
Research & Reports
Considering Themes Relevant to the VA Industry in 2Q15 – and Beyond
It seems like the year is going by very fast – the third quarter is winding down already and yet, in our view, it’s hard to forecast how the variable annuity business will finish up...
Thoughts on Variable Annuity Contract Share Classes – and Suitability
This commentary will be a short reflection on how a distribution arm of Voya Financial has curtailed the sale of certain variable annuity share classes with guaranteed benefits, at the insistence of regulators. It’s our...
Income Considerations – That Will Affect Annuity Products in the Future
This commentary will be a brief reflection on recent developments regarding the income-taking aspects of annuities that we think our subscribers should monitor – as it’s not clear to us yet how much of an...
Thoughts from Q2 Earnings Season – We Suspect VA Sales Improved
Overall, we’re of the opinion that second quarter earnings for stock-traded insurers we watch regularly were pretty strong, and for all of them, variable annuity sales went up sequentially, thus we suspect the industry experienced...
An Outlook on 2Q15 VA Sales – and Some Notes on Recent Product Filings
Although it will take time for second quarter variable annuity sales data to come out, in this commentary we’ll give our suspicions on how the industry might have moved during that time period. The numbers...
Thoughts on Q1 Industry Sales – And Various Product Developments
Not long ago, first quarter annuity industry sales figures were released by the major tracking firms and we thought results were about as expected – although we were thinking fixed annuities would do better…
How Do We Think Q1 Variable Annuity Sales Moved? Not By Much, Either Way
Last week we finished reviewing first quarter results for stock-traded insurers we monitor regularly, and for most of them, variable annuity sales were lethargic, thus we expect the industry experienced similar results…
Random Reflections from the LIMRA/LOMA/SOA Retirement Conference
Last week we attended the annual LIMRA/LOMA/Society of Actuaries Retirement Industry Conference held in Washington, D.C., and in this commentary, as we have done in the past, we won’t try to completely recap the event,...
Various Reflections – from Last Week’s Retirement Industry Conference
We have found that the annual LIMRA/LOMA/Society of Actuaries Retirement Industry Conference always manages to stimulate healthy conversation and debate and this year’s edition, held last week in Las Vegas, was no different. In this...