On Sunday, May 1 st, 2016, New York Life released an update of VUL Accumulator Plus AD113. This update introduces a new, non-guaranteed annual persistency bonus of .35% to the Accumulator Plus beginning in the 16th year of the policy. New York Life’s placement within both the endow and distribution markets improved by a significant degree with this update, but in neither case did the Accumulator Plus manage to distinguish itself as one of the top contenders in the VUL market.
Prior to the update, Accumulator Plus was firmly entrenched in the fourth quartile of the endowment arena. Despite significant upward movement in competition positioning, the newest iteration is still unable to move much past the midway point of its competition. Limited-pay premiums decreased on average by about 4% and experienced the greatest jump in competitive positioning, especially for ages 45 and younger. Initial premiums in full-pay scenarios failed to produce the same leap as they remained high in order to meet minimum premium thresholds.
The situation in the distribution arena is similar. Previously, the Accumulator Plus trailed towards the back of the pack. Competitive placement for ages 45 and younger were where the most significant change occurred. Distribution amounts increased an average of approximately 9.5% for those ages. Despite the upward climb in the market, the Accumulator Plus was at best toward the middle of the pack. Thanks to the inclusion of the persistency bonus, cash accumulation for distribution scenarios increased by a significant margin.
Targets did not change in the update, staying mostly in the top quartile for endowment and the top of the third quartile for distributions.
Rates were uploaded to the LifeTrends website on Monday, June 6, 2016.