Andrew Farrell (Credit: Symetra)
Symetra Life Insurance Company is adding two single-premium indexed annuity contracts that protect the purchasers against loss of account value.
The Bellevue, Washington-based insurer has introduced the Symetra Stride and Symetra Edge Elite contracts, which are both filed as non-variable annuities.
Both contracts feature crediting rate options linked to the performance of Putnam Investments' new Putnam Dynamic Low Volatility Excess Return Index.
Symetra is the U.S. arm of Sumitomo Life Insurance Company of Osaka.
Some annuity issuers have pulled back from offering annuities with account value guarantees in recent months, because of concerns about low interest rates and stock market and bond market volatility.
Andrew Farrell, a senior vice president at Symetra, said in a comment about the new products, which was included in the product launch announcement, that Symetra is always looking for ways to mold its products to meet the needs of distribution partners and retirement customers.
"Fixed indexed annuities continue to offer the principal protection and growth potential many preretirees and retirement customers are looking for in today's volatile market conditions," Farrell said.
The two new contracts offer purchasers access to credit options linked to the JPMorgan ETF Efficiente 5 Index and the S&P 500 index as well as to the new Putnam index.
