Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) has completed its previously announced acquisition of The Hartford’s Retirement Plans business.

The Worcester-based Hanover Insurance Group Inc. has estimated the company will lose between $120 and $140 million, or $2.65 to $3.09 per share, after “complex” claims are sorted out.

A recent study commissioned by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) showed that independent insurance agencies contributed over $1 billion to the state economy last year, in payroll, employee benefits, taxes, rent, and charitable giving.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) has approved payment of an estimated $1.39 billion in dividends to eligible participating policy owners in 2013, the highest payout ever in the firm’s 161-year history, according to a company statement.

J. M. Doherty Insurance Agency Inc. has entered into an agreement with Partners Insurance Group LLC, an affiliate of BayCoast Bank, to become the sixth privately owned local insurance agency to join the Partners Insurance Group network.

Insurer Liberty Mutual Group Inc., already one of the largest supporters of nonprofits and community groups in the Boston area, has announced it will significantly increase its charitable giving in Massachusetts this year.

The board of directors of Worcester’s The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. has declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents per common share.

Worcester-based The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. today reported second-quarter net income of $20.8 million, up dramatically from a net loss of $32.2 million in the same period a year ago.

Worcester-based Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. estimates its second quarter earnings will drop from $70 to $77 million before taxes due to domestic catastrophe-related activity.

This just in: Advisors approve of annuity products for clients.

Fifty-five percent of advisors whose clients typically have less than $500,000 investable assets believe annuity products should be included as part of their financial portfolios, according to a recent Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA) study.

New construction springing from still-barren hillsides in Central and Western Massachusetts in the aftermath of last year’s crippling tornadoes is evidence of property and casualty insurers at work. But the picture varies across the commonweatlh.

Met Life finds the reverse mortgage market distasteful.

Massachusetts officials plan to release details of insurance claims connected to tornado destruction in the state’s western and central parts last June.