Principal Financial Group, a life insurance and annuity provider, is running operations on the Accenture Life Insurance and Annuity Platform. The system handles underwriting, policy administration, product development, claims and payouts, Accenture said.

President Donald Trump's pick to head the Department of Labor, Eugene Scalia, was the lead attorney in the successful case to have the department's fiduciary rule overturned. This has securities industry members wondering if Scalia will recuse himself from fiduciary-related matters.

Club Vita US and Mercer have developed a lifespan-forecasting tool that breaks down longevity data by nine-digit ZIP+4 postal codes. The tool could help insurers and plan sponsors make better deals when group annuities are used in pension-risk transfers.

A survey conducted by Greenwald & Associates and CANNEX found that consumers are far more receptive to buying an annuity when it is presented as part of a strategy tailored to meet their needs than when it is offered as a product. "When you're shown exactly what an annuity does and it gives you this guarantee throughout retirement, all of a sudden consumers are really on board with annuities and interested in what annuities can do for them." said Doug Kincaid of Greenwald & Associates,

The US Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee is likely to reject the idea of selling 50-year and 100-year Treasury debt, sources said. The committee's views on the matter reportedly haven't changed since it rejected a similar proposal in May 2017.

Advisors should "get going" on compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Best Interest even though the rules will not be enforced until July 30, 2020, warns attorney Fred Reish. "[F]rom my perspective, the SEC is taking a much broader view of conflicts of interest," Reish says.

Failing to make an emotional connection with prospective clients and changing plans that work are two of the biggest marketing mistakes advisory firms make, consultant Angie Herbers writes. "The best marketing comes from focusing on your firm's client experience and the culture you've created to best serve those clients," she adds.

Insurance companies have shown a willingness to remodel annuity products to make them more appealing to advisors, says David Lau, CEO and founder of DPL Financial Partners. He urges skeptics to take another look at the product now that fee-based annuities are more readily available.

Plan sponsors are increasingly concerned about retirement plans meeting their employees' needs, and they are seeking help from advisors to get better outcomes for their participants. Today 93% of plan sponsors are getting assistance from an advisor, up from 68% a decade ago, according to the Plan Sponsor Attitudes Study by Fidelity Investments.

The Insured Retirement Institute recently released the IRI Retirement Fact Book 2019, a definitive guide for the retirement income industry and go-to resource for financial advisors, professionals, public policymakers, and financial and insurance regulators. The new edition updates research findings on generational retirement readiness, explores product development and market trends in the retirement income space, and offers data and research-based insights into advisors practices and consumer retirement planning success factors. Free to IRI members, the Retirement Fact Book can be downloaded here.

Retirement anxiety is growing among baby boomers, many of whom have little to no retirement savings, forcing more boomers to postpone retirement. IRI's annual survey of boomers found that 45% have zero savings for their golden years, and even those with savings are lacking in a number of retirement preparedness factors. Read the report.