Overview: Transfer of Certain Equitable Annuity Contracts

The transfer offer and transaction has been approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services and the insurance departments of Arizona, Colorado, and Iowa (the states where Equitable America, Equitable Colorado and Venerable are based, respectively). The transaction was also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the variable annuity products and the prospectuses have been declared effective.

Your transfer offer will outline your applicable options. The action you need to take depends on the requirements of your particular transfer:

• Negative Consent/Opt-out: No action is required if you consent to the transfer. To reject the offer, you will need to complete and return the response form in the package to stay with Equitable Financial.
• Affirmative Consent/Opt-in: You must complete and return the response form in the package to accept the transfer offer and the contract/policy will be transferred.
• Automatic (No) Consent: No action is required. The transfer is automatic and we will not require a response.

It depends on the requirements in the state in which your contract was issued and the type of contract you have. In limited cases, it may depend on the state where you reside.

Affirmative Consent/Opt-in requirements:

Yes, you have a choice. You must sign and send back the form to accept the transfer offer. Keep in mind transferring to Equitable America or Equitable Colorado will have no impact on the features, benefits, and services you have today. There will be no change to the way you access information and request transactions. Transferring to Venerable also would not impact your features or benefits, but the ways you access your account will change.

Negative Consent/Opt-out:

Yes, you have a choice. You must sign and send back the form to reject the transfer offer and the contract will stay with Equitable Financial. Keep in mind transferring to Equitable America or Equitable Colorado will have no impact on the features, benefits, and services you have today. There will be no change to the way you access information and request transactions. Transferring to Venerable also would not impact your features or benefits, but the ways you access your account will change.

Automatic (No) Consent:

You do not have a choice because the transfer will be automatic, and we will not need a response from you. In this instance, we are moving your contract to our flagship company, and you will be staying within the Equitable family. There will be no impact on the benefits, features or services you have today and there will be no change in the way you access information or request transactions.

You will not be positively or negatively impacted by the transfer. Contracts transferred will retain all the features and benefits as provided under the applicable annuity contract with the replacement company. Financial information about the replacement company has been provided in the transfer offer package for you to review. 

There is no negative impact if you do not transfer the applicable annuity contract to the replacement company. If you do not transfer the contract, it will remain insured with Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company.

Equitable America is our flagship company for issuing new life insurance and annuity business and as a result, we are not requiring consent for transfers to that company in states where that is permissible. For transfers to Venerable and Equitable Colorado, we are offering clients an opportunity to opt-out in states without express consent requirements for insurance contracts. Please note consent requirements are subject to regulatory approval and may change after state filings.

One of the following three receiving companies will be the replacement insurer, depending on the contract owned:

• Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company of America (“Equitable America” or EFLOA) based in Arizona and wholly-owned by Equitable Holdings, the parent company of Equitable Financial
• Equitable Financial Life and Annuity Company (“Equitable Colorado” or EFLA): based in Colorado and wholly-owned by Equitable Holdings
• Venerable Insurance and Annuity Company (“Venerable”), based in Iowa and wholly-owned by Venerable Holdings. Note Equitable’s relationship with this company began with a $12bn reinsurance transaction in 2021. Equitable Holdings now has a 9.1% equity stake in the parent company, as well as a seat on its Board of Directors.

• Contracts eligible for transfer are as follows:

• The contract transfers will be implemented in waves estimated to occur in 2025, 2026 and 2027 as follows:

Established in 1969, Equitable America is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Equitable Holdings that provides annuities, life insurance and employee benefit products to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. It is now our flagship company and issues most of our new business.

Equitable America maintains strong financial strength ratings, which rank among the highest levels across top rating agencies. [AM Best (A); S&P (A+); Moody’s (A1)] Equitable Holdings, Inc. is committed to ensuring that Equitable America and its other operating entities are well-capitalized at or above its minimum capitalization targets. Additionally, regulators ensure the company has adequate reserves to meet its obligations.

As part of the Equitable family, servicing and administration of transferred contracts will continue to be provided uninterrupted by the Equitable Service Centers once the transfer is complete.

Established in 1984, Equitable Colorado is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Equitable Holdings, providing life insurance products to individuals. Its offerings are now being expanded to include annuities.

Equitable Colorado maintains a strong financial strength rating (A+), which ranks among the highest levels with a top rating agency (S&P). Equitable Holdings, Inc. is committed to ensuring that Equitable Colorado and its other operating entities are well-capitalized at or above its minimum capitalization targets. Additionally, regulators ensure the company has adequate reserves to meet its obligations.

As part of the Equitable family, servicing and administration of transferred contracts will continue to be provided uninterrupted by the Equitable Service Centers once the transfer is complete.

Venerable began issuing annuities nearly 50 years ago. Following the merger of several other insurers, Venerable became the flagship retail annuity issuer under ING Group and was later spun off as Voya Financial.

Venerable debuted as a private company on June 1, 2018, a result of Voya divesting substantially all its annuity business. It is a leading variable annuity management company and is a trusted reinsurer for Equitable and other carriers. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 9.1% equity stake in the parent company of Venerable and has a seat on its Board of Directors.

Venerable maintains a robust capital position and has a strong financial strength rating (A) from Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), one of 10 credit rating agencies designated as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (“NRSRO”) by the SEC. Since Venerable no longer issues new business, additional ratings from other ratings agencies are not expected to be pursued.

No, there are no fees associated with the transfer.

An Exchange Offer Prospectus Supplement and either an Initial Summary Prospectus (ISP) or Statutory Prospectus (as applicable) are provided in the transfer offer package.

After a contract is transferred to Equitable America or Equitable Colorado, contract owners will begin to receive inforce prospectuses that are co-branded to reflect all issuing companies.

After a contract is transferred to Venerable, contract owners will begin to receive inforce prospectuses from Venerable.

Venerable currently reinsures all the contracts eligible for transfer to Venerable. Transferring these contracts will provide Venerable with even greater, real-time visibility into the performance and behavior of the portfolio for more efficient risk management. 

You will receive a new contract number upon transferring to Venerable. You will receive instructions regarding how to register on their website and access your account.

No. Owners will receive one offer package for each eligible contract. Consent is required for each contract separately and each response form is customized to include the contract number applicable to the eligible contract.

Signature requirements vary, depending on the type of annuity owned.

• For single owner contracts, the owner’s signature is the only acceptable signature on the response form.
• For joint or multiple owner contracts, a signature from each owner is required to opt-in. A signature from only one owner is required to opt-out.
• For non-natural owned contracts (other than custodial IRA contracts), signature of an authorized signer for the owner is acceptable.

For Custodial IRA contracts, the signature of the annuitant will be accepted on the response forms.

No. Response forms cannot be submitted online.

No. We will only accept your signature on the response form (included within the transfer offer). Only you can respond to either opt in or opt out of the contract transfer.

Yes, you could receive additional communications in certain situations, which include but are not limited to the following examples:

• Not in good order (NIGO) letter: You could receive a NIGO letter for any of these reasons:
  • ­Neither of the two boxes (accept or reject) was checked on the response form
  • ­Both boxes (accept and reject) were checked on the response form
  • ­The response form is not signed.
  • ­Only one owner’s signature is on the joint or multiple owner response form (for individual retirement contracts where joint or multiple owners reside at the same address)
  • ­The response is not legible or is missing any legally required detail.
• Correspondence for contracts that are no longer eligible for transfer: You could receive a letter removing your contract from eligibility. To find out the specific reason why your contract is no longer eligible, you can call customer service at 855-433-4015 (Equitable America/Equitable Colorado), 855-433-4025 (for Venerable).
• Contract Transfer Effective Date Correspondence: You will receive a letter with the date the contract transfer will occur if your acceptance is received prior to the scheduled second mailing date. In such cases, the second mailing will not occur.  Note that the effective date of the transfer is included in your second mailing package if you have not responded before the second mailing date.
• Contract Transfer Effective Date Change: This letter is sent when there is a change to a previously communicated transfer effective date. If you have already responded to the offer, your response has been recorded, and no further action is required if you wish to keep your initial response. However, if your previous response was not in good order or you wish to submit a different response, or if you have not yet responded, the letter will include instructions on how to proceed.
• Post Due Date Response Rejected: You will receive this letter if your response to the transfer offer is received after the due date and we are unable to accept the response.

Contracts that are not reinsured by either Equitable America or Venerable were not included in the offer. Additionally, contracts issued in certain states/jurisdictions were excluded. Other exclusions include (but are not limited to) contracts with foreign mailing addresses or contracts that have fixed maturity options (FMOs).

Some contracts are not receiving the transfer offer right now. There are different factors that can exclude them such as (but not limited to) the state/jurisdiction of an owner's residence. We regularly check the contracts that are marked for transfer and will take out any contract that is no longer eligible if they become ineligible due to recent contract actions. Here are some additional reasons a contract could become ineligible:

• Report of death / death claim processing
• Surrendered/Inactive
• Annuitized
• Ownership Change.

If a contract is no longer eligible for transfer, you do not have to take any action. You may call customer service at 855-433-4015 (Equitable America/Equitable Colorado) / 855-433-4025 (Venerable) for specific reasons why the contract is no longer eligible.

Within a few days of the transfer, you will receive:

• A “Certificate of Assumption”. This is a contract endorsement from the receiving company that will append the annuity contract and make it the new issuer or insurer. It should be kept with the original contract for future reference. You may also receive a cover letter noting changes in banking information, if necessary. For joint or multiple owners, only one document will be sent to the primary joint or multiple owner’s address.

• Where applicable, a financial confirmation notice providing information on the transfer from Equitable Financial to the other company. Please note:
  • ­Annuitized contracts will not have a financial confirmation notice.
  • ­For contracts transferring to Venerable, a confirmation notice will be sent by Equitable Financial showing the transfer of the contract out of Equitable Financial, and a corresponding confirmation notice will be sent by Venerable showing the receipt of the contract by Venerable.
  • ­Like with any other confirmation notice, contracts with joint or multiple owners will be sent only one confirm notice to the primary joint or multiple owner’s address.

For contracts transferred to Venerable, you will also receive a “Welcome Package” from Venerable at least a week prior to the contract transfer date.

• Upon submission of your completed response in good order, please allow up to 28 days for it to be updated in the portal, taking into consideration both mail delivery and processing periods.

• If we receive your response but find it is not in good order (see question #25), Equitable will send you a letter asking for an updated submission.

There will be no impact to recurring distributions that are being taken out of contracts.

For contracts transferred to Equitable America and Equitable Colorado, distributions will be made according to the existing cadence and paid in the manner as originally requested, with a change in payor of the distributed amount to Equitable Colorado or Equitable America, respectively.

For contracts transferred to Venerable:

• Distributions will continue to be made according to the existing cadence and paid in the manner as originally requested. However, the payor of the distributed amount will now be Venerable instead of Equitable Financial.
• Note that Venerable and Equitable differ in their methods for calculating payments under the preserve benefit base withdrawal program. Venerable’s calculation is based on the exact number of days in each month, while Equitable uses a standard average of 30 days per month. Annually, Venerable's approach tends to yield a higher withdrawal amount due to the greater number of 31-day months compared to 30-day months. Specifically, Venerable's method results in increased payments for seven months, equivalent 30-day payments to Equitable's for four months, and a slightly reduced payment in only one month. Both methods provide clients with a steady income stream while preserving the benefit base, relieving clients and advisors from managing benefit base preservation. It's important to note that this withdrawal program is a service offered by both companies and is not contractual. The payment calculation is also not contractual, and you have the option to discontinue the program at any time if it does not align with your specific needs.

There will be no impact to your annuity payments. Payments will continue to be made according to the existing cadence and paid in the manner as originally requested. For contracts transferred to Venerable, the payor of the distributed amount will now be Venerable instead of Equitable Financial. 

There will be no impact to the contract values as of the effective date of the contract transfer.

All features and benefits applicable to the respective contracts will operate as stated per the terms of the contracts.

• For contracts transferred to Equitable America and Equitable Colorado, service forms will be co-branded and will be updated to reflect all issuing companies.
• For contracts transferred to Venerable, new service forms from Venerable will be made available.

Tax forms will vary depending on the receiving company:

• Equitable America and Equitable Colorado: Contracts transferred to Equitable America or Equitable Colorado may receive 2 of each required tax forms: one from Equitable Financial for any distributions taken while the contract was insured by Equitable Financial, and one from either Equitable America or Equitable Colorado (as applicable) for any distributions taken after the transfer.
• Venerable: Contracts transferred to Venerable may receive 2 of each required tax forms: one from Equitable Financial for any distributions taken while the contract was insured by Equitable Financial, and one from Venerable for any distributions taken after the transfer. Tax forms for contracts transferred to Venerable will be available on Venerable’s web portal. They will also be available on the Equitable Client Portal for 3 years after the transfer date.

Prior to the transfer, all contracts that are eligible for transfer offer will display a transfer status on equitable.com with copies of the documents provided in the transfer offer package. In addition:

• For Equitable America and Equitable Colorado: Contracts transferred to Equitable America or Equitable Colorado will continue to display on your website with no changes. All tools currently accessible will remain unchanged.
• For Venerable: After a contract is transferred, the old Equitable contract number and the new Venerable contract number will both be displayed on the Equitable Client Portal for 1 year after the transfer, however, contract details will not be visible. There will be a notice indicating the contract has been transferred to Venerable with a link to Venerable’s website. Note that tax forms will be available on your Equitable Client Portal for 3 years after the transfer date.

For Equitable America and Equitable Colorado, there will be no changes as of the transfer date and the contract number will remain unchanged. Upon transfer, you will receive a “Certificate of Assumption” that should be kept with your original annuity contract. For more information, please see FAQ #28 “What will I receive after a contract transfers?”.

For Venerable, a Certificate of Assumption with a new contract number will be assigned and Venerable will be the insurer without any changes to the features and benefits as of the transfer date. The contract will not be re-issued.

No. The contract transfer is not a taxable event and a 1099 will not be sent when the insurer/issuer of the contract is changed.

Any existing loans on a contract will not be impacted. Loan conditions and repayments will stay the same as outlined in the loan agreement.

Any loan repayments will be made to the new insurer when the contract transfer becomes effective.

The current terms of the contract, which do not change, will determine if you can take any loans in the future.

You can always review the status of your contract through equitable.com. Information on the transfer offer mailing date, due date for a response (if applicable) and the scheduled transfer date will be provided for contracts that have been mailed a transfer offer.

After the transfer is complete, a contract Certificate of Assumption will be mailed. A confirmation notice will also be sent for annuity transfers.

For certain contracts, banking information could change if the contract is transferred. If a change to banking information is required, you will be provided with the new banking details with the Certificate of Assumption after the transfer.  For more information, see FAQ #28 “What will I receive after a contract transfers?”