The former Ohio National life insurance business will soon be known as AuguStar Life under terms of an announcement made this week by Constellation Insurance, Inc., which agreed to acquire Ohio National in 2021 and completed the transaction a year later.
In addition to the name change, the company announced this week that it will introduce a line of individual life products that will be sold through independent marketing organizations and retail agents.
Constellation is a leading insurance holding company serving consumers and small business owners in the United States and Latin America through its family of insurance companies, which collectively have over $34 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022. Constellation’s institutional owners CDPQ and Ontario Teachers’ are two of the world’s largest long-term institutional investors.
“We are strategically committed to building AuguStar Life into an industry leader offering indexed life products through traditional direct agent distribution and independent marketing organizations,” says Anurag Chandra, Constellation Insurance founder, president and chief executive officer. “This new brand reflects the substantially stronger capital position under new ownership and signifies a modern and contemporary identity that aligns well with the multi-faceted product portfolio, technology platform and distribution transformation that is well underway.”
On July 19, Constellation further announced the entry of AuguStar Retirement into the annuity marketplace, committed to creating value for clients and forging long-term advisor relationships.
“The formation of AuguStar Retirement aligns with our enterprise growth strategy to create a market leading annuity business offering a broad array of fixed indexed annuities, multi-year guaranteed annuities, variable annuities and registered index linked annuities through institutional channels and independent marketing organizations,” Chandra said. “The newly assembled AuguStar Retirement leadership team has an exceptional business-building track record and is led by Cliff Jack, who brings more than 30 years of experience building wealth management and asset management businesses as well as leading the transformation of a nascent annuity carrier into the number-one player in the United States.”
AuguStar Retirement plans to launch several annuity products in banks, broker/dealers, and select independent marketing organizations over the next few months.
Joining Cliff Jack are several seasoned industry veterans who have all worked together for over a decade and complement AuguStar Retirement’s existing operational infrastructure in Cincinnati, led by David Marlow, vice president, operations and IT, and Kimberly Plante, vice president, general counsel. AuguStar Distributors is the newly formed sales and marketing entity with regional hubs in Denver and Nashville.
“I am thrilled to be surrounded by such an impressive team who will partner to deliver top-tier, client-focused product solutions with an industry-leading advisor service support model across banks, broker/dealers, independent marketing organizations and insurance professionals. This team has a deep understanding of all facets of an advisor’s practice and is committed to automating processes using cutting-edge technology,” Jack said. “We want to offer an exceptional experience for both the financial advisor and the consumer—one that is welcoming, fun, and inspiring. Our clients deserve to be excited about their financial decisions and put their trust in product solutions and services they can count on and, quite frankly, understand. The AuguStar Retirement brand embodies our commitment to delivering this differentiated experience.”
While the agent community figures to be guarded about the changes, given the messy end to Ohio National’s individual variable annuity business and subsequent lawsuits regarding the elimination of trailing commissions, at least one industry expert was optimistic about the changes.
“An entirely new senior management team has been tasked with creating a new legacy for this annuity issuer,” Sheryl Moore, president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence, said in a July 19 LinkedIn post regarding the announcement. “They are people I know, and trust. I am excited to see what they do in the annuity space. There is much to overcome, but I am confident that they will prove their value in this market.”
Strange name and even stranger logo. Of course, I'm biased against them, but you can judge it for yourself:
View attachment 10020
Anthem recently rebranded as Elevance . . . rhymes with elephants.
The carrier spent years rebranding Blue Cross as Anthem, and the general public has seen that name enough to make the conversion in their brain to Blue, so now they have to remember Elephants used to be Anthem which was once Blue Cross.
Atlanta did something similar a few years ago. There is a street that exits off the interstate that is a known destination for drugs and prostitution. After failed attempts to clean up the area from crime they decided to change the name. This meant businesses had to change signage, addresses in advertising, etc.
Drugs and prostitution is still active in the area. When visitors ask for Stewart Avenue the answer is you need to look for Metropolitan Parkway.
I don't think dealers and hookers had new business cards printed.
No wonder I can't find the place.
Also, Wellabe. None of these new names has any appeal.
Wallaby?
I was a manager at the McDonalds on Stewart Ave in 1965. Was a little rough even in those days.
I think they are all using ChatGBT for the new insurance company name suggestions. AI has not figured out attractive insurance company names yet.
Here's what chatGPT said. Still better than what's out there:
Considering your requirement for an insurance company name that does not use the word "insurance" and is not currently in use, here are a few suggestions:
#9 is funny because that's actually Assurity's agent portal.
Yep, that's a soulless corporate logo and name alright
Well, I guess it's time for me to make my debut.
The Al3x Lee Corporate Insurance Corporation of America, Inc. is excited to announce that after our first round of private investments, we have begun our offering of inspirational new insurance products at a bargain of a price.
Our niche product offerings include:
*Haunted Office Building Insurance – Protects your business against spooky disturbances and ghostly encounters
*Clown Car Fleet Insurance – Insurance for fleets of clown cars, with extended liability coverage for hilariously exaggerated accidents and clown-related mishaps.
*Time-Traveling Liability Coverage (I've had to use this one myself already): Covers your business or personal time travel adventures liability for accidental changes to historical events or time paradoxes. – We also offer time travel equipment coverage
And of course, we offer all traditional forms of P&C, Life, and Health insurance. We have developed our own forms to give you coverage for the things you need and exclusions for the things you don't. This ensures we stay competitively priced and bring much needed capacity to the insurance markets.
For example, our homeowner's insurance offers all traditional coverages, but it's unique in the sense that we add exclusions for all perils other than damage by dragon fire. This is a particularly useful policy if you live near any dragon habitats. No other carrier is offering this.
We loosely comply with insurance regulations in all of the states that we're sort of but not really licensed in.
So what are you waiting for? Drop your boring insurance company and come join the revolution. Our insurance is so fun, you'll WISH you had more claims
*This insurance company was definitely not started and paid for using funds from the Al3x Lee for Insurance Commissioner of California Campaign
ALCICA sounds more like a terrorist organization…
ALCICA sounds more like a terrorist organization…
Well, there's our new slogan "ALCICA, sounds like a terrorist organization, but we actually just sell insurance."
Well, there's our new slogan "ALCICA, sounds like a terrorist organization, but we actually just sell insurance."
Sound like condom brands . . .
Sound like condom brands . . .
Your comment makes the names 10x funnier
Your comment makes the names 10x funnier
thats it. Condom life insurance company. Protect your family with a trusted name. Condom Life Insurance. Dont leave home without it.
thats it. Condom life insurance company. Protect your family with a trusted name. Condom Life Insurance. Dont leave home without it.
As in the extra-large size.
As in the extra-large size.
Nope.
Double Aught Buster Brown Cut Down
Some will say it is one in the same.
Condoms are trying to keep you protected after being screwed
Condom Auto Insurance…..where the rubber meets the road
I still find it humorous that ONFS has changed their name twice in the last 3 years… and the banner ads here on the site still say Ohio National.
I am okay with it since they are paying for the ads. Someone might as well profit from them.
Says everything needed about why they went bust and had to be sold.
The amount of money they spent on direct mail to agents each week was astronomical… especially in the age of email. Im talking nice glossy oversized mailers that came multiple times a week. Often duplicates in the same week or same month. Its hard to fathom the waste on that scale.
Thats true. And all the management that I know knew about the mailer problem and joked about it but nothing was done at the company level about it.
I just LOVE the warning that Ohio National gives us on this forum:
View attachment 10057
View attachment 10058
View attachment 10059
Pretty sure some of these are condom brands.
You read Somarco's post?
I should have read to the end of the thread.
Great minds think alike.
The irony in that is crazy
I’ve placed several policies with ON and was shocked when I called yesterday and their auto attendant said “ We are becoming AuguStar”…..ughhh!