Prudential Financial Inc., the top seller of variable annuities, says Wall Street should appreciate the fees the life insurer makes on the retirement products, even as some competitors cut sales to reduce risk.
“We’re getting more than two percentage points of fees from the assets that are part of our annuity business,” Mark Grier, Prudential’s vice chairman, said at a Citigroup Inc. financial- services conference in Boston last week. “In your businesses, you probably would dance in the street over 40 or 50 or 60 basis points.”
