Second-quarter fixed-annuity sales rose 10% to $27.8 billion, Beacon Research reports

Overall sales of fixed annuities hit $27.8 billion during the second quarter, up 10% from a year earlier but down 20% from the first quarter this year, according to data from Beacon Research Publications Inc. Book-value fixed annuities, which pay a declared rate of interest over a period of time, dominated total sales during the second quarter with an estimated $14 billion in sales, according to the Evanston, Ill., research firm. That was up from $12 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Index annuity sales hit $8.2 billion, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier. Market-value-adjusted fixed annuities, which adjust the value of surrenders or withdrawals according to interest rate fluctuations, fell to $3.5 billion, down slightly from $3.6 billion a year earlier. Finally, fixed-income annuities brought in $2.2 billion in sales, up 10% from a year earlier. New York Life Insurance Co. led its peers as the company with the most in total fixed-annuity sales, jumping from second place in the first quarter. The carrier sold $2.85 billion in fixed annuities. Aviva USA Corp. of Des Moines, Iowa, climbed to second place, from third, with $1.67 billion in fixed-annuity sales, while Minneapolis-based Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America rounded out the top three with $1.55 billion in total fixed-annuity sales. The first quarter’s sales leader MetLife Inc. of New York dropped to seventh place with just $950 million in fixed-annuity sales during the second quarter. New York Life also had the top-selling product, with its NYL Preferred Fixed Annuity, a book-value product. Allianz Life came in second with its index annuity, the MasterDex X, while New York Life was third with the NYL Fixed Annuity, another book-value product.