Fixed Annuity Sales Flat in Q1; Variable Sales Jump
Fixed annuity sales were $27.5 billion, while variable annuity sales rose 8% to $29.2 billion, the Insured Retirement Institute said.
The Insured Retirement Institute reported Monday that sales of fixed and variable annuities increased by 3.9% in the first quarter to $56.7 billion, up from $54.5 billion in the previous quarter.
Total fixed annuity sales were nearly flat in the first quarter at $27.5 billion, while variable annuity sales rose 8% to $29.2 billion, the IRI said, citing data reported by Beacon Annuity Solutions and Morningstar.
Book value fixed annuity sales rose 20%, while market value adjusted annuity sales came in only 0.7% higher. Fixed indexed annuity sales fell 5.1%, and income annuity sales plunged 13.9% from fourth-quarter levels, the biggest drop in the fixed category.
Sales of variable annuities other than registered index-linked annuities increased to $20 billion from fourth-quarter sales of $18.6 billion. RILAs are structured variable products that use index options to provide both upside potential and downside protection.
Structured annuities rose 9.2% to $9.2 billion in the first quarter.
In the fixed market, there were $14.4 billion of sales in qualified plans and $13.1 billion were non-qualified. Variable annuities posted $17.9 billion in qualified sales and $11.3 billion in non-qualified.
The report noted that non-qualified variable annuity sales rose 10.9% quarter over quarter, while qualified sales were up only 6.3%.
According to Morningstar, variable annuity net assets in the first quarter were virtually flat at $2.1 trillion.
Equity funds, the second-largest asset class, were up 1.5% over the fourth quarter and up by 45.8% from the year-ago first quarter, reflecting the robust recovery from last year’s pandemic-induced drop.
Net asset flows in variable annuities stood at $24.8 billion in the first quarter.\