Businessmodel of New York Life

Customer Segments

New York Life provides a range of insurance and related products to a varied customer base, including individuals and businesses. The Company’s customers can be organised broadly into the following three categories:

• General Consumers, including individual consumers across multiple demographics, as well as families;
• Commercial Entities, comprising small, medium, and large businesses and employers across multiple business sectors;
• Institutional Clients, including various large institutions, including government bodies and public agencies, non-profits and charitable organisations, and large financial and banking institutions. New York Life does name any of its major clients on its website or in its most recent annual report. The largest portions of its corporate bonds and loans are provided to customers in the energy, utilities, and banking sectors.

New York Life serves an extensive domestic customer base across the US. The Company does not have any significant international operations, beyond a small number of service and marketing offices in Mexico.

Value Propositions

New York Life provides value to its clients in the following ways:

• Its industry standing and reputation, with the Company established as a leading provider, primarily of life insurance products, to customers across the US, having a positive reputation for reliable and effective services;
• Its varied portfolio of products, with the Company offering a broad range of products and services, including life, health, and long-term care insurance products, as well as retirement and savings products, designed to serve consumers, commercial businesses, and institutional clients;
• Its financial strength and stability, with the Company controlling sufficient financial reserves and boasting the highest financial strength ratings awarded to any life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies; and
• Its industry expertise and reputation, with the Company employing specialist personnel across its multiple operating segments, as well as a team of experienced industry executives. ### Channels

New York Life operates a website at www.newyorklife.com, through which it provides information on its various products, services, and corporate activities. The Company operates an online channel through which customers can contact an authorised agent directly in order to begin the process buying insurance. The Company also operates an online customer portal which allows customers to access a range of resources and tools, enabling them to manage their accounts and transaction online.

New York Life primarily sells and distributes its products through a network of more than 12,250 agents, operating out of the Company’s 120 sales and marketing offices located across the US, spanning most of the country’s 50 states. New York Life’s corporate and bank-owned products and those aimed at high net-worth customers are represented by a network of specialist brokers across the US who work directly with clients.

New York Life additionally provides products and services through a network of third parties and intermediaries, including independent brokers and financial advisors across the US and in Mexico.

Customer Relationships

New York Life provides a range of services and tools to its customers on a self-service basis, primarily through its online customer portal. This channel allows customers to manage their account details, access resources, pay bills, and submit claims without interacting with members of the Company’s sales and service teams.

New York Life provides tailored insurance services and products, offering custom quotes to its clients depending on their individual circumstances. The Company consult directly with customers to ensure that its services fully cover their needs. Its products are typically provided under fixed-term contracts, often running into multiple years. New York Life seeks to maintain long-term relationships with its clients, securing recurring business.

New York Life provides ongoing support to its customers. This includes a range of online resources, such as guides and FAQs, as well as direct assistance via the Company’s dedicated support teams, who can provide personalised guidance over the phone or via email. The Company also provides other channels through which customers can provide feedback.

Alternatively, customers are able to follow the New York Life’s activities, and interact directly with its personnel, through its social media accounts, including with Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Key Activities

New York Life is a mutual life insurance company. Together with its subsidiary companies, it provides a range of insurance and investment products and services to individual, commercial, and institutional clients. This includes a range of life and health insurance, long-term care, annuities, pension products, mutual funds, and other investments and investment advisory services, as well as life insurance, and fixed immediate and deferred annuities.

The Company also underwrites group life and disability programs for professional and affinity organisations. New York Life offers its insurance and annuity products in the US and the District of Columbia primarily through its career agency force, as well as through a network of third party banks, brokers, and independent financial advisors. The Company also serves customers in Mexico through a small number of local service and marketing offices.

Key Partners

New York Life works closely with a network of partner companies and organisations, that support the Company’s various operating functions. The Company’s partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that support the Company’s core operations across its three reportable business segments, as well as companies to which certain no-technical functions can be outsourced;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, including the Company’s network of third party intermediaries, including banks, brokers, agents, and independent consultants, that provide products and services on the Company’s behalf and extend its marketing reach;
• Social and Community Partners, including various non-profits and charitable organisations with which the Company collaborates on social and community projects, primarily via the New York Life Foundations; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, including a range of market leading companies across multiple business sectors, with which the Company works on joint projects, including in relation to marketing and branding. New York Life has launched a number of partnerships in recent years. This includes an executive partnership agreement with the Medical Group Management Association, and a community partnership with After School All Stars Ohio. The Company was also the official insurance partner and presenting sponsor of 2014 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Key Resources

New York Life’s key resources are its financial reserves, its intellectual properties and trademarks, its IT and communications infrastructure and online portal, its network of service and marketing offices, its network of third party intermediaries, its partnerships, and its personnel.

New York Life utilises a number of patented technologies in its operations. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified a number of patent applications in which the Company was named either as applicant or assignee, including applications entitled ‘Methods and systems for providing longevity insurance with or without an asset based premium’, ‘Flexible premium income annuity system and method’ and ‘Methods and systems for providing deferred annuities with an income reset feature’.

New York Life owns and or leases a number of physical properties that are key to its operations. This notably includes its network of service and marketing offices across the US and in Mexico.

Cost Structure

New York Life incurs costs in relation to the development of its online portal and intellectual properties, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of professional services, the operation of its office network, the management of its partnerships and third party intermediary relationships, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

New York Life generates revenue through the provision and sale of various insurance products and related services, including mutual fund sales, annuity sales, and insurance sales. The bulk of the Company’s revenue is derived in the form of regular insurance premiums paid by its clients. The Company also derives revenue in the form of various services fees, as well as in the form of interest revenue.

In 2015 New York Life generated total mutual fund sales in the amount of $19.45 billion, down considerably on the $25.87 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. The Company also recorded insurance sales of $1.27 billion, and annuity sales of $12.02 billion.