Annuity Market News articles from January 2002

Annuity Market News archives from January 2002

Brokerages Can Score With IVAs.(immediate, or income, variable annuities)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... For brokers, immediate annuities may offer the answer to the stock market-induced sales slump that VAs have been in since the NASDAQ correction. In the next few years, pre-retirement Baby Boomers will look for guaranteed income vehicles (to...

That Was the Year That Was.(2001 in the annuity industry)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... While many in the annuity industry might look back on 2001 as a year to be forgotten as quickly as possible, not every event in the year just past was a negative one. Money still flowed into variable annuity contracts, new products were...

Tech Bugaboo Haunts VL Firms.(variable life insurance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... Variable life insurance products are something of a two-edged sword for issuers. The expense of building the sophisticated back-office administration systems they require is a barrier to entry for new companies. But this also stymies carriers...

Merrill Exec Lauds Simple Products.(Chris Grady, Merrill Lynch Insurance Group)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... For financial services powerhouse Merrill Lynch & Co., products must be simple. They have to be easy to explain to clients because the firm's financial advisors don't have the time to explain a complex product. Mutual funds, stocks and...

Brokers Settle NASD Charges.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... NASD Regulation continues to monitor sales of variable annuities and find dealers who violate suitability rules and record-keeping requirements. Two firms were named in the most recent enforcement action and more actions are possible, industry...

At Deadline.(includes brief articles on various companies)
January 1, 2002... CNA Cuts Staff, Drops VAs and VULs CNA Life announced that it will be cutting its staff by nearly 2,000 and discontinuing its variable product lines, including variable annuities and variable universal life. The firm said it would continue...

Lincoln Revamps Annuity Line.(Lincoln Financial Group's Choice Plus)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Lincoln Financial Group has revamped its variable annuity lineup with the recent release of the ChoicePlus II series of VAs. While no one change represents a monumental departure for the firm, in aggregate, they create a more polished and...

AmEx Insurance Unit Loses CEO.(Pamela Moret, IDS Life Insurance Co.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Pamela Moret, CEO of IDS Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of American Express Financial Corp., is leaving the company in January after nearly 20 years with the Minneapolis-based firm. Moret is leaving to assume the post of senior VP of...

Divin is New Head of Transamerica Annuity Unit.(Cherri Divin, Transamerica Insurance &)(Investment Group)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co. has hired Cherri Divin for the newly-created role of SVP to lead the newly-created annuity products unit in the Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group. Formerly housed within the life products area,...

Quintet of Hires at MetLife.(MetLife Investors Distribution Co.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... MetLife Investors Distribution Co. has added four divisional managers to its wholesaling team, all reporting to Ed Wilson, EVP of the wirehouse and b/d channel, and a broker/dealer channel wholesaler. Jonathan Albro has assumed the role of...

Developing New Distribution Strategy Focuses on Channels.(Lincoln Financial Distributors)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Gathering all of Lincoln Financial Distributors' wholesalers under a single umbrella last year was just one of the steps in shifting the firm's distribution strategy from product silo-focused to channel-focused. Overall, changing the...

Message Is Key, Distributors Insist.(National Association for Variable Annuities)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... How do you sell life insurance to third-party distributors? That salient question caught the attention of many conference attendees at the National Association for Variable Annuities' recent Variable Life conference in Dallas. Patti Abram,...

Brand is Central in Selling Annuities.(interview with Andrew Cohen, Exposed Brick)(Interview)
January 1, 2002... Andrew Cohen is CEO of Exposed Brick, a New York-based integrated advertising agency. Clients have included Merrill Lynch & Co., TD Waterhouse Group, Fidelity Investments and Invesco Funds Group. AMN: How important is brand in selling...

E-Facilitation Case Study: PrudentialXpress.(Prudential Insurance Company of America )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Prudential Insurance Company of America has constructed PrudentialXpress, an electronic interface that allows reps to conduct business largely through the Internet. The system accepts e-signatures in most cases or takes back-end wet signatures...

Hiring Freeze Thaws, But Openings Fall Short of Demand.(financial services industries)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... As news of layoffs in the financial services industry has grown from a trickle to a flood, the pool of new job openings has not dried up completely. MetLife Investors just hired a raft of annuity wholesalers, and PacLife and Bank of...

Sales Manager Confidential.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Down the line, the annuity industry faces a dilemma when it comes to the balance between cutting costs and hobbling a sales organization. Wholesalers must make career decisions for themselves that are affected by the unknown future of the...

Perspective on Products.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... For Steve McDonnell, an associate at Strategic Insight, some of the more striking product features that were introduced in 2001 included the enhanced earnings benefit. "This has been a big driver of growth for the companies that were early to...

AMN VA Product of the Year: The Annuity.com Direct Annuity.(Annuity Market News )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Every year, firms throughout the annuity industry compete to gain more market share, win the interest of producers and investors and generally improve the way they do business. This year, the editors of Annuity Market News have chosen to...