Research & Reports
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from October, 2021
Lately we’ve been reporting on how Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing is steadily becoming more prevalent in our industry, and last month that trend continued, as we saw another new ESG portfolio and...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from September, 2021
Last month we saw further evidence that Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) portfolios are migrating into the variable fund space, as a new one was filed with the SEC, and several existing portfolios modified...
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...
An Update on Variable Managed-Volatility Portfolios Through 2Q21
This spreadsheet updates our coverage of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios for the second quarter of 2021. By our count, as of June 30 we counted 200 such portfolios in operation, containing over $288 billion in...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from August, 2021
We saw a number of interesting variable fund registrations last month – including a new series of defined outcome portfolios – along with a healthy amount of changes made to insurers’ investment platforms. We’ll discuss...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from July, 2021
After a huge pickup in variable fund registrations during the prior month, in July, filing activity slowed to more normal seasonal levels. The few new offerings were in asset classes and investment styles that are...
An Update on Variable Managed-Volatility Portfolios Through 1Q21
This spreadsheet commences our coverage of variable insurance volatility-managed portfolios for 2021. By our count, at the end of the fourth quarter there were 203 such portfolios in operation, containing over $284 billion in assets…
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from May, 2021
This report contains our regular coverage of noteworthy variable insurance fund filings from the prior month, a period where we saw an uptick in new registrations, which, not surprisingly, were of in-favor fund categories and...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April, 2021
Variable insurance fund filing activity last month was moderate, in our view, but typical of the time of year, because new funds tend to be registered by February at the latest, in order to be...