05.26.20
Demand for Some Annuities Rising in COVID-19 Market
by: Emile Hallez
The COVID-19 crisis is funneling sales to buffered annuities, according to projections from Limra’s Secure Retirement Institute. Those products, which have been around for years but recently rebranded as registered index linked annuities, have limits on the losses that contract holders can sustain. In a volatile market, that can make them more appealing than other types of annuities, said Todd Giesing, senior annuity research director at the Secure Retirement Institute. Those products are projected to see their sales increase by 10 percent this year, compared with those they saw in 2019, according to an estimate the organization published Thursday. Meanwhile, most other types of annuities will likely continue to see their sales fall this year, although fixed-rate deferred annuities could remain flat, the report noted. In a nod to demand for buffered annuities, insurance companies have been rolling out new products or modifying existing ones. On Monday, Prudential Financial added its first such product, FlexGuard, which touts multiple levels of loss protection available to contract holders.
Read the full article on InvestmentNews.