Allianz holds out carrot for top distributors

Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America today launched Allianz Preferred, a program that will step up suitability measures for high-producing distributors in return for access to an exclusive fixed indexed annuity. The Preferred program will be open to field marketing organizations — firms that license insurance agents and provide other services — provided they can generate at least $75 million in annual annuity production for Allianz and are willing to submit to other conditions, according to Eric Thomes, a senior vice president at Allianz Life. “There's a benefit to exclusivity,” he said. “We are asking that they take the quality a step further.” The FMOs also must be willing to adhere to tough compliance and ad review requirements. Allianz, for instance, expects the marketing organizations to bring in field suitability and compliance officers. Those officers will undergo training from the insurer. Further, participating FMOs will have to agree to third-party review and approval of all advertising materials they have prepared, including material that doesn't bear the Allianz logo. The insurer will pick up the tab on the review firm's costs. Finally, FMOs in the Preferred program cannot be affiliated with a distribution group. These groups align with life insurers to create proprietary fixed indexed annuities and distribute them among other FMOs. The Annexus Group and The AltiSure Group LLC are two of the more well-known distribution groups. Allianz says qualifying FMOs will have access to a new fixed indexed annuity, set to be released on Aug. 2. Mr. Thomes wouldn't provide details on the product's specifics, but said that the annuity tells “a strong income story.” Preferred firms are also eligible for some extra pay. They can also get an additional 10 to 20 basis points in compensation, determined by the volume they generate and the completeness of their suitability paperwork.