Research & Reports
VA Insurers’ Summer Projects – From De-risking to New Product Concepts
The summer is usually a slow period for the variable annuity business, with sales dropping off, at least by a small margin. This year, however, it seems that activity has been picking up, most of...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from April-May, 2012
Recently there’s been quite a bit of interesting product tweaking and modification activity occurring around the variable annuity space, enough for us to get a little behind on our monthly coverage of what’s happening in...
Early Signs Point to Headwinds for the Variable Annuity Marketplace in 2012
Based on recently released industry sales figures, as well as the kinds of signals we’ve been getting from leading insurers, we are of the opinion there will be strong downward pressure on variable annuity sales...
VA Insurers Are Taking Measured Steps in Adjusting Their Products
It seems to us that most variable annuity insurers lately have been exercising great care in making changes to their contracts and benefits in response to competitive conditions. In recent weeks we have seen more...
Departures, De-Risking Dampened Variable Annuity Sales in 1Q12
As we usually do on each quarter, we compiled variable annuity sales results for 10 stock-traded insurers we watch on a regular basis, because performance of this group has proven to be a good early...
Product Revisions are Becoming Nuanced Given the Current Environment
Around the variable annuity space we’d have to characterize this time period as one in which insurers are attempting to make careful adjustments to their contracts and features so as to address risk and competitive...
VA Insurers are Looking to Calibrate Their Sales – Using a Variety of Means
Around the variable annuity industry some insurers are attempting to regulate their rate of business through focused initiatives, whether related to product, distribution, or both. Some are trying to deliberately slow their sales; others are...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from March, 2012
The month of March was not so very eventful in terms of filings related to variable product funds. We saw no new registrations come through, and we attribute this to the fact that most insurers...
Robust Rollups – Are Still Being Offered on Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits
Judging by some Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) being introduced to the variable annuity space lately, we’d have to say that a few insurers are bucking the general trend towards product de-risking. Instead of pulling...