Several full service life reinsurers introduced product consulting and development (PC&D) in the early 1990s with a simple premise: To offer actuarial pricing resources to ceding companies looking to develop or re-price a product, most often term. The ceding company got a professionally priced product that met profitability goals, and they didn’t have to spend time shopping for reinsurance. They then were able to use their own pricing resources on more complex product designs with higher profit margins. The reinsurer got most or all of the reinsurance on the product.

But in today’s complicated business environment, pricing resources are just one of many challenges facing insurance companies. Triple X reserve requirements, overall capital needs, IT systems complexities, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, underwriting resources and service demands by producers — on top of low market premiums for term — leave many companies thinking of term as a concession to distribution rather than a key to their profitability.

Transamerica Reinsurance has evolved and expanded our PC&D services to serve these companies. With significant investment in our infrastructure and business processing alliances, we have achieved cutting edge technology and a continuum of services focused primarily on the level term market. At one end, professional product development services provide mortality expertise and simplify a company’s term pricing efforts. At the other end, full private label solutions provide a turn-key term approach with call center, tele-application, sales support, new business administration, underwriting, policy issue, inforce administration and financial and management reporting. In between, we offer a range of outsourcing options for the delivery of term insurance products.

In the past, outsourcing required a few "all or none" choices. Today, that’s no longer the case. Companies can take advantage of a less capital-intensive way to compete in the term market without giving up functions they want to keep in-house — such as underwriting and case management — which are important to relationships with producers. At the same time, they can be relieved of the responsibilities of product design and maintenance systems and administration.

As other life reinsurers refocused on other initiatives, we remain committed to the wide range of opportunities that a full suite of PC&D offerings provides.