Brighthouse, Athene announce FIA innovations
Brighthouse Financial will be issuing its first fixed indexed annuity (FIA), which has a six-year term. Athene announced the availability of two new custom indices on its existing FIAs.
2019 was a remarkable year for passive large-cap funds: Morningstar
'The strong long-term inflows in both December and for all of 2019 were due almost entirely to record inflows for both taxable-bond and municipal-bond funds,' the fund data giant...
You’ll love New York Life’s Super Bowl Ad
In the 60-second spot, there’s a montage of people expressing philia (friendship), storge (familial love), eros (sexual love), and finally agape (charity, in the highest sense, or divine love).
Ruark releases new mortality tables for VAs and FIAs
The Ruark tables reflect not only the effects of age and gender, but also differences by product type and contract duration, said Tim Paris, actuary and Ruark CEO (pictured)....
Lincoln Financial wraps income rider around CapGroup TDF
In a renewal of an old partnership, Lincoln Financial and Capital Group are collaborating on a variable annuity with an income rider and exposure to Capital Group target date...
AIG, AllianceBernstein offer index annuity with income rider
AllianceBernstein’s new “AB All Market Index” will be offered exclusively as an indexing choice in AIG’s Power Select Index Annuities. Alliance Bernstein created the multi-asset index for AIG; Market...
Honorable Mention
Nag Odekar moves to HealthView from Great-West Financial; Which default investment is the stickiest?; Bhalla to be CEO of American Equity Investment Life; Great American joins SIMON structured products...
Next-gen funds will be active/passive hybrids: Cerulli
Demand is up for strategies that perform like actively managed funds but with lower fees, such as smart beta and 'active' exchange-traded funds (ETFs), said a Cerulli analyst.
Honorable Mention
Breaking news from Nationwide Financial, Symetra, Vanguard, Morningstar, and Milliman.
TD Ameritrade offers two Pacific Life annuities for RIAs
It keeps getting easier for registered investment advisers (RIAs) to buy no-commission annuities through online platforms. But will RIAs recommend annuities to clients? The jury is still out.
‘Don’t overlook us,’ a boutique ETF issuer tells advisers
The three largest ETF sponsors have 82% of ETF assets; market share jumps to 90% when expanded to the top five, according to Cerulli Associates. A smaller ETF issuer...
Schwab adds hybrid robo income distribution service
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios has a $5,000 minimum and charges no advisory fee. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium has a $25,000 minimum and charges an initial one-time $300 fee for planning and...
Size matters, Cerulli tells plan providers
With estimates that the 10-largest recordkeepers will represent more than 75% of recordkept 401(k) assets by year-end 2019, current market dynamics point to an 'oligarchy' of retirement plan providers,...
New annuity ‘best interest’ rule from NAIC
The new Model would impose a best interest standard on sales and recommendations by insurance producers of annuity products, which is a higher standard than the currently applicable suitability...
What rollover IRA owners are thinking
59% of US households with traditional IRAs in mid-2019, or 21 million US households, had accounts that included rollover assets from employer-sponsored retirement plans, according to a recent survey by...
Mixed forecast for active ETFs: Cerulli
ETF issuers are looking to develop more active products that can earn higher fees. Almost half of issuers say they are developing (20%) or planning to develop (27%) non-transparent...
YTD annuity sales up 7.5% over 2018: IRI
'We anticipate next quarter sales to be flat with an upward bias given the steepening yield curve, as well as rising corporate bond rates and lower market volatility,' said...
Investors flock to low-yield money funds
Though the Fed's target rate has dropped 75 basis points since July 31, money market funds collected $220.9 bn during the next three months. Long-term funds collected just $57.2...
Big BBB debt rollover is just three years away: A.M. Best
The next downturn will be characterized more by ratings transitions than large-scale impairments, AM Best said, because the non-cyclical industries issuing much of the BBB debt often maintain stable...
Structured annuity sales up 61% in 3Q2019, YoY: Wink Inc.
'Structured annuity sales continue to set records,' said Sheryl Moore of Wink, Inc. 'It is no wonder that we continue to see companies enter this line of business each...
