Brighthouse Prepares to Add Life Product

Brighthouse Financial Inc. hopes to introduce a major life insurance product by the end of the year.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company hopes the product will help it attract about $250 million in deposits per year by 2021.

The company is also counting on an enhanced annuity portfolio to generate 11% compound annual growth in deposits from now through 2021, with annual annuity deposits increasing to about $8 billion per year in 2021, from a range of about $5.8 billion to $6 billion this year, according to a new Brighthouse presentation slidedeck.

(Related: Q3 Non-Variable Annuity Sales Were Shocking)

Brighthouse executives used the slidedeck to brief investors during a conference call held Monday.

The company now has about $217 billion in total assets, including $145 billion in assets under management.

It distributes its products through about 400 independent distributors.

This year, the company says, one highlight has been a 40% increase in total new annuity deposits between the third quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of this year.

Another highlight has been a 38% year-over-year increase in sales of the company’s Shield annuities, Brighthouse says.

State insurance regulators at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners have been working on now variable annuity capital rules. Brighthouse assumes in its assumptions that it will adopt the changes early, the company says.

The company says it’s also assuming that the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate will increase to 3.45% in 2021, from 3.06% today, and that variable annuity separate accounts will earn an average of about 6.5% per year.

— Read Brighthouse Financial Launches Its First Annuity, on ThinkAdvisor.

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