Nationwide Financial, Manulife Financial, Pacific Life, and The Hartford Will Link to Vision®
DST's Vision Will Significantly Increase Its Variable Annuity Content
January 31, 2002
KANSAS CITY, MO. (January 31, 2002) -Vision®, the leading Web portal for financial advisors enabling access to such fund and annuity giants as Alliance Capital, American Funds, AIM, MFS Investment Management, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., and Lincoln Financial Group, announces four new annuity relationships. The annuity heavyweights, including Nationwide Financial, Manulife Financial, Pacific Life, and The Hartford, have announced their plans to make customer information available on Vision (www.dstvision.com).
Vision is the only portal providing financial advisors access to both variable annuity and 267 mutual fund companies. This is particularly significant since variable annuity contracts, on average, comprise a significant component of an advisor's book-of-business. With Vision, advisors can get a comprehensive snapshot of their clients' portfolios with a single sign-on. Furthermore, advisors have the ability to provide clients with asset allocation graphs and summary statements.
"As a leader in the annuity industry, The Hartford has been at the forefront of applying technology to benefit our investment representatives and customers," said John Walters, Executive Vice President of Hartford Life's Investment Products Division. "A core part of our strategy is to make it easier for the financial intermediary to do business with us."
"Exploring new technology that empowers the broker to better serve customers is an objective Nationwide is pleased to support on behalf of our distribution partners, " said Tim Lyons, Nationwide Financial Vice President Sales / Channel Technology Services.
"Manulife Financial understands the importance of providing our distribution partners comprehensive products and services. The addition of our variable annuity products to Vision will allow us to leverage DST's success in the mutual fund arena and provide a valuable service to the advisor community," said James R. Boyle, Manulife Financial, Senior Vice President, U.S. Annuities.
"Technological excellence is as important today as investment performance," said Bill Robinson, Executive Vice President of Pacific Life's Annuities & Mutual Funds Division. " With the need for instantaneous and more comprehensive information, we are committed to continuously offering state-of-the-art options that meet the needs of financial advisors and the clients they serve."
"We are pleased that several of the country's largest variable annuity providers are now including Vision in their core technology offering to the financial planning community," remarked Kyle Mallot, DST Client Services Officer. "Our objective is to continue to provide advisors access to information that enables them to more efficiently service their clients."
Vision is enhancing its variable annuity interface to make it easy for annuity companies to participate. As a result of this enhancement, data from Nationwide Financial, Manulife Financial, Pacific Life, and The Hartford will be available in July of this year.
The annuity operations group of The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of Lincoln Financial Group, was the first insurer to provide client data through Vision.
DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE: DST) provides sophisticated information processing and computer software services and products that help clients improve productivity, increase efficiencies, and provide higher levels of customer service. DST is organized domestically and internationally into three operating segments: Financial Services,
Customer Management, and Output Solutions. DST operates one of the most advanced data centers in the world, which provides information-processing services to support the products within each operating segment. These products are further enhanced through the integration of DST's advanced technology and e-commerce solutions.
Through its issuing companies, Hartford Life offers a comprehensive portfolio of fixed and variable annuities, life insurance coverages, mutual funds, group benefits, group retirement plans, and institutional investment
products. Hartford Life is a member of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., one of the largest insurance and financial services operations in the United States, with 2001 revenues of $15.1 billion.
Manulife Financial is committed to offering the highest quality annuity, life insurance, pension and tax-deferred college savings products to its U.S. clients. Its family of products has been built around a powerful combination of investment options chosen with the goal of providing risk-adjusted returns and broad diversification across asset classes, investment styles, and asset managers. With its broad product lines, competitive underwriting, excellent ratings, and quality customer service, Manulife Financial is dedicated to providing quality products designed to help create and preserve wealth for its clients.
Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services company operating in 15 countries and territories worldwide. Through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners, Manulife Financial offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services. Funds under management by Manulife Financial (Manulife Financial Corporation and its affiliated companies) were US$85.3 billion (Cdn$134.6 billion) as at September 30, 2001.
Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSE, NYSE and PSE, and under '0945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.
Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: NFS), based in Columbus, is a leading provider of annuities, life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, and other financial services for individuals and institutional clients. The major operating subsidiary of NFS is Nationwide Life Insurance Company.
Nationwide Financial, with assets under management of $111 billion in 2000, is the retirement savings and income operation of Nationwide, a leading provider of diversified insurance and financial services. The parent company is ranked #127 on the Fortune 500 based on asset size. For more information about Nationwide Financial visit http://www.nationwidefinancial.com.
Founded in 1868, Pacific Life provides life and health insurance products, individual annuities, mutual funds, and group employee benefits, and offers to individuals, businesses, and pension plans a variety of investment products and services. Over the past five years, the company has grown from the 23rd to the 14th largest life insurance company in the nation.1 The Pacific Life family of companies manages more than $345 billion in assets, making it one of the largest financial institutions in America, and currently counts 81 of the 100 largest U.S. companies as clients.2 Additional information about Pacific Life can be obtained at its Web site, www.PacificLife.com.
Pacific Life is rated A++ (superior) by A.M. Best, AA+ (very strong) by Standard & Poor's, AA+ (very strong) by Fitch, and Aa3 (excellent) by Moody's for financial strength.3 Pacific Life is a member of IMSA (Insurance Marketplace Standards Association), whose membership promotes ethical market conduct for individual life insurance and annuities.
1 The Townsend & Schupp Company, based on assets, as of December 31, 2000.
2 Data compiled by Pacific Life using the 2001 FORTUNE 500® list.
3 These ratings do not apply to the safety or performance of the separate accounts funding Pacific Life's variable products.
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