Hancock Adds VUL Product

An insurer says a new variable universal life insurance policy is suitable for use in arrangements such as spousal irrevocable life insurance trusts and key-person insurance programs.

The new Protection VUL product provides a strong death benefit as well as the potential for policyholders to accumulate cash, according to John Hancock Life Insurance, Boston, a unit of Manulife Financial Corp., Toronto.

John Hancock reports that it also is increasing the current fixed account crediting rate by 2 percentage points until the end of the year, and offering more methods that Protection VUL holders can use to shift assets to the variable options from the fixed account through “dollar cost averaging.”

Dollar cost averaging is a strategy for trying to ride out the ups and downs in the stock market by regularly putting relatively small amounts of cash in investment funds.