Research & Reports
Random Reflections from the LIMRA/LOMA/SOA Retirement Conference
Last week we attended the annual LIMRA/LOMA/Society of Actuaries Retirement Industry Conference held in Washington, D.C., and in this commentary, as we have done in the past, we won’t try to completely recap the event,...
Various Reflections – from Last Week’s Retirement Industry Conference
We have found that the annual LIMRA/LOMA/Society of Actuaries Retirement Industry Conference always manages to stimulate healthy conversation and debate and this year’s edition, held last week in Las Vegas, was no different. In this...
About Optionality – in the Newest GLWBs and Income-Taking Methods
It’s our view that variable annuity insurers right now are experimenting with contract and rider designs that are geared to provide greater flexibility than ever before, both from the company’s perspective and that of its...
Tendencies in New VAs and Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits Filed this Year
This report will discuss variable annuity product trends and serve as a companion piece to the new Featured Research we published today covering new VA contracts and lifetime withdrawal benefits registered with the SEC so...
Musings on the VA Industry as Q1 Ends – and on Recent Product Filings
The first quarter will conclude tomorrow and it’s our view that variable annuity business sales probably did not pick up very much, if at all, during that time period…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from February, 2015
This February we saw a fairly large number of new variable insurance funds get registered with the SEC, which is typical for the time of year, as insurers prepare to update their products in May....
Brief Thoughts on 2014 Annuity Sales – and the Future of the Business
We reviewed fourth quarter and full-year 2014 annuity industry sales and they came out pretty much as we expected they would – variable annuity production was down but fixed annuities, led by those of the...
An Update on Recent Variable Annuity Product and Rider Filings
In this report we’ll get caught up with variable annuity contracts and benefits that were filed over the past month; the batch included a mix of benefit revisions and wholly new ones, many of which...
VA Industry Sales Growth in Q4 Looks Doubtful to Us, All Things Considered
As is our practice each quarter, we reviewed earnings results for selected stock-traded insurers we track regularly, and came to the conclusion that for most of them, variable annuity operations performed more or less in...