Description: Identifies some key pitfalls in developing equity-indexed products and suggests some steps insurers can take to avoid unpleasant financial surprises.

Description: Discussion of how the weak equity environment has led to a growth in the sale of fixed annuities and fixed account allocations within variable annuities. Includes a description of typical product design features and changes in the nonforfeiture laws to accomodate the low interest rate environment.

Description: Author suggests the newly popular Equity-Indexed Annuity product can be transformed into Equity-Indexed Immediate Annuity to serve additional retirement needs.

Description: An overview of guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits (GLWB) on registered index-linkedannuity (RILA) products and a stochastic analysis of market risks.

Description: A review of product and sales trends for variable, indexed and fixed annuities against the current backdrop of low interest rates and record equity market valuations

Description: A look back over 20 years to see how product topics of the day have changed and remained the same.

Description: Discussion of NAIC efforts to amend the annuity nonforfeiture laws to respond to falling interest rates.

Description: Article discusses the mechanics of index-linked annuities and the growth of RILAs

Description: The objective of this article is to help indexed annuity writers understand the pricing practices and ALM strategies used by their peers in the industry, especially in light of the prevailing low interest rate environment and a possible rise in interest rates.

Description: Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2018-12, commonly referred to as long duration targeted improvements (LDTI), is the most significant GAAP accounting change impacting the life insurance industry in the past 40 years. This article discusses the impact of LDTI on variable annuities (VA) and fixed indexed annuities (FIA) from a product development and in-force management angle. Detailed discussion topics include hedging and ALM, product strategy and development, and pricing. LDTI will cause many VA and FIA writers to re-evaluate their hedging and asset liability management (ALM) strategy following the move to fair value accounting under the new MRB requirement. Stakeholder appetite for accounting volatility and resulting changes to hedging and ALM may trigger changes in product mix and designs. In addition to updating pricing infrastructure to handle the new requirements, pricing actuaries will need to produce analyses to educate stakeholders on the risks and pricing implications of any changes to designs, hedging and ALM.