No, the title of this newsletter does not have a typo in it. F&G was recently purchased by Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd. (“Anbang”) which is really stunning news.
To read the full press release, click on the following link:
http://strategicmp.net/fandg-bought-by-chinese
I thought it was bad enough when F&G was purchased by a venture capital firm. I have no idea what to think about a Chinese company purchasing them.
This raises lots of questions.
1) How will current policy holders feel about a Chinese company buying F&G?
The question that comes to my mind is trustworthiness. It’s one thing to trust a domestic or European based company. It seems to me that having a life policy or annuity contract owned by a company based in a communist country is quite another.
Trust seems to be very low between the U.S. and the Chinese.
2) What will Anbang do with the caps on their existing indexed life/annuity products?
F&G already has a poor track record when it comes to lowering caps on renewals of existing life and annuity products. Will that trend continue or get worse now that a Chinese company owns F&G?
3) What will potential clients think?
I’d like to sit in on client meetings where an agent is trying to pitch to clients that they should buy an indexed life or annuity product from a Chinese company and that the client should feel comfortable trusting Anbang when it comes to being treated fairly with cap renewals.
4) What’s really important is what agents who typically sell F&G think.
Distribution of F&G products is mainly through independent insurance agents. These are
agents with a choice. It will be interesting to see how many choose to continue to sell F&G.
I have reservations about recommending a company’s products when the company is a Chinese based company. I will have to do more research and I will probably take a wait and see approach before even considering recommending a product from Anbang/F&G.
I’ll leave it to readers to make up their own minds.
Roccy DeFrancesco, JD
Founder, The Wealth Preservation Institute
144 Grand Blvd
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
