Variable life sales with single premiums included at 10% for the 42 companies reporting in the VALUE survey for third quarter 2005 were $626 million. This is a 0.2% decrease from second quarter 2005 sales, which were $627 million, but a 1.7% increase over third quarter 2004 sales, which totaled $615 million.
Year-to-date third quarter 2005 sales at $1.867 billion were 5% lower than nine-month sales in 2004, which totaled $1.973 billion.
(Sales include first-year annualized premium, drop-in premiums and 10% of single premiums.)
The market estimate for the first nine months of 2005 with single premiums included at 10% is $1.965 billion.
VL sales with single premiums included at 100% for the 42 companies in the VALUE survey for third quarter 2005 were $633 million. This is a 0.9% decrease from second quarter 2005 sales, which were $639 million, and a 0.8% increase over third quarter 2004 sales, which amounted to $628 million.
The market estimate for the first nine months of 2005 with single premiums included at 100% is $2 billion.
For the first nine months of 2005, the top five companies/fleets–IDS, Hartford Life, Pacific Life, MetLife and John Hancock–captured 44% of all variable life sales (including single premiums at 10%), while the top 10 companies/fleets garnered 69% of VL sales.
For the companies in the survey, the number of flexible-premium contracts issued during the first nine months of 2005 decreased 13% over the number issued during the first nine months of 2004. The average face amount increased 7% to $353,718.