EVANSTON, Dec. 16, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Beacon Research announced today that comprehensive information on MassMutual Financial Group's fixed annuity, MassMutual Odyssey, has been added to the AnnuityNexus database. The database features carrier-approved, institutional quality product profiles unique in their accuracy, completeness and timeliness. MassMutual joins the growing group of some 100 AnnuityNexus data colleagues.
"We are especially pleased to include a profile of this quality product," said Stephanie Brandt, director of research at Beacon. "Information on career agent and bank channel products is rarely available elsewhere. The MassMutual Financial Group companies are very important fixed annuity carriers. We've worked closely together to assure the accuracy and completeness of their product information and we're delighted to welcome them as data colleagues."
"Now that their fixed annuities are profiled in our database, MassMutual will be able to use our web-based systems to analyze their products in relation to others," added Judith Alexander, Beacon's director of sales and marketing. "We're glad to be able to enhance our service to them."
About Massachusetts Mutual
MassMutual Financial Group - comprised of member companies with over $240 billion in assets under management as of year-end 2002 - is a global, growth-oriented, diversified financial services organization providing life insurance, annuities, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement planning products, structured settlement annuities, trust services, money management, and other financial products and services.
About Beacon Research
Beacon Research is an independent research organization founded in 1997. It compiles market intelligence on fixed annuity products for subscribers to its web-based systems at www.annuitynexus.com. Carriers access these systems to support product development, rate setting and competition research. Distributors use them for product analysis and selection. The new AnnuityNexus Sales Support System is an important resource for retention teams and sales desk staff throughout the distribution chain. Beacon's new Fixed Annuity Premium Study is the first to track these sales at the product level, with analysis by Milliman USA. Beacon also licenses information and software tools to other platforms, including websites for sales representatives, AnnuityNet's annuity automation platform, and LifeLink Corporation's insurance sales platform. Beacon's fixed annuity benchmark series -- the industry's first - is available through Ibbotson Associates. Directly and through strategic alliances, Beacon information can be accessed by hundreds of financial institutions and distributors.
Disclosures:
The MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing designation (fleet name) for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and its affiliates, which include: OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; David L. Babson & Company Inc.; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, Inc.; MML Investors Services, Inc.; The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB; Antares Capital Corporation; MML Bay State Life Insurance Company, C.M. Life Insurance Company, and MassMutual International. MassMutual is on the Internet at www.massmutual.com.
MassMutual Odyssey (Policy Form No. MUFA) is a fixed deferred annuity contract with flexible purchase payments issued by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in New York and by C.M. Life Insurance Company in all other states. C.M. Life Insurance Company is non-admitted in New York and is a subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. C.M. Life Insurance Company, 140 Garden Street, Hartford, CT 06154.