Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America announced Tuesday that its variable products division, Allianz Life Financial Services LLC, is offering its complete line of variable annuity products in the banking channel.
The Minneapolis company said it will have separate internal and external wholesaling teams for the bank and broker-dealer channels, in addition to its already established regional wire house channel.
Allianz Life Financial Services' bank channel is to be managed by Sheila Willits under the direction of Brad Coustan, the national sales manager for the independent and bank channels.
The unit of the Frankfurt-based company said its entry into the bank channel has already begun, putting it ahead of another foreign-owned company, Old Mutual Financial Network, that plans an eventual entry into the bank variable annuity channel. The unit of London's Old Mutual PLC said in July that it would begin selling variable annuities in the United States through regional broker-dealers in the first quarter. Bank distribution would be added in 2008, it said.
Allianz Life of North America sells fixed and variable annuities, life insurance, and long-term-care insurance in the United States.
