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November 30, 2018 at 11:50 AM
Sales of U.S. individual variable universal life (VUL) policies continued to shine in the third quarter.
Life insurers managed to increase the number of VUL policies they sold during the quarter, not just the annualized premium total, according to new data from LIMRA.
(Related: One Type of Individual Life Policy Escaped the Spring Sales Blahs)
Analysts at LIMRA — a nonprofit market research consortium — report that:
- The number of VUL policies sold was 9% higher than in the third quarter of 2017.
- The total amount of death benefits available from the new VUL policies was up 26%, year-over-year.
- The total amount of annualized premiums associated with the new VUL policies was up 29%, year-over year.
Holders of VUL policies have control over their premium payment schedules, and they can allocate policy value to funds linked to the performance of investment funds. VUL sales may have benefited from the strong performance of the stock market in 2017 and in the first half of this year.
The Rest of the Individual Life Market
VUL policies accounted for just 7% of the new life policy premiums LIMRA tracked in the third quarter.
The total number of new U.S. individual life policies sold during the latest quarter was about the same as in the year-earlier quarter, and annualized premiums from those policies increased only about 3%, according to LIMRA.
Annualized premium revenue from new policy sales increased 3% for whole life, 1% for term life and 1% for traditional universal life.
LIMRA bases the quarterly life sales statistics by conducting a survey of life insurance issuers. The organization estimates that the survey participants account for about 80% of annualized premiums from sales of new U.S. individual life policies.
