Annuities
Nationwide Advisory Services and Great American announced moves this week aimed at making their fee-based annuities attractive and accessible to Registered Investment Advisors.
Pacific Life’s new 5-year VA/GMAB rider sets -10% floor
'Unlike a structured variable annuity, there’s no cap on investment returns, so contract owners' earning potential is unlimited,” said Pacific Life senior vice president Brian Woolfolk.
Deferred annuity sales up 6% in 2Q2019: Wink
Sales of traditional fixed annuities were down nearly 10% from the prior quarter but up more than 21% over the second quarter last year, according to Wink's Sales &...
FIA sales break quarterly sales record (again): LIMRA SRI
'The 10-year treasury rate dropped nearly 50 basis points from the start of the second quarter,” said LIMRA's Todd Giesing. 'We anticipate sales of fixed-rate deferred annuities to substantially...
A Second Structured Annuity Offers Income
CUNA Mutual Group invades Allianz Life airspace by launching 'Zone Income Annuity.' It's the only structured index annuity besides Allianz Life's Index Advantage Income to offer a lifetime income...
IRS Makes Annuities RIA-Friendlier
'The fees deducts from the contract’s cash value and remits to the advisor will not be treated as an "amount received" by the owner of the...
Executive Interview: PRU’s Kent Sluyter
The president of Prudential Annuities since 2017, actuary Kent Sluyter spoke with RIJ recently about financial wellness and about his firm's pivot to a new generation of individual annuities....
Annuities Aim for Spot in ‘Starting Lineup’
Annuity issuers want—and need—their products to be included as a matter of course in the model portfolios or asset allocation software tools that more advisors are expected to rely...
‘APIs’ and the Future of Annuities
Catching up with the 'application programming interface' technology train is essential for annuity issuers. APIs integrate annuities into advisor platforms, reduce NIGO applications, and give clients a fluid online...
Cetera, Allianz SE and Capital Group offer model retirement income portfolio tool
The partnership, still in its early stages, will end up 'disrupting the retirement income landscape,' an Allianz SE board member said.
Athene offers ‘Amplify,’ its first structured index annuity
The contract's current caps on one-year credited interest range from 15.25% to 17% (for the buffer option) and from 13.5% to 15.5% (for the floor option), depending on the...
Hueler income annuity platform now open to all
Income Solutions, the income annuity purchasing platform formerly reachable primarily through Vanguard, is now operating under its own brand. Its auction-style way of researching and buying income annuities is...
AIG and CUNA Mutual enhance variable annuities
AIG's Polaris Income Plus Daily Flex and Polaris Income Plus Flex riders will have higher lifetime income rates. CUNA Mutual's Horizon II will have variable and indexed-variable investment...
Annuities Need More Positive ‘Positioning’
'Consumer sentiment about annuities also appears to fluctuate based on the prevailing market environment,' according to a new study from CANNEX and Greenwald & Associates.
Part II: Allianz Life’s Marketing and Distribution Strategy
In this second part of today's cover story, we look at the long-standing distribution and marketing strategies that have kept Allianz Life atop the index annuity sales charts.
Allianz Life’s Index Annuity Winning Streak
In this second article in a four-part series on the fixed index annuity (FIA) business, we profile Allianz Life, the top issuer of FIAs in the US in 18...
Variable annuity client behavior revealed in Ruark survey
'On a nominal basis 81% of GLWB exposure is in-the-money, whereas on an actuarial basis only 11% is in-the-money,' writes Ruark CEO Timothy Paris. (It's complicated.)
Protective pays $1.2bn for Great-West’s individual life and annuity business
'This is the fourth acquisition completed since Protective became part of Dai-ichi in 2015. Dai-ichi considers Protective to be its North American growth platform and continues to aim for...
The Index Annuity Story, Part I
'Zero is the hero' in fixed index annuities, which offer upside without risk of loss. In this first article of a four-part series on FIAs, presented by Retirement Income...
A New Flavor of Variable Indexed Annuity
“You can write this concept out on a cocktail napkin, and ask someone, ‘Are you comfortable with half the downside and more of the upside?’," said Thomas Layton, vice...