MetLife’s VA Sales are Missed

Total annuity sales are down for the quarter and the first nine months of the year, according to LIMRA. If not for MetLife’s pull-back, variable annuity sales would be close to last year’s pace.

Traitor VIX

Volatility is the most treacherous risk for VA issuers, and complex hedging strategies are the answer. That’s the view from the Equity-Based Insurance Guarantees conference in Chicago this week.

SEC: VA closures, buybacks send wrong message

The director of the SEC Division of Investment Management said VA issuers seem to be telling investors, ‘Here is the deal we are offering you, unless we find out later that we miscalculated.’

VA closures, buy-backs send wrong message: SEC

The director of the SEC Division of Investment Management said VA issuers seem to be telling investors, ‘Here is the deal we are offering you, unless we find out later that we miscalculated.’
Featured

Easy Does It

“We will want to be sure that the recovery is established before we begin to normalize policy,” Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech yesterday.

When rates rise, will bond fund owners bolt?

History shows that intermediate-term bond funds are likely to see less flight than junk bond funds, a Schwab executive writes in the Journal of Financial Planning.
News

Bull run

Equity and fixed income funds appreciated by $1 trillion through October, according to the latest report from Strategic Insight.

Judge rules for participants in ERISA suit

In an ERISA fiduciary suit brought by 401k plan participants, a Minnesota judge has denied most of the motions by the attorneys for the plan sponsor, Ameriprise Financial, to dismiss the complaint.

“Quote” of the Week

"Intelligence is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do"--Anonymous.