Research & Reports
Thoughts About Directions in Variable Annuity Sales As Q3 Winds Down
The start of the fall season is close upon us, as is the end of the third quarter, so in this commentary we’ll provide some quick thoughts about where we think variable annuity industry sales...
Late Summer Filings Held Yet More IOVA Products, Assorted Changes
In this report we’ll get caught up with product filings from late August – of particular note is that the batch included a number of investment-only variable annuities (IOVAs), providing further evidence that the trend...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from July, 2014
In July we saw an increase in variable insurance fund filing activity and some interesting new registrations, which we’ll cover in this commentary. We’ll also attempt to put some filing trends in perspective, particularly those...
MetLife Becomes Latest Insurer to File an Investment-Only VA
For a while now we had a suspicion MetLife would come out with an investment-only variable annuity, since so many of its peers have done so. As it turns out the insurer filed one not...
VA Insurers’ Profits Were Up in 2Q14 – But Sales? Perhaps by a Little
During the second quarter publicly-traded insurers we monitor regularly experienced increased profitability within their variable annuity operations, however sales for most were somewhat lackluster, as has been the case of late…
VA Insurers Move Ahead With Rider Buyback Packages, Other Incentives
In recent weeks we have seen new interesting things coming from variable insurers: rider buyout offers, benefit updates and other initiatives scheduled to come out later this year. In this commentary we’ll get caught up...
MetLife Files a New Simplified Variable Annuity – With a GMAB
In recent reports we’ve opined about how slow activity along the variable annuity product pipeline has become this summer. Yet last Friday MetLife cut through the seasonal doldrums by registering an interesting new contract with...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from June, 2014
This commentary contains our regular coverage of notable variable insurance fund filings from the prior month. In June we saw fairly brisk rate of activity, including a number of new registrations…
Summer – A Good Time to Evaluate Directions in the Variable Business
In recent weeks we’ve seen a reduction in variable annuity product flings, which is typical for this time of year. This slower pace gives us the opportunity this week to reflect on currents of activity...