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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.

VA Insurers’ Summer Projects – From De-risking to New Product Concepts

The summer is usually a slow period for the variable annuity business, with sales dropping off, at least by a small margin. This year, however, it seems that activity has been picking up, most of...

VA Insurers Are Taking Measured Steps in Adjusting Their Products

It seems to us that most variable annuity insurers lately have been exercising great care in making changes to their contracts and benefits in response to competitive conditions. In recent weeks we have seen more...

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...

Product Revisions are Becoming Nuanced Given the Current Environment

Around the variable annuity space we’d have to characterize this time period as one in which insurers are attempting to make careful adjustments to their contracts and features so as to address risk and competitive...

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...

On Finding Capacity – During a Stressful Time for the Annuity Business

In this report we’ll share what we thought were key takeaways from the Insured Retirement Institute’s 2012 Marketing Summit held last week in New York City, and try to put those thoughts in perspective with...

“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...

“Shuffling the Deck” – Intriguing VA Product Changes are in the Pipeline

In recent weeks we have noticed a marked increase in variable annuity product filings being submitted to the SEC, most containing tweaks and adjustments scheduled to take effect in May. If this rate of filing...