Research & Reports
Summer Thoughts – On Competitive Conditions in the VA Business
As we opined in our last commentary, activity along the variable annuity product pipeline continues to be rather slow, thus we don’t have a great deal of new developments to cover. Our intention with this...
Thoughts on VA and Structured Annuity Filings – And Related Topics
Activity has been a bit slow along the variable annuity product pipeline of late – which is typical of this time of year – however we do have a few notable filings to report on,...
Update: Variable Insurance Volatility-Managed Portfolios
This is the latest update to our spreadsheet of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios, commencing coverage for 2017. By our count, at the end of the first quarter there were 214 such portfolios in operation, containing...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from May, 2017
This report will cover two subjects: our customary review of noteworthy variable fund filings from last month, and trends in variable insurance managed-volatility portfolios, drawing on first-quarter data we compiled from SEC filings..
An Update on Trends in VA Living Benefit Values, Net Amount at Risk
Every so often we like to study variable annuity guaranteed living benefit (GLB) account value and risk levels around the industry, as they can impact the health of insurers. This report will be an update...
An Assortment of VA Product Filings – and Other Items – from April and May
It’s about time we checked in on the variable annuity product pipeline because we noticed a good mix of interesting filings come through over the past few months, most of them debuting during the May...
Uncertainty Regarding DOL Rule Negatively Impacted VA Insurers in 1Q17
In first quarter earnings calls of stock-traded insurers we watch regularly, a common theme was discussed on pretty much all of them: issues in dealing with the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule which put a...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April, 2017
This report contains our regular coverage of noteworthy variable fund filings from the prior month. We saw no new fund registrations come through in April, as was the case in March – and we attribute...
DOL Rule-Related Takeaways from the Retirement Industry Conference
Last week we attended the annual LIMRA/LOMA/SOA Retirement Industry Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, and in this report we’ll share some thoughts on a topic that was much discussed throughout the event – the Department...