Cooperative Technologies

The annuity market is experiencing its strongest growth in decades. According to LIMRA, total annuity sales reached $434.1 billion in 2024 and a panel at LIMRA’s 2025 annual conference forecasted that sales will double again by 2030. More than 40 percent of new transactions are expected to involve fund replacements. The biggest bottleneck in the process is 1035 exchanges, which are slowed down by paper forms and manual handoffs. Organizations like the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) are spearheading efforts to fully digitize and automate the exchange process.

Cooperative Technologies is helping shape the future of faster, smarter 1035 exchanges. It empowers annuity and life insurance carriers to achieve straight-through exchange processing capability with its ceding carrier contact and replacement requirements solution, 1035YellowPages. Carriers can receive funds faster and begin earning management fees within days instead of months.

The 1035YellowPages database houses detailed contact information for 3,100+ ceding companies, including 100% of life and annuity insurers, including their specific replacement rules, delivery preferences, required forms and compliance guidelines. Consolidation into a straightforward system eliminates back-office chaos. Replacement requests can be sent automatically without the back-and-forth of manual steps. The routing intelligence powers smooth, accurate movement of assets, rollovers and replacement funds through the fastest and most compliant path.

Over 110 insurance carriers work with Cooperative Technologies, including 19 of the top 20 annuity providers, along with broker-dealers, IMOs and TPAs. The integration with 1035YellowPages helps cut turnaround times from weeks to days, and when used in conjunction with DTCC carrier-to-carrier paperless replacement initiatives, in many cases, to just 24 hours. Automation shortens policy issuance times and reduces back-office overhead, recovering clients’ integration investment within the first year.

“Our product has a fabulous ROI as we take away the need to print paper, re-image paper, and to have manual intervention,” says Cheri DeBoer-Stinson, director of business development.

The push for modernization comes at a pivotal moment for the annuity industry. Forces such as an aging population, market volatility, and the decline of traditional pension plans are fueling record demand. Rapid growth has exposed how much the traditional replacement process slows down carrier and advisor annuity sales process.

In this scenario, automation has become essential for annuities to compete with other financial products. 1035YellowPages powers that automation with accurate, continuously updated data that keeps replacement workflows fully digital.

A Fully Connected Ecosystem for Error-Free Transfers

The 1035YellowPages database is hosted on Microsoft Azure and can be accessed either through the Cooperative Technologies website or through a web service connection. Carriers can choose to implement web service integration in segments or adopt full automation, depending on their priorities and timelines.

When an agent places an order through an order entry platform, it is submitted electronically to the issuing carrier. Each replacement of funds submission includes a universal location ID, a unique identifier that follows the transaction through every stage of the annuity or life insurance process. Seven major order-entry systems use 1035YellowPages, enabling the ID to immediately pull the correct details. The same ID appears in files shared with connected systems, such as DTCC, so that every participant in the process pulls data from the same verified source.

Once the issuing carrier receives the submission, it can use the ID to instantly access all the details, such as where the funds need to go, who to contact and what forms are required. When the carrier’s internal systems are integrated with 1035YellowPages, this lookup happens within a fraction of a second, eliminating the need for manual intervention. For carriers that have not yet automated their systems, the same information can still be retrieved quickly by searching the 1035YellowPages database through a web interface.

One of the first steps that can be automated is the pre-replacement notification, which must be sent to the ceding company before requesting funds. Traditionally, many carriers have mailed these notifications. Only the largest carriers have automated the process. With 1035YellowPages integration, carriers can pull the ceding carrier’s contact details and generate, populate and electronically send the notification.

“Our system eliminates the need for paper mail and helps meet state compliance rules that require proof that the form was sent,” says DeBoer-Stinson.

Digitizing the Last Mile of Fund Transfers

As the next step, the issuing carrier must complete and send the replacement form with an officer’s signature or stamp, which legally transfers responsibility for the funds. An automation trigger is created for this step, as well, allowing carriers to apply an electronic signature or approval, rather than printing and physically signing or stamping the form. Carriers can also run their ‘in good order’ (IGO) checks, comparing all required information against their electronic records.

Once the IGO check is complete, the system uses delivery automation rules to determine how to send the replacement request. About 82 percent of insurance carrier processing locations currently accept fax submissions. Cooperative Technologies maintains detailed rules by product, identifying whether a ceding carrier accepts fax, email, DTCC attachment or digital replacement requests.

Depending on the issuing and ceding carriers’ capabilities, the request may go through DTCC for full, straight-through processing, or be sent as secure attachments, emails or faxes.

Thirty-two percent of insurance replacement locations require their proprietary forms, a requirement tied mainly to group retirement business. In these cases, replacements usually involve a separate surrender form submitted by the client at the time of sale. Cooperative Technologies helps carriers streamline that part of the process.

The system also monitors how quickly each carrier processes replacements and what procedures they follow for providing status updates, giving users visibility into timelines and helping them better plan their workflows.

Helping Carriers Keep Pace with a Changing Market

By the end of the year, at least 13 carriers will be live on DTCC’s straight-through processing system for annuity replacements. Recognized by the IRI as an industry best practice, the process powered by Cooperative Technologies has become integral to the industry-wide modernization effort.

“We track every carrier involved in this initiative, keeping their data, routing details and replacement requirements continuously up to date,” says DeBoer-Stinson.

This gives Cooperative Technologies a unique position in the market. No direct competitors offer a comparable solution. The only alternative for carriers is to build their own in-house databases or rely on spreadsheets, both of which have serious limitations. Managing internal databases comes with significant data quality challenges. Cooperative Technologies has seen this while onboarding major clients. Deep audits of their existing systems revealed multiple inaccuracies and duplicate entries, as well as inconsistent naming conventions. These issues stem largely from reactive updates and a lack of centralized standards, which leads to inconsistent records and reporting issues.

A dedicated verification team continually refreshes every record in the 1035YellowPages database. In 2024 alone, more than 20,000 major data field updates were made, 30 new carriers were added, and its system grew by 101 new locations. Its verification team works with the state departments of insurance, and regulatory bodies such as the NAIC, FDIC, NCUA, FINRA and SEC.

The historical depth and accuracy of data are a major advantage for Cooperative Technologies clients. For nearly three decades, it has tracked mergers, acquisitions and name changes across the annuity and life insurance industry. Its advanced search logic incorporates 30 years of historical ceding carrier information and the carrier’s legal name, allowing users to identify the specific entity currently responsible for a given book of business. This intelligence eliminates the time-consuming research that carriers and broker-dealers would otherwise have to perform manually to ensure consistent reporting and prevent mismatches in accounts receivable.

It also maintains a research library containing market conduct exams, financial reports, and other industry documents that help it identify the most active ceding carriers. Those carriers are reviewed and updated every 60 days, ensuring that the 1035YellowPages database remains the most accurate and comprehensive resource in the market.

The future of replacements is digital, seamless and precise — and Cooperative Technologies is the partner helping make that future a reality.