Voya Financial life insurance

Overview

Voya Financial is a New York-based retirement, investment management and workplace benefits company, best known for running employer retirement plans. Its life insurance is written by ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, a Minnesota insurer, and by ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York. The Voya group ranked #39 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with about $910.3 million in premiums and a 0.58% market share.

That figure needs context. Voya announced in late 2018 that it would stop selling individual life insurance, and on January 4, 2021, it transferred substantially all of its individual life and legacy annuity business to Resolution Life. The policies that ReliaStar originally issued stayed on its books, so premiums still appear under Voya's NAIC group, but they are reinsured to Resolution Life's Security Life of Denver Insurance Company, which takes the financial risk. Voya's contact page sends individual life policyholders to Resolution Life for service.

Today Voya sells life insurance only at work. Its Employee Benefits segment offers group life, disability, supplemental health, voluntary whole and term life and medical stop-loss to mid-size and large employers. Voya says it is a top 15 provider of group life insurance and covers about 6.8 million people through its benefits products. It is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VOYA, and Heather Lavallee is chief executive.

History

Voya began as the U.S. arm of the Dutch financial group ING. ING entered the U.S. life market in 1975 by buying Wisconsin National Life, then added Midwestern United Life (1976), Security Life of Denver (1977), Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa (1997), Minneapolis-based ReliaStar (2000) and Aetna's life insurance and annuity company (2000). ING U.S. went public in May 2013, ING sold its remaining shares between 2013 and 2015, and the company renamed itself Voya Financial in 2014.

Voya then shed most of its insurance risk. In June 2018 it sold its closed block of variable annuities to Venerable and reinsured most of its fixed and fixed indexed annuities to Athene, and later that year it announced it would stop selling individual life insurance. Under an agreement signed on December 18, 2019, and closed on January 4, 2021, Resolution Life U.S. Holdings bought Security Life of Denver and an Arizona captive reinsurer. At the same closing, ReliaStar Life and Voya Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company reinsured 100% of their in-scope individual life and annuity business to Security Life of Denver, and ReliaStar Life of New York reinsured 75% of its in-scope business. Voya transferred a significant number of employees to Resolution Life and provided transition services for up to two years. Resolution Life is now part of Japan's Nippon Life group.

Voya has since built up its workplace business, buying the benefits software company Benefitfocus in 2023, and describes its strategy as focusing on workplace and institutional clients.

Life insurance products

Voya does not sell individual life insurance to the public. Its life coverage is sold to employers:

• Group term life, usually paid by the employer, with optional supplemental amounts employees can buy.
• Voluntary benefits, mostly employee-paid through payroll deduction: whole life, term life, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity insurance. Voya also services older universal life policies sold through workplaces.

Because these plans are designed by each employer, coverage amounts, underwriting and portability vary. If you leave your job, ask about converting or porting your group coverage before the deadline in your plan; our guide on employer life insurance claims after leaving a job and the conversion privilege entry explain how that works.

If you own a former Voya, ReliaStar or Security Life policy

Policies issued by ReliaStar, ReliaStar of New York, Security Life of Denver or other former ING and Voya companies remain in force on their original terms. Reinsurance does not change your coverage amount, premiums, guarantees or beneficiaries. What changed is who handles service: Voya directs individual retail life policyholders to Resolution Life, whose policyholder page at resolutionlife.com lets you look up the right service team by the company name on your policy. Keep your policy number and the issuing company's name handy; our guide on when your life insurance policy is sold to another company covers what to check.

Other products

Most of Voya's business is outside life insurance. It administers workplace retirement plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans, offers IRAs and stable value products, and runs Voya Investment Management. Its benefits arm offers medical stop-loss for self-insured employers (it reports ranking third among direct providers), disability, leave management, health savings and flexible spending accounts and, through Benefitfocus, benefits enrollment software. As of December 31, 2025, Voya reported $1.1 trillion in assets under management and administration.

Buying and service

You can get Voya life insurance only if your employer offers it; enrollment happens through your employer's benefits portal or enrollment period. For group life and disability questions, call 800-955-7736; for supplemental health benefits, 877-236-7564. Retirement plan participants call 800-584-6001, and owners of ReliaStar fixed or variable accounts call 877-884-5050. Individual life policyholders should use the Resolution Life lookup rather than Voya.

Claims

For group life coverage through an employer, beneficiaries can start a claim with Voya's group life and disability line at 800-955-7736 or through the employer's benefits office, which usually has to certify the employee's coverage and earnings. Group policies are often governed by ERISA, which sets federal deadlines for claim decisions and appeals. For former individual policies now administered by Resolution Life, beneficiaries should contact Resolution Life. Our claims guide lists the documents most insurers ask for.

Ratings and reputation

In its annual report filed in February 2026, Voya listed financial strength ratings for ReliaStar Life Insurance Company and ReliaStar Life of New York of A (Excellent) from AM Best, A+ from Fitch, A2 from Moody's and A+ from S&P, all with stable outlooks. Voya Financial, Inc. itself carries investment-grade issuer ratings. Its largest reinsurance recoverable, about $8.2 billion at the end of 2025, was from Security Life of Denver, the Resolution Life company that reinsures its old individual life business.

Voya was not ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, since it no longer sells individual policies.

Who it suits

Voya is relevant to employees choosing life coverage in a workplace plan it insures and to former ReliaStar or Security Life customers trying to find who services their policy. It is not an option for anyone shopping for an individual policy outside work.

• Strengths: A+ ratings from S&P and Fitch for ReliaStar; a large group and voluntary benefits business with payroll-deduction whole and term life; old individual policies remain in force on their original terms.
• Weaknesses: No individual life insurance sold since Voya's 2018 exit decision; individual policyholders must deal with Resolution Life rather than Voya; group coverage terms depend on your employer and may end or shrink when you leave the job.

How to contact Voya Financial