ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Life Insurance Company has acquired Indianapolis and Dallas-based Allied Solutions to provide credit unions with one-stop shopping for insurance, lending and marketing products. In the works for a little over eight months, Allied Solutions will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minnesota Life, but operate independently and continue to represent a variety of providers including Minnesota Life. Minnesota Life and its marketing arm, Securian Financial Network, Inc. is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of loan protection products sold through credit unions. "By joining forces with Minnesota Life, Allied Solutions gains financial strength, access to state-of-the-art technology, and a regional service capability," said Chris Hilger, who becomes Allied Solutions' sole president/CEO under the agreement. The position was originally shared between four executives. "It just made sense for us to enhance our position in the credit union market. We have a great relationship with Minnesota Life and it was just a natural fit. Credit unions will have both companies' strengths in one organization." The companies had close ties before the purchase. Some 25 years ago, a group that included several former Minnesota Life associates founded Allied Solutions. Allied Solutions has come a long way since its early days of focusing primarily on collateral protection insurance. The company's offerings now range from employee benefits programs and bond/property package insurance to sales/communication training and investment services programs. Described as a win-win situation Allied Solutions will now become the second largest provider of insurance products and services to credit unions and its client base will increase by 30%. With the acquisition Minnesota Life will not only triple its client base of financial institutions and double its sales force but also reach its strategic goal of expanding its product offerings five years ahead of schedule. Under the agreement, Minnesota Life's field force will become Allied Solutions employees and its regional vice presidents will manage the combined sales force of about 100 in their current regions. Both the Allied Solutions and Securian brands will be used for marketing with any Minnesota Life manufactured products retaining the Minnesota Life brand. With company logos and both companies' headquarters remaining the same just what has changed for credit union clients? According to Hilger besides the increased product and services options and technology-essentially not much. Credit unions will continue to maintain their existing relationships with the same representatives from either company. "For the past five years we've marketed each other's products so a relationship has already been established. Some of the confusion we had over the past few years was clients trying to determine who does what," said Hilger. "This move clarifies that." Hilger says it will take about a year to fully integrate the operations. As far as staffing changes Minnesota Life Senior Vice President John Bruder will lead the combined sales force. Over at Allied Solutions the remaining three prior CEOs have new responsibilities. Pete Hilger will become executive vice president of the product support division of Allied Solutions and will be responsible for providing support for all of the loan servicing and retail products; Dick Hetzel will serve as executive vice president of specialty products where he will continue to manage indirect lending, alternative investments and other specialty products and services; and Bob Lium will serve as executive vice president of marketing. [email protected]