Research & Reports

In this report, our last of the year, we’ll conclude our two-part commentary summarizing key forces influencing the sale of variable annuities in 2007 – our main three being “features, shelf space and scale” –...

In getting started with the New Year, we’ll comment on a growing tendency for insurers to trim the number of sub-account options and features on their variable annuities in order to make them simpler for...

Variable product insurers and mutual fund companies have at times used creative means to pay for, or receive compensation from, financial firms they have relationships with, while not always revealing these arrangements to shareholders. Now...

In our last report we discussed how insurers are building fee reductions into their variable annuities, which we think is good for the industry in that it may help counter some negative perceptions. This week,...

Lately insurers have started to introduce greater choice in variable annuity expense structures, probably due to the ongoing criticism of product fees by regulators, press and other observers, coupled with a sincere desire to provide...

The sale of annuities in qualified plans has been a controversial subject over the years and the target of a number of law suits alleging that the practice is inappropriate. Lately there have been some...

In the process of identifying the more important changes to variable annuity contracts and features this update season, we haven’t seen quite the volume of new ideas as in the past, but we can say...

While our primary concentration is on the variable insurance business, from time to time we will reflect on the equity-indexed annuity, or EIA, and now is a good time to do so. There are a...

Last week there was concern within the variable insurance business over a draft circular letter from the New York State Insurance Department that clarifies how standard non-forfeiture law applies to separate account contracts. The letter...