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November 02, 2017 at 07:37 AM
Two of the gorillas in the U.S. individual life and annuity markets say those operations did well in the third quarter.
Brighthouse Financial Inc. reported strong Shield annuity sales in the first earnings release it has issued since its former parent, MetLife Inc., spun it off as a separate company.
Prudential Financial Inc. said the strength of the stock market increased variable annuity account values, and higher variable annuity accounts led to a helpful increase in fees related to account value.
(Related: How Have the Annuity Issuers Really Been Doing?)
The third quarter started July 1 and ended Sept. 30. At press time, Brighthouse and Prudential were getting ready to hold conference calls with securities analysts to go over their third-quarter results.
Here’s a look at annuity and life insurance highlights from the releases.
Brighthouse
Brighthouse, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company that focuses on the individual life and annuity markets, posted third-quarter earnings affected by many unusual benefits and charges related to its separation from MetLife.
The company as a whole is reporting a net loss of $943 million on $2 billion in revenue, compared with a net loss of $158 million on $1.8 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2016.
Operating earnings at life unit fell to $6 million, from $25 million, but operating earnings from annuities increased to $355 million, from $247 million in the year-earlier quarter.
Life sales fell to $5 million, from $28 million, but annuity sales increased to $1.1 billion, from $995 million.
Sales of annuities in the Shield family increased 15% from year-earlier levels, the company said.
