Korthaus To Lead SAFECO's Bank Distribution Efforts

To spearhead its effort to sell products through other financial institutions, SAFECO has named Michael Korthaus president of SAFECO Financial Institutions Distribution, a unit of SAFECO Life & Investments.

"Although SAFECO has offered products to other channels before, it decided to build a focused channel for financial institutions where it would market annuities, mutual funds and other products," says Korthaus. Before joining SAFECO he most recently was executive vice president, bank programs, eastern United States, at Talbot Financial Corp., a SAFECO subsidiary. Korthaus has worked in the insurance industry since 1983.

"Many financial institutions are offering more and more products through their retail branch networks," Korthaus adds. "Many banks have licensed agents in the branch. It is a good channel and we needed a focused distribution team to manage the several bank relationships SAFECO already has," plus additional new relationships, he says.

Enabling sales in the branches is SAFECO Plaza, an Internet offering where agents can "navigate for information on certain products, get training and education and locate forms and brochures," Korthaus explains. "Technology is very important. It is how we deliver products and services" to the branches, "how agents access information, and how SAFECO communicates with the agents."

And the agents are taking advantage of the technology, explains Korthaus. Since the SAFECO Select Annuity launched in June, SAFECO has sold approximately $360 million of the product, primarily through bank branches.

On the back end, Korthaus explains, SAFECO has been hit with a huge increase in volume because of the new channels. To handle the growth, SAFECO is using its Enterprise Output System (EOS) to automate the process of printing, assembling and mailing the forms and marketing materials Select Annuity customers receive. Bank-based agents enter the customer information online; each night EOS processes the orders and assembles a package that includes a cover sheet, welcome letter, forms and marketing materials, Korthaus reports.

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio