
Research & Reports
Some Thoughts Regarding the Proposed Jackson National IPO
Recently U.K.-based Prudential plc disclosed plans to spin off its Jackson National unit, a move we think will have many ramifications for the U.S. annuity industry. In this report we’ll attempt to put this matter...
Stock-Traded Insurers’ VA Sales in 4Q19 Reflected the Industry’s Rise
Variable annuity sales for most of the stock-traded insurers we track regularly improved in the fourth quarter of last year, in line with how the industry as a whole performed...
Wrapping Up Coverage of Variable Annuity Product Filings from 2019
This report contains our closing thoughts on variable annuity product filings from 2019, a period that, in our view, was lively in terms of competition among insurers, who engaged in further innovation among emerging product...
Taking an Inventory of Recent Annuity Benefit Rate Sheet Updates
In this report we’ll get up to date on variable and structured annuity benefits whose elements are set periodically by rate sheet – a risk mitigation approach that has gotten increased usage in recent years…
A Discussion of Recent Developments in Structured Annuities
Throughout this year we have covered filings related to structured annuities – a product type that has gotten much sales traction of late – and lately we began to feel that a more substantial update...
Scattered Thoughts Regarding How the Annuity Business Fared in Q3
To follow up on our last report, while the variable annuity business performed well in the third quarter, the same can’t be said for the total U.S. individual annuity market, which, according to LIMRA, saw...
Earnings Review: VA Insurers Sales Results Were Strong in 3Q19
As per usual, we reviewed third quarter variable annuity results for a few selected stock-traded insurers and found that most had pretty strong performance, especially on a sequential basis – reflecting how industry sales were...
Earnings Review: Several Insurers Saw Stronger VA Sales in 2Q19
Late yesterday we concluded our review of results of selected stock-traded insurers and our main takeaway is that some of them experienced growth in their variable annuity businesses in the second quarter, although we are...
More Thoughts on VA Living Benefits – and Clarifying an RMD Provision
In this report we’ll discuss industry trends in election rates of guaranteed living benefits (GLBs), citing data from LIMRA, and make a correction to our coverage last week of a new lifetime withdrawal benefit from...