Products & Services October 10, 2024

Product & Service Launches – 10/10/24

Arta Finance offers life insurance solutions with Prudential; Corebridge Financial launches a registered index-linked annuity; and The Standard, Family First partner to offer caregiving benefits.

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Arta Finance Offers Life Insurance Solutions With Prudential 

Digital wealth platform Arta Finance Inc. announced its approval as a managed separate-account investment manager for PruLife Private Placement Variable Universal Life policies offered by the Prudential Insurance Co. of America.  

“We’re thrilled to be part of Prudential’s elite network of registered investment advisors that manage their PPVUL investments,” said Samita Malik, Arta Finance’s chief insurance officer, in a statement. “Prudential is an insurance industry leader, with a 145-year history and over 50 million customers around the world. Now new and existing PPVUL policyholders have a technology-first option for their portfolio management.” 

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Arta’s vertically integrated model allows policyholders to manage the process with a single firm, while partnering with leading insurance companies such as Prudential Financial as policy issuers. Arta also offers a full range of life insurance solutions and has secured nearly $150 million in life insurance coverage since launching its insurance offering in 2023. 

Corebridge Launches Registered Index-Linked Annuity 

Corebridge Financial Inc. announced the launch of Corebridge MarketLock Annuity—a registered index-linked annuity issued by its subsidiary, American General Life Insurance Co.  

With the new RILA, Corebridge has added to its suite of retirement solutions, which includes fixed annuities, index annuities, variable annuities and now RILAs.  

“As more Gen Xers and Millennials start planning for retirement, annuities and especially RILAs have become increasingly important in diversifying investment portfolios and helping to deliver growth potential with some downside protection,” said Bryan Pinsky, Corebridge’s president of individual retirement, in a statement. 

The MarketLock RILA locks and credits a rate based on actual S&P 500 Index performance on the day the pre-set growth target is reached, securing gains automatically and immediately. After the gains are locked in, consumers are guaranteed a fixed rate of interest until the next contract anniversary, when they can transfer assets to any available MarketLock strategy account option.  

The Standard, Family First Collaborate to Support Caregivers 

Standard Insurance Co. is partnering with Family First, a caregiver benefit provider, to support employees’ caregiving needs. 

The Standard’s clients have the option to contract directly with Family First to access guidance aimed at addressing the caregiving challenges employees face. For example, employers and employees can take advantage of personalized caregiving support—from caring for a newborn baby to a spouse or parent—as well as online tools and resources. 

Employers can work with Family First for services tailored to their unique needs, subject to additional costs. 

Deals & People October 10, 2024

Munnell to Step Down as Head of BC Retirement Research Center

Alicia Munnell founded the center 26 years ago and will remain a senior adviser; Andrew Eschtruth, deputy director, will step into the director role.

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Alicia Munnell, founding director of The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, will be stepping down from her role on December 31 after more than two decades of leadership, the Center announced Thursday. 

Deputy Director Andrew Eschtruth, who has been with the organization since 1999, will serve as the next CRR director, supported by senior researchers Jean-Pierre Aubry, Anqi Chen, Laura Quinby and Gal Wettstein. Munnell will remain as a senior adviser, according to the announcement.  

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Chair of management sciences in Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, Munnell is known as “one of the nation’s most influential experts on retirement income policy,” the CRR wrote.  

Before working at Boston College, Munnell served as both a member of then President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and, prior to that, as assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy. Before joining the Clinton administration, she spent 20 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where she became senior vice president and director of research. 

“Alicia Munnell is a distinguished economist whose scholarship has had a profound and lasting impact on strengthening the U.S. retirement system and household financial security throughout her career in government service and during her past quarter-century here at Boston College,” said Boston College Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley in a statement. “She arrived at Chestnut Hill with a compelling vision for her new center and went on to build the CRR into the nation’s leading research center on retirement policy. Her legacy includes the exceptional team she has created to carry on the CRR’s mission and her mentoring of a generation of scholars around the world who are refining our understanding of the economics of aging, retirement and lifelong financial health.” 

Eschtruth has helped the CRR grow from a small startup into a nationally recognized institution, earning a promotion to deputy director in March. He also has experience in managing relationships with donors and the media. Before joining the CRR, he worked in the U.S. Government Accountability Office as a policy analyst focused on the challenges posed by an aging population.  

The CRR’s senior researchers will also assume more responsibilities in shaping the center’s research program, as well as expanding development activities and mentoring junior researchers.  

“The CRR is in good hands.” Munnell said in a statement.  “I’m confident it will continue to thrive for decades to come.” 

Since it was established in 1998, the CRR has produced academic research and policy briefs to assist decisionmakers in both the public and private sectors on the issue of retirement security.  

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