This week we had two rather surprising announcements when Penn Mutual and Jackson National Life both announced limitations on new money to their annuity products due to annual capacity attainment.
This news comes at a time when several major carriers have announced roll backs and limitations on new premium for their products.
Capacity
Both carriers named reaching capacity limit for the year as the reason for their decisions. Jackson announced that it had approximately $1 billion dollars remaining in capacity for the year and as such would halt 1035 exchanges and qualified transfers beginning November 13, 2012. Jackson will begin accepting applications for these exchanges beginning December 15, 2012.
Penn Mutual did not disclose remaining annual capacity, but announced that beginning November 9, 2012 it would stop accepting applications for its variable annuity products from independent broker/dealers. Penn did not announce when it will lift this suspension, but commented that it plans to do so sometime early 2013. Additionally, Penn announced that it would stop paying compensation to agents for subsequent premiums paid to variable and fixed annuities that are not in their first contract year.
Penn Mutual Announced that it will continue to pay compensation on it's Smart Foundation, Smart Foundation Flex, Smart Foundation Plus Variable Annuities, Inflation Protector Variable Annuity, and Retirement Planner Variable Annuity.
If we have more news on Jackson National Life, Penn Mutual, or any company's annuity products we'll be sure to bring that new to you.
