Indexed Life Sales Shatter Records In 2018, Wink Reports

From Staff and Wire Reports

Indexed life sales set a new record for 2018, according to Wink, Inc. in its 86th edition of Wink’s Sales & Market Report.

Indexed life sales for the fourth quarter were $617.4 million, up more than 16.8 percent compared with the third quarter, and up more than 7.2 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2018. Annual indexed life sales were over $2.1 billion.

“Given the recent trends in indexed life product development, it is no surprise to see both a record quarter and a record year for indexed life sales.” said Sheryl J. Moore, president and CEO of both Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc.

Wink, an industry leader in indexed life insurance sales data since 1997, expanded in 2017 to include fixed universal life (UL) and whole life product lines.

Non-variable universal life sales for the fourth quarter were more than $965.4 million, up 10.3 percent compared to the previous quarter and down 7.9 percent as compared to the same period last year. Annual sales for 2018 were over $3.6 billion. Non-variable universal life sales include both indexed UL and fixed UL product sales.

Noteworthy highlights for total non-variable universal life sales in the fourth quarter included Pacific Life Companies retaining their rank as the No. 1 company overall for non-variable universal life sales, with a market share of 10.7 percent.

Pacific Life’s Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL was the No. 1 selling product for non-variable universal life sales, for all channels combined, for the sixth consecutive quarter.

“It will be interesting to see how the National Association of Insurance Commissioners potential amendment of AG49 regulation will impact future sales," Moore added.

An NAIC working group is accepting comment on a series of questions, which could lead to changes to AG49 in an attempt to rein in illustrations that rely on multipliers.

Items of interest in the indexed life market included Pacific Life Companies retaining the No. 1 ranking in indexed life sales, with a 16.4 percent market share. National Life Group and Transamerica closed out the top three sellers; the fourth-ranking company requested to remain anonymous, and Nationwide ranked at the fifth.

Pacific Life’s Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL was the No. 1 selling indexed life insurance product, for all channels combined, for the sixth consecutive quarter. The top pricing objective for sales this quarter was Cash Accumulation, capturing 75.9 percent of sales.

The average indexed life target premium for the quarter was $9,781, an increase of more than 9 percent from the prior quarter.

Fixed UL fourth quarter sales were $349.1 million; up 0.5 percent compared with the previous quarter and down 26.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Annual fixed UL sales were more than $1.4 billion.

Noteworthy highlights for fixed universal life in the fourth quarter included the top pricing objective of No Lapse Guarantee capturing 66.8 percent of sales. In addition, the average UL target premium for the quarter was $5,443, a decline of more than 5 percent from the prior quarter.

Whole life fourth quarter sales were $1.2 billion, up more than 12 percent compared with the previous quarter, and down more than 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Annual whole life sales were $4.5 billion.

Items of interest in the whole life market included the top pricing objective of Cash Accumulation capturing 72.8 percent of sales. The average annual premium per whole life policy for the quarter was $3,714, a decline of less than 1 percent from the prior quarter.

Wink is focusing on increasing participation with their current product lines of indexed universal life, traditional universal life, indexed whole life, and traditional whole life product sales.

Additional product lines, such as term life insurance, will be added to Wink’s Sales & Market Report in upcoming quarters.