Research & Reports
A Bit of a Disconnect? A Near-Term Outlook on VA Industry Results
When fourth quarter variable annuity sales results come out, we’re convinced they will reflect a lack of participation by the industry in the improving equity markets – much as was the case in the prior...
Sorting Through Notable Variable Annuity Product Developments
We continue to see an interesting mix of variable annuity contracts and features coming out, some following the trend towards the simpler and cheaper, others more fully loaded. Regardless of this diversity, we firmly believe...
NFL Game Planning: A Fitting Analogy for the Industry at the Start of 2010?
In the past, we have employed comparisons with the sporting world to describe competitive conditions in the variable annuity space, and we’re going to do so again in this, our first commentary of the New...
Reflecting on the VA Industry in 2009: A Time of Shifting Realities
It’s become our custom to dedicate our last commentary each year to looking back at how the variable annuity business performed, to get the evaluation process started before fourth quarter data are released. Thus in...
Talking Product – Reflecting On Changes, Innovation in the VA Business
There remains a near-constant flow of changes and adjustments being made to products in the variable annuity space, due to a mix of competitive and risk-based concerns, and we don’t see any let-up to this...
“One From Column A” – Optionality Within VA Benefit Allocation Programs
To date, pretty much all variable annuity insurers impose investment restrictions on clients who purchase guaranteed living benefits, the balancing act is to do this while still affording some measure of choice, and in this...
“Stealing the Show” – A Select Few VA Players Excel During 3Q09
During the third quarter we saw a familiar pattern that’s emerged lately in the variable annuity business, that of a minority of insurers – those still selling the richer guaranteed benefits – posting exceptional sales,...
Checking Up on Trends in Variable Annuity GMIBs – Changing, Mixing, Matching
On the variable annuity scene, insurers are still changing their guaranteed living benefits with great alacrity in response to market conditions, albeit less aggressively than in the past, and while most of this movement is...
A Look at the Pipeline: What’s in New VA Contracts Registered This Year
One of the many ongoing tasks we have on our “to-do list” is to stay current with what’s happening in new variable annuity contracts coming to market, so in this commentary we’ll catch up with...
