WASHINGTON — Shares of large U.S. life-insurance companies initially surged Wednesday following news they might receive aid from the government’s $700 billion financial-industry rescue program.
But the Treasury Department said only life insurers that own banks or saving and loans qualify for assistance and that no new programs for the industry were being considered.
Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group, which spiked 35 percent to $11.40 minutes after the market opened, closed at $9.59, a gain of 13.5 percent.
Hartford and Lincoln National, two of the nation’s largest life insurers, and several others applied to become thrift-holding companies last fall. Regulators approved applications earlier this year from those two firms as well as Prudential Financial, Genworth Financial and Aegon, a Dutch company that owns U.S. insurer Transamerica.
Life insurers, which have more than $5 trillion in assets and invest some of the premiums received from customers, play an important part in consumer confidence and security.
“These companies are among the hundreds of financial institutions in the . . . pipeline that will be reviewed and funded as appropriate on a rolling basis,” Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said.
Hartford said in January that it expected to be eligible for between $1.1 billion and $3.4 billion in bailout money.
