Research & Reports
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…
Forethought Registers New VA Contract With Enriched GLWBs
For the most part, variable annuity insurers have been scaling back on the generosity of their guaranteed benefits, but there are a few out there who are not afraid to offer rather aggressive features, and...
Jackson National Files to Offer New Death Benefits in April
If anyone had doubts that Jackson National wants to maintain its leadership position in variable annuity sales, those would have to be dispelled by the company’s filing last week of new guaranteed minimum death benefits...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from December, 2014
This past December we saw no new registrations of variable insurance funds, but that isn’t out of the ordinary because filing activity usually slows down late in the year. In any event, plenty of other...
Getting Clarity on Transamerica’s Recent VA Product Moves
Last week we noted how Transamerica filed to remove optional guaranteed death and living benefits from one of its variable annuity contracts – something we found quite intriguing – and in this report we will...
The VA Industry’s Product De-Risking Theme Is Continuing Into 2015
In this commentary we will get caught up with recent variable annuity filings – a good number of them involving de-risking – that we think provide great examples of how industry trends and themes that...
An Update on VA Industry Filing Activity at the Start of December
Activity along the variable annuity product pipeline has been somewhat slow of late, reflecting the fact that most insurers are retooling their offerings – and yet recently we’ve noticed a company, MetLife, file new guaranteed...
Various Benefit Updates, Changes From Around the VA Business
In recent weeks the variable annuity product pipeline hasn’t exactly been buzzing with activity, but we have seen a few tweaks and rider updates – most, but not all, involving de-risking – and we’ll discuss...
A New In-Plan VA Contract From Prudential – And Other Recent Filings
In this report we’ll pick up from last week’s coverage of variable product filings from recent weeks, and this time we’ll touch on a new contract coming from Prudential Financial intended for employer-sponsored retirement plans…