Nationwide Reports Higher Net, Lower Yields

But confusion surrounding estate tax planning issues hurt sales of life products aimed at the estate planning market, and the soft economy hurt sales of life products aimed at the corporate market, Nationwide says.

“The weak economic climate has had a sharp impact on sales of corporate-owned life insurance, as fewer businesses are creating new employee benefit programs,” Nationwide says.

At the institutional products unit, sales of fixed investment options helped make up for some of the drop in group annuity balances.

But “the impact of higher asset levels was offset by declining yields, which drove interest spread to 179 basis points for the quarter, a decline from 197 basis points reported a year ago and 185 basis points in the second quarter,” Nationwide says.