A new Insurtech hub for wealth management has launched with a hybrid distribution model.
Financial Independence Group has joined SIMON to provide a centralized digital platform for structured investments and various insurance products with “powerful” education and analytical tools.
As mentioned in the update, wealth managers are now able to view, analyze, and manage structured investments along with fixed and registered insurance products via a single, centralized platform jointly launched by financial services conglomerate Financial Independence Group, LLC (FIG) and Fintech firm SIMON Markets.
As noted in the announcement:
“Strategically aligned with the commitment of both companies to streamline the wealth management experience for financial professionals, the new platform … integrates FIG’s national distribution capabilities for fixed index annuity, fixed annuity, life insurance, care planning, and disability income solutions with SIMON’s end-to-end digital suite of tools for structured investments and annuities.”
As stated in the release, independent advisors and broker-dealers will able to access various tools and resources—including those related to education, product selection, analytics, and lifecycle management—”for better product understanding and comprehensive client servicing.”
The platform is considered a breakthrough in workflow management and compliance oversight. It aims to address an industry-wide technology gap “by replacing multiple systems with one centralized location to”:
- Easily access and track required training.
- Analyze annuity allocations and allocations within portfolios.
- Access on-demand, real-time product rates.
- Learn how changing rates and market conditions may impact portfolio performance.
- Execute transactions in-platform.
- Track annuity applications from start to finish.
- Analyze policy performance.
As noted in the update, with longstanding obstacles to selling and servicing these products removed, financial professionals are now able “to work with risk-managed solutions that may have been too unfamiliar or time-intensive to effectively incorporate in client portfolios in the past.”
Those who provide structured investments can merge that business into a single digital ecosystem with other products for “comprehensive management of their books of business.” And professionals who have been reluctant to expand into insurance “now have the educational resources to enter the space and easily tackle transactions.”
FIG COO Arron Price stated:
“We are thrilled to deliver a new distribution model that combines the education and execution of investment and insurance solutions in one centralized location. This platform is much more than a product marketplace—it is a real-time data and marketing ecosystem to build product expertise and power sales for independent advisors. This is asset management and the insurance space colliding.”
FIG CO-CEO Jim Cooper remarked:
“FIG and SIMON coming together shows each organization’s commitment to a vision of what the future of distribution is to be. That vision includes the offering of a wide variety of products and tools on both the fixed and registered side of the business. Our clients’ needs are evolving, and we need to adapt to keep up with what it is they are looking for. The FIG and SIMON jointly-built platform creates an opportunity for financial professionals to get educated on a multitude of financial products but at the same time can illustrate, transact and access real time values in one centralized location.”
SIMON Chief Distribution Officer Scott Beshany added:
“Our partnership with FIG helps extend SIMON’s technology to new broker-dealers, independents, and RIAs—the distribution opportunity this creates is tremendous. Carriers and issuers on SIMON have a new way to reach these channels, and financial professionals are gaining access to the tools and resources they need to really understand risk-managed solutions. This partnership delivers a truly simplified digital wealth management experience for everyone, across multiple asset classes.
As noted in the release, FIG is a financial services conglomerate and leader in the independent marketing organization (IMO) and field marketing organization (FMO) industry.
Privately held and independently-owned, the firm’s fixed insurance solutions “help the independent, licensed financial professional guide their retail investment clients to an optimal retirement plan.”
FIG has provided solutions for more than 45 years, “specializing in guaranteed income, asset protection, and multi-generational planning.” More than 3,000 professionals across the US access the firm’s 70+ carriers “to design fixed index annuity, fixed annuity, life insurance, care planning, and disability income solutions to best fit the interests of their clients.”