Fourth quarter numbers are in, and executives at Lincoln Financial are attributing strong annuity sales gains to efforts in improving annuity products and annuity distribution. According to a recent article from ThinkAdvisor, the company reported a 57% increase in fixed annuity sales, 54% increase for variable annuities, and a 62% increase for variable annuities with living benefits guarantees.
The president of Lincoln Financial, which is based out of Radnor, Pennsylvania, said last week that annuity sales for all of 2017 were up for the first time since 2013.
“We’ll be adding even more products and distribution in 2018,” Glass commented. He added that the new annuity product and distribution efforts should show continued increases this year.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, Lincoln as a whole is boasting $816 million in net income, up from $190 million, on $3.7 billion in revenue, up from $3.3 billion.
Total commission spending was reported at $1.1 billion, a 6.4% increase. An increase from $242 million to $265 million was reported at the annuity operation level, while life insurance commission spending dropped from $222 million to $193 million.
In recent talks, Lincoln executives have discussed a shift in concentration from protection of customers against interest risk to protecting them against life or health risk. They have moved ahead with this strategy by agreeing to acquire group benefits business from Liberty Mutual, however other details on how they might go about integrating the group benefits business have not been disclosed.
Written by Rachel Summit
