Envestnet Insurance Exchange is targeting advisors with a comprehensive selection of annuities on a single, integrated platform
Envestnet Insurance Exchange, a new insurance network that integrates insurance solutions into the wealth management process via its Envestnet platform, is now offering access to the annuities’ line-up from six carriers in a move to ‘streamline and enhance advisors' ability to deliver the full lifecycle of financial advice to their clients’.
The carriers, Allianz Life, Brighthouse Financial, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Nationwide and Prudential Financial, can now offer variable, structured, fixed and indexed annuities to advisors through the Envestnet Insurance Exchange.
Envestnet is actively working to onboard advisors to the pilot programme and plans a broad-market release of the Insurance Exchange in June 2019. The exchange will service large financial institutions, including bank wealth management, independent advisors, broker-dealers and registered investment advisors (RIAs), among others.
‘We believe advisors who offer integrated advice to their clients can help them achieve better outcomes,’ said Bill Crager (pictured), chief executive of Envestnet Wealth Solutions. ‘By bringing more choices to the enterprises we work with and their advisors, we believe we are one step closer to helping them deliver complete financial wellness to their clients.’
Envestnet Insurance Exchange is backed by Fiduciary Exchange (FIDx), a network that integrates the brokerage, insurance and advisory spaces. The partnership was initially announced in May 2018. Since then, Envestnet and FIDx have worked together to add a line-up of carriers and annuity solutions. FIDx's technology unites insurance carriers and wealth management platforms for advisors to fully integrate annuities and the benefits of insurance into clients' portfolios.
Growth opportunity
The collaboration with Envestnet reflects the company’s push to provide a simpler advisor experience at every touch point and across every channel, according to Myles Lambert, chief distribution and marketing officer, Brighthouse Financial.
“Our goal is to make it easier for our distribution partners to do business with us wherever they are, including those on fee-based platforms,” Lambert told SRP. “The Envestnet Insurance Exchange allows us to reach a wider population of advisors and help them incorporate annuities into a comprehensive financial plan for their clients.”
Brighthouse will initially offer the fee-based version of its flagship Shield product, Brighthouse Shield Level Select Advisory Annuity, through the Envestnet iX and plans to add a broader range of annuity solutions to the platform in the future.
Doug Wolff, president at Security Benefit, an annuities provider not part of the Envestnet network, said the launch did not come as a surprise.
“This is only the beginning, as the amount of fee-only products out there remains marginal,” said Wolff. “We see this channel as a huge growth opportunity going forward.”
Wolff sees a similar dynamic “as we saw in the mutual fund space many years ago when no-load funds were a very small portion of the market until RIAs embraced the product set and formed the foundations of the market that it is today”.
“There are some similarities with structured notes too, which also share some of the same elements, such as principal protection, that make them appealing for more conservative investors,” he added.
The Envestnet platform offers daily annuity performance reporting aligning with traditional asset classes; integration of annuities into asset allocation models; simplified account opening, processing and management of annuities on platform; the ability to advise on annuities within the managed account ecosystem and conduct in-force transactions on platform; as well as fee-based and commission-based annuity offerings.
Envestnet Insurance Exchange will be available through the sponsor and advisor portals on the Envestnet platform.