Annuity Sales

Annuity persistency refers to whether people hold on to their existing annuity products or exchange them--typically through a Section 1035 exchange --for new products. Higher levels of persistency suggest that annuity owners are sticking with existing products which are likely more valuable than what would be available in the current market through an exchange.

Variable annuity sales are, to say the least, strong at Jackson National Life Insurance Company.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America reported strong revenue growth for the third quarter of 2010. Fixed indexed annuity sales increased 36 percent and totaled $1.9 billion. Variable annuity sales quadrupled to $800 million. Allianz attributes the revenue growth to more risk averse consumers in the wake of the financial crisis.

U.S. variable annuity sales totaled $35.5 billion in the second quarter of 2010. This represents an 11 percent increase from the same period in 2009, and the gain is the largest since 2007. Prudential was the leader during the period with $5.3 billion in sales--a significant increase relative to $3.38 billion during the same period the previous year. Variable annuity sales at AIG increased 45 percent to $1.58 billion. The largest U.S. life insurer, MetLife, had $4.5 billion in variable annuity...

U.S. annuity sales declined 27 percent during the first quarter of 2010. Combined sales of variable and fixed annuities during the first three months of 2010 were $47.4 billion. This compares to $64.4 billion during the first quarter of 2009. Fixed annuity sales declined 15 percent to $16 billion.