Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Credit: Lincoln

Life Health > Annuities

Lincoln Financial Posts Surprising Annuity Sales Figures

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Lincoln Financial sold so many individual annuities in the second quarter that Suneet Kamath, a securities analyst with Jefferies, wondered whether the annuity market is all right.

The life and annuity issuer increased individual annuity sales to $3.8 billion in the second quarter, up 48% from the total for the second quarter of 2022.

“How sustainable is that?” Kamath asked Thursday, during a conference call with Lincoln executives. “Are you seeing any irrational behavior?”

Ellen Cooper, Lincoln’s CEO, pointed to the big increase in the number of baby boomers turning 65 this year as one driver. ”You really have a need for deferred savings and for retirement planning,” she said.

Although the annuity market is competitive, “we are, from what we can see, largely rational,” she added.

Lincoln’s sales numbers came out Wednesday, just two days after Ameriprise reported a 45% year-over-year increase in its variable annuity sales.

Individual annuity sales increased 23% at Equitable, 68% at Corebridge Financial and 83% at Prudential Financial.

What it means: Clients are buying a lot of annuities.

The earnings: Lincoln held the conference call to go over second-quarter earnings.

The Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company is reporting $884 million in net income for the latest quarter on $5.2 billion in revenue, up from $502 million in net income on $2.9 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2023.

Fixed annuity sales climbed to $1.7 billion from $524 million.

Sales of the MoneyGuard life-long-term care combination products increased 48% to $34 million.

At the company’s group benefits business, higher interest rates and a strong labor market helped group disability make a comeback. Sales of that product jumped 106%, to $74 million.

Lincoln even let sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefits, a product that it regards as somewhat risky, rise 28% to $634 million, and Cooper said the company is comfortable with the current level of living benefits guarantee risk it has assumed.

Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Credit: Lincoln


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.