J.D. Power has ranked American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. among the top five annuity companies in its 2019 U.S. Life Insurance Study. The study marked the first year that the annuity provider category was included in the “Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking” for the U.S. Life Insurance Study. The overall satisfaction index score for annuity providers was 776 (on a 1,000-point scale). American Equity, which is based in West Des Moines, ranked fourth among U.S. annuity providers with a score of 787. On the life insurance side, Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group was in the top five among life companies, at No. 4, with a score of 789 compared to the average life company score of 761. Robert Lajdziak, a senior consultant with J.D. Powers, noted that overall customer satisfaction with individual life insurance and annuity providers “still lags far behind that of most other financial and insurance providers.” Many life insurance and annuity companies for years had regarded their customers as the producers that sell their products and have only more recently shifted to a focus on customer satisfaction of its products’ end users, he said. To view a summary of the J.D. Power rankings, click here.