When speed and certainty matter most: modernizing the annuity exchange experience

New York Life | June 29, 2026

Modernizing annuity exchanges through digital innovation is accelerating transactions and helping advisors provide a more seamless client experience.

Clients expect their financial decisions to move forward smoothly and predictably, and advisors strive to deliver that experience by providing clear timelines, maintaining momentum on strategies, and building confidence through reliable execution. When things work seamlessly, the relationship strengthens. When friction emerges, both advisor and client feel the impact.

The industry is making meaningful progress in reducing that friction, particularly around how annuity assets move between carriers. A useful illustration is the 1035 exchange, a tax-free transfer of an existing annuity from one carrier to another. Not long ago, that process routinely took around 20 days of paperwork, calls, and follow-up. Through standardized electronic exchange, participating carriers have compressed that timeline significantly, in many cases to same-day. Faster timelines, improved visibility into fund movement, and fewer manual touchpoints are enabling advisors to spend less time tracking status and more time on planning and guidance, and to set and meet client expectations with greater confidence.

This progress addresses challenges rooted in legacy infrastructure: paper checks, manual reconciliation, and disconnected systems that moved funds between carriers slowly. While the industry has made significant strides digitizing information flow, the movement of funds had remained largely anchored in manual processes. That gap matters because it is where advisors and clients still feel the friction most directly, and where closing it translates into a meaningfully different and better experience.

Shared Infrastructure to Address a Shared Challenge

Recognizing that no single organization could resolve these challenges independently, the industry has turned toward shared infrastructure and common standards. The Insured Retirement Institute's Digital First for Annuities initiative is a notable example, focusing on standardized data exchange and reusable digital capabilities to reduce fragmentation and improve consistency across the annuity lifecycle. New York Life has been an active participant and leader in this work, helping shape the standards that benefit advisors across the industry.

Early adoption has demonstrated tangible impact. Paperless replacement standards have compressed processing cycles that once averaged several weeks into as little as one day for participating firms. Standardized status updates have improved transparency and reduced the manual follow-up that pulls advisors away from client work. And standardized baseline values for annuity categories are enabling broader integration into financial planning tools, supporting more holistic planning conversations.

A More Seamless Experience, Taking Shape

New York Life recently invested to extend electronic settlement capabilities through DTCC to a larger block of our annuity book of business. Alongside initiatives like paperless replacements, this reflects our ongoing commitment to removing the manual touchpoints that slow down transactions and create uncertainty for advisors and clients alike.

We believe this is the direction the industry should continue to move. Broader adoption, by new carriers and by established carriers expanding coverage across more of their in-force block, is essential to delivering on that promise. When digital applications, documentation, and funds movement operate together at scale, a more seamless experience becomes consistent and predictable rather than the exception. Adoption, however, remains uneven. Not all carriers or distribution channels have enabled these capabilities, and availability can vary by organization. Still, the trajectory mirrors earlier stages of digital adoption: incremental progress toward broader enablement as standards mature and participation expands.

As more carriers and distribution channels enable these capabilities, the cumulative impact on the advisor experience becomes more significant. What begins as an improvement in select transactions gradually becomes a new baseline expectation, one where multi-week fund transfers are the exception rather than the norm, and where advisors can confidently communicate timelines that align with modern client expectations.

Digital information exchange and automated fund movement are quickly becoming the standard for how our industry operates. At New York Life, we are committed to accelerating that shift by investing in the capabilities and partnerships that make it easier for advisors to do business and deliver for clients.