New products bulletin
Nationwide and Annexus partner on income-generating FIA; Equitable extends RILA feature to variable annuity; Securian offers new IOVA.
Honorable Mention
Biden DOL won't enforce Trump's anti-ESG rule; PEP rally: TAG Advisors launches Pooled Employer Plan; Net income for life/annuity industry fell 55% in first three-quarters of 2020: AM Best;...
Reaching HNW clients in the pandemic era: Cerulli
'Many asset managers have shifted to a channel-agnostic approach distribution model from a channel-specific model,' said Cerulli analyst Asher Cheses.
How the pandemic affected indexed annuity owner behavior
'Given record low interest rates, and disruptions to sales channels, there was no way to know whether past patterns would continue. We’re intrigued by how some changed—and others didn’t,'...
Comfort with CITs has grown: Cerulli
Driven by plan sponsors’ pursuit of lower-cost alternatives, CITs have captured marketshare from mutual funds, says the latest issue of The Cerulli Edge--US Monthly Product Trends report.
Big 4Q rally for US pension risk transfer deals: LIMRA SRI
'Fourth quarter 2020 buy-out sales continue this trend and represented the highest quarterly sales total recorded since fourth quarter 2012,' said Mark Paracer of SRI.
Honorable Mention
SEC suspends trading of securities hyped in social media; Mutual of Omaha aims to get ‘Retirement Right’; Americans feel more financial damage from pandemic than in 2008: Allianz Life;...
‘COVID-19 is not a retirement story’: CRR
'A hot topic these days is how COVID-19 and the ensuing recession have affected retirement. The surprising answer may be: Not very much,' write Alicia Munnell and Anqi Chen...
Meet Laurence Black, Interpreter of Indexes
There's a confusing profusion of new indexes behind ETFs and annuities. Laurence Black of The Index Standard says he can make sense of them. Watch as Tamiko Toland of...
Honorable Mention
Pacific Life offers an investment-only VA; Wells Fargo will sell its asset management business; Philips, MetLife and Principal Financial seal $1.2 bn pension risk transfer deal; Security Benefit receives...
Honorable Mention
Women are skeptical of advisers: Cerulli; Equitable announces $1 billion share buyback.
January 2021 fund flows follow 2020 pattern: Morningstar
Taxable-bond funds dominated, with $79 billion of inflows in January and $459 billion of inflows over the trailing 12 months, the most by far for any group, Morningstar's latest...
Fear of longevity: A victim of COVID-19?
The percentage of consumers surveyed who rated lifetime income as highly valuable fell to 63% from 71% between February and August 2020, according to a recent CANNEX-Greenwald Research survey.
Britain passes landmark pension legislation
The legislation provides for the creation of collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes, which are hybrids of DC and defined benefit plans. It also boosts the powers of The Pensions...
The story of Geode—Fidelity’s low-profile indexing jewel
'Growing steadily without a marketing budget, Geode now manages some $720 billion, up from less than $100 billion a decade ago,' the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
Honorable Mention
Pacific Life to distribute two fee-based annuities; NARSSA sets up platform to support accredited Social Security experts; PGIM Investments announces over $21 billion in net fund flows for 2020;...
Will Biden tinker with tax deferral?
'Biden will equalize benefits across the income scale, so working families also receive substantial tax benefits' when they save, a former official told the Financial Services Institute.
As B/Ds merge, technology and culture are keys to success
In a recent survey by Cerulli Associates, technology was tied for the top spot among the factors most frequently cited by advisors as influencing their decision to join a...
Nationwide, Annexus partner on in-plan annuity
Nationwide announced last October that it would release a series of five new products for the 401(k) market. Today it announced Lifetime Income Builder, a fixed indexed annuity with...
