Jackson National Life Insurance Co. in Lansing, Mich., announced a 12% increase Wednesday in retail sales of its core annuity and life insurance products during 2004, to a total of $6.5 billion.
Jackson National said sales of its variable annuities grew 15% from the year earlier, to $3.6 billion.
Sales of equity-indexed fixed annuities grew more than 88%, to nearly $786 million. Industrywide, growth of index annuity sales was nearly 63% through Sept. 30. The company's fixed annuity sales totaled nearly $2.1 billion for the year, a decline of 8% from the year before. However, fourth-quarter fixed annuity sales of $527 million were up 35% from the year earlier and 5% from the third quarter.
Jackson National continued to build momentum in its life insurance business during the year, generating first-year premium of more than $50 million, a better than doubling of 2003's results.
The U.S. unit of England's Prudential PLC used available capital last year to execute issuances of its institutional products, increasing sales by 97% from the previous year, to nearly $1.6 billion. Institutional product sales helped total sales rise 22% from the year earlier, to nearly $8.1 billion.
With more than $60 billion of assets, Jackson National offers fixed, indexed, and variable annuities. It also sells separately managed accounts, life insurance, and institutional products.
