Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at [email protected]
Little disruption to clients reported by advisors as they transition to the full Department of Labor fiduciary rules, a new survey finds. Though more changes are expected if the rule is implemented as written on Jan. 1, for now the rules appear marginally disruptive.
New York State regulators seek information from insurers to determine whether they are using external data sources to underwrite life insurance coverage.
Nationwide becomes the latest company to offer its first fee-based fixed indexed annuity. The new products are being developed in response to the Department of Labor fiduciary rule.
With regulation, technology and other factors creating great change within the industry, financial advisors have plenty of career choices to consider. Fee-based and dually registered advisors are expected to fare well in the coming years.
With online advice models gaining momentum in the financial services world, many traditional advisories are adopting ‘hybrid’ models that combine both robo and human aspects. Prices for these services vary, a new study found.
Fee-based consolidators of investment advisors are closing bigger and bigger M&A deals, analysts say. Seven of the top 10 brokers measured by AUM who moved from the captive channel to the independent channel between 2009-15 move to consolidators.
Brighthouse Financial will eliminate surrender charges on a universal life (UL) insurance policy, a move that will give policyholders more flexibility.
Nearly a quarter (24.6 percent) of the U.S. population ages 0 to 17 years old was Hispanic in 2015, an increase from 17.1 percent in 2000, new data finds. This demographic is historically underserved by life insurance.
New annuity research tool by Beacon Annuity Solutions will help advisors demonstrate that their recommendations are in the best interest of clients, a company executive says.
As part of its review of the Obama administration’s fiduciary rule, Department of Labor regulators are expected to consider returning fixed indexed annuities to a less-stringent exemption.
The Department of Labor is prepared to help advisors survive under the new fiduciary rules by possibly carving out new exemptions and amending existing ones, according to documents published Thursday. Is it the lifeline the industry seeks?
Assets gathered by multi-family offices grew 13 percent annually over the three-year period ending in 2015, according to new data. That surpasses the growth in the hot registered investment advisor (RIA) field. What does it mean?
The Department of Labor announced two new comment periods Friday — 15 and 30 days — on different aspect of its controversial fiduciary rule. Will the rule go fully into effect?
The Global Insurance Accelerator, or GIA, is helping InsureTech start-ups get off the ground with seed capital, mentorship and exposure. GIA is funded by some of the best-known insurers located in the Des Moines area.
Two new indexed variable annuity products will help Allianz Life Insurance post record sales and deal effectively with the new regulations in the Department of Labor fiduciary rule, company execs say.
Fee-based registered financial advisors (RIA) and dually-registered advisors are growing much faster than commission-based independent representatives. Industry pressures are reshaping how investment advice is delivered, experts say.
Chicago-based Bankers Life is recasting a narrowly-focused captive insurance distribution approach into a holistic advisory one. It is developing a higher-caliber advisor force in the process, execs say.
The Department of Labor fiduciary rule has not had a major impact on annuity sales yet, say execs with a top Midwest insurer. The second phase of the rule, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2018, will likely be a different story, they add.
Financial advisor trade associations are racing to offer new training programs to expand their reach to life insurance professionals operating in foreign markets. In particular, Asia is an area of immense interest.
Evidence is mounting that advisors are more likely to include health care spending as a topic to be included in retirement planning. A new report indicates a 65-year-old couple retiring today will need $404,000 for health care costs.
New fixed-indexed annuity products with shorter seven-year surrender periods are driving down commissions, new data shows. First-quarter indexed annuity commissions dropped to 4.96 percent from 5.37 percent a year ago.
Financial planners say pressure from taxes and regulation are making them less likely to recommend life and annuity products. Can these products adapt and thrive beyond 2017?
Financial advisors recruited to independent broker-dealers (IBD) are as likely to come from the insurance distribution channel as they are from big wirehouses, new research found.
Investment advisors and financial advisors who leave or break away from their captive channel to start new in the independent channel is lower than speculated. The Department of Labor fiduciary rule might move the number northward.
Mass Mutual Life finished as the top seller of whole life insurance in the first quarter 2017 in a new report, repeating the top spot it held for all of 2016.
Highlights for universal life in the first quarter included Prudential ranking as the No. 1 insurer overall for universal life sales, with a market share of 8.4 percent.
First quarter indexed life sales rose 3.4 percent to $446.5 million compared with the year-ago period, according to Wink’s Sales & Market Report. However, sales dropped 16.4 percent compared with the previous quarter. This is part of a cyclical trend that usually sees first quarter sales drop from fourth quarter sales
The shorter surrender periods and no surrender charges are the result of annuity companies offering fee-based financial advisors new options that coincide with the dawn of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule.
The Department of Labor fiduciary rule begins taking effect at 11:59 tonight. That means acting as a fiduciary, making no misleading statements and accepting only “reasonable compensation.”
Firms large and small make their final moves to get into compliance with the Department of Labor fiduciary rule, which begins taking effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday. What comes next?
Ohio National adds creative rider to new fixed-indexed annuity product. Does it signify future direction of FIA products? How will the impending fiduciary rules affect sales?
Defined contribution plan-focused online advisory firms are expected to double over the next five years as clients flock to a pay-as-you-go method of saving for retirement, according to an industry expert.
Growth in the number of online-only advice firms in the business-to-consumer segment is apparently leveling off, according to new data. Robo models will have a role in the future, analysts say, but how big of a role is unknown.
Fifty-two percent of lump sum recipients say their budget would be more predictable if they’d chosen annuity payments from an employer pension or defined contribution plan, a new survey finds.
About 13,000 Voya Financial policyholders agreed to surrender variable annuity contracts in the company’s latest offer. The company will be looking for further opportunities to reduce its risk exposure, execs say.
Voluntary benefit participation rates rose by 567 percent in the Midwest, more than twice the rise in any other region. Employers and employees both like voluntary benefits.
Variable annuities are under pressure from Department of Labor regulations that begin taking effect next week. That hasn’t stopped insurers from offering new and creative death benefits. Will the moves save VAs?
A rundown of the top sellers of multiyear guaranteed annuities in the first quarter.
Here is a rundown of the the top 10 fixed annuity sellers and where they finished in the first quarter.
A new NAIFA certification aimed at life and annuity agents to be unveiled next week has major potential to help agents penetrate Asian developing markets, analysts say.
Insurers and annuity companies have reported a record 26 filings for fee-based variable annuities in the six-month period that began Dec. 1.
Despite a first-quarter drop in fixed indexed annuity sales, there was still plenty of jockeying for position among product sellers for top-10 recognition.
First quarter 2017 sales of fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) dropped 14 percent to $12.9 billion compared with the year-ago period, according to Wink’s Market & Sales Report.
An important shift away from annuities with guaranteed living benefits (GLBs) signals that advisors are focused on accumulation and away from income, a least for the time being, a market expert said.
Sales of fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) are expected to be hit the hardest as new regulations and uncertainty among distributors will dampen new sales of individual annuities in 2017. LIMRA’s forecast is for sales of all U.S. individual annuities to drop between 5 percent and 10 percent in 2017.
The average time between an agent applying for life insurance coverage and receiving a response has been cut by more than a week, thanks to new technology.
Confusion surrounding the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule has caused insurance distributors to hold back on specific sales strategies and that could affect annuity sales this year, insurance company executives said.
Authorities say two former insurance agents defrauded nearly a dozen life insurers out of more than $300,000 in a massive scheme involving fraudulent life insurance policies.
Allianz Life Insurance sold $1.45 billion worth of hybrid variable annuities last year, the first time the product outsold traditional variable annuities, company execs report.
Simple income annuities are among the most straightforward income products in the retirement income marketplace. Will they catch fire with the masses approaching retirement?
The variable annuity, branded as “Lincoln Core Income built with iShares,” offers only passive, low-cost exchange traded funds from asset manager BlackRock.
IUL sales in 2016 reached a record $1.86 billion and the forecast is for an even better year in 2017, according to analysts. Voya Financial is reaping the benefits.
Those in younger age groups are less certain than their elders of their investment knowledge, but those younger investors also were less likely than their elders to have a financial advisor.
The first quarter of 2017 was the most active one ever when it came to mergers and acquisitions among registered investment advisors.
An extended period of low interest rates has put pressure on the 4 percent rule as well, as retirement income portfolios find it difficult to eke out gains without taking on more risk.
The spinoff of Brighthouse Financial, MetLife’s retail distribution arm, will take place sometime after the first half of the year.
Variable annuity sales plunged by 21 percent last year over 2015, but the drop could be over, some analysts predict. A resolution to the Department of Labor fiduciary rule would help.
Voya Financial credits new products, expanded distribution and higher agent productivity for strong first-quarter numbers.
Genworth Financial received 11 long-term care rate increase approvals from eight states in the first quarter 2017, part of an aggressive plan to make its LTCi business profitable again.
Pilot programs for agent retention appear to be working at CNO Financial. The results show up on the company’s recent bottom line.
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