Venerable
Venerable Holdings is a company that reinsures annuity products sold by other providers. In recent years, the company has acquired annuities from insurance and financial companies who no longer sell annuities, such as Voya Financial and John Hancock.
- Written By Jennifer Schell
- Edited By Savannah Hanson
- Updated: May 27, 2022
- This page features 6 Cited Research Articles
About Venerable
Venerable Holdings is relatively new to the insurance and annuity business, having been established in 2018. Since then, Venerable has grown with its acquisition of the Voya Insurance and Annuity Company (VIAC), the company’s annuity business line. In 2019, VIAC changed its name to Venerable Insurance and Annuity Company.
Venerable’s annuity holdings grew further in 2020, when the company acquired $12 billion in variable annuity business from Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company. In 2021, Venerable completed a transaction with Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation to reinsure approximately $22 billion of variable annuity business from Manulife’s U.S. subsidiary John Hancock.
Fixed annuities: (800) 369-5303
Variable annuities: (800) 366-0066
Credit Ratings
Insurance and annuity companies like Venerable Holdings receive credit ratings, or financial strength ratings, from independent agencies. These scores give customers an idea of the annuity provider’s overall financial stability, and the likelihood that the company will be able to meet its obligations.
Venerable Insurance and Annuity Company, the subsidiary of Venerable Holdings that provides annuities, has received an A- financial strength rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA). KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency and is recognized as a Credit Rating Provider by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Annuities Offered by Venerable
Venerable Insurance and Annuity Company operates primarily as a reinsurance company for other annuity providers. As such, the company does not sell annuities directly to consumers. The types of annuities Venerable reinsures include fixed and variable annuities.
Fixed Annuities
When you purchase a fixed annuity, you pay an initial premium that grows at a fixed rate over time. When your fixed annuity matures, the premium plus the interest it has accumulated are converted into a stream of income payments you can receive for the rest of your life.
The Voya fixed annuities that Venerable now manages are part of the Voya Quest series. These products are fixed indexed annuities, meaning they earn interest two ways: a fixed rate and a rate tied to the growth of an equity market index. The Quest series products offer the choice of a five-, seven- or ten-year contract schedule.
Variable Annuities
Many of the annuities Venerable insures are variable annuities. These products are considered riskier than fixed annuities but provide the potential for greater returns.
When you purchase a variable annuity, the lump sum premium is then allocated to a portfolio of investment products such as mutual funds. The value of the annuity is then tied to the performance of the investment portfolio.
The growth of a variable annuity usually isn’t capped the way a fixed indexed annuity’s growth is, so variable annuities benefit more from strong market years. In weak years, however, the variable annuity may not see any increase in value, while a fixed or fixed indexed annuity will still earn interest from the fixed rate.
Venerable insures variable annuities from a variety of companies, including John Hancock, a subsidiary of Manulife Financial. In 2021, Venerable agreed to reinsure over 163,000 variable annuities that were sold by John Hancock before the company halted its annuity sales in 2012.
Client Resources
Customers whose annuities are managed by Venerable can access their annuity policy information online on MyVenerable, the company’s online customer portal. The first time a customer logs in, they’ll need to register their account. To do so, the customer must have their contract or account number as well as identification such as their Social Security number or Tax ID number.
Venerable also provides answers to frequently asked questions on their FAQ Page. For any questions not answered on the website, Venerable has a customer service email address, service@venerable.com, that customers can contact.
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6 Cited Research Articles
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- Bell, Allison. (2021, November 16). Venerable to Reinsure $22B in John Hancock Variable Annuities. Retrieved from https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/11/16/venerable-to-reinsure-22b-in-john-hancock-variable-annuities/
- Business Wire. (2021, June 1). KBRA Assigns A- Rating to Corporate Solutions Life Reinsurance Company and Affirms Ratings on Venerable Holdings, Inc. and VIAC. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005802/en/KBRA-Assigns-A--Rating-to-Corporate-Solutions-Life-Reinsurance-Company-and-Affirms-Ratings-on-Venerable-Holdings-Inc.-and-VIAC
- Venerable Holdings. (n.d.) About Us. Retrieved from https://www.venerable.com/#/aboutus
- Venerable Holdings. (n.d.) Contact Us. Retrieved from https://www.venerable.com/#/contactus
- Venerable Holdings. (n.d.) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – For All Users. Retrieved from https://www.venerable.com/#/faq
- Voya Financial. (2016, June 13). Voya Financial Adds New Series of Fixed Indexed Annuities to Its Broad Suite of Retirement Solutions. Retrieved from https://www.voya.com/news/2016/06/voya-financial-adds-new-series-fixed-indexed-annuities-its-broad-suite-retirement