Pillar Life Aims to Sell Annuities Directly to Consumers
Pillar Life chief operating officer Adam Litke previously served as president of Bridger Insurance Technology, and before that, as head of enterprise risk services at Bloomberg.
The Company
Romero, Kiesel, Litke and a fourth executive — John Ganter — teamed up to create Pillar Life by forming Pillar Insurance LLC and using Pillar Insurance to acquire Continental Life Insurance Company of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, from American Benefit Life Insurance Company of Dallas.
Continental Life was founded in 1957. It was not related to Continental Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, which is part of CVS Health.
Romero has a 33.3% stake in Pillar Insurance, and each of the three other top Pillar executives has a 22.2% stake, according to a Pillar Insurance acquisition approval order signed by Jessica Altman, a former Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, in December 2020.
Pillar Insurance changed Continental Life’s name to Pillar Life in February 2021.
Pillar Life started with $1.7 million in capital immediately after Pillar Insurance bought it. Pillar Insurance then invested another $20 million in the company, according to an examination report posted by Pennsylvania insurance regulators.
AM Best, an insurance rating agency, last week gave Pillar Life a financial strength rating of B+, or good.
AM Best suggested that Pillar Life has a strong balance sheet but that its direct-to-consumer distribution strategy may expose it to a high level of risk.
“This model is untested,” the rating agency said.
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