Life Policy Sales Fell 3%: LIMRA
Variable universal life premiums and face amount grew more than 10%.
LIMRA is confirming what MIB Group Inc. and Wink Inc. have been reporting: U.S. individual life sales looked soft in the first quarter.
The total amount of death benefit protection sold increased 3%, but annualized premiums from new policies increased just 1%.
The number of policies sold fell 3%.
(Related: Mortality Table Shift Hits Q1 Non-Variable Life Sales)
LIMRA bases its quarterly life sales reports on an issuer survey. The participating insurers account for about 80% of U.S. life premium revenue, according to LIMRA.
LIMRA does not include the actual policy counts or premium totals in the survey results summary available to the public.
LIMRA posts public data on sales of universal life, variable universal life, term life and whole life.
Here’s what happened to the number of new policies sold in the first quarter, when compared with sales for the first quarter of 2018:
- Universal Life: -8%
- VUL: +1%
- Term Life: Flat
- Whole Life: -5%
LIMRA found the strongest growth in the variable universal life sector. The number of VUL policies sold increased 8%, annualized premiums rose 12%, and total death benefits climbed 14%.
Resources
A link to the new LIMRA survey summary table is available here.
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