U.S. life insurers reported a small drop in pension plan buyout annuity sales in the third quarter.
Pension risk transfer sales fell to $6.3 billion, down from $6.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017, according to survey data from the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute.
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The institute bases the survey results on data from 16 companies that share information about their sales of large, single-premium group annuity contracts.
Pension risk transfer volume reached a six-year high of about $35 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Since then, volume has been under $1 billion in many quarters, and over $5 billion in many quarters.