Low interest rates shock sales of most annuities
Of major product lines, only registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) saw growth in 2Q2020. RILA sales were $4.5 billion in the second quarter, up 8% from 2Q2019, according to LIMRA...
Annuities
Life Insurers’ Bermuda Triangle, Part II
The humble fixed indexed annuity is at the center of the restructuring hurricane that has swept through the life insurance industry in recent years. We bring you the second...
Low rates are ‘key obstacle’ for U.S. life/annuity firms: AM Best
Life insurers have exited, re-priced or de-emphasized their most interest rate-sensitive business lines, including individual and group annuities, the ratings firm said in a new report.
Virus and low-rates cut deep into Q2 annuity sales: LIMRA SRI
'We believe investors will hold off purchasing income annuity products, hoping interest rates rebound over the next 6–12 months,' said Todd Giesing, senior annuity researcher at LIMRA SRI.
The Key to Turning On 401(k) Annuities
Micruity, a tech startup with a 30-year-old CEO, says it has the "middleware" that can integrate 401(k) plans and annuity issuers. Will the retirement industry listen?
Wells Fargo’s New Annuity Wagon
Wells Fargo Asset Management's new target-date series of CITs comes with a built-in, optional retirement income strategy: systematic withdrawals plus an annuity starting at age 85.
Lincoln rolls out in-plan retirement income option
The annual cost of the income option is 0.9% of the 'income base.' At age 65, the payout rate for a married couple would be 4.5% of the income...
Nassau Financial creates Apple app to sell fixed-rate annuities
The contract, “Simple Annuity,” and the app of the same name will support the sale of the annuity by independent, commissioned insurance agents and by Nassau’s own licensed, salaried...
Fresh from Midland National and DPL, AllianzIM
Midland National's new fee-based FIA, only at DPL Financial Partners, has a health-related income multiplier. Allianz Investment Management's structured ETFs have new caps.
AM Best expects lower annuity sales in 2020
Drag from the low interest rate environment continues to hurt margins and stifle earnings growth, weakening the industry’s investment returns, an AM Best release said.
Better than Throwing Darts
'We have all these insurance agents selling billions of dollars of fixed indexed annuities. But they have few clues about how the crediting rates have performed,'' says Kent Jacquay....
Nationwide launches suite of variable annuity income benefits
Nationwide has also introduced an “Income Carryforward” feature. As described in the prospectus, it allows contract owners 'to roll forward one year of unused income during the income phase.'
Ties grow between Athene and Jackson National
Athene's $500 million investment and $1.25 billion reinsurance deal with Jackson National is expected to boost Jackson's Risk-Based Capital (RBC) ratio by about 80 percentage points.
A New Kind of Income Annuity
Achaean Financial and Ash Brokerage, a large Fort Wayne, Ind., BGA, are partnering on a potential retirement game-changer: Achaean's immediate indexed income annuity, couched in Ash's JourneyGuide planning software....
How Equitable Invented the Structured Annuity
Indexed or "structured" variable annuities are on track to be a $20 billion business this year. The product, born of necessity, emerged from AXA's Innovation Hub ten...
Demand for income-generating products is underestimated: CANNEX
Only one in seven advisors believes the average client is very interested in an income-generating product, but 42% of consumers say they are (or already own one), according to...
These Hedges (Probably) Won’t Clip You
Listen to an actuary who put $50k into a five-year indexed variable annuity four years ago as an alternative to CDs. We explain how IVAs are priced, and we...
Does Your Suffering Need Buffering?
Buffered or structured variable annuities 'are the new shining star of the annuity market,' said Sheryl Moore, CEO of Wink, Inc., which tracks annuity sales. 'This is where life...
A buffet of buffered ETFs for jittery investors
Allianz Life will compete in the structured ETF space against Innovator Capital Management, which invented this type of investment in 2018, First Trust, and New York Life Investments,...
Athene to use artificial intelligence-driven indexes in FIAs
'AiPEX with Watson simulates a team of thousands of analysts and traders working around the clock,' according to a release this week.
