by Andrea Johnson

NEW YORK, Aug 30 (IFR) - US insurer USAA Capital Corp on Tuesday sold $250 million of 3-year medium-term notes at the lowest ever coupon for an insurer and for a Financial Institutions Group (FIG) deal, according to Thomson Reuters/IFR data.

USAA priced the 144A deal via Citigroup, Deutsche bank and Wells Fargo at 99.898 with a coupon of 1.05 percent to yield 1.084 percent, or a yield spread of 77 basis points over Teasuries.

The deal was originally whispered in the mid-80s area, according to market sources.

The 1.05 percent coupon comes in about mid-point of the Thomson Reuters/IFR 3-year low coupon top 20 table, which includes industrials as well as FIG deals.

That was just ahead of Royal Bank of Canada 1.125s of 1/15/14, which until today shared the lowest-ever benchmark FIG coupon title with the US Bancorp 1.125s of 10/30/13.

The USAA deal also comes in as the lowest insurance company coupon IFR has on record, with the closest contender a New York Life 1.85s of 12/13/13 guaranteed investment contract-backed deal (Aaa/AA+), priced on 7/9/10.

(Andrea Johnson is a senior IFR analyst)