NU Online News Service, Oct. 23, 2003, 4:13 p.m. EDT – Life insurers should report solid financial results for the third quarter, thanks to the stock market rebound and reduced interest rate and credit pressures, according to a research note released by UBS Investment Securities, New York.
The S&P 500 index rose 2.2% between June 30 and Sept 30. Andrew Kligerman, a UBS life industry analyst, says in the research note that the increase in stock prices should lead to higher asset management fee income and stronger sales of variable annuities.
“We expect industry VA sales to grow 15% from the year-ago quarter,” Kligerman writes.
The strong performance in stock prices also will help variable product profitability by reducing surrenders of variable annuity contracts and life insurance policies, Kligerman says.