Research & Reports
VA Deposits, Net Flows in 2Q08 – A Few Bright Spots Amid Cloudy Skies
Now that Q2 earnings season has wrapped up for variable annuity insurers we usually cover, we saw that deposits and net flows of most of them dropped, however a few had increases. In this commentary...
VA Guaranteed Accumulation Benefits – More Popularity in the Offing?
In the variable annuity marketplace guaranteed living benefits have certainly proven their worth, although there are some types that have just not gotten as much acceptance as others for various reasons. Even so, it’s our...
Diverse Thoughts on Directions in the VA Industry, Topics to Keep Tabs On
Second-quarter earnings season for insurers is just getting underway and we’re quite curious to see how variable annuity sales and flows held up for the leading companies, given the many stressors – from without and...
Growing Assets and Escalating Income – GLWB Upgrades Keep Coming
We must confess we were a bit surprised by the increase in variable annuity living benefit filing activity that’s gone on lately. In recent weeks a fresh batch of riders has been registered with the...
An Up-and-Coming Product Line – VAs for Defined Contribution Plans, Rollovers
As more Baby Boomers reach retirement age, financial services firms will be competing over who will manage the trillions of dollars these folks have socked away in their defined contribution (DC) plans. We anticipate a...
Summertime in the Variable Annuity Business – Not as Slow as You Think
Recently, in compiling information and data for our reports we’ve been sorting through many regulatory filings, and will continue to do so of course, but this week we’re going to pause a bit from those...
Under the Chassis – Updating our Research on New VA Contract Registrations
One of the many research activities we’ve taken upon ourselves is to monitor new variable annuity registrations, in order to be up on the latest industry priorities in terms of product development. We recently caught...
Our Summer Studies Will Involve Gathering More Data on VA Products, Features
One of our objectives for the upcoming third quarter – traditionally a time each year when variable annuity sales tend to tail off regardless of how the market is doing – will be to pore...
The Province of VA Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits – A Constantly Shifting Terrain
In the variable annuity business, it’s crucial for leading companies to have new ideas in the pipeline at all times because the living benefits arms wars are still being waged with great intensity. The way...