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February 14, 2018 at 05:45 AM
Problems with hanging on to new agents may be hurting sales at Bankers Life, a major unit of CNO Financial Group Inc.
Bankers Life managed to keep most agents with three or more years of experience in the fourth quarter of 2017. The unit had 1,863 three-year agents in that quarter, down just 0.6% from the number it had a year earlier.
The number of first-year agents fell 9.4%, to 1,845.
The number of second-year agents plunged 18%, to 463.
(Related: CNO Tests Bankers Life Agent Sourcing Ideas: Earnings Highlights)
CNO, a Carmel, Indiana-based company, included the Bankers Life agent count numbers in an earnings presentation for the fourth quarter.
Earnings
The company as a whole is reporting a $71 million net loss for the quarter on $1.1 billion in revenue, compared with $234 million in net income on $1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2016.
The new federal tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, led to a $173 million one-time charge. Income before income taxes fell to $125 million, from $181 million.
Agents
Although Bankers Life had trouble keeping second-year agents, another Bankers Life unit, Washington National, reported better agent-retention numbers. That unit’s total number of agents increased, to 687, from 677 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
