The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent that will protect a technique a large insurer is using to calculate crediting rates for deferred fixed annuities.
Life insurance units of Allstate Corp., Northbrook, Ill., started issuing one of the annuities, the Allstate Treasury-Linked Annuity contract, in 2002, and the Allstate Treasury-Linked Annuity Plus contract, a similar contract that includes a market valuation adjustment feature, in 2003.
Both annuities use a crediting formula that ties increases in the crediting rate to increases in the U.S. Treasury Note Constant Maturity 5-year rate.
