Prudential Annuities, a subsidiary of Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial Inc., said Thursday that it had created two national sales jobs to enhance its focus on distribution through banks, wire houses, and independent broker-dealers.
After posting strong variable annuity sales in the independent broker-dealer channel last year, Prudential decided to start the new sales posts in an effort to promote similar success in the bank and wire house channels, according to Matthew Schiffman, an executive vice president and the head of sales at Prudential Annuities.
“We believed that in order to become a top-shelf distributor of variable annuity products, we needed to expand our leadership team,” he said. Prudential Annuities has 21 wholesalers for the bank and wire house channels and is planning to expand the team in 2006, he said, but declined to say by how many.
The annuity unit was the top seller of variable annuities in the independent broker channel in last year’s second quarter, reporting more than $1 billion of sales and outselling its nearest competitor by more than $125 million, according to VARDs, a subsidiary of Morningstar Inc. that tracks variable annuity sales data. That quarter was the first in which Prudential and its recently acquired subsidiary, American Skandia Life Assurance Corp., took the top spot in the independent broker channel.
Mr. Schiffman declined to specify revenue targets for the bank, wire house, and independent broker channels, saying only that the company’s goals for 2006 are “very aggressive.”
Alex MacGillivrary, who was formerly national sales manager for the independent broker-dealer channel at Lincoln Financial Group, was hired to be national sales director for the bank and wire house channels at Prudential. Before his tenure at Lincoln, he was the president and chief executive officer of Axa Distributors.
Rick Singmaster, who was previously a national sales manager at Prudential Annuities, was promoted to national sales director for the independent broker-dealer channel. Before joining Prudential, he was a wholesaler at American Skandia.
Broadening education offerings for sales representatives and customers across all channels is a key Prudential Annuities objective for 2006, Mr. Schiffman said. The training materials aim to address advisers’ concerns about the suitability of variable annuities for certain clients, he said.
“Suitability is at the forefront of our education efforts,” he said.
Prudential Annuities’ latest educational offering, dubbed Retirement Red Zone, focuses on the investment window of the five years immediately before retirement and the first five years of retirement. This period is crucial for investors because any market downturn or negative investment performance during that time can have a devastating financial effect on retirees, Mr. Schiffman said.
The Retirement Red Zone campaign, which began this month, includes continuing education sessions and a toolkit for advisers, as well as a client seminar for individual investors. The offerings focus on mitigating investment risk in retirement through variable annuities.
Last year, the company offered 25 continuing education courses for advisers, covering variable annuities and index annuities, according to Mr. Schiffman. Prudential wholesalers also offer sessions on specific topics in which bank and wire house clients have expressed interest, he said.
