Research & Reports
VA Insurers are Downshifting, Looking to Trim Risk on their GLWBs
During the first half of this year, a few variable annuity insurers were still selling relatively rich Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs), looking to grab market share at a time when most competitors were scaling...
Upward Market Movement Provided Relief to Insurers’ VA Risk Levels
The recovery in the financial markets that took place in the second quarter not only helped variable annuity sales bounce back for most insurers, another positive development was a reduction in the levels of risk...
2Q09 Brought a Degree of Recovery for the Markets – and the VA Business
It’s once again time for us to offer our quarterly commentary on variable annuity sales for the stock-traded insurers we regularly monitor, and to discuss relevant themes facing the industry. We’ll start off by saying...
Early Impressions of 2Q09 VA Sales Results, Who is Gaining Momentum
Recently we’ve been soliciting opinions (and, we must admit, a few rumors) from our industry contacts on which variable annuity players got some sales momentum during the second quarter, to help us get some early...
Spanning the Seasons – VA Product Launches Scheduled for Summer and Fall
As we commence the third quarter – usually a pretty slow period for variable industry sales – the pace of de-risking seems to be settling down a bit, but the process is not over by...
On the Rebound? Plotting the Trajectory of the VA Industry in 2Q09
Now that the second quarter is wrapping up we figured we’d take a few moments to take quick stock of that period, how the variable annuity industry might have performed. It’s our opinion that when...
Continuing Our Coverage of Recent VA Contract and Rider Movements
This week we’re following up on our previous commentary with further notes on recent filings of variable annuity contracts and benefits. In monitoring what’s been going on we’re of the opinion that now more than...
Digging Into the Details: Movements in VA Designs, Applications
As this week begins, we’ve been combing through variable annuity contract registrations – including ones from this year we haven’t commented on yet – and so far we’ve been finding interesting designs and approaches getting...
Keeping Things Interesting – Further Variations In VA Product Offerings
Right now on the variable annuity scene insurers are still making changes and adjustments at a rather brisk pace, and we expect that pattern to continue well into the summer, even though it is usually...