Delaware Life Begins to Make its FIA Mark

Last month’s rebranding of Delaware Life Holdings to Group One Thousand One comes in the wake of successful efforts by subsidiary Delaware Life Insurance to boost its distribution network, according to analysts.

Last year Delaware Life Insurance, based in Waltham, Mass., added new IMOs and five new independent broker-dealers (IBD) to its distribution network, according to a report by A.M. Best.

The five IBDs alone added 10,000 independent financial advisors to the company’s distribution platform and Delaware Life’s distribution channels include 14 IMOs and 16 banks, A.M. Best said in a report over the summer.

Delaware Life bought SunLife Financial’s U.S. annuity business and some of SunLife’s U.S. life insurance businesses in 2013 and built out from there.

New FIAs introduced in 2015 have been well received by the marketplace, and Delaware Life “continues to make strides in expanding its distribution channels,” A.M. Best analysts wrote.

Delaware Life’s annuity offerings include FIAs Assured Income 7, Retirement Stages 7 and Retirement Chapters 10, all three of which are sold through independent marketing organizations (IMO), banks and broker-dealers.

Retirement Chapters 10 is a flexible premium FIA, while Assured Income 7 and Retirement Stages 7 are flexible premium deferred FIAs.

First-half fixed indexed annuity (FIA) sales for the company rose 57 percent to $416 million compared to the year-ago period, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report.

'Some Execution Risk'

Though Delaware Life’s business is diversifying away from its large block of in-force variable annuities and life contracts, there is “some execution risk” as the company implements distribution channel expansion plans, the analysts wrote.

Delaware Life’s main fixed annuity product, introduced in 2013, is the single-premium multiyear guaranteed fixed annuity (MYGA) marketed under the brand Pinnacle MYGA.

Delaware Life has been successful in retaining its closed runoff block of variable annuity business and executing on its plan to increase sales of its MYGA and fixed annuity products “with a relatively stable cost of funds,” the analysts wrote.

First-half MYGA sales for Delaware Life rose 4 percent to $660 million compared with the year-ago period, Wink reported.

The company was a No. 5 MYGA seller in the U.S. in the first half, Wink reported.

Delaware Life manages about 342,000 in-force annuity and life insurance policies representing $36.4 billion in assets under management, the company said.

Delaware Life is owned by a private ownership group. Some of the owners are also shareholders of Guggenheim Partners, a private equity company which has taken ownership stakes in life and annuity companies.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at [email protected].

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Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at [email protected].