Individual whole life new annualized premium increased six percent in the second quarter, according to LIMRA's Second Quarter 2014 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales report.
The increase, the LIMRA research reveals, boosted premium revenue for all individual life insurance products by one percent in the second quarter. For the first six months of 2014, however, total individual new annualized premium dropped four percent, compared with the same period in 2013.
"Holding 34 percent of the market, whole life's rebound from a weak first quarter fueled the positive second quarter results for overall individual life premium," says Benjamin Baldwin, associate analyst, LIMRA Insurance Research. "Over the past six years, whole life has demonstrated strong, consistent growth, which has buoyed overall insurance sales."
The individual life insurance policy count improved four percent in the second quarter, which is the first positive quarterly growth in policy count for six quarters. Year-to-date, policy count is three percent lower than prior year, LIMRA finds.
Universal life (UL) new annualized premium fell eight percent in the second quarter and 13 percent after the first half of the year. A 33 percent decline in guaranteed UL in the second quarter contributed substantially to the overall performance of UL in the second quarter.
