IMOs get frustrated with slow carrier adoption of faster technology

Billions of dollars in annuity sales flow through independent marketing organizations each year, but some of the industry’s biggest IMOs are growing impatient with carrier partners they say are moving too slowly on technology.

Specifically, IMOs are pushing carriers to speed up adoption of IRI Digital First for Annuities standards across the independent distribution channel.

Led by the Insured Retirement Institute, in partnership with The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the DFA project is nearly three years old and is cutting annuity replacement processing times by up to 94% by standardizing engagement and data across platforms.

Athene, the No. 1 seller of annuities, was the first company to sign up for the effort. Insurers such as Prudential and Jackson National quickly followed. The DFA has processed more than 65,000 paperless annuity replacements to date, an IRI spokesman said.

But that figure could be higher, IMO executives say. In a Sept. 30 letter signed by 13 large IMOs, marketing executives urged carriers to invest in four significant technology priorities to help grow the annuity sales and service pipeline.

The letter says the goal is to standardize data exchange to support sales, service and growth in the independent distribution channel — not to step on anyone’s toes.

"The goal is not to make every carrier, IMO or vendor use the same platform," the letter adds. "The goal is to create common rails so that core information can move in a consistent, secure and usable way."

The letter is signed by executives from AmeriLife Group, Insurance Agency Marketing Services, Financial Independence Group, Advisors Excel, Gradient Insurance Brokerage, Legacy Marketing Group, Signal Advisors Insurance, Libra Insurance Partners, Annuity Marketing Services, Simplicity Financial Marketing Group, CreativeOne Marketing, Impact Partnership and Magellan Financial.

Four priorities to improve efficiency

The letter identifies four priorities for carriers to consider as they develop their 2027 technology roadmaps:

• Application Status API
• Application Status Push Notifications
• Agent Movement/Advisor Relationship Continuity
• In-Force Book of Business/Policy Inquiry Data

It is a simple matter of efficiency, said Chris Conroy, executive vice president and partner, IAMS.

“Too much time in annuity distribution is spent finding out what happened instead of helping the client take the next step," Conroy said. "Staff check multiple portals and call for updates that a carrier’s system may already have. Consistent application-status information and timely notifications can help turn that information into action."

Conroy used a road analogy: Vehicles of all shapes and sizes perform wholly independent tasks from one another. But they all travel on the same road network, which helps everyone get where they are going more efficiently.

“We appreciate the technology investments carriers have already made," Conroy said. "This letter identifies practical distribution needs we hope they will consider in their 2027 planning. Our support is for voluntary adoption, with each carrier choosing its own implementation approach and timing. Each signing IMO continues to make its business decisions independently."

The IMOs signing the letter combine for about $80 billion in annual annuity sales, the letter claims.

Four areas of focus

The letter outlines what distributors need from carriers in each of the four areas of concern:

Application Status API. With its API software, IRI has developed an industry standard for sharing application-status information among carriers, distributors and technology providers. It supports real-time status visibility and automated notifications.

From a consistent data access and sharing standpoint, IMOs say adopting application-status software across the industry would have a major impact.

"Accordingly, we request that carriers implement the IRI Application Status API as the primary standard for communicating pending case information to authorized IMO and distribution partners," the letter reads.

Push Notifications. A "natural extension" of application status technology, push notifications would only add efficiency to the sales process, the letter says.

"IMOs and financial professionals should not have to repeatedly check for updates when a carrier already knows that an event requiring attention has occurred," the letter reads.

Agent Movement/Advisor Relationship Continuity. When agents and advisors move from IMO to broker-dealer or to other distribution relationships, it can create delays in how clients and transactions are handled. The process for handling those advisor moves "varies significantly by carrier," the letter states.

"That inconsistency can create reporting gaps, service disruption, advisor frustration, and unnecessary manual work for carriers and distributors," the letter says.

While acknowledging it is a complicated ask, the IMOs requested that IRI and carriers "prioritize an industry solution for agent movement and advisor-of-record continuity."

In-Force Book of Business/Policy Inquiry Data. The independent distribution channel needs "more consistent access to in-force book of business and policy-level data for authorized advisors and servicing IMOs," the letter notes.

Currently, accessing that information requires distributors to visit separate carrier portals, carrier-specific reports, manual downloads, or third-party data arrangements. All of that costs precious time, the IMO executives say.

"We request that carriers prioritize standardized in-force book of business and policy inquiry data feeds, consistent with IRI Digital First standards and subject to appropriate authorization and compliance controls," the letter states. "At a minimum, the industry should work toward standardized access to core policy information."

According to IRI, 22 insurers plan to go live with the paperless replacement standard by the end of 2026, for a total of 32 companies.

The overall DFA initiative includes 43 insurers and 17 distributors, plus several solution providers. These numbers are IRI members only, a spokesman noted; some non-members have implemented standards as well.

DFA has produced 18 standards and best practices that are live and ready for companies to implement. By year-end, IRI expects 118 implementations across the participating companies.

The technology effort should be a win-win for everyone along the annuity sales path, Conroy said:

“The intended benefit is straightforward: less time chasing information, clearer next steps and more time serving clients.”

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.