Why Annuity Issuers Use Bermuda Reinsurance

Reinsurance helps life insurers transfer risk and release capital. But when it's internal--between affiliates--and the reinsurer is offshore, it's hard to tell if the deal is real or just 'regulatory arbitrage.'

How Annuity Risks Get Passed to the Bermuda Triangle

Leading private equity-linked fixed indexed annuity (FIA) issuers ceded the risk (the liability) of 95% of their 2021 sales to the balance sheets of affiliated or co-owned reinsurers located mainly in Bermuda.

Why ‘Offshoring’ Annuity Risk Is Wrong

Many for-profit US life/annuity companies do not use independent reinsurers. They use an affiliated or captive reinsurer in a jurisdiction like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Vermont, or Arizona. This makes their operations less transparent.
Featured

A Chat with the President of Prudential Annuities

Bob O'Donnell talked to RIJ about sustaining VA guarantees in an uncertain rate environment, and about the public's ability to understand VA riders. MetLife, AXA Equitable, and Jackson National also comment here on limiting new contributions to older, richer contracts.

‘The Future of Lifetime Income’

Symetra Life and Russell Investments have teamed up to build a low-cost variable annuity with a lifetime income feature that doesn't involve costly hedging, insurance charges or commissions.
News

Can layoffs shorten lifespans?

Unemployment shocks at ages 57 to 61 have the biggest long-term effect on survival, while shocks at earlier (ages 55 to 56) or later (ages 62 to 65) ages have no significant long-term effect, economists at Wellesley College found.

Living benefit buyers live longer: Ruark

Mortality levels among purchasers of guaranteed living benefits are lower than among variable annuity purchasers who did not buy a guaranteed living benefit, according to the 2012 Variable Annuity Mortality Study from Ruark Consulting.

Bullish sentiments follow central bank easing

"While there is a debate about the effectiveness of QE measures in stimulating the economy, there is little doubt that they have provided a boost to equity markets," writes John Praveen of Prudential International Investments Advisors.