Aflac Execs Talk About U.S. Distribution Efforts
Executives said true group benefits sales have been growing.
An insurer known for selling individual insurance products at the worksite says its sales of true group insurance plans have been growing.
Executives from Aflac Inc. talked a little about the shift Thursday, during a conference call with securities analysts.
An analyst asked the executives about a drop in sales of the company’s individual worksite short-term disability policies. Teresa White, president of the Aflac U.S. unit, and Richard Williams, Aflac’s chief distribution officer, said the shift is partly due to successful company efforts to reach the kinds of brokers who work with larger employers.
“We’re seeing significant acceleration in group product sales,” Williams said.
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Williams and White appeared to imply that the brokers may be selling group short-term disability plans to some employers who might have set up worksite short-term disability programs in the past.
Daniel Amos, Aflac’s chairman, said the company has been happy both with efforts to help career agents get more comfortable with its Everwell enrollment system and other automated systems, and with effort to develop relationships with brokers who serve employers with 100 or more employees.
“Our product partnering initiatives for true-group products is still early in its development, but it’s already starting to take off,” Amos said. “As a result, Aflac is seeing a high rate of growth through brokers, and strong sales growth in our group products.”
Aflac held the call to go over first-quarter earnings.
The Columbus, Georgia-based company is reporting $717 million in net income for the quarter on $5.5 billion in revenue, compared with $592 million in net income on $5.3 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2017.
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