By Cyril Tuohy
AIG has introduced a universal life insurance policy with living benefit riders that the company says will appeal to a broader range of consumers by offering policyholders more flexibility.
The product, branded as QoL Performer Plus, is the latest to join the company’s portfolio of Quality of Life … Insurance® products, the company said.
"QoL Performer Plus could be the first policy clients buy or the last, because it is designed to help serve and protect Americans and their families, no matter what the future brings," said James A. Mallon, president, life insurance, AIG Global Consumer Insurance.
The company hopes Performer Plus will appeal to young consumers who need flexibility in an insurance policy to adapt to their mobile, fluid professional lives. The product also is geared to middle-age customers who are more interested in life insurance products that offer guarantees and protection in case of catastrophic illness.
John Deremo, executive vice president and chief distribution officer of life insurance with AIG Financial Distributors, said Performer Plus is designed to pay a portion of the base life insurance benefit in the event of a major heart attack, stroke, cancer or other qualifying illness without any additional cost in premiums.
Performer Plus includes a cash value account with a minimum interest crediting of 4 percent a year for the first five years, and 2.25 percent a year thereafter, the company also said.
An older version of the product, QoL Performer, credited the savings portion with 4 percent a year for seven years, according to AIG’s website.
Policyholders can increase or decrease their coverage amount, and they can add term life coverage for their spouse, the company said. Or, policyholders can add term life coverage for durations of up to 35 years.
AIG's new offering comes at a time when consumers are not only asking for more flexibility from insurance policies, but insurance companies are also looking for ways to sell more life insurance coverage in an era of slower revenue growth due to low interest rates.
First-quarter annualized premiums for individual universal life policies declined 15 percent compared to the year-ago period, according to LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Life HYPERLINK "HTTP://INSURANCENEWSNET.COM/ADVERTISE"Insurance Sales Summary Report.
First-quarter face amounts dropped 18 percent compared to the year-ago period and the number of universal life policies sold fell by 9 percent compared to the 2013 first quarter, according to LIMRA statistics.
Other products in the QoL family include QoL Flex Term, QoL Guarantee Plus, QoL Index Plus, QoL Accumulator, QoL Performer/Provider, QoL Advantage and QoL Income Protection Plus.
Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.
Source: InsuranceNewsNet.com
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