Research & Reports
The Year 2020 Was Fraught With Challenges for Annuity Insurers
This will be our customary year-end report, based on what we know from U.S. annuity industry data through the third quarter. It certainly goes without saying that 2020 was a trying one for us all,...
An Update on Variable Managed-Volatility Portfolios Through 3Q20
This spreadsheet updates our coverage of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios in 2020. By our count, at the end of the third quarter there were 203 such portfolios in operation, containing $264 billion in assets…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2020
In November we saw several new variable fund registrations, most notable among them a series of defined outcome funds that mimic the attributes of registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) in that they will offer limited protection...
Update: Notable VA Benefit Rate Sheet Changes in 2020
This spreadsheet contains a list of variable annuity rate sheet updates that involved noteworthy changes from the prior sheet; it contains 132 entries…
Assessing Variable Annuity Benefit Rate Sheet Changes of Recent Months
It’s about time we got caught up with variable annuity benefit rate sheets because much has happened since we last visited the subject. Most changes insurers have been making of late involve de-risking – even...
Most Stock-Traded Insurers’ Annuity Sales Grew – Sequentially – in Q3
As we do each quarter, we reviewed business results of stock-traded insurers we watch regularly and discovered that for most of them, annuity sales improved slightly compared to the prior quarter, but were still lower...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from October, 2020
During October we saw a number of new variable fund registrations and not surprisingly, most of them will invest in fixed income – an asset class that has managed to generate positive flows in recent...
Jackson National Files New RILAs – and Other Recent Developments
In this report we’ll discuss new registered index-linked annuities filed recently by Jackson National, currently the leader in variable annuity sales in the U.S., and one of the only major insurers not to offer such...
CDAs, GLWBs, Buyouts and More – a Mix of Filings from Fall, 2020
Lately we have been of the opinion that insurers are in a predicament we have seen in years past, namely that while there remains great demand for annuities – especially those that can provide investors...