Research & Reports
Evaluating Some Recent Developments in VA Share Classes, Riders
In starting to write this commentary it was our intention to focus on trends in variable annuity contracts, however, after digging into recent regulatory filings, we unearthed noteworthy things occurring with benefit riders that we...
Met’s Move – to Offer a New Edition of its Guaranteed Income Benefit
Enough new product initiatives have been happening around the variable annuity industry to make us curious as to how such ideas may translate into sales over the rest of the year. Last week we saw...
Varied Changes – Coming Soon to Variable Annuity Contracts, Benefits
We continue to see interesting adjustments and enhancements being introduced to variable annuity products, which we think shows that there are still stiff winds of competition around the industry, however muted from the arms race...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from January-February, 2011
With this report we are getting caught up with variable insurance fund developments from the first two months of this year, and during that time we saw the continuation of an emerging trend: that of...
Rising Markets, Benefit Riders Helped Spur VA Sales During 4Q10
After reviewing fourth quarter variable annuity sales results of stock-traded insurers in our regular coverage group, we strongly suspect that the industry fared well during that time period as well. What remains to be seen...
Some Variable Annuity Benefits, Contracts Scheduled to Roll Out in May
Over the past few months variable annuity insurers have been filing products that will debut during the May prospectus update season, and in this commentary we’ll touch on some we think are noteworthy…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from December, 2010
Two trends we saw last year in variable product investment options were the introduction of portfolios that had some sort of risk sensitive component to them, along with the trimming of platforms to pare down...
2010 – For the Variable Annuity Industry, a Time of Renewed Risk Taking
It’s become our custom with the last report of December to offer reflections on how the variable annuity business performed over the past year, and suggest issues to watch in the future. We admit that...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2010
During November, the rate of variable fund filings is usually rather slow, and the same pattern held true this year. We noticed no new registrations during the month. Insurers appeared to be tidying up their...
