Research & Reports
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from May, 2019
This commentary will be our customary look back at noteworthy variable insurance fund filings from the prior month. In May we did not see any new fund registrations, rather we found most activity centered around...
Random Thoughts Regarding 1Q19 Results for the VA Business
As we were expecting, variable annuity industry sales declined in the first quarter of this year while production of fixed and fixed-index annuities rose, and we suspect those patterns will persist over the rest of...
Voya Files Another Variable Annuity Benefit Buyback Program
In this report we’ll discuss a variable annuity guaranteed living benefit (GLB) buyout offer recently filed by Voya Insurance and Annuity Company that is scheduled to commence in the fall. It is the first such...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April, 2019
In April we saw an increase in variable insurance portfolio filing activity, with quite a few new registrations and a number of interesting modifications to insurers’ investment platforms…
1Q19 Outlook: Signs Point to Lower Variable Annuity Industry Sales
Based on our review of results of selected stock-traded insurers, we are of the opinion that, in all likelihood, variable annuity industry sales fell in the first quarter. In the meantime, fixed and fixed index...
Another Update – Covering a Wide Variety of Filings from April, 2019
In this report we’ll get caught up with noteworthy variable annuity filings from the month of April. During that time we saw a few new registrations, amendments to contracts currently in the pipeline, and plenty...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2019
In our view, variable insurance portfolio filing activity was slow during March, thus this commentary will be a brief one compared to past fund reports. During the month we didn’t identify any new registrations, but...
Notes on New VA Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits Filed This Year
In this report we’ll comment on new variable annuity guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWBs) filed with the SEC so far this year. While filing activity of such riders has been increasing, it is still well...
More Thoughts – on New VA Contracts Coming to Market in 2019
In this report we’ll provide more perspective on the kinds of new variable annuity contracts that are being registered this year with the SEC. A common tendency has been for insurers to “bracket” key elements...