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Life Health > Life Insurance

Variable Life Sales In 2006 Dipped 2.6% From 2005

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Variable life insurance sales with single premiums included at 10% for the 40 companies reporting in the VALUE survey for the 4th quarter of 2006 were $660 million, a 16.7% increase from 3rd quarter 2006 sales of $566 million, exhibiting the typical seasonality trends of life insurance sales.

This is a 3.2% decrease from 4th quarter 2005 sales, which were $682 million.

Full-year 2006 sales at $2.403 billion were 2.6% lower than full-year 2005 sales of $2.467 billion.

(Sales include first-year annualized premium, drop-in premiums and 10% of single premiums.)

The market estimate for 2006 with single premiums included at 10% is $2.585 billion, down from $2.7 billion the previous year.

Variable life sales with single premiums included at 100% for the 40 companies in the VALUE survey for the 4th quarter of 2006 were $675 million, a 17.8% increase from 3rd quarter 2006, which had sales of $573 million, and a 2.3% decrease from 4th quarter 2005 sales, which were $691 million.

Full-year 2006 sales with single premiums included at 100% were $2.445 billion, off from $2.508 billion in 2005.

The market estimate for the full-year 2006 with single premiums included at 100% is $2.67 billion, down from $2.765 billion the year before.

For 2006, the top 5 companies/fleets–IDS, Hartford Life, John Hancock, Pacific Life and Lincoln National–captured 49% of all variable life sales (including single premiums at 10%), while the top 10 companies/fleets garnered 74% of VL sales.

For the 4th quarter of 2006, Lincoln National ranked among the top 5 companies, displacing Met Life, which now ranks 6th.

For the companies in the survey, the number of flexible-premium contracts issued during 2006 decreased 16% from the number issued during 2005. The average face amount increased 3% to $378,018.

The single-premium VL market continues to suffer. The total premium for single-premium products for the 7 companies in the VALUE survey for 2006 was $30 million, compared to $35 million in 2005.

The number of single-premium contracts issued during 2006 was 16% lower than the number issued during 2005. The average face amount decreased 6% to $125,960, while the average premium increased 2% to $53,488.

The total premium for second-to-die products issued during 2006 for the companies in the survey was $240 million, compared to $266 million during 2005.

The number of second-to-die contracts (including single-premium and flexible-premium products) issued during 2006 fell 15% from 2005. The average face amount increased 4% to $2,212,199.

For the companies reporting sales by distribution channel for 2006, career agents and independent broker-dealer firms dominated flexible-premium variable life sales, capturing 52% and 35% of the market, respectively.

Career agents and independent broker-dealer firms also dominated second-to-die variable life sales, capturing 43% and 37% of the market, respectively.

As of Dec. 31, 2006, total variable life assets for the companies reporting in VALUE were $124.1 billion, up 12% from $110.5 billion on Dec. 31, 2005. Of the total assets reported, 93% were held in a separate account.

VALUE classes funds into the following categories: growth, aggressive growth, growth and income, international stock, government bond, corporate bond, high-yield bond, international bond, money market, balanced and specialty (e.g., gold, real estate).

As of Dec. 31, 2006, approximately 78% of the variable life separate account assets were in stock funds; 9%, bond funds; 3%, money market funds; 6%, balanced funds; and 4%, specialty funds.

Fixed account interest rates on VL policies have increased since Sept. 30, 2006. The average 1-year interest rate on Dec. 31, 2006 was 4.25%, up from 4.12% on Sept. 30, 2006. The average renewal rate was 4.23% on Dec. 31, 2006, a slight increase from 4.23% on Sept. 30, 2006.


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