UPDATE: March 24, 2013
A couple years ago I wrote about how Aviva USA was excited to expand their indexed annuity product line and slowly increase their business to keep up with the growth they had been maintaining over the four previous years. With their newest fixed indexed annuity product series launched earlier this month, Aviva USA continues their promise to offer better retirement products to consumers. TargetBenefit Annuities give customers more flexibility and are less complex than some other indexed annuities.
The product is simple because your guaranteed lifetime income is calculated using only your premium, age, and how long you wait to receive payments. TargetBenefit annuity products offer a statement of benefits that details the exact amount you’ll be paid out upon withdrawal no matter what happens in the markets. This is the first product offering such a helpful and detailed statement. You can choose between two income riders; one allows you to choose a fixed lifetime income benefit while the other offers a lower guarantee coupled with more market participation. Another popular rider triples the income payments if the annuity holder goes into a long term care facility. There are many choices of interest crediting facilities and withdrawal charge periods with the TargetBenefit Annuity.
Demand from consumers brought about this new indexed annuity offering from Aviva USA. From the inflation rider to keep up with the pace of rising costs to the option of delaying payments and just receiving a lump sum future payout, the options offered are those requested by customers. While you get the peace of mind of having planned for your future retirement needs, you also have the option to make changes to those plans as your life folds out.
Original Post below:
While Aviva USA’s parent company has a long history abroad and even some in America, it’s growth in the four years it has been working out of Des Moines is substantial. According to The Des Moines Register‘s David Elbert, (the) “Insurer’s roots go back to Newton, (Isaac that is.)” Aviva USA just opened the new Des Moines headquarters and they are hoping to organically grow along the rate that they have for the past four years.
Aviva’s US operations were sold in 2001 because the London based company was not seeing profit from them. At the time, the company was not yet known as Aviva; that came after a series of mergers in 2002. Although Aviva was one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, they did not come back into the US until 2006 when they bought AmerUs Group of Des Moines for $2.9 billion. Since AmerUs was a leader in the sale of equity indexed annuities, then a relatively new investment, the company was attractive to Aviva. The other reason they liked AmerUs so much was that they had a large network of insurance agents nationwide who were independent and loyal. This investment in AmerUs brought about Aviva USA.
Since 2006, Aviva USA in Des Moines has grown from AmerUs’ 600 employees to the 1,300 who just relocated to the company’s new $150 million home office located in West Des Moines. Aviva USA has grown between 30 and 40 percent each year and hopes to continue growing at a rate of around 10 percent a year through organic growth rather than acquisitions. Aviva USA’s annuities sales and life insurance products have kept them financially strong during the recent economic turmoil. While AmerUs was unable to compete in the large sales channel controlled by BGA’s (brokerage general agents), Aviva as the sixth largest insurer does not have that problem. They are expanding and growing at a significant rate.
