Record 3Q2025 annuity sales led by fixed deferred products
U.S. annuity sales totaled $119.3 billion in 3Q2025, a new quarterly sales record in the third quarter of 2025, according to preliminary results from LIMRA’s U.S. Individual Annuity Sales Survey, which represents 89% of the total U.S. annuity market.
At $345 billion (up 4% YOY), annuity sales in the first three quarters of 2025 were the highest ever recorded for the first nine months of any year. Sales have exceeded $100 billion for eight consecutive quarters.
“Although the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate cuts will likely dampen fixed annuity sales gains, LIMRA is projecting annuity sales to surpass $450 billion in 2025,” said Bryan Hodgens, senior vice president and head of LIMRA research, in a release.
“Registered annuity products – traditional variable annuities and registered index-linked annuities – posted double-digit growth, contributing to the overall growth in quarterly sales. Despite continued market volatility, the equity market’s overall performance attracted investors looking to counter persistent inflation,” he added.
Sales by annuity segment
- Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) set a new quarterly sales record of $20.6 billion in 3Q2025, up 20% YOY and 10x their sales a decade ago.
- Traditional variable annuity sales were $16.7 billion in the third quarter, up 11% year over year.
- Total fixed-rate deferred annuity (FRD) sales were $41.7 billion in the third quarter, 3% higher than third quarter 2024 sales.
- Fixed indexed annuity (FIA) sales fell 6% YOY to $33.2 billion in 3Q2025.
- Single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) sales rose 6% in the third quarter, to $3.7 billion.
- Deferred income annuity (DIA) sales were $1.3 billion in the third quarter, down 5% year over year.
Alight to offer MetLife income annuities to 12m DC participants
MetLife, Inc., and Alight, Inc., are partnering to put MetLife’s institutional income annuities on the Alight Worklife platform, which serves nearly 12 million defined contribution (DC) plan participants, an October 29 Alight release said.
Alight’s plan sponsor clients will have access to MetLife’s Guaranteed Income (MGI) fixed immediate annuity and Retirement Income Insurance (RII) QLAC, a fixed deferred income annuity, within their DC plans. Participants will be able to purchase these solutions and convert a portion of their savings into predictable monthly income.
The collaboration complements Alight’s partnership with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (GSAM). GSAM will serve as a sub-advisor in the Alight Financial Advisors (AFA) Defined Contribution solution.
AI tool for researching annuities launched by Agatha Global Tech
Agatha Global Tech (AGT) has launched GrantAI on its flagship platform, Annuities Genius. The artificial intelligence-driven process will allow advisors to research, compare, design, and communicate personalized annuity recommendations through a single conversational interface, according to a release and new whitepaper.
The tool gives advisors access to more than 2,000 products and instant quotes for more than 250 income riders. The AI capability assists with product matching, visualization, and documentation. The founder and CEO of Agatha Global Tech is David Novak.
GrantAI is powered by AGT’s proprietary data infrastructure, connected to the calculators, comparison, simulation, and illustration tools of Annuities Genius. For example, in searches for fixed indexed annuities, the AI allocator instantly optimizes allocation plans, explains rationales, and generates supporting materials.
NAIC, ACLI differ over public disclosure of insurers’ risk-based capital ratios
A proposal to limit disclosures of insurers’ risk-based capital (RBC) ratios by a joint task force of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is inconsistent with the life insurers’ trade association’s preference for transparency.
The RBC issue will be discussed further at a Nov. 19 NAIC online meeting.
In March, the NAIC’s Capital Adequacy and Risk-Based Capital Model Governance task forces proposed prohibiting any publication, dissemination or circulation of RBC levels. Some regulators have said that RBC levels don’t provide clear or meaningful ways to rank insurers, according to AM Best.
But the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) has objected that limitations of RBC disclosures could result in a “significant lack of transparency” into an insurer’s financial health and complicate validation of RBC-related information for rating agencies, investors and reinsurance. The ACLI said regulators should promote strengths of the RBC system rather than highlight its weakness.
“RBC is no longer solely used to ‘identify weakly capitalized companies,'” the ACLI wrote to regulators. “It is now part of a complex solvency assessment and regulatory framework that includes other tools like the own risk solvency assessment and liquidity stress testing that support efforts to assess capital adequacy and risk management.”
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