Indexed Annuities Hit Sales Records
March 18, 2011 by Zachary Dristol
By Zachary Dristol on March 17, 2011 at 1:39 pm
AnnuitySpecs.com ran a study regarding the status of indexed annuities, referred to as the Indexed Sales and Market Report. A total of 39 different carriers provided information for the study. This was the 54th edition of the report. This means that the study obtained data from 99 percent of the companies involved in the industry.
During the fourth quarter of 2010, sales in the sector of the market reached $8.3 billion. This was an overall increase of 19 percent compared to the same quarter during 2009. Sheryl J Moore, the CEO and President of AnnuitySpecs, said that she had predicted indexed annuities would continue to prosper at record heights after the financial crisis of 2008, and was happy to announce that she had been right.
Today, they make up a total of 40 percent of the annuity market. This means that any insurer that is not currently selling this product is unlikely to continue to be successful, and will most likely need to start making some changes in order to benefit from what the market has to offer.
This particular sector of the market is still dominated by Allianz Life, an insurer who controls a total of 23 percent of the market share. Following close behind was American Equity. The others in the top five positions included ING, Aviva, and Jackson National. MasterDex X, the product sold by Allianz, has been the number one seller for a total of seven quarters.
AnnuitySpecs has been researching and following the behavior of the annuity market for more than a decade. The core of their business revolves around research, training, marketing, development, and speaking on the subject of indexed financial products. Before becoming the president and CEO of the company, Sheryl J Moore was a market research analyst for many of the most powerful carriers in the annuity industry.
