Producers stew as insurers slow to process life and annuity applications
January 31, 2023 by
John Hilton
Sheryl Moore is president and CEO of Moore Market Intelligence and Wink, Inc. She also has an influential social network and posted about the delay issue last week on LinkedIn. The responses flooded in from irritated producers.
Speculation on the source of the delays ranged from staffing shortages to technology deficiencies to insurers just caught off-guard by a possible sales boom.
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“The home offices are likely understaffed, and unable to handle the influx of business,” she added via email. “I have seen this in the past, back in 2008, 2009.”
Back then, fixed annuity sales boomed in the aftermath of the financial crisis wiped out retirement accounts. The same thing could be happening again. Sales numbers won’t be known for a few more weeks, Moore said, but she is expecting they will show very strong sales of multiyear guaranteed annuities (MYGAs).
“Rates have continued to be very competitive, especially relative to CDs,” she explained. “That speaks very well for sales of this product line [MYGAs]. Never mind indexed annuities, which should also fare very well for 4Q 2022.”
Third-quarter MYGA sales were $27.4 billion, Wink found, up more than 138% when compared to the same period last year. MYGAs have a fixed rate that is guaranteed for more than one year.
Originally Posted
at
InsuranceNewsNet on January 24, 2023 by John Hilton.