Axonic Insurance Adds iPipeline’s AFFIRM® to Automate Annuity Sales Lifecycle, Introducing a New Proprietary Product for IMO Market in Conjunction with LIBRA

Business Wire

iPipeline enables Axonic Insurance to launch its VantagePoint annuity offering to market as the organization further expands within the annuity market

WAYNE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
As part of its strategy to expand within the annuity market, Axonic Insurance^TM (“Axonic”), an annuity and investment solutions provider backed by Axonic Capital, and iPipeline®, a leading provider of digital solutions for the life insurance and wealth management industries, announced a new alliance that streamlines the annuity order entry process for the organization’s VantagePoint product launch while expanding distribution within the independent marketing organization (IMO) channel.

Following Axonic’s search to accelerate the order entry process, streamline the contract execution process, and reduce instances of NIGO (not in good order), the carrier turned to iPipeline for its flexible, self-service digital AFFIRM® platform. The result? Axonic successfully launched an annuity offering, VantagePoint, a proprietary multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) product designed for the IMO market, delivering speed, efficiency, and innovation in record time.

Through this alliance, Axonic can access the broad distribution system of LIBRA Insurance Partners (“LIBRA’) , the largest independently owned life insurance marketing organization in the U.S., making VantagePoint and other annuity products available to its LIBRA network. With 90 partner firms throughout the U.S., the LIBRA network includes independent brokerage general agents (BGAs), insurance producers, and financial institutions.

“We’re excited to team up with LIBRA and iPipeline. Integrating iPipeline’s purpose-built annuities platform helps us in our mission to simplify the buying process by removing all friction for today’s consumers who want and expect speed and simplicity. Insurtech solutions that easily integrate and are swiftly deployed enable our team to quickly scale new products, without back-end development,” said Axonic Insurance CEO Michael Gordon. “Partnering with LIBRA opens the door for us to help distributors, channels, and agents tackle their toughest challenges, head-on.”

Richard Buteau, SVP of Operations, LIBRA Insurance Partners commented: “Our partners are excited about this technology, which is not readily available to other distributors or agencies. It gives them a competitive advantage of having another option for submission. iPipeline’s AFFIRM platform provides our partners with a modern tool to grow their business, offering annuity products in a scalable way, instead of reinventing the wheel each time. In today’s environment of tight margins on multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs) and fixed-indexed annuity products, carriers and agents don't want to expend resources on additional case management, extra data entry, pulling documents -- and no one wants to endure up to 60% NIGO rates.”

Buteau added that “with Axonic powered by AFFIRM, that is just not going to happen. All around, that makes it better for the clients, better for the distributors, and better for us.”

Using iPipeline’s AFFIRM solution – a digital native, end-to-end financial planning platform – Axonic integrated its latest annuity product to create a user-friendly, straight-through process that is fully automating the annuity sales process, reducing consumer touchpoints, and speeding up the time to sale.

"We are thrilled that LIBRA has connected us with a new technology-forward manufacturer like Axonic. We are gratified to alleviate the many frustrations that agents and customers alike experience in the annuity's sales lifecycle,” said Pat O’Donnell, Chief Executive Officer at iPipeline. “LIBRA is fully dedicated to bringing the manufacturer, the distributor, and the tech provider into synch when it comes to providing customers with great annuity products in a smooth digital experience. BGAs can now take advantage of state-of-the-art order entry technology that broker-dealers already enjoy. This incredibly expands the current options BGAs have in introducing one of the state-of-the-art platforms.”

AFFIRM also enables comprehensive data capture and supports industry integration with protocols such as DTCC 103 and Product Profile for Annuities (PPfA), making it easier to add new annuity products and establish a separate DTCC relationship.

About iPipeline

iPipeline is a leading global provider of comprehensive and integrated digital solutions for the life insurance and financial services industries in North America, and life insurance and pensions industries in the UK. iPipeline couples one of the most expansive digital and automated platforms with one of the industry’s largest data libraries to accelerate, automate, and simplify various applications, processes, and workflows—from quote to commission—with seamless integration. The company’s vision is to help everyone achieve lasting financial security by delivering innovative solutions that connect, simplify, and transform the industry.

Since its establishment in 1995, iPipeline has helped protect more than 51 million people, and today is trusted around the world by more than 100 insurance carriers, and providers, and more than 2,500 broker-dealers, financial institutions, Brokerage General Agencies (BGAs), Independent Marketing Organizations (IMOs), and Managing General Agents (MGAs). Connected to more than 500,000 agents and advisers/advisors, the company collected nearly $77 billion in global life insurance premiums and annuities in 2023. iPipeline operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500^®, and Fortune 1000^® indices.

For more information, please visit https://ipipeline.com/.

About Axonic Insurance

Axonic Insurance designs, distributes, and services annuity and investment plans for consumers worldwide. Our team is dedicated to offering products and systems to a global audience and corporate solutions encompassing reinsurance and insurance technology. For more information visit https://www.axonicinsurance.com/.

About LIBRA Insurance Partners

LIBRA Insurance Partners is an insurance marketing organization dedicated to serving independent insurance producers, brokers, and financial institutions. Formerly known as LifeMark Partners and BRAMCO Financial Resources, and through the merger with Insurance Designers of America (IDA) in 2022, the firm exists to leverage strategic relationships, expertise, and innovation to expand life insurance distribution for the benefit of all stakeholders. LIBRA Insurance Partners is dedicated to the ongoing development and enhancement of resources to differentiate partner agencies from the competition. Its firms benefit from robust proprietary service offerings, unparalleled partnership, product expertise, and access to industry-leading technologies and tools, including expansive underwriting support resources. To learn more about becoming a LIBRA partner firm, visit https://www.libraip.com/ or call (410) 837-3022.