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By 
August 07, 2018 at 03:57 PM
Some U.S. annuity issuers did well in the first quarter, and some “faced headwinds.”
Earnings turbulence continued in the second quarter.
Ameriprise Financial Inc. started the second-quarter earnings release season more than a week ago, by jumping into the cold earnings release season water and announcing higher earnings, higher revenue, and a mix of good and bad numbers at its annuity division. New variable annuity deposits, for example, increased 16%, to $1.2 billion.
(Related: Ameriprise Execs Describe Ideal Annuity and LTCI Suitors)
Many other issuers have followed Ameriprise into the water and reported their results in the past week.
Here’s a look at seven of the issuers’ results.x
American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.
The West Des Moines, Iowa-based company is reporting $94 million in net income for the second quarter on $685 million in revenue, compared with $27 million in net income on $819 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2017.
Spending on “amortization of deferred sales inducements” increased to $78 million, from $34 million.
The fair value of embedded derivatives swung to a net loss of $102 million, from a net gain of $175 million.
Here’s what happened to sales for major types of annuities between the second quarter of 2017 and the latest quarter:
Index: Held steady at $1.1 billion.
Multi-Year Fixed Rate: Increased to $54 million, from $28 million.
Single-Premium Immediate: Increased to $5.4 million, from $5 million.
American International Group Inc.
The New York-based company is reporting $937 million in net income for the second quarter on $12 billion in revenue, compared with $1.2 billion in net income on $13 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2017.
AIG’s life and retirement unit is reporting $962 million in adjusted pre-tax income on $3.5 billion in revenue, compared with $993 million in adjusted pre-tax income on $3.4 billion in revenue for the year-earlier quarter.
The individual retirement unit, which is part of the life and retirement unit, is reporting $250 million in pre-tax income on $730 million in revenue, compared with $266 million in pre-tax income on $696 million in revenue.
At the individual retirement unit, amortization of deferred policy acquisition cost (DAC) amounts, which include sales compensation spending, increased to $130 million, from $126 million.
Non-deferrable insurance commission spending increased to $80 million, from $73 million.
Here are how net flows of cash looked for major types of annuities.
Index: Inflows increased to $800 million, from $600 million in the year-earlier quarter.
Fixed: Outflow fell to $500 million, from $900 million.
Variable: Outflows increased to $400 million, from $300 million.
The spread between what AIG earned on investments and what it paid the annuity holders fell to 2.08%, from 2.23%, for fixed annuities, but the spread increased to 3.49%, from 3.28%, for variable and index annuities.
Athene Holding Ltd.
The Pembroke, Bermuda-based company is reporting $264 million in net income for the second quarter on $1.8 billion in revenue, compared with $326 million in net income on $1.8 billion in revenue for the year-earlier quarter.
The company has now completed the acquisition of a large annuity business from Voya Inc.
The company says channel expansion and launches of new products, including the Athene Agility contract, helped it increase deposits from new retail annuity sales to $2 billion, from $1.6 billion for the year-earlier quarter.
Sales through banks and broker-dealers tripled, the company says.
Brighthouse Financial Inc.
