Annuity market trends were strong in the third quarter, with executives from companies like Equitable, F&G and Jackson having little to say about sales beyond expressions of joy.
Helpful factors include an increase in the number of baby boomers retiring, interest rates that are higher than they were during the 2009-2022 lower-for-longer period and more financial advisors' willingness to recommend annuities to some clients.
Kevin Luebbers, a senior vice president at Jackson National Life Distributors, reacted to LIMRA's latest quarterly annuity sales survey results with a statement expressing satisfaction about the company's high, diversified sales at a time when competitors were also performing well.
"We continue to be encouraged by the growth of the annuity industry, with LIMRA reporting that U.S. annuity sales have recorded 10 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, and 16 consecutive quarters of growth overall," Luebbers said.
But analysts at Moody's Investors Service see conditions in the world outside annuity issuers' happy bubble of sunshine changing in ways that could challenge most of the companies it rates.
"The economy will likely face a difficult external backdrop going forward, not least because the new Trump administration will likely tighten trade barriers, specifically targeting China," Moody's analysts say in a new commentary. "Competition between the U.S. and China will shape policies, potentially raise global trade barriers and trigger trade or currency wars."
What it means: The next few months could be a great time for a client to own an annuity that provides partial or complete contract value guarantees but a more difficult time to be the insurer or reinsurer responsible for supporting those guarantees.
Annuity sales: LIMRA found that the annuity sales of insurers participating in its third-quarter survey were 29% higher in the latest quarter than in the third quarter.
Wink Inc., a private firm that surveys a similar group of insurers about a somewhat different list of annuity types, found 28% year-over-year growth in sales for the variable annuity types it covers and 46% growth in non-variable annuity sales.
