Variable Universal Life Sales Take Lead: LIMRA
September 26, 2017 by Allison Bell
High U.S. stock prices helped life insurers sell more variable universal life insurance in the United States in the second quarter.
The annualized premium total from the sale of new individual VUL policies was 5% higher in the second quarter than in the second quarter of 2016, according to new data from LIMRA.
The actual number of individual VUL policies sold increased 2%, year-over-year.
Total U.S. individual life annualized premiums increased 4%, year-over-year.
The total number of individual life policies sold fell 3%.
The VUL product line is the only one in the LIMRA second-quarter summary table that shows a policy count increase.
Annualized premiums from sales of new universal life policies increased 2%, but that was the product line with the worst policy count drop.
The actual number of individual UL policies sold fell 5%, year-over year, according to LIMRA.
LIMRA, a nonprofit market research group, bases its quarterly lfe insurance sales reports on insurer surveys.
LIMRA makes percentage increase and decrease figures public. It offers the underlying dollar figures only to LIMRA members.
Another industry group, MIB Group Inc., helps insurers fight application fraud by pooling applicant data.
MIB estimated in July, based on its application-checking activity levels, that the number of life policies sold in the second quarter might be 1.8% lower than in the second quarter of 2016, and that the number sold in the first half might be down 3.2%.
