Variable Annuities

As you know, VAs have been around since the 1950s, and variable life insurance has been written since 1975 when the Equitable wrote the first policy.

— John T. Adney, a founding partner of the law firm of Davis & Harman LLP in Washington, DC

2000 – SOA – Separate Account Products in the U.S. and Canada: Comparing Their Design, Regulation, and Taxation, Society of Actuaries – 28p

(p302) – William L. Cary, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – There are some insurance companies, I think the outstanding one being Metropolitan, which did not want to get into the variable annuity business at all.

1963 / 1964 – GOV (House) – Investor Protection, Harley Staggers (D-WV) – – Part 1 – April 3; November 19, 20, 21, 1963 – 684p

Systemic Risk
(p48) – Variable annuities have been identified by some as source of systemic risk because some insurers rely on dynamic hedging to hedge embedded guarantees.
- Since variable annuities offer policy-holders investment upside with financial protection, they pose a number of risk management challenges.
- Their guarantee features transfer multiple risks to insurers, which must all be managed concurrently: equity market risk, interest rate risk, basis risk and policy-holders’ behaviour risk.

2010 – The Geneva Association – Systemic Risk in Insurance-An analysis of insurance and financial stability, Special Report of The Geneva Association Systemic Risk Working Group – 129p

2018 – AP (Powerpoint) – Insurers as Asset Managers and Systemic Risk, ABFER 6th Annual Conference, Singapore – 32p

2013 03 – The Geneva Association – Variable Annuities-An Analysis of Financial Stability, The Geneva Association – 88p
- (p55) – 6. Considerations regarding Variable Annuities and Systemic Risk