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].
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.
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.
