Methods of offering and providing a variable life insurance product

A method of developing an insurance product that includes a death benefit and associated investment vehicles co-sponsored by an insurance company and an asset manager, said method comprising:

• registering the asset manager as a representative of the insurance company;
• executing a participation agreement that appoints the asset manager's fund management as managers of the investment vehicles;
• providing a life insurance policy chassis, and accompanying licenses and permissions to the asset manager;
• and
• establishing mechanisms for the reporting of assets under management by the asset manager, the assessment of fees, and transfer of funds from the asset manager to the insurance company.

A method of insuring a customer through a variable life insurance policy having a death benefit and investment assets, the method comprising:

• allocating the investment assets of the variable life insurance policy to at least one investment fund or at least one investment sub account;
• charging the customer cost of insurance fees, the cost of insurance fees being guaranteed for the life of the insurance policy;
• and
• providing a variable death benefit associated with the policy value upon the death of the customer, the variable death benefit varying in accordance with the value of the investment assets.

A system for offering a variable life insurance contract that includes a death benefit funded from associated investment assets, comprising:

• an investment fund manager interface configured for use by an investment fund manager to make available to respective clients of the investment fund manager a variable life insurance contract, and manage the associated investment assets which fund the death benefit of the respective contract;
• and
• a death benefit insurer interface configured for use by a death benefit insurer to provide the death benefit for each respective contract, determine a fixed compensation fee to provide the death benefit, and obtain the fixed compensation fee from the investment fund manager;
• wherein the investment fund manager interface and the death benefit insurer interface are connected over a communication network.