Border Crossing.(offshore annuities market information, largest life groups ranked by total annuity reserves)(Statistical Data Included)

Best's Review, November, 2001 by Panko, Ron

There is a growing market for offshore annuities for foreign workers in the United States, but domestic tax laws and terrorism could slow the growth.

Nationwide Life Insurance Co. is rapidly building an offshore annuity business through banks, wire houses and broker-dealers that sell to foreign citizens working part of each year in the United States. Such accounts offer privacy and a haven from taxes, but they are a market that insurers based in the United States have barely tapped.

"It's pretty unusual, but it will become more usual as they see the benefits," Richard Duke, a Birmingham, Ala-based attorney with expertise in international law and taxes, said about domestic insurers entering the offshore market. "A lot of banks are getting into offshore...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.