A Shift in the Living Benefit Arms Race – VA Insurers Start to Scale Back

In the past six years the variable annuity industry has been marked by fierce competition between insurers over who has the richest guaranteed living benefits, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the “arms race.” Recently, however, financial market turbulence has caused a spike in the number of these benefits that are in the money, leaving some insurers concerned that they are taking on more risk than they can handle...