The Dutch insurer Aegon announced Thursday that second-quarter net income rose 71%, to $945 million, on investment gains, and that pretax operating earnings grew 12%, to $630 million.
Standardized new life production, a measure of sales to customers, rose 29%, to $910 million, on an increase in United Kingdom sales and strong growth in Taiwan.
Gross deposits in fixed annuity products in the Americas fell 37% from the year earlier, to $524 million, the company said. The lower fixed annuity production reflects Aegon’s commitment to write profitable business with acceptable risk profiles, it said, as well as the interest rate environment. Fixed annuity deposits in the quarter were higher than in the first quarter, and this was driven by higher bank and pension sales.
Chairman Donald Shepard said in a press release that fixed annuity sales are starting to pick up as interest rates move higher.
Variable annuity deposits benefited from higher retail sales, Aegon said, rising 15%, to $1.42 billion in the quarter. A retail product, "5 for Life," that was introduced in the fourth quarter continues to gain momentum, the company said, and its sales reached $126 million, up 54% from the first quarter.
