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.
New York Life reports 16% annuity sales growth in 3Q 2012
Overall, the company announced strong third quarter gains in sales of life insurance, annuities and mutual funds, as well as an increase in agent new hires in the first nine months of 2012.
Solvency II could kill many British DB plans, officials say
British pension officials and executives are afraid the cure for their problems, as prescribed by Solvency II, would be worse than the disease.
For investors, it’s been a very good year
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.
