Research & Reports
Sundry Thoughts on VA Sales – During a Time of Rider Tweaks and Twists
Lately we’ve learned there was movement along the variable annuity sales leader board during the fourth quarter. For now we think the top 25 will remain in place, with some shifting within that group, although...
Various Stressors Are Impacting the VA Business as Spring is on the Way
We have a feeling this spring will be a busy one for the variable annuity business because in addition to submitting annual prospectus updates, most insurers will be looking to adjust their contract and benefit...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from January, 2009
Since February is drawing to a close, we need to provide you with our regular run-down of filings of variable insurance portfolios from the prior month, and we’ll start off by saying during January we...
Sliding Finish to a Volatile 2008 as Downward Markets Jolt VA Players
Fourth-quarter earnings season has almost concluded and in this report we’ll offer our customary review of variable annuity operating results for selected publicly-traded insurers. As we expected, most companies went through a difficult time during...
Shining a Spotlight on GMIBs – Competitors Look for the Lucky Number
Following up on our last report covering lifetime withdrawal benefits, this week we’re going to focus on variable annuity Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits (GMIBs), because tweaks and modifications have been taking place that we think...
Phased Cutbacks to Benefits Continue, May Updates Start to Come In
This week we intended to focus exclusively on developments in variable annuity Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) however we will mention a few notable changes to other benefit categories, since a few interesting things have...
Evaluating the Cycle of Change and What it Means for the VA Business
These are very interesting times for the variable annuity industry, if for no other reason than the sheer amount of product and feature amendments that have been occurring since late last year. We think that...