Selling Annuities Through Exchange Is Just the Start: Envestnet CEO

Envestnet Inc. is optimistic about the insurance exchange the company helped start back in June, Bill Crager told securities analysts last week.

The Chicago-based financial technology company said nothing about the Envestnet Insurance Exchange program in its earnings release for the first quarter.

Crager, Envestnet's chief executive officer, suggested, during a conference call the company held to go over earnings for the first quarter, that the COVID-19 pandemic could, eventually, end up helping the exchange.

The exchange has started out focusing on the sale of annuities. About 4,000 insurance advisors are using the system to help clients buy annuities from eight carriers, according to company figures.

Resources

A recording of Envestnet's analyst call is available here.
An article about AIG putting its annuities on the FIDx exchange is available here.

"If you think about the future of the investor, risk is going to grab much more mindset," Crager said. "How do you mitigate that, through principal protection, and also through guaranteed income? The insurance exchange becomes an essential."

Crager said Envestnet is planning to integrate the exchange system with all elements of the company's business.

The company recommends the purchase of certain products through a planning app. Now, "an advisor can access our Insurance Exchange and execute on those products," Crager said.

Envestnet is setting up a Credit Exchange program that could be distributing credit services from about 15 companies by the end of the year.

"As we look at future exchanges, we're continuing to look at 'What does integrated advice look like?'" Crager said. "'What are the components of advice?" They include things like banking, they include things like life insurance, and other types of services, and, along with these, beginning to step into the health care."

Budgeting a health savings account, and meeting health care needs, should be part of an integrated environment that sits underneath a financial plan, Crager said.

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