Asset managers are gearing up for a surge in new in-plan retirement annuity products enabled by the 2019 SECURE Act after weathering an economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19 intervened in what was expected to be a record launch of in-plan annuities after the federal legislation made it easier for retirement plan sponsors to include lifetime income products in their investment lineups, and created federal regulations spelling out future financial prospects for workers.

But as participation sagged, the private sector spent the pandemic developing new in-plan annuity products. Big-name asset managers such as BlackRock Inc., Wells Fargo …