Research & Reports
Some Random Thoughts Regarding Trends in VA Contract Design
With this report we’ll conclude our coverage of variable annuity contracts registered last year and provide some thoughts on current directions in product design…
More Notes on VA Product Filings – and a Few Clarifications
In this report we’ll cover recent competitive tweaks insurers are making to their annuity product offerings, including new registrations and benefit enhancements, and we’ll also have some follow-up comments regarding last week’s report…
On an Interesting Move by Transamerica – and Other Thoughts
The New Year is now well underway, however we can’t say we’ve seen a great deal of noteworthy variable product filings yet, with the exception of changes Transamerica made to certain guaranteed living benefit rate...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from December, 2017
This commentary contains our regular coverage of noteworthy variable insurance fund filings from the prior month. We saw no new registrations in December, and most filing activity centered around changes to existing funds…
Notes on Variable Annuity Filings That Came Through Late in 2017
In this first commentary of the New Year we’ll discuss some variable annuity product filings submitted to the SEC over the last days of 2017, which, in our view, reflected the kind of contracts and...
Update: Variable Insurance Volatility-Managed Portfolios
This is the latest update to our spreadsheet of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios, including asset data through the third quarter of 2017. By our count, at the end of the quarter there were 210 such...
Our Customary Look Back on the Variable Annuity Industry In 2017
As usual, our last commentary of December is a reflection on how the variable annuity business performed this year, based upon what we know thus far from sales levels and product developments…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2017
During November the rate of variable fund filing tends to slow down, and such was the case this year. We noticed no new registrations and only a moderate amount of other activity…
Ohio National Files Exchange Program Targeting Vintage GMIBs
Over the past five years we have seen a number of insurers offer incentives to clients to cash out of their variable annuity benefits as a risk reduction measure. However late last week Ohio National...