Research & Reports
A Word About MetLife’s Recent VA Benefit Exchange Filings
Earlier this month, MetLife filed to offer owners of vintage guaranteed minimum income benefits (GMIBs) an incentive to trade them in for a fixed annuity, a risk reduction move the likes of which we have...
Update: Notable VA and Benefit Rate Sheet Changes in 2023
This spreadsheet contains two sections: one with contractual VA product changes, the other a rate sheet tracker, mostly covering changes to guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs); it is an update of a sheet we published...
Another Update on VA Product Changes and Benefit Rate Sheets
This report will be another installment in our periodic coverage of product change and rate sheet activity related to traditional variable annuities and registered index-linked annuities (RILAs)…
Scattered Thoughts on the Annuity Business in Early Q4
We have just finished the first two weeks of the fourth quarter, therefore we think it’s a good time to take a quick look back at the prior quarter, make note of some recent product...
Our Year-End Comments on How the Industry Performed In 2021
Each year we devote our last commentary to a consideration of how the U.S. annuity business performed – mostly on the variable annuity side, as it still is our primary focus – however over time...
On a New York RILA from Allianz Life – and a MetLife Buyout
In this report we’ll cover the registration of a new registered index-linked annuity (RILA) from Allianz built for sale in New York, as well as a guaranteed living benefit (GLB) buyback program filed recently by...
A Few Thoughts on VA Spinoffs – and Notable Product News
For more than a decade, the U.S. variable annuity business has been in de-risking mode, and this process has taken many forms. Early on, much of the activity involved product redesign. The most recent manifestations...
Q2 Earnings Review – RILAs Again Fueled Industry Sales Growth
Judging by the results of publicly traded insurers we regularly track, the annuity industry experienced sales growth in the second quarter, building on momentum generated during the prior quarter…
It’s Been Quite Active Along the Variable Annuity Product Pipeline
Although times have been difficult for insurers, as they are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, market volatility, rock-bottom interest rates, social upheaval and the stresses of an election year, those challenges haven’t kept them from...