Annuity Market News articles from February 2001

Annuity Market News archives from February 2001

Annuity Sales Data Called Distorted.(Moody's Investors Service report)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2001... While the industry is publicizing gross sales figures that suggest the variable annuity business is thriving, Moody's Investors Services in New York is casting doubt on that scenario. While gross sales are on the rise, the volume of...

Dollar-Cost-Averaging Rates Flatten.
February 1, 2001... Interest rates offered by underwriters in dollar-cost-averaging accounts associated with variable annuities sold through banks were flat or declined during the last two quarters of 2000. Nevertheless, the average interest rates in the...

CORRECTION.
February 1, 2001... In the January issue of Annuity Market News, a product of Nationwide Financial of Columbus, Ohio, the FUTURE annuity, was mistakenly identified as the Futurity Annuity. Futurity is an annuity line issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada...

Equitable of London Trims Operations.(Equitable Life Assurance Society )
February 1, 2001... The Equitable Life Assurance Society of London ceased writing new business Dec. 8 because of its inability to honor annuity policies it issued in the 1970s, according to the company. The policies issued provided a guaranteed annuity rate...

At Deadline.
February 1, 2001... MetLife Enhances Variable Universal Life Policy Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York has added new benefits to and lowered costs of its UL2001, its variable universal life product, according to the company. The mortality and...

SEC Presents Top Priorities for 2001.
February 1, 2001... NEW YORK The SEC will continue to look closely at disclosure issues regarding variable insurance products this year, according to William Kotapish, assistant director in the division of investment management of the Securities and Exchange...

Segregated Funds Cut Back Benefits.
February 1, 2001... Higher capital requirements have led to a shakeout among Canadian issuers of segregated funds, the widely-used name in Canada for insurance policies with a variable investment component. Most insurance firms that sponsor segregated funds have...

Bear Market Strategy Advocated.(excerpt from interview with Putnam Investment executive Robert Goodman)(Interview)
February 1, 2001... Robert Goodman is the senior economic advisor and managing director at Putnam Investments of Boston. He is a member of Putnam's investment policy and global asset allocation committees and works closely with the equity, fixed income and...

Industry Group Aims for Standards.(Insurance Marketplace Standards Association )
February 1, 2001... Founded in 1998 in response to a perception that the insurance industry needed an organization to develop and enforce standards of conduct, the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association of Washington D.C. has attracted members from a large...

Variable Life Sales Inch Up in Quarter.(3rd quarter 2000, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin report)
February 1, 2001... Premium sales of variable life insurance during the third quarter of 2000 increased negligibly from the second quarter, according to a quarterly survey released by Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, a benefits consulting firm, of New York. ...

Industry Seeks Suitability Standards.
February 1, 2001... NEW YORK While industry groups contemplate adopting guidelines for insurers regarding their responsibility to assure suitability in sales, some industry lawyers are saying that insurers should have no such responsibilities when sales are made...

Vanishing Premium Suit Settled.(between Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and policyholders)
February 1, 2001... Lincoln National Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, a member of the Lincoln Financial Group of companies, has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed against the company regarding its variable universal life insurance polices,...