IRI Initiative Cuts Annuities Processing Time by 94%
According to the Insured Retirement Institute, its Digital First for Annuities program has decreased cycle times for annuity exchanges to 24 hours from 18 days.
Digital First for Annuities, an initiative rolled out one year ago by the Insured Retirement Institute to modernize the promotion of annuities, has reduced the time it takes to complete the transaction process for annuities by up to 94%, to as short as 24 hours from a previous average of 18 days, according to a Monday announcement.
The IRI, whose members account for 90% of annuity assets in the U.S., helped process more than 17,000 paperless annuity exchanges in 2025 and reduced call center volumes by 80% by requiring fewer manual interventions, according to the statement. The IRI’s initiative aims to modernize annuity transactions and management through standardized digital processes, according to the company website. It also sped up resolution of “Not in Good Order” documents—paperwork that does not meet regulatory or company requirements for processing—by two days.
The IRI also introduced last year a framework that enables annuities to be represented alongside traditional investment asset classes in financial planning tools, called Baseline Values. Two major planning platforms and a “tier-one” distribution firm have incorporated these frameworks, but the names of the firms were not publicly disclosed.
“These results show that Digital First for Annuities is not just a vision,” said Wayne Chopus, the IRI’s president and CEO, in a statement. “It is a fully mobilized modernization effort reshaping how the annuity ecosystem operates.”
Additional milestones included the launch of the Standard Hosting Platform, an open-sourced GitHub repository for all Digital First for Annuities standards.
Ten firms have implemented DFA’s Paperless Replacements standard, marking steady adoption, according to the announcement.
Moving forward, the IRI announced it expects to complete several additional standards, expand adoption metrics and begin work on automation and artificial intelligence-enabled efficiencies.