An Insider’s Take on the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Strategy

Willis Re, a reinsurance broker, has had an uptick in calls from life insurers hoping to execute what RIJ calls 'The Bermuda Triangle' strategy, thus removing a millstone and reaping a capital windfall. Willis Re executive Mike Kaster explains.
Anecdotal Evidence

‘Double Down or Get Out’

By Kerry Pechter
If you haven't done so already, t's time to consider how the low interest rate environment has transformed the life/annuity business over the past ten years. And to assess the roles that reinsurers and big buyout firms continue to play in that transformation.

Global Atlantic to reinsure Ameriprise annuities

By Editorial Staff
Under the agreement, Ameriprise’s subsidiaries will transfer $8 billion worth of annuity assets and liabilities to Global Atlantic’s subsidiaries. Global Atlantic will pay Ameriprise $700 million for the contracts.

Principal Financial shrinks its exposure to retail annuities

By Editorial Staff
The company said it 'will fully exit US retail fixed annuities— discontinuing new sales of its deferred annuities, payout annuities, indexed annuities—and will pursue strategic alternatives, including divestiture, of the related in-force blocks.'

Insurers remain prime targets for private equity: AM Best

By Editorial Staff
A new Best’s Special Report, 'Insurance Companies Remain Prime Targets for Private Equity,' notes that the annuity insurers’ business model is a prime target for the new private equity model, offering a reliable revenue stream of invested capital while also offering permanent capital that is stable and positioned for the long term.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

June 24, 2021

One-Stop Shops for Notes and Annuities

By Kerry Pechter
Luma Financial Technologies is now among the structured notes platforms that have chosen to add index-linked annuities to the products they support. It joins SIMON Markets and Halo in that space. In this last...
June 17, 2021

(Sheryl) Moore’s Law on Annuities in 2021

By Kerry Pechter
RIJ talks with Sheryl Moore of Wink, Inc., the annuity data and consulting firm, about the results of her first-quarter 2021 survey of annuity sales. She shares her opinion on a range of annuity-related...
June 10, 2021

Examining the Indices in Index-Linked Annuities

By Kerry Pechter
A mountain biker needs 18 or 21 gears to smooth a path over rocks and through arroyos. Index-linked annuities now collectively offer some 140 index choices. Hybrid indices can theoretically smooth an investor’s path...