Research & Reports
Talking Product – Changes, New Entries on the Variable Annuity Scene
We’ve seen an interesting mixture of product initiatives on the part of variable annuity insurers in recent weeks, which we will share with you in this commentary. Most of these moves had a de-risking quality...
It Looks Like for Most Insurers, VA Sales Were Down Again in 4Q13
We reviewed fourth quarter earnings results for selected publicly-traded insurers we track regularly and came to the conclusion that variable annuity industry deposits dropped for the quarter and the year as a whole. We think...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from January, 2014
During the month of January we saw a large number of new variable insurance portfolios registered with the SEC, as well as plenty of interesting changes to existing funds and platforms. It came as no...
Looking Ahead – to 4Q13 Variable Annuity Business Results
Fourth quarter earnings season for publicly-traded annuity insurers is close upon us, and we expect that most companies will report fairly decent earnings performance for the time period, given that the stock market finished on...
A Brief VA Contract and Benefit Update – On What’s Coming to Market
At this point in the year we don't tend to see many new variable annuity product filings because insurers are gearing up for changes they have in store for the May prospectus update season. Even...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November and December, 2013
With this report we will get caught up with noteworthy variable insurance filings from the last two months of 2013. There were quite a few interesting developments during that time, particularly related to volatility-control funds…
Insurers Are Developing More Variations on the Investment-Only VA
As the year began, we were confident more investment-only variable annuities were on the drawing board and we were curious as to how insurers might tinker with the concept. It just so happens that some...
More Thoughts on Shapes VA Product Innovation Will Take This Year
Now that we're getting fully into 2014 we're seeing indications that variable annuity product innovations that either got started last year or gained momentum during that time will be built upon moving foward…
In 2013, VA Sales Eased While Other Annuity Products Gathered Steam
Throughout most of 2013, variable annuity sales took a downward trajectory, due mostly to the de-risking undertaken by insurers, mirroring moves they had executed the year before. While net flows into VAs slowed, fixed and...