Research & Reports
VUL Breeding: Hybrid Policies Mix Protection, Equity Exposure and Liquidity
Variable Universal Life (VUL) policies certainly have a lot going for them in terms of optionality and flexibility, with the insured being able to adjust the death benefit, the timing and level of premium payments,...
VA Sales and the Opposing Themes of Staying Competitive – or Cost-Conscious
We recently took time to reflect on divergent trends within the pricing and structure of variable annuities, a topic that should become more “front-and-center” in the future and cut across distribution outlets, since products and...
Catching Up on Recent Variable Annuity Benefit Changes and Developments
We’ve identified a few brand-new variable annuity benefit guarantees filed over the past couple of months, but more frequently we’ve been seeing modifications of existing riders, such as clarifications to special provisions, pricing adjustments and...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from June, 2006
We identified 14 new variable insurance funds filed in the month of June, a fairly good number. In addition, activity was fairly energetic around sub-advisory and name changes, mergers, closings and other modifications, covering a...
“Getting Into Modeling” – The Latest in Variable Asset Allocation Programs
Insurers have long offered various types of asset allocation and rebalancing services to their variable contract holders, to help them diversify and manage the risk associated with their sub-accounts. In fact, the performance of models...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from May, 2006
In the month of May we found just two new variable insurance portfolios filed, although we saw quite a few name changes, adjustments and new share classes which we’ll mention in our monthly look at...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April, 2006
We identified just three new variable insurance funds registered with the SEC in the month of April, the reduced activity probably because most new investment options had already been filed earlier, well in advance of...
Q1 Earnings Calls Continued: Evidence of Further Need for Innovation
With this commentary we’ll resume our coverage of first quarter earnings calls and show how some insurers, due to their scale and ability to offer cutting-edge ideas, have seen resurgence in their variable annuity sales,...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2006
Over the first few months of the year we’ve been noticing rather specialized variable insurance funds coming out, some “non-correlative” with the market – in that they may take an inverse position against an index...