Jackson grows RILA, fixed annuity sales in Q2 as product pivot pays off

Jackson Financial’s successful evolution from a traditional variable annuity seller was on full display during a strong second quarter that saw the insurer in a robust capital position.

Retail annuity sales of $4.4 billion were up 4% from the second quarter of 2024 as Jackson continued to steadily pivot away from riskier annuity products. Introducing its own registered indexed-linked annuity in 2021 helped Jackson transform its business.

The insurer introduced Jackson Market Link Pro III and Jackson Market Link Pro Advisory III in May, which boosted momentum in the quarter, said CEO Laura Prieskorn.

“This growth was driven by sequential gains in both RILA and fixed annuity sales. RILA sales approached $1.4 billion, up 16% from the previous quarter,” Prieskorn noted.

RILAs account for about one-third of sales

The RILA suite now accounts for nearly one-third of Jackson’s total retail annuity sales, Prieskorn told Wall Street analysts during a conference call Wednesday.

Fixed and fixed index annuity sales of $470 million in the second quarter of 2025, up significantly from $85 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase “reflects capabilities added at PPM America to source higher yielding assets supporting attractive spread based products,” Jackson said in a news release.

PPM America is a Jackson subsidiary specializing in investment management and offering services in areas like fixed income, private debt, commercial real estate, private equity, and emerging markets.

At one time, Jackson dominated traditional VA sales. Those sales totaled $2.5 billion in the second quarter and were flat for the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024. However, traditional variable annuity sales without a living benefit increased 16% in the first half as Jackson continues to reduce its liabilities.

Jackson reported a robust capital position at the operating company, with total adjusted capital of over $5.3 billion and an estimated risk-based capital ratio at Jackson National Life Insurance Co. of 566%.

In Other News:

Bermuda reinsurer? In January 2024, Jackson established a wholly-owned captive reinsurer, Brooke Life Reinsurance Co., and assigned it a crucial role in managing the insurer's variable annuity guarantees.

While Jackson took a reinsurance loss during the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Don Cummings said Brooke Re is performing as expected. He did not refute the idea that Jackson could look to establish another captive reinsurer offshore.

"We think we’ve been very successful with Brook Re, and we’ve obviously observed what some of our competitors have done in terms of using Bermuda and other offshore locations," Cummings said. "That could be a possibility. We would also look very strongly at what we could do on a domestic basis."

Quarterly Snapshot:

• Cash and highly liquid securities at the holding company of over $700 million as of June 30, which was above Jackson’s targeted $250 million minimum liquidity buffer.
• Institutional Products reported pretax adjusted operating earnings of $19 million in the second quarter, compared to $29 million in the year-ago quarter, driven by lower spread income.
• Closed life and annuity blocks reported pretax adjusted operating income of $22 million in Q2, compared to $35 million in the year-ago quarter, reflecting lower premium income, higher death, other policyholder benefits and change in policy reserves, and a comparatively unfavorable impact from updating future policy benefits cash flow assumptions, partially offset by higher spread income.

Management Perspective:

"If there is a good strategic partnership opportunity that would make sense from a shareholder value perspective, we would certainly give consideration to that opportunity."

CEO Laura Prieskorn

By The Numbers:

• Total Revenue: -$471 million ($1.2 billion in Q2 2024)
• Net Income: $168 million ($264 million in Q2 2024).
• Earnings Per Share: Adjusted operating earnings of $4.87 ($5.32 in Q2 2024).
• Share Repurchases: $158 million in Q2 2025
• Dividend Declared: $58 million in Q2 2025
• Stock Price Movement: Shares were up 7.2% at market close on Wednesday to $92.72

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.