New York Life Teams With Legg Mason's QS Investors Unit: Annuity Moves

New York Life says it will be working closely with Legg Mason, and Legg Mason’s QS Investors unit, to develop variable annuity investment menus.

(Related: Nationwide Adds a Variable Indexed Annuity: Annuity Moves)

The New York-based life insurer has been working to promote news about the expansion of the relationship.

New York Life first put QS Investors model portfolios in its variable annuities in May. The portfolios have attracted about $100 million in assets, the company says.

The asset managers at QS Investors say they use knowledge of investor behavior patterns to create portfolios that may resist temporary swings in investor sentiment.

Franklin Templeton acquired Legg Mason July 31.

Employers and Associations

Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa, says it’s working with Ubiquity Retirement + Savings to introduce the Simply Retirement by Principal program.

The program will make it cheap and easy for employers with fewer than 100 employees to set up retirement plans online, without seeing a financial professional face-to-face.

An employer will pay a $500 setup fee and $150 per month for recordkeeping, Principal says.

MetLife, New York, has picked Barnum Financial Group, Shelton, Connecticut, to manage distribution of its two PlanSmart financial education programs, the Transition Solutions program and the Retirewise program.

A unit of Prudential Financial, Newark, New Jersey, has won a contract to provide a financial wellness program for the Women Presidents’ Organization, New York. The organization has about 2,000 members.

Pension Risk Transfer

Milliman, Seattle, says the cost of transferring pension risk to an insurer is going down.

Companies typically complete pension risk transfers by buying group annuities.

Milliman’s pension risk transfer cost index fell to 102.8% of a plan’s pension liabilities in July, from 104.2% of the plan’s liabilities in June.

The cost of using a group annuity for a pension risk transfer fell because the accounting discount rates used to value pension obligations fell more than the rates used to price group annuities fell.

Legal & General Group, London, says its Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd. unit competed a pension risk transfer deal with Siemens.

Siemens used a Legal & General group annuity to secure pension benefits for about 2,000 retirees in the United Kingdom.

— Read Bankers Life Adds an Indexed Annuity: Annuity Moves, on ThinkAdvisor.

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