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Research & Reports

Soleares Research, LLC is a market research and consulting firm servicing the annuity and life insurance businesses. We provide, through our website, periodic articles that cover important industry trends; we also offer clients phone or on-site consultations, executive briefings and presentations. We pride ourselves on first-class customer service and responsiveness to our clients. We aim to be an indispensable resource to the marketplace.
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VA Insurers are Looking to Calibrate Their Sales – Using a Variety of Means

Around the variable annuity industry some insurers are attempting to regulate their rate of business through focused initiatives, whether related to product, distribution, or both. Some are trying to deliberately slow their sales; others are...

Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2012

The month of March was not so very eventful in terms of filings related to variable product funds. We saw no new registrations come through, and we attribute this to the fact that most insurers...

Robust Rollups – Are Still Being Offered on Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits

Judging by some Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) being introduced to the variable annuity space lately, we’d have to say that a few insurers are bucking the general trend towards product de-risking. Instead of pulling...

On Finding Capacity – During a Stressful Time for the Annuity Business

In this report we’ll share what we thought were key takeaways from the Insured Retirement Institute’s 2012 Marketing Summit held last week in New York City, and try to put those thoughts in perspective with...

Early Thoughts on 1Q12 – and Directions, Pressures in the VA Industry

Last Friday the first quarter ended and we must confess to thinking that it will be hard to forecast how the variable annuity industry performed during that time (not that it’s been all that easy...

“Bowing Out” – Hartford’s Departure from the VA Space and What it May Portend

Hartford’s decision to discontinue sales of individual annuities has triggered a number of related events in recent days, and we get the feeling that more interesting developments are yet to come. Moreover we believe that...

VA Insurers are Taking Divergent Paths in this Period of Uncertainty

The way we see it, variable annuity insurers are moving in one of two directions these days: either de-risking, or enhancing their products with an eye toward moving up the market share ranks. What this...

“Shuffling the Deck” – Intriguing VA Product Changes are in the Pipeline

In recent weeks we have noticed a marked increase in variable annuity product filings being submitted to the SEC, most containing tweaks and adjustments scheduled to take effect in May. If this rate of filing...

The Price of De-Risking: Sales for Most VA Issuers Dropped in 4Q11

After reviewing variable annuity sales of selected publicly-traded insurers from the fourth quarter of 2011, we’re of the opinion that, for that time period, industry-wide deposits declined a bit sequentially. However for the full year,...