Some life insurance company executives complained about the state of competition in the market for multi-year guaranteed annuities in the first quarter.
Wink has now released issuer survey data showing the impact of MYGA market turmoil: Some MYGA issuers stepped back from the heat, and others pushed to get closer to the fire.
For a look at the MYGA issuers that ranked in the top 5 in the latest quarter, see the gallery accompanying this article.
What it means: There is a lot of drama in a market for what retirement savers might think of as the most boring product ever.
Multi-year guaranteed annuities: The issuer of a MYGA contract promises to pay a specified rate of interest if the buyer keeps cash in the annuity for the term specified in the contract. The term can be as short as one year, but it often ranges from three to seven years.
Because the issuer is promising to pay a fixed rate over the contract term, sales performance may be affected by factors such as the rates of other fixed-rate products, such as bank certificates of deposit, and the rates issuers can earn on their own investments.
The big picture: Issuers that participated in Wink's survey reported that overall U.S. individual annuity sales increased 0.8% between the first quarter of 2025 and the latest quarter, to $99 billion.
MYGA sales at all participating issuers fell 9.6% between the first quarter of 2025 and the latest quarter, to $32 billion.
Sales at the five top MYGA issuers amounted to $13.7 billion, down just 0.6% from the year-earlier total for the top five issuers.
The details: Sales at the top MYGA issuers were stable only because Symetra Financial and Nationwide stepped up and increased their sales to $4.1 billion, from $616 million in the year-earlier quarter.
MYGA sales at the issuers that ranked in the top 5 in the first quarter of 2025 actually fell 36%, to $10.9 billion.
Pacific Life and Global Atlantic were the big issuers that dropped out of the top 5. Their combined MYGA sales fell to $1.4 billion, from $3.8 billion.
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