Research & Reports
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from October, 2010
In recent years we have tended to see a modest number of variable insurance fund filings during the month of October, and the same pattern held true this time around. There were a few interesting...
Concerning the RIA Market – and Noteworthy Product Filings
The number of variable annuity contracts designed for fee-based financial advisors has been growing of late, and in this commentary we’ll share some thoughts as to the why this is happening, and weigh in on...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from September, 2010
It’s time again for us to conduct our monthly review of variable insurance fund filings. We thought the industry was pretty active during September, with insurers making quite a few modifications to their investment platforms…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from June, 2010
This edition of the report is our regular commentary on variable insurance fund filings from the prior month, and during June the most frequent activity we saw involved change, whether through mergers, sub-advisory replacements, new...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2010
Over the recent past we’ve described the variable annuity business as being in a period where fewer new product ideas are being launched than we’re used to for this time of year. Thus we weren’t...
Variable Annuity Sales from 4Q09 Reveal Uneven Patterns in the Industry
After reviewing fourth quarter variable annuity results of stock-traded companies we regularly monitor, we found a familiar mixed result – a few insurers did well while most others saw deposits decline – reflecting how the...
Sorting Through Notable Variable Annuity Product Developments
We continue to see an interesting mix of variable annuity contracts and features coming out, some following the trend towards the simpler and cheaper, others more fully loaded. Regardless of this diversity, we firmly believe...
Reflecting on the VA Industry in 2009: A Time of Shifting Realities
It’s become our custom to dedicate our last commentary each year to looking back at how the variable annuity business performed, to get the evaluation process started before fourth quarter data are released. Thus in...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from October, 2009
During the month of October there was the usual moderate stream of variable insurance fund filings, and within them one could see evidence of key priorities for the industry, one of the most obvious being...
