Milestone is Historic First for Internet – Record $500 Million Monthly
Transaction Volume Forecast for 2002
LEESBURG, Va. – AnnuityNet, Inc., the nation’s
top provider and pioneer of online solutions for the annuity industry, today announced
that it processed an unprecedented $2.1 billion in annuity transactions in 2001. This
figure marks a record annual volume for financial services transactions by an eCommerce
technology provider to the annuity industry.
AnnuityNet, Inc., a software and business re-engineering
company based outside Washington, DC, builds eCommerce technology that links together
annuity point-of-sale distributors, such as banks and broker-dealers, with insurance
carriers that create and underwrite annuity products.
The record dollar traffic processed by the AnnuityNet
platform is clear evidence that the company is establishing an annuity technology standard
for the entire financial services industry. While there are a number of other vendors
offering technology solutions in the annuity sales and servicing marketplace, none are
processing on an annual basis anything close to the dollar volume demonstrated by the AnnuityNet platform.
“In 2002, we expect to be seeing close to a
half-billion dollars a month moving through the AnnuityNet platform,” said AnnuityNet
CEO Shane Chalke. “As more banks, broker-dealers and carriers continue to come
on-board and begin using our technology, we believe that figure will grow substantially.”
Historically annuities have been a cumbersome, paper-driven
and intensively regulated product. AnnuityNet’s advanced technology platform automates and
streamlines the sales and service relationship to create a paperless stream for annuity
applications straight-through from distributor to the carrier, as well as efficient online
servicing of the annuity contract and underlying investments.
A signature capability of the system offers automated
wizards that apply product-specific business logic to eliminate common errors during the
application process. Other key advantages are built-in suitability and compliance checks,
and straight-through processing that electronically delivers the application directly to
the carrier back office systems. The net result is efficiencies that streamline workflow
and enhance bottom line profits for both underwriters and distributors of annuity products.
Annual annuity dollar transactions processed through the
AnnuityNet platform include new sales of fixed and variable annuity products, so-called
1035 exchanges of annuity contracts, as well as all investment transactions in variable
annuity subaccount funds for annuity products maintained on the system.
“One good reason why AnnuityNet technology is being
adopted so widely in this market space,” observed Tom Christian, AnnuityNet Sr. Vice
President and Chief Information Officer, “is that our approach wasn’t built on
cumbersome legacy mainframe systems. AnnuityNet designed from the ground up a system that
uses the best Internet technology to power the sale and servicing of annuity products. We
were free to innovate, and we’ve delivered a functional, highly scalable and robust system
perfectly aligned to the real-world requirements of financial institutions and insurance carriers.
“These annual dollar figures represent an important
milestone in the evolution of the Internet as a stable, mature, and indispensable medium
for annuity financial transactions,” added AnnuityNet CEO Chalke. “Annuities
embody the retirement hopes for millions of Americans. We are extremely proud that
AnnuityNet technology has been chosen by so many financial industry companies as the
vehicle to support retirement security product offerings for their customers.”
About AnnuityNet
AnnuityNet, a Leesburg, VA-based software technology
company, pioneered the Web-based approach to powering transactions in the annuity market
space with an Internet platform that connects all industry constituencies – carriers and
manufacturers, distributors and point of sale representatives, and customers – into
a seamless, secure and information-rich process. After becoming the first company to
engineer paperless annuities on the Web, AnnuityNet designed and developed technology
solutions for financial services institutions that are transforming the way the industry
sells and services annuities. Marking an Internet record, AnnuityNet’s Web technology
processed more than $2 billion in annuity transactions during 2001. AnnuityNet was founded
in 1997 by well-known actuary and entrepreneur Shane Chalke, and is owned by a blue-ribbon
consortium of financial industry organizations including GE Equity, Lincoln Financial
Group, Conning Capital Partners, SunLife, and Bank One. The company’s Web site address is
www.annuitynet.com.
Securities offered through AnnuityNet Insurance Agency Inc., a broker-dealer.
