Equitable Announces New Enhancements To Flagship RILA

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Equitable, a leading financial services company and subsidiary of Equitable Holdings (NYSE:EQH), today announced enhancements to its Structured Capital Strategies^® PLUS registered index-linked annuity that offers clients some upside potential even when the S&P 500 benchmark index goes down.

The new feature, Dual Direction, is available within SCS PLUS annuities with the S&P 500 as the benchmark index. Dual Direction offers clients the following benefits:

• If the S&P 500 benchmark index declines up to or equal to 10% at the end of the six-year investment time frame, clients earn a positive return equal to the percentage of the decline up to or equal to 10%.
• If the S&P 500 benchmark index declines more than 10%, the client is protected from the first 10% of losses.

“Given today’s extraordinary market conditions, clients are looking for strategies to help them balance their long-term need for investment growth with protection from equity market declines, especially as they near retirement,” said Robin M. Raju, Head of Individual Retirement, Equitable. “Our goal is to continue to innovate on behalf of our clients, bringing new options and more robust choices to help them achieve their goals.”

Today’s announcement builds on several enhancements to the company’s Structured Capital Strategies^® (SCS) suite of annuities. Most recently, the company added a new feature in select versions of Structured Capital Strategies^® which allows clients to invest on a one-year basis, giving them the flexibility to realize potential returns or partial downside protection more quickly.

Equitable introduced Structured Capital Strategies^®, the first registered index-linked, or buffered, annuity in 2010. Through Structured Capital Strategies^®, clients can participate in the performance of one of several mainstream equity market indices up to a cap, with Equitable absorbing the first -10%, -20% or -30% of potential losses. Clients can choose the equity index on which the performance of their investment is based, such as the S&P 500 Price Return Index, Russell 2000® Price Return Index or iShares® MSCI EAFE ETF, the duration of the investment and the level of downside protection based on their goals and risk tolerance.