Research & Reports
A Look Ahead – Question Marks for the VA Business as Q2 Begins
Because of the diminished sales of variable annuities last year, we can’t help but wonder whether the industry can eventually participate more fully in the recovery of the financial markets – or, will it continue...
Reviewing Variable Insurance Fund Filings from January-February 2010
With this report we acknowledge we fell behind on our coverage of variable insurance underlying funds, so we’re going to take the opportunity to get caught up with what happened in the months of January...
Some of the Whys and Wherefores – Influencing VA Product Movements
The rate of filing in the variable annuity business has settled down a bit in recent weeks, although we figure that there are plenty of new concepts in the pipeline. Since things are a little...
“Playing the Percentages” – Where GLWB Competition is Headed
During this prospectus update season we intend to be vigilant in tracking variable annuity product developments, and in this commentary we’ll provide some more perspective on an area in which we’re seeing a good deal...
VA Contract Considerations – And Assorted Notes on Other Matters
We’ve been providing frequent commentary lately about guaranteed living benefits – which we think is warranted since they are so integral to the variable annuity sales story these days – however this week we’ll focus...
Ratcheting Rates – Insurers Develop GLWBs with Adjustable Withdrawals
The stream of variable annuity-related filings moving through the SEC has been speeding up of late, and a common theme we keep noticing is that insurers are building in new forms of flexibility to their...
Update: Notable Variable Annuity Product Changes, 2009
This is an update of our table summarizing notable variable annuity industry product developments from the year 2009; for the first time we are providing it in Excel format, which we hope will be appreciated...
New Coverage: Summaries of In-Force VA Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits
In this new table we have our summaries of all variable annuity GLWBs we have identified as still being for sale thus far in 2010; over time we will update it to capture changes that...
Update: Summaries of VA Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits Filed in 2009
This is an updated version of our table covering new variable annuity Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefits (GLWBs) initially filed in 2009…