Limra: Whole Life, Indexed UL Policies Boost Premium Sales by 6% in 2015
March 18, 2016 by Dennis Gorski, managing editor-online, BestWeek: Dennis.Gorski@ambest.com
WINDSOR, Conn. – Individual life insurance premium sales grew 6% last year, carried by whole life and indexed universal life products, according to market research by Limra.
That’s despite growth slowing in the fourth quarter, said Ashley Durham, assistant research director. Nonetheless, new annualized premium for individual life insurance rose 1% overall in the fourth quarter — the sixth-consecutive quarter of positive growth, Limra reported in its Fourth Quarter 2015 U.S. Retail Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey.
And total policy count rose 1% in the fourth quarter and 4% for 2015, the first year of positive policy count growth since 2012, Limra added.
By product line, universal life new annualized premium fell 1% in the quarter, primarily due to a decline in lifetime guaranteed universal life and current assumption UL, which fell 10% and 14%, respectively. In 2015, indexed UL jumped 15% and was the primary driver of overall UL sales growth in 2015, Limra said.
Total UL premium represented 38% of all life insurance new premium in 2015, according to the report.
Whole life premium continued to enjoy positive growth last year, Limra said. In the fourth quarter, whole life increased 6% and improved 9% for the full year. This is the 10th consecutive year of positive growth for whole life, Limra said, adding that whole life represented 34% of the total life insurance new premium in 2015.
Term sales growth rose 1% in the fourth quarter and 2% for the year. Term’s market share was 21% in 2015. Limra said it is projecting little term sales growth over the next couple of years as pricing, reserving and capital issues continue to affect the market.
Sixty percent of the companies surveyed showed positive growth, including nine of the top 10 carriers, Limra said.
