IMO Numbers Could Shrink by Up to 50 Percent
March 28, 2018 by Cyril Tuohy
Despite an appeals court ruling tossing out the Department of Labor fiduciary rule, the number of independent marketing organizations (IMO) can expect to eventually shrink by an estimated 30 to 50 percent, an expert said.
IMOs help agents sell life insurance and annuities and there are an estimated 350 IMOs in the U.S. serving agents in the independent channel, the dominant sales channel for fixed indexed annuities (FIAs), a $54 billion market.
“There’s going to be more consolidation happening in the independent channel among IMOs and BGAs (broker general agencies),” said Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink Inc., publisher of Wink’s Sales & Market Report.
“Will the 350 IMOs in the market shrink down to a dozen? Probably not,” she said. “But I can see it shrinking in half, or by 30 percent. There’s no reason to have 350 marketing intermediaries for life and annuity market.”
Click HERE to read the full story via INN; subscription required.
