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Voya Financial Inc. is hoping to accelerate the runoff of its closed block of variable annuity business by offering policyholders incentives to either surrender or annuitize their policies.
The offers are voluntary, and the policyholder may choose to keep their contractually guaranteed features. However, if clients accept the offer, they may receive an increase in surrender value with a waiver of any surrender fees or an increase in the value used to determine available benefits.
Voya stopped selling individual variable annuity products with guaranteed features in 2010 and placed the business in runoff. Voya's 4.95% decrease in policyholder account value in 2016 equals a $4.1 billion reduction in reported value.
Voya Chairman and CEO Rodney Martin Jr. noted on the company's fourth-quarter 2016 earnings call that it completed its fourth "enhanced annuitization offer" during the quarter. In total, the four...