Banks' combined sales of fixed and variable annuities in August regained ground lost in July, reaching $2.9 billion, level with June's volume.
But most striking was variable annuities' comeback, up 14%, to $1.3 billion, or 27% more than in January, said Janet Cappelletti, an associate research director at Kehrer-Limra, a firm that compiles banks' annuity sales results.
After an uptick in May, "June and July [both] saw variable annuity sales coming down, but August redeemed them," she said.
At $1.5 billion, May's variable annuity sales reached a high point for the year. Variable annuities had flatlined for months at $1.1 billion while fixed annuities soared to a high of $2.5 billion in October. August's fixed annuity sales stood at $1.6 billion.
