The LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute recently collected annuity sales data for their quarterly U.S. Individual Annuities Sales Survey. This information came from Investment News’s article “Top 10 annuity sellers in the second quarter.” Here is a summary of the second quarter sales figures before third quarter results are announced. Annuity sales increased between the first and second quarters of this year. During the second quarter, total annuity sales were $60.2 billion. This was 10% higher than first quarter annuity sales, but 3% lower than total annuity sales during the second quarter of 2014. It was only the fifth time since 2010 that quarterly annuity sales were above $60 billion, according to a senior business analyst at LIMRA SRI.
Transamerica took the 10th spot with total annuity sales of $4.47 billion. Just about all of these sales are from variable annuity products because Transamerica doesn’t sell fixed annuities. Their variable annuity sales rank was number 7. MetLife had the 9th highest total annuity sales with $4.78 billion. Their variable annuity sales of $3.47 billion took 8th place in that category, while their fixed annuity sales of $1.31 billion took the 10th spot. AXA U.S. had the 8th highest total annuity sales during the second quarter with $4.85 billion. Their variable annuity sales of $4.83 billion made the company the 5th highest seller of variable annuity products during the quarter. AXA is another company that doesn’t sell fixed annuities.
The 7th highest total annuity sales during the second quarter went to Prudential Annuities with sales of $4.94 billion. They were ranked 6th in variable annuity sales with $4.53 billion sold. Prudential does not sell fixed annuity products. Allianz Life of North America had the 6th highest total annuity sales. Their variable annuity sales of $1.03 billion ranked them 16th in that product category. But Allianz Life took the top spot in fixed annuity sales with a total sales figure of $4.46 billion. New York Life sold the 5th most annuity products during the second quarter. They had the 12th highest variable annuity sales with $1.85 billion and took the 2nd spot in fixed annuity sales with $4.1 billion.
TIAA-CREF sold $6.34 billion in variable annuities, making them the 2nd highest variable annuity seller and giving them the 4th highest total annuity sales for the second quarter. The 3rd highest total annuity sales went to Lincoln Financial Group with sales of $7.36 billion. They had the 3rd highest variable annuity sales with $6.1 billion and the 12th highest fixed annuity sales with $1.26 billion. AIG Companies’ $9.06 billion in total annuity sales earned them the 2nd highest sales of the second quarter. They had $5.87 billion in variable annuity sales, the 4th highest in that category. AIG’s fixed annuity sales were $3.19 billion, giving them 3rd place in that group.
Jackson National Life sold the most annuities during the second quarter with $12.42 billion. They also took the top spot in variable annuity sales with $11.76 billion sold. Jackson National does not sell fixed annuity products. These second quarter sales results are from the months of April, May & June. Third quarter sales figures from July, August & September will be released soon. It will be interesting to compare the top sellers of the second and third quarters once we see those figures.
Written by Rachel Summit
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