Research & Reports
Variable Annuity Sales Were Down in Q3 for Leading Stock-Traded Insurers
We just completed our third quarter review of variable annuity business results of selected stock-traded insurers and found that for all of them, sales fell sequentially during that time period. Market volatility was the most-often...
Use of Benefit Rate Sheets – on the Rise as a Risk Management Tool
Currently those variable annuity insurers selling benefits in which key parameters are reset periodically via rate sheet are still a minority within the industry, however we expect the group will grow in number over time,...
Regarding the Return of a Long-Term Care Rider – and a VA Product Update
In this report we’ll discuss Lincoln National’s re-filing last week of a variable annuity long-term care benefit – a revised version of one originally submitted to the SEC about six years ago. We’ll also touch...
Zurich American Offers Buyback to Owners of Vintage VA Contracts, Riders
This week we’re going to comment on an interesting new variable annuity buyout launched fairly recently by Zurich American Life, an insurer that long ago pulled out of selling new contracts. The fact the company...
Notes on Interesting New Structured Annuities Filed Lately with the SEC
In this commentary we’ll cover a topic we haven’t visited for a while: structured annuities, as a few new ones were filed with the SEC recently, some of them updates to existing contracts. We’ll also...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from August, 2015
This report contains our customary review of variable insurance fund filings from the prior month. August was marked by interesting changes and adjustments to investment platforms. During the month we noticed no new fund registrations…
Notes on New VA and GLWB from Ameritas – and Recent Filings
. In this report we will catch up with recent variable annuity product filings submitted to the SEC, among them a contract from Ameritas registered last week that contains a new guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit…
AXA Files New Form of Variable Annuity Benefit Buyout – with Options
This year we’ve been expecting to see more insurers offer variable annuity benefit buyback programs, but so far only the same small number of companies has done so. Late last week one member of this...
Reviewing an Interesting New Forethought VA ̶ and Other Recent Filings
At this point in the summer, variable annuity product pipeline activity has slowed considerably – as is typical for the time of year – however we did see a recent contract registration from Forethought Life...