Second-quarter individual annuity sales fell 9%, to $60.5 billion, from the three months before, and 11% from a year earlier, according to a Limra International survey.
In the first six months of the year, overall individual annuity sales fell 3% from a year earlier. Through June 30, fixed annuity sales rose 39%, to $64.2 billion, and variable annuity sales fell 26%, to $62.6 billion.
"Second-quarter fixed sales fell quarter-over-quarter due to a decline in fixed annuity interest rates and their corresponding spreads, in addition to annuity companies' pulling back on issuing new business due to capital," said Joe Montminy, the director of Limra's annuity research.
Variable annuity sales were $31.9 billion in the second quarter and posted a shift when compared to first-quarter results, rising 4% . This was the first improvement in quarter-over-quarter variable annuity sales since 2008's second quarter. However, such sales were off 24% from a year earlier.
