Variable life insurance sales with single premiums included at 10% for the 38 companies reporting in the VALUE survey for the 3rd quarter of 2008 were $541 million, a 13.8% decrease from 2nd quarter 2008 sales, which were $628 million, and a 24.5% decrease from 3rd quarter 2007 sales, which totaled $716 million.
Year-to-date 3rd quarter 2008 sales of $1.788 billion were 13.2% lower than the same time period in 2007, which had sales of $2.061 billion.
(Sales include first-year annualized premium, drop-in premiums and 10% of single premiums.)
The market estimate for the 3rd quarter of 2008 with single premiums included at 10% is $580 million, while for the first 9 months the market estimate is $1.92 billion.
Variable life sales with single premiums included at 100% for the companies in the VALUE survey for the 3rd quarter of 2008 were $552 million, a 13.1% decrease from 2nd quarter 2008, which had sales of $635 million, and a 24.1% decrease from 3rd quarter 2007 sales, which were $727 million.
The market estimate for the first 9 months of 2008 with single premiums included at 100% is $1.94 billion, down from $2.24 billion for the same period the year before.
For the first 9 months of 2008, the top 5 companies/fleets–John Hancock, Hartford Life, Pacific Life, AXA Financial/MONY and RiverSource–captured 56% of all variable life sales (including single premiums at 10%), while the top 10 companies/fleets garnered 79% of VL sales.
For the companies in the survey, the number of flexible-premium contracts issued during the first 9 months of 2008 decreased 26% from the number issued during the first 9 months of 2007. The average face amount increased 5% to $426,305.
