NU Online News Service, April 14, 2003, 3:45 p.m. EDT – Bank sales of annuities increased to $3.5 billion in February, up from $3.4 billion in February 2002, according to a monthly bank annuity sales survey from Kenneth Kehrer Associates, Princeton, N.J.
The researchers who conducted the survey, which was sponsored by Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Mich., say February bank annuity sales were down from an all-time high of $4.5 billion recorded in July 2002.
But February sales were down only slightly from the January total, $3.6 billion, and Brad Powell, president of Jackson National's institutional marketing group, points out that 2002 was a good year for bank annuity sales.
"Driven by sales of fixed annuities, bank annuity sales grew most of last year," Powell says.
This year, the swing toward fixed annuities is reversing.
Bank sales of fixed annuities fell to $2.3 billion in February, down from $2.7 billion in February 2002.
