RIIA Launches Research Initiative to Mine Consumer Data

Guggenheim Partners, New York, has appointed Henry R. Silverman as a senior advisor and vice chairman of its investment management business, effective March 16, 2012. Silverman will be based in the firm’s New York office and will advise Guggenheim’s investment management business on its strategic development and growth initiatives.

Silverman joins Guggenheim from Apollo Global Management, where he served as a director and vice chairman of the board and member of the Executive Committee, and as its chief operating officer from 2009 to 2011.

Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE:LNC), Radnor, Pa., has introduced the company’s first fixed indexed annuity product, Lincoln OptiChoice, available in the state of New York.

The product lets policyholders allocate their premium between a fixed account offering a set interest rate for one year, and an indexed account. The indexed account also offers a fixed interest rate and the opportunity for additional earnings. The additional earnings amount, determined by a pre-specified rate, will be credited to the account at the end of the one-year term depending on the performance of the S&P 500 Index.

The product additionally offers consumers several income options, including lifetime income payments; as well as a nursing home and terminal illness provision, with benefits available after the first contract anniversary.

Coffeehouse operator Caribou Coffee Company, Inc has selected McCready and Keene Inc., a One America company, as the exclusive service provider for its retirement plan. The 401(k) plan currently has 6,000 employees and more than $7.5 million in assets, which transferred on March 1, Caribou Coffee says.

McCready and Keene is an actuarial and retirement benefits consulting firm that focuses on designing, installing, and administering customized retirement plans. Based in Indianapolis, Ind., McCready and Keene provides trust programs that can use an open architecture investment platform for defined benefit, 401(k), 403(b), 457, employee stock ownership, money purchase pension, and profit sharing retirement plans.

ProAssurance Corporation, Birmingham, Ala. (NYSE: PRA), has declared a cash dividend $0.25 per common share, payable on April 12, 2012 to shareholders who own company stock as of March 29, 2012. The company’s dividend policy, announced on September 7, 2011, anticipates a total annual dividend of $1.00 per share, to be paid in equal quarterly installments. The company notes, however, that the decision to pay future cash dividends is subject to its board’s final determination after “a comprehensive review of the company’s financial performance, future expectations and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.”