Research & Reports
Our Year-End Comments on How the Industry Performed In 2021
Each year we devote our last commentary to a consideration of how the U.S. annuity business performed – mostly on the variable annuity side, as it still is our primary focus – however over time...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from November, 2021
Last month we did not identify any new variable fund registrations, but we did see more of a growing pattern we noted in our last fund report: the addition of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance...
A Roundup of VA Product Filing Activity of Recent Months
This report will be an overview of recent variable annuity product development activity that we have not covered yet in these pages. Even though the year is winding down, the industry is still coming up...
Q3 Earnings Review – Most Insurers Reported Improved Annuity Sales
For the most part, third quarter annuity business results of publicly traded insurers we regularly track reflected the experience of the industry as a whole, which posted improved sales year to date…
Random Thoughts on Q3 Industry Sales, and Related Topics
Not long ago, LIMRA released preliminary third quarter annuity industry sales data that indicate in-favor products like registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are continuing their record-breaking pace, while conditions are slowly improving for other product types....
An Update on New VA Contracts, Living Benefits and More
Activity along the variable annuity product pipeline has been steady of late, and we think this is a sign that insurers have some optimism for the coming months. We continue to see new and upgraded...
Notes on Recently-Launched Annuities – and Others on the Way
Even though registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) have been stealing the spotlight of late – not to mention market share – that doesn’t mean that insurers haven’t been working on more traditional annuity concepts. In this...
A Few Thoughts on VA Spinoffs – and Notable Product News
For more than a decade, the U.S. variable annuity business has been in de-risking mode, and this process has taken many forms. Early on, much of the activity involved product redesign. The most recent manifestations...
The Latest – on New Variable Annuity Contract Launches
In our view, activity along the variable annuity product pipeline continues to be lively, and in this report we’ll cover new contracts that, based on our reading of regulatory filings, have launched or are close...