Bank VA Sales Overtake Bank FA Sales

In September, for the first time in 5 years, bank and savings institution sales of variable annuities exceeded sales of fixed annuities.[@@]

Bank sales of variable annuities reached $1.9 billion in September, up from $1.4 billion in September 2004, while bank FA sales fell to $1.6 billion, from $2.2 billion, according to Kenneth Kehrer Associates, Princeton, N.J.

The last time bank VA sales were higher than bank FA sales was in the third quarter of 2000.

But total bank sales of fixed and variable annuities fell to $3.5 billion, down from $3.6 billion in September 2004, Kehrer says.