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Innovation Is Driving Force for Security Benefit Mike Kiley, Chief Executive Officer, on how Security Benefit disrupted the staid insurance segment and went on a tear in the past decade, quintupling assets and helping usher in a new era of innovation.
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hile we didn’t set out to reshape the U.S. retirement space, we ended up doing just that. In 2010, we took action to rebuild and allow the company to recover from the financial crisis of 2008. The first year was critical—we gave our people the chance to step up—and they did. We changed up how we approached the market, and set some clear priorities around our business model that played out successfully in the decade following. That included our effort to expand both the product line and distribution reach, while introducing some innovations. We took advantage of ongoing market trends that saw an aging population (but with people living longer), constrained retirement saving (leading people to be afraid of outliving their savings) and an historic low rate environment, coupled with high market volatility. Our revamped product mix was strategically positioned to meet the challenges these trends created. Among our accomplishments: • We were the first to deliver custom index account options in our fixed index annuities in 2012
with a select set of independent financial professionals, and the industry’s leading independent marketing organizations (IMOs), that drove our growing sales volume. We started our turnaround coming off one crisis, only to end this decade with another one. COVID has presented a unique, modern-day challenge but Security Benefit is not new to disasters. This wasn’t our first pandemic, having faced the severe flu outbreak of 1918. When COVID hit, our people took decisive action, shifting the entire firm into a fully connected, remote working environment. Forward thinking helped prepare us for the unexpected, by putting in place critical technology solutions and partners we could rely on. We built partnerships with a select set of independent financial professionals, and the industry’s leading independent marketing organizations (IMOs), that drove our growing sales volume.
• We became the creator of a new annuity product category, floating rate annuities, in 2016 • Developed our first commission-free FIA for the RIA market in 2019 with DPL Financial Partners • Launched a new mobile app and financial wellness platform for DC participants in 2019 • Launched an institutional-level open architecture DC platform in 2020 • Launched a series of accumulation-focused FIAs to meet short and long-term retirement needs in 2020 • Ranked by LIMRA as one of the top four 403(b) companies in the K-12 education market as of 2020 • Developed a multi-factor index in 2021 that is now distributed by S&P and featured in multiple FIAs We matched our disruptive product development effort with a refocused distribution strategy that turned the traditional model upside down — putting the focus on our sales desk instead of field staff. We also picked up on another trend some of our competitors missed: advice still sells. We built partnerships
This kept momentum strong as our fixed annuity (MYGA and FIA) sales increased nearly 70% year-over-year in 2020. Challenging the status quo is in our DNA. When we were founded in 1892, we were one of the first companies to create an insurance fund for those who otherwise couldn’t afford it. Today, we are fully focused on the retirement market across a broad range of wealth segments and have nearly quintupled our assets under management in the past decade to nearly $50 billion (as of June 30, 2021). Our unique and timely approach confirms that after almost 130 years, we are not running out of good ideas.
Find out more about what we can do for you at SecurityBenefit.com.
The annuity products referenced are issued by Security Benefit Life Insurance Company (SBL). SBL does business in all states except NY.
December 2021 » InsuranceNewsNet Magazine
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