Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, San Francisco. In this session about annuities, topics discussed included product design, regulatory, marketplace, compensation, and pricing issues.

Description: Variable Annuity DAC: A Survey of Current Practice by Laura J. Hay and Elizabeth Rogalin from The Financial Reporter, December 2002, Issue No. 51. Examines the DAC calculation for Variable Annuities and the possible write down of DAC under revised assumptions.

Description: The article summarizes PLRs 201515001 and 201519001, in which the IRS addressed the treatment of a non-qualified deferred annuity contract under the investor control doctrine and other applicable rules. The contract provides a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit and investment options that correspond to “public” mutual funds. The IRS concluded that the investor control doctrine will apply to treat the contract purchaser as the owner of the mutual fund shares for federal income tax purposes. The IRS also addressed certain other tax aspects of the arrangement. The effect of the rulings is that the contract will be taxed similarly to a contingent deferred annuity (where the policyholder holds the mutual fund shares in his or her own brokerage account), while being structured like a traditional deferred variable annuity (where the insurance company holds the shares in its separate account).

Description: This presentation, session number 7PD, took place at the 1999 Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held May 24-25 in Atlanta. Panelists discuss proposed new U.S. and Canadian requirements and ramifications for variable annuities with guaranteed minimum death, income, and maturity benefits. Ways to assess and reduce the economic risk, reserves, and capital requirements are also discussed. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 1.

Description: Panelists provide background and updates on a number of statutory issues relating to life and annuity products, including statutory codification implementation, Actuarial Guideline MMMM, Actuarial Guideline AXXX and implications of the movement to the 2001 CSO table. Changes to federal reporting requirements, through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are briefly discussed relative to the recent accounting problems in the news. From the 2002 Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 28, No. 3. Session 78OF of the Boston Annual Meeting.

Description: Competition for space in distribution channels has resulted in a proliferation of exotic options embedded in variable annuity products. This article discusses how this has created a need which can be addressed, in part, by hedging variable annuity guarantees with long-dated equity derivatives.

Description: This paper discusses the actuarial aspects of state regulation of individual variable annuities. Focus is on regulation of interest rates, expense and mortality guarantees, grace period and nonforfeiture provisions, and transfers of surplus to and from separate accounts. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 58.

Description: From a session at the 2000 Valuation Actuary Symposium held in Washington DC, September 14-15, 2000 Discussion of guaranteed minimum death benefits, guaranteed minimum income benefits, and guaranteed minimum accumulation benefits on variable deferred annuities, along with floor guarantees on variable immediate annuities. This session described the types of benefits found in the marketplace along with the associated risks. Current reserving practices, risk management techniques, and the latest American Academy of Actuaries AAA and National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC developments are discussed.

Description: The article discusses PLR 201632004, which addresses the partial annuitization rules of IRC section 72(a)(2) in the context of a deferred income annuity rider attached to a variable deferred annuity contract.

Description: These products effectively provide policyholders access to an equity index with an option pass-through. This new direction blurs the line between more traditional variable annuity and fixed indexed annuity products. This session will discuss these and other similar product innovations, including some interesting regulatory, accounting, and risk management considerations.