VantisLife Insurance Co. says it is looking beyond banks to form more alliances with credit unions in order to increase its scale.
Though VantisLife - which operates in Connecticut, its home state, as Savings Bank Life Insurance Co. - focuses on bank relationships, said Craig Simms, its senior vice president of marketing, "we have an interest in larger credit unions as long as [they have more than] 50,000 households."
VantisLife announced a distribution agreement last week with Pentagon Federal Credit Union and the Credit Union Service Organization, which provides broker-dealer services for Pentagon Federal members. Pentagon Federal has more than 600,000 members.
Mr. Simms said the partnership came about after a Pentagon Federal representative approached VantisLife. "They said they have a client that is interested in increasing their fee income," he said, adding that Pentagon Federal has offices in 20 states.
Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., Pentagon Federal has $7.2 billion of assets. It provides financial services to employees of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the departments of Homeland Security and of Defense. Pentagon Federal offers credit card, automobile, mortgage, and personal loans; checking; money market savings and IRAs; and investment and insurance products.
VantisLife has aggressive goals for this new venture, Mr. Simms said. Its first direct-mail package went out to 40,000 households.
"We expect to [transform] 25% to 30%" of the leads obtained through Pentagon Federal into sales, Mr. Simms said, and VantisLife already has 900 leads.
He said he expects Pentagon Federal to generate $70,000 to $80,000 of annual premium.
Pentagon Federal is the third-largest U.S. credit union, Mr. Simms said, and it has begun to offer VantisLife products to more than 100,000 members in select states.
"The VantisLife product line offers affordable life insurance solutions that can meet our members' needs," Christopher Flynn, an executive vice president of Pentagon Federal, said in a press release. "Providing excellent rates and proven service is the key to our member-oriented philosophy, and VantisLife products help us extend that level of service to protection products for our members who can buy directly over the phone."
VantisLife targets institutions with $500 million to $20 billion of assets, said Mr. Simms. Companies bigger than that are too difficult for the $650 million-asset insurer to handle, he explained.
The company's products are sold by licensed representatives at financial institutions in various states, as well as through a licensed direct sales force at VantisLife's East Hartford, Conn., headquarters.
Bank and credit union alliances have been the bedrock of VantisLife's expansion strategy, said Mr. Simms. "We are focused on opportunities east of the Mississippi but hope to be admitted to all 50 states by 2005," he said. The company is authorized to sell insurance in 38 states, up from 12 a year earlier.
In July VantisLife signed an agreement with GTE Federal Credit Union in Tampa, which has more than 35 branches, 200,000 members, and $1.7 billion of assets.
