IA Sales Dominate In Record-Setting 2Q

Pleasant Hill, Iowa. August 21, 2014- Forty-five indexed annuity carriers participated in the 68^th edition of Wink’s Sales & Market Report, representing 99.8% of indexed annuity production. Total second quarter sales were $12.6 billion. Second quarter indexed annuity sales were up 15.43% when compared to the previous quarter, and up 36.54% when compared with the same period last year. “Never have indexed annuities experienced sales like this!” exclaimed Sheryl J. Moore, President and CEO of both Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc. She added, “Second quarter sales set a record and toppled the prior fourth quarter, 2013 sales record by 8.85%! And this is only the second quarter…wait until you see year-end sales!”

Noteworthy highlights this quarter include Allianz Life maintaining their position as the #1 carrier in indexed annuities, expanding their market share to 30.38%. Security Benefit, American Equity Companies, Great American Insurance Group, and Athene USA all sustained their positions, rounding-out the top five. Allianz Life’s Allianz 360 Annuity was the #1 selling indexed annuity for the third consecutive quarter.

Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) utilization increased for the first time since the second quarter of 2013, while experience data pointed to trends in rider elections and income commencement. Moore pointed-out, “Although there was a slight uptick in GLWB election rates, only a little more than half of all indexed annuity sales are focused on income as opposed to accumulation.”

For indexed life sales, 47 insurance carriers participated in Wink’s Sales & Market Report, representing 95.3% of production. Second quarter sales were $366.6 million. When evaluating second quarter indexed life sales, results were up 11.02% when compared with the previous quarter, and up 14.40% when compared to the same period last year. Ms. Moore commented, “Indexed life sales continue to be strong. The second quarter marked the third-largest quarter for indexed life in the history of the product line. While some carriers are attempting to build IUL-like VUL products, the companies reporting sales to us are proving that indexed life is a viable and successful avenue for growing life insurance sales.”

Items of interest in the indexed life market this quarter include Pacific Life Companies maintaining their #1 position in indexed life sales, with a 12.10% market share. Aegon held-on as the second-ranked company in the market; National Life Group, Midland National Life, and Minnesota Life rounded-out the top five companies, respectively. Western Reserve Life Assurance Company of Ohio’s WRL Financial Foundation was the #1 selling indexed life insurance product for the second consecutive quarter. The average indexed UL target premium reported for the quarter was $6,367, a drop of nearly 30% from the prior quarter.

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The staff of Moore Market Intelligence has combined experience of nearly three decades working with indexed insurance products. The firm provides services in speaking, research, training, product development, and marketing of indexed annuities and indexed life insurance. Their knowledge in product filing research and policy forms analysis, coupled with their unmatched resources in insurance distribution, give them the expertise to provide competitive intelligence that allows carriers to stay ahead of their competition.

Sheryl J. Moore is president and CEO of this specialized third-party market research firm and the guiding force behind the industry’s most comprehensive indexed life and indexed annuity due diligence tools, AnnuitySpecs and LifeSpecs distributed by Wink, Inc. Ms. Moore previously worked as market research analyst for top carriers in the indexed life and annuity industries. Her views on the direction on the indexed market are frequently heard in seminars and quoted by industry trade journals.

Ms. Moore is the author of the quarterly Wink’s Sales & Market Report. Serving as the insurance industry’s #1 resource of indexed insurance product sales since 1997, this report provides sales by product, company, crediting method, index, distribution, surrender charge period, and more.

Wink, Inc. is the company that distributes resources such as this sales report, along with the competitive intelligence tools AnnuitySpecs and LifeSpecs at www.LookToWink.com.