Research & Reports
A Contract Update – and Other Notes from the May Prospectus Season
At this time of year there’s a deluge of variable annuity prospectus updates being submitted to the SEC, and, as usual, we’ve been sifting through those documents in an effort to find newsworthy things to...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2011
During March we noticed but a moderate stream of variable insurance fund filings with the SEC, typical for the time of year, as much activity involved platform tweaks and modifications of one form or another....
More Thoughts on Variable Annuity Contract Trends, Other Issues
In this commentary we are continuing our discussion of variable annuity product trends from last week, to take note of actions being taken by insurers to meet varying sources of demand. In addition, we have...
Varied Changes – Coming Soon to Variable Annuity Contracts, Benefits
We continue to see interesting adjustments and enhancements being introduced to variable annuity products, which we think shows that there are still stiff winds of competition around the industry, however muted from the arms race...
Rising Markets, Benefit Riders Helped Spur VA Sales During 4Q10
After reviewing fourth quarter variable annuity sales results of stock-traded insurers in our regular coverage group, we strongly suspect that the industry fared well during that time period as well. What remains to be seen...
Differing Priorities: For Industry Players Given the Current Environment
Right now we are attending the annual marketing conference of the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) in Washington, D.C., where we are comparing notes with people in the industry, to hear what themes and issues are...
An Agreeable Summer – Insurers Post Respectable VA Sales in Q3
As is our custom, we delved into the variable annuity business results of 10 stock-traded insurers we track, and, overall, came away with a pretty positive impression about the third quarter. We say this even...
Concerning the RIA Market – and Noteworthy Product Filings
The number of variable annuity contracts designed for fee-based financial advisors has been growing of late, and in this commentary we’ll share some thoughts as to the why this is happening, and weigh in on...
Back to School – Viewpoints on VA Industry Issues as Q3 Winds Down
The weather has gotten cooler, football season has commenced, and families are back from vacation, all these things serving to remind us that we are coming to the end of the third quarter. In this...
