Research & Reports
On New VA and Structured Annuity Contracts Filed Recently With the SEC
Just when we thought product development pipeline activity had gotten as slow as it could possibly get, we noticed interesting filings last week of new variable and structured annuities, which should launch sometime this year…
More VA Benefit Buyback Programs on Tap, From Zurich, Voya
The focus of this report will be on variable annuity guaranteed benefit buyouts from Voya Financial and Zurich American Life that have either already launched or will be coming out soon – and both resemble...
Summer Thoughts – On Competitive Conditions in the VA Business
As we opined in our last commentary, activity along the variable annuity product pipeline continues to be rather slow, thus we don’t have a great deal of new developments to cover. Our intention with this...
Thoughts on VA and Structured Annuity Filings – And Related Topics
Activity has been a bit slow along the variable annuity product pipeline of late – which is typical of this time of year – however we do have a few notable filings to report on,...
An Update on Trends in VA Living Benefit Values, Net Amount at Risk
Every so often we like to study variable annuity guaranteed living benefit (GLB) account value and risk levels around the industry, as they can impact the health of insurers. This report will be an update...
An Assortment of VA Product Filings – and Other Items – from April and May
It’s about time we checked in on the variable annuity product pipeline because we noticed a good mix of interesting filings come through over the past few months, most of them debuting during the May...
Uncertainty Regarding DOL Rule Negatively Impacted VA Insurers in 1Q17
In first quarter earnings calls of stock-traded insurers we watch regularly, a common theme was discussed on pretty much all of them: issues in dealing with the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule which put a...
DOL Rule-Related Takeaways from the Retirement Industry Conference
Last week we attended the annual LIMRA/LOMA/SOA Retirement Industry Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, and in this report we’ll share some thoughts on a topic that was much discussed throughout the event – the Department...
An Update on New VA Contracts and GLWBs Filed This Year
In this report we’ll get caught up with new variable annuity contracts and guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs) filed with the SEC so far this year. In our view, industry filing activity in 2017 has...