NU Online News Service, Sept. 16, 2003, 5:59 p.m. EDT – U.S. individual life sales revenue was 5% lower during the second quarter than it was during the second quarter of 2002, according to industry survey results released by LIMRA International, Windsor, Conn.
The number of policies sold fell 6%, and the face amount of the coverage sold fell 6%, LIMRA says.
LIMRA is blaming the drop on a continuing slump in sales of life products that give consumers a chance to tie policy returns to stock prices.
Sales of whole life increased 9%, and sales of universal life climbed 26%. But variable life premiums were down 56%, and variable-universal life premiums were down 41%, LIMRA says. Because of the shift in demand to UL policies, from VUL policies, UL policies now account for about one-third of premiums from new policy sales.
"Variable life market share has tracked closely with trends in the stock market, with about a quarter delay in response to a shift in the market," Elaine Tumicki, head of LIMRA's product research unit, says in a statement about the second quarter results.
