“After the market crash in 2008, Variable Annuities took a huge hit, and it became very difficult for insurance carriers to effectively hedge their guarantees. Companies started pulling out of the Variable Annuity business, while others raised fees, scaled back benefits and reduced the investment flexibility,” said Annexus Co-Founder and Lead Product Designer Don Dady. “We’ve since seen a fundamental shift to the Fixed Indexed Annuity (FIA) as insurance carriers recognized it as a better chassis to fulfill guarantees.”

“This led Annexus to partner with some of the smartest minds in finance and the investment community to focus on FIA evolution,” continued Dady. “Our FIAs have essentially evolved into structured products leveraging ‘smart beta’ indices developed by some of the largest investment banks and leading academics in finance. This innovation has helped further improve the risk-adjusted returns of a client portfolio while meeting an even broader range of client needs over the traditional FIA. We are excited to be at the forefront of this fundamental shift in the industry, and we are honored to be recognized as Annuity Innovator of the Year.”

News of the award was well-received. “It’s exciting to be at the cutting edge of the industry, and fantastic to be recognized for the hard work and efforts of the entire Annexus team,” said Ron Shurts, co-founder of Annexus.

Annexus will receive the “Annuity Innovator of the Year” award at the 2017 EQDerivatives Hedge Fund and Institutional Awards in March. For more information on Annexus products, please visit www.annexus.com.

About Annexus
Co-founded by Ron Shurts and Don Dady, Annexus designs solutions to help Americans grow and protect retirement savings. For over a decade, Annexus has developed market-leading fixed indexed annuities and indexed universal life insurance products. In close collaboration with design partner Genesis Financial, Annexus has forged partnerships with Nationwide, Athene and Securian, as well as J.P. Morgan, UBS, Zebra Capital Management, Barclays and Merrill Lynch. A handpicked network of financial professionals use Annexus solutions to help clients take control of their retirement.