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Research & Reports

Soleares Research, LLC is a market research and consulting firm servicing the annuity and life insurance businesses. We provide, through our website, periodic articles that cover important industry trends; we also offer clients phone or on-site consultations, executive briefings and presentations. We pride ourselves on first-class customer service and responsiveness to our clients. We aim to be an indispensable resource to the marketplace.
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Departures, De-Risking Dampened Variable Annuity Sales in 1Q12

As we usually do on each quarter, we compiled variable annuity sales results for 10 stock-traded insurers we watch on a regular basis, because performance of this group has proven to be a good early...

VA Insurers are Looking to Calibrate Their Sales – Using a Variety of Means

Around the variable annuity industry some insurers are attempting to regulate their rate of business through focused initiatives, whether related to product, distribution, or both. Some are trying to deliberately slow their sales; others are...

Robust Rollups – Are Still Being Offered on Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits

Judging by some Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) being introduced to the variable annuity space lately, we’d have to say that a few insurers are bucking the general trend towards product de-risking. Instead of pulling...

Early Thoughts on 1Q12 – and Directions, Pressures in the VA Industry

Last Friday the first quarter ended and we must confess to thinking that it will be hard to forecast how the variable annuity industry performed during that time (not that it’s been all that easy...

“Bowing Out” – Hartford’s Departure from the VA Space and What it May Portend

Hartford’s decision to discontinue sales of individual annuities has triggered a number of related events in recent days, and we get the feeling that more interesting developments are yet to come. Moreover we believe that...

The Price of De-Risking: Sales for Most VA Issuers Dropped in 4Q11

After reviewing variable annuity sales of selected publicly-traded insurers from the fourth quarter of 2011, we’re of the opinion that, for that time period, industry-wide deposits declined a bit sequentially. However for the full year,...

“The Daily Show” – Hartford Enhances Ratchets on New Benefits

The recent filing by Hartford Life of two new variable annuity benefits that feature highest daily account value growth has the industry buzzing, and we think for good reason. Observers of the market will be...

“Stretching Exercises” – That Might Pull VA Products in New Directions

It’s our sense that, unless there is a dramatic (and sustained) rebound in the financial markets near term, most variable annuity insurers will be in de-risking mode. For that reason we expect more of the...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2011

In this report we’ll provide our usual highlights of recent variable fund filings, and comment on the announcement today from Sun Life Financial that it will discontinue sales of variable annuities in the U.S. To...