Prudential Financial, Zurich Team Up on Group Benefits for Employees of US Multinationals

Prudential Financial Inc. and Zurich Financial Services Group have teamed up on a referral program to help U.S. multinational companies offer group insurance benefits and retirement plans to their local, international, and expatriate employees.

Prudential Group Insurance, a unit of Prudential Financial, will be able to refer to Zurich American Life Insurance Co. client requests to cover third-country nationals, and in some cases, local nationals and U.S. expatriates. Zurich American can refer to Prudential Group requests to cover large-scale U.S. domestic risks.

Products available through the program include group term life, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, long-term disability insurance and expatriate pension plans, among others.

Sheila Bridgeforth, a spokeswoman for Prudential Financial, said in an email Prudential's strength in the United States complements Zurich's strength internationally. Under the arrangement, Zurich does not pay any commissions to Prudential.

Zurich American is part of Switzerland-based Zurich Financial, which has insurance subsidiaries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, among other markets. In addition to the United States, Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRE) operates in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

"By entering into this referral program, Zurich and Prudential are leveraging each of our unique capabilities and providing customers with a single point of entry and combined reporting for their domestic and foreign risks," said Sherif Zakhary, head of corporate life and pensions for Zurich global life North America, in a statement.

Prudential said it's adding this program to its multinational pooling program. "As companies expand globally and employ a growing number of foreign nationals in the U.S. and global markets, our new solution makes it easy for employers to purchase employee benefit plans for their mobile workforce," said Lori High, president of Prudential Group Insurance, in a statement.

In mid-2009, MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET), the largest U.S. life insurer, was forging ahead in its 10-year-old strategic partnership with France's Axa that helped U.S.-based multinational companies manage their employee benefits programs worldwide, while expanding its footprint in an increasingly competitive global marketplace (Best's News Service, June 11, 2009).

U.S.-based employers operating in several countries face hurdles in trying to manage their employee benefits, including differences in government programs, variations in local regulations and difficulty controlling multiple benefit plans. Maxis is an international employee benefits network MetLife and Axa formed in 1998 that has grown to a network of insurers in 76 countries (Best's News Service, June 11, 2009).

At that time, the Maxis network had a strong presence in the Americas, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. A key element of Maxis is multinational "pooling,” which aggregates the claims experience of the client’s local benefit plans to help spread the risk and control costs (Best's News Service, June 11, 2009).

Prudential Insurance Company of America currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).

Zurich American Life Insurance Co. has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent).

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior).

(By Fran Matso Lysiak, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])