Research & Reports
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2013
This March we didn’t see a great deal of variable insurance fund filings with the SEC. Most of the activity revolved around manager changes and the trimming down of fund platforms through mergers and liquidations…
Insurers are Reshaping Annuities to Offer Unique Income-Focused Guarantees
The annuity industry is now in a period where it is seeking to develop new product types, using the lessons learned during the heady days of the variable annuity arms race. It is abundantly clear...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from January and February, 2013
At The Soleares Report it’s our intention to always keep up with what’s happening in variable insurance underlying funds, and in this commentary we’ll cover noteworthy filings from the first two months of this year…
“What’s Working?” – Thoughts On the Industry As it Awaits Q4 Sales Data
In this report we’ll try to break from our usual preoccupation with product nuances to raise questions as to where the variable annuity business is headed. It’s clear that most insurers are moving beyond offering...
Insurers Are Building New VA Living Benefits to Handle Interest Rate Risks
As variable annuity insurers have been scaling back on their products, they have tended to make more refined adjustments over time, aimed at addressing specific contingency factors. Recently we have seen a few insurers introduce...
Thanks to De-Risking, Sales Were Down for Leading VA Insurers in Q4
By the end of last week we finished reviewing the fourth-quarter earnings reports of selected publicly-traded insurers we watch regularly, and we came away with the suspicion that variable annuity industry sales were probably down...
Insurers Are Creating More Optionality Within Their VA Contracts, Riders
Due to the constant stream of product changes occurring around the industry, variable annuity insurers are finding they must make adjustments much quicker than ever before, in order to respond to market conditions and moves...
Thinking About Retrenchment – and Related Themes Affecting the VA Market
Variable annuity product filing has been a bit slow of late, so in this commentary we will take a step back and reflect on the subject of retrenchment within the industry, how most insurers are...
A Season of Change: VA Sales Fall as Insurers Cut Back on Their Products
The year 2012 was a time when insurers made reductions to their variable annuity products: these moves included the trimming of guarantees, fee increases, closures of contracts and riders, installation of tighter investment restrictions, cuts...