The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., the No. 1 seller of variable annuities in both the United States and Japan, announced its plan Tuesday to market individual investment and retirement savings products this year in the United Kingdom.
The Simsbury, Conn., insurer's new subsidiary, Hartford Life Ltd., is to focus on selling investment and retirement accumulation products known as unit-linked bonds in Britain. Unit-linked bonds are similar to the variable annuities it sells elsewhere. In time, The Hartford plans to enter other European markets.
The Hartford has established operations in both London and Dublin to help market and service its new business. About 95 jobs were created in its sales and marketing branch in London's Canary Wharf financial district and at its headquarters in Dublin, where it has an operations, administration, and customer service center.
The United Kingdom accounts for 12% of the world's life insurance and pension markets, which makes it attractive for companies marketing retirement savings products, according to Gregory Boyko, the chief executive officer of The Hartford's international business.
"The United Kingdom offers an affluent market for us, and with its maturing population and deteriorating public pension system, it's clearly one of the world's best opportunities to market retirement savings products," Mr. Boyko said in a press release.
The Hartford's goal is eventually to have distribution arrangements with every major independent financial adviser firm and bank in the United Kingdom, he said.
In the United States, The Hartford has been the top seller of variable annuities through its Hartford Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Co. subsidiaries since 1993. In Japan, Hartford Life Insurance KK has become the biggest seller of variable annuities since starting operations in 2000, amassing more than $14.7 billion of assets under management at Dec. 31, 2004. And Icatu Hartford Seguros SA, a joint venture between The Hartford and Grupo Icatu, one of Brazil's leading financial companies, has been in operation for several years.
