New York Life Expanding Its Presence In N.J.

Oct. 15--Mutual life insurer New York Life Insurance Co. is out to increase its New Jersey market share and is boosting its sales force in the state by 78 agents this year, a company official said.

The firm has already hired 44 of them since the beginning of the year, and is planning to bring on 34 more in the next few months, to bring the total to more than 270, according to John Baier, a managing partner who leads the company's Saddle Brook office. The insurer also has offices in Edison and Wall.

Most of the new hires will work out of the company's Saddle Brook office, with a territory that includes Bergen, Passaic, Morris, and Essex counties, Baier said.

"We feel there is a lot more market share we can get," he said.

Publicly traded life insurers Prudential Financial Inc. and MetLife Inc. have reshaped their individual life insurance distribution models over the past two decades to rely more on third parties, such as banks and independent agencies, so they now employ far fewer career agents than in the past. But mutual companies owned by policyholders, such as New York Life and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., have been building up their in-house sales forces.

New York Life recently moved ahead of Prudential in a national ranking of life insurers by life premiums written, according to Charlottesville, Va.-based research firm SNL Financial. New York Life moved up to third in the ranking from fourth a year earlier, with $2.8 billion in life premiums written during the second quarter, up 8.1 percent from the second quarter of 2013.

Newark-based Prudential slipped to fourth from third by that measure as its life premiums written slid 7.1 percent to $2.55 billion.

MetLife remained at the top at $3.89 billion, posting a 1.7 percent increase, and Northwestern Mutual held on to second place with $3.52 billion, which was up 10.5 percent from a year earlier.

The New York Life sales jobs are full-time with benefits, and the pay is commission-based, Baier said.

Applicants get three "pretty intense" interviews, he said. "We don't want to bring someone into the business that's not meant for it."

Like most life insurers, New York Life sells other financial products as well, such as annuities and mutual funds.

Part of the reason for the hiring push is to offset anticipated attrition through retirement.

"The average age of a financial consultant is running at around 53," Baier said.

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