BOSTON - Keyport Life Insurance Co. has enhanced two variable annuities by adding to the funds that investors may choose as the basis for the payout.
Keyport Charter, introduced last year as Keyport Advisor Charter, is a variable annuity offering an optional income protection benefit and an enhanced death benefit designed to protect against stock market volatility. It has a minimum initial investment of $5,000.
The Keyport Vista variable annuity, originally Keyport Advisor Vista, has a minimum initial investment of $25,000.
The enhancements announced Tuesday to the variable annuities include the addition of three fund families - Fidelity, MFS, and Rydex; and additional offerings from the fund families previously available - Colonial, Liberty, Newport Pacific, Stein Roe, AIM, and Alliance Capital.
Keyport Charter's income protection benefit assures a minimum fixed lifetime retirement income regardless of the performance of the annuity's asset. Income benefit payments are based on the greater of either an individual's annuity contributions increased by 6% every year, or the highest account value on any contract anniversary.
Keyport Charter's portfolio selection program now uses updated asset allocation models, designed by Ibbotson Associates, which are based on a client's risk tolerance and the term of the annuity.
Keyport Life Insurance Co., with $18.3 billion in assets under management, provides fixed, indexed, and variable annuity products distributed through banks, securities brokerage firms, and independent planners.
It is one of the Liberty Financial Companies, a diversified asset management organization with approximately $66 billion under management.
