Non-Variable Life Sales Slide In 3Q, Wink Reports

Non-variable universal life sales  - including both indexed UL and fixed UL - were more than $852.4 million in the third quarter. This was down 11.0% when compared to the previous quarter and down more than 15.6% as compared to the same period last year, according to Wink Inc.

Noteworthy highlights for total non-variable universal life sales in the third quarter included Pacific Life Companies retaining their rank as the #1 company overall for non-variable universal life sales, with a market share of 10.8%. Pacific Life’s Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL was the #1 selling product for non-variable universal life sales, for all channels combined, for the fifth consecutive quarter.

Indexed life sales for the third quarter were $528.5 million; down more than 4.3% when compared with the prior quarter, and up over 10.5% as compared to the same period last year. “While sales were down a little, next quarter will more than make up for a loss of less than 5.0%!” exclaimed Sheryl J. Moore, President and CEO of both Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc. She continued “If you think IUL sales were down, consider the fact that 60% of the top ten traditional UL carriers experienced double-digit declines in sales from last quarter.”

Items of interest in the indexed life market included Pacific Life Companies retaining the #1 ranking in indexed life sales, with a 16.9% market share. National Life Group, Transamerica, Minnesota Life-Securian, and AIG closed-out the top five sellers, respectively.

Pacific Life’s Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL was the #1 selling indexed life insurance product, for all channels combined, for the fifth consecutive quarter. The top pricing objective for sales this quarter was Cash Accumulation, capturing 82.6% of sales. The average indexed life target premium for the quarter was $8,997, an increase of more than 1.0% from the prior quarter.

Fixed UL third quarter sales were $325.0 million; down more than 20.0% when compared with the previous quarter and down 39.1% as compared to the same period last year. Noteworthy highlights for fixed universal life in the third quarter included the top pricing objective of No Lapse Guarantee capturing 61.5% of sales. The average UL target premium for the quarter was $5,744, an increase of 14% from the prior quarter.

Whole life third quarter sales were $1.1 billion; down 0.7% when compared with the previous quarter, and up 6.7% as compared to the same period last year. Items of interest in the whole life market included the top pricing objective of Cash Accumulation capturing 72.4% of sales. The average annual premium per whole life policy for the quarter was $3,720, an increase of nearly 13.0% 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.