Research & Reports
Impressions on the Variable Annuity Business in 2007 – Part II
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” –...
A Simpler Story – Insurers Move to Streamline VA Sub-Accounts, Features
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...
Assessing Windows of Opportunity for Variable Annuities in Qualified Plans
One topic we plan to tune into regularly in our reports is the use of variable annuities in qualified plans, a practice that has its critics, yet quite a few industry observers think this section...
Seeing VA Business Priorities Revealed Through Public Insurers’ Q3 Results
The third quarter was a mixed bag for the nine major public variable insurers we regularly track, as all saw sales levels fall sequentially, but apparently these companies don’t feel the results were troubling and...
Impressions on Consumer-Friendly Issues for the Variable Annuity Business
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,...
New Pension Reform Act Should Help Annuity Business on Several Fronts
In our opinion, the new Pension Protection Act of 2006 does much to encourage Americans to save for retirement and contains provisions to make annuities more attractive both within Defined Contribution (DC) plans and in...
Shifting and Tweaking Going on Within VA Withdrawal Benefits for Life
It’s about time we issued one of our periodic updates on what’s happening in variable annuity lifetime withdrawal benefits, because they are so important to sales and the filing activity around them still vigorous. The...
“Making Qualifications” – Latest Objections to Annuities in Qualified Plans
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...
“Getting Into Modeling” – The Latest in Variable Asset Allocation Programs
Insurers have long offered various types of asset allocation and rebalancing services to their variable contract holders, to help them diversify and manage the risk associated with their sub-accounts. In fact, the performance of models...
