixed-annuity life insurance products, it has less than 2% of Germany's mutual fund market-and virtually nothing in equity-linked variable annuities.

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Insurance companies, too, have responded to the mutual-fund threat by developing their own retail funds, usually packaged in a life-insurance wrapper.

ECONOMIST: Local restrictions permitting