Branislav Nikolic: Indices Are the Fuel. Products Are the Engines.

Branislav Nikolic spent nine years at CANNEX, wrote a PhD dissertation on retirement and annuity optimization, and was doing machine learning back when it was still called machine learning. Today he runs the insurance practice at The Index Standard — the independent firm rating, forecasting, and benchmarking the 150+ indices feeding America's FIAs, RILAs, and IULs.

Topics Covered

• Why eight out of every ten FIA dollars still flows into the S&P 500 even after gold ran 60% and silver ran 130% in 2025
• Why excess-return indices became confusing the moment interest rates moved off the floor
• Why "going to zero is your hero" is a bad way to compare an FIA to a market index
• Why the indices that have actually performed best aren't the simplest or the most complex but the ones in the middle
• The case for renewal rate integrity as the next thing the industry has to clean up
• Where The Index Standard goes next as carriers reopen the NAIC illustration guidelines

About the Guest

Branislav Nikolic is Managing Director and Head of Insurance at The Index Standard. With a PhD focused on retirement and annuity optimization and nine years at CANNEX, he brings deep expertise in index performance analysis and benchmarking for the insurance industry.