As the weather heats up in May, so does the competition among insurance carriers that are releasing new features for their variable annuities. Offerings this season include enhanced riders as well as glitzy subaccount choices, or the investments within variable annuities, from Metropolitan LifeInsurance Co. of New York, Nationwide Financial Services Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, and Toronto-based Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, along with others."Right now, it's a situation where folks are trying to get a sliver of the competitive angle, primarily in withdrawal benefits," said Richard Byrne, vice president of product management at Massachusetts Mutual LifeInsurance Co. of Springfield. "The arms race in the living-benefits world is crazy."
A key month on insurers' product development calendar, May marks a time when insurance companies update VA prospectuses to include their most recent annual financial statements. Because re-registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission is costly, carriers tend to time product changes so they can be incorporated in the updated prospectus.
Afterward, the companies devote their summers to training their wholesalers on the new features, promoting the product to advisers and gearing up for the selling season in September.
"This is a big effort with client seminars, ads. We're constantly developing products in the pipeline," said Mary M. Fay, senior vice president and general manager of Sun Life's annuities division.
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