Annuity Product Update: Impact, AIG, Allianz Life

One sign that the U.S. individual annuity market is heating up is an increase in product announcement activity.

Major issuers have put out at least three widely distributed press releases about new annuity products, annuity programs or annuity contract features in the last week.

Here's a look at what our nets brought in.

1. The Impact Partnership and Lincoln Financial Group

The Impact Partnership — a Kennesaw, Georgia-based financial services marketing agency — is starting to distribute the Lincoln Impact Advantage Plus contract through a network of 105 agents and advisors.

Impact developed the contract together with Lincoln Financial Group.

The contract is an indexed annuity that's filed as a fixed product. The contract offers a 6% bonus for premiums added within the first four years.

Purchasers can buy a lifetime withdrawal benefit, the Lincoln Lifetime Income Edge 2.0 benefit. The lifetime withdrawal benefit can pay extra benefits to purchasers who end up using nursing home care.

2. American International Group Inc.

AIG's AIG Life & Retirement division has updated its Power Series of Index Annuities contracts.

The company is adding investment index options to the annuities and adding two optional income riders.

The index menu changes will give contract holders access to the Russell 2000 index, which includes many small and midsize U.S. companies, and the MSCI EAFE international stock index. The index menu already included the S&P 500, PIMCO Global Optima and ML Strategic Balanced index options.

The new income riders are the Lifetime Income Plus Flex rider and the Lifetime Income Plus Multiplier Flex rider.

The new riders give the purchaser the ability to change coverage options between single and joint life, AIG says.

The new riders also make it easier for the holders to take withdrawals, the company says.

AIG writes the Power Series of Index Annuities contracts through its Houston-based American General Life Insurance Company unit.

3. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America

Allianz Life says it has updated several of indexed annuity contracts, which are filed as fixed products.

One change will make it easier for holders of the Allianz 222 Annuity contract to qualify for extra benefits based on a need for long-term care services.

In the past, holders of the contract needed to enter a nursing home, hospital or assisted living facility to use the benefits multiplier feature.

Now, holders can use the benefit if they are unable to perform two of six activities of daily living, or ADLs, even if they continue to live in their own homes, according to Allianz Life.

The company is also adding a two-year point-to-point crediting option to the Allianz 222, Allianz 360 Annuity, and Allianz Accumulation Advantage Annuity contracts, and it's adding a new index lock feature for some investment index allocations for those three contracts.

— Read Companies Form Lifetime Income Outreach Alliance, on ThinkAdvisor.

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