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].
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.
