Jackson National Life Insurance Company announced it has expanded its relationship with Chicago-based Halo Investing, a platform for protective investments, to include the balance of Jackson’s advisor annuity products.
The two sides struck a deal last year for Halo to offer Jackson’s fee-based fixed index annuities (FIAs) and registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) on its platform. For Jackson, the motivation for the deal was its push to gain better traction in the registered investment advisor market.
“We believe that RIAs should have access to our solutions in a manner that best suits their business model,” said Bill Burrow, senior vice president at Private Wealth & Insurance Professionals for Jackson National Life Distributors. “The important aspect here is getting the word out to independent RIAs on how annuities have evolved to fit their models.”
After a year of distributing the FIA and RILA products on the Halo platform, Burrow said Lansing, Mich,-based Jackson was pleased with the exposure the annuities were receiving and moved to expand that relationship.
“It’s clear that [Halo} is getting the word out [and] telling the right story – a broad educational story – on annuities and putting the annuity where it fits,” Burrow said.
Burrow declined to provide any numbers on the amount Jackson had sold through the Halo platform.
In October, Halo agreed to start offering Jackson’s fee-based annuity products which includes its RIA exclusive advisory variable annuity, Jackson Retirement Investment Annuity, and its Perspective Advisors II variable annuity. All these products will be offered to advisors exclusively on Halo’s platform. This addition constitutes the full suite of advisor-based products according to Jackson and Halo.
Lee Moses, national sales director at Halo Insurance Services, praised the current relationship with Jackson saying it is the number one firm when it comes to annuity sales. He is thrilled to be offering its 3,000-5,000 advisors' direct access to Jackson’s advisor-based annuity products.
Over time annuities have become a more viable option for advisors which has prompted firms such as Jackson to expand its reach into the RIA community.
“Through product and process evolution, annuity solutions eloquently fit into the RIA’s business model,” Burrow said. “It has been a relatively new phenomenon for annuities in the advisory space.”
There have been three major changes that have allowed this transition. The first has to do with the natural transition brokerage firms are making to advisory models. Previously, the brokerage model of annuities would include the standard commission and surrender schedule. However, the new products geared toward advisors, does not include commissions or surrender charges.