Research & Reports
Under the Chassis – Updating our Research on New VA Contract Registrations
One of the many research activities we’ve taken upon ourselves is to monitor new variable annuity registrations, in order to be up on the latest industry priorities in terms of product development. We recently caught...
As Went the Market, So Went the Industry – VA Results of Public Insurers in 1Q08
Based on first quarter variable annuity sales of public insurers we track regularly – and some early estimates of how the industry fared – the first quarter of 2008 was a period where industry deposits...
Sketching Out Issues in the VA Space – in Anticipation of 1Q08 Sales
As we post this report, the insurance sector is entering earnings season and we’re looking forward to listening in on the conference calls because they always contain good nuggets of information about the variable annuity...
Market Volatility Persists, Impacting Public Insurers’ VA Results in 4Q07
Usually at the end of each year variable annuity sales rebound from the slow period of the summer, however the fourth quarter of 2007 contained a mixture of good and bad for the public insurers...
Remarking on Sundry VA-Related Moves, Amendments, Launches
Based on what we’re seeing in regulatory filings and our discussions with industry contacts, the variable annuity business is steadily getting busier, and the heightened activity will surely continue straight through the May 1 prospectus...
New VA Contract Notes: Wrapping up 2007 and Getting Into the New Year
In this commentary we’re going to catch up on our monitoring of new variable annuity contract registrations, both from last year and for the start of 2008, and give some highlights on what’s happening in...
Reflecting on the Year Almost Past: 2006 in the Variable Annuity Business
As the holiday season is now upon us, in our last commentary of the year we’ll take the opportunity to quickly consider how things went for the variable annuity business in 2006, using currently-available data,...
How We Did Last Summer – Appraising Public Insurers’ VA Results from 3Q07
After reviewing third-quarter variable annuity deposits and net flows for the group of major publicly-traded insurers we regularly track, we found most of them endured at least a slight decrease in deposits compared to the...
Insurers Strategize Carefully Regarding VA Contract and Feature Expenses
Based on our continual reading of regulatory filings, we see evidence that insurers are exercising ever more care in crafting the fees and expenses they charge on variable annuity contracts and riders, and we think...