Despite low rates, bank sales of annuities held steady in June, at $2.8 billion, the Kehrer-Limra consulting firm says.
The Kehrer-Jackson SM Monthly Bank Annuity Sales Survey for June, which was released late last month, suggested that fixed annuities, which rode high in June 2009, with sales of $2.5 billion, have stabilized since a slow January's $1.1 billion in new premiums.
June sales of fixed annuities were $1.5 billion, and recent months have seen this number waver from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion.
Meanwhile, bank sales of variable annuities, which had flat-lined at $1.1 billion for months, have fluctuated between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion since the spring. They were $1.3 billion in June, the survey said.
Overall bank sales of annuities were down 21% from where they were a year earlier, $3.6 billion, said Janet Cappelletti, Kehrer-Limra's associate research director.
