New York Life Insurance Company has announced record U.S. life insurance sales, up 14% through all distribution channels, a stark contrast to the decline in life sales industry-wide in 2009.In addition, the company added more than 3,600 agents in 2009, reaching a new single-year record for recruits. It was the fourth consecutive year a new record was set in agent recruitment.
U.S. Life Insurance
The 14% increase in U.S. life insurance sales in 2009 represents the company’s best results on record. For the most part, this growth was driven by increased sales of both permanent insurance and term products. Sales by New York Life’s 11,800 licensed agents increased 16%, to a new record in 2009, which marked the first year that new sales by agents exceeded $1 billion.**
“Last year was successful for us because New York Life differentiated itself among peers with its mutual form of ownership, which keeps us uniquely aligned with our policyholders, and our continued financial strength and prudent investment discipline, which ensures we are able to fulfill the promises we make. So while 2009 brought much uncertainty, what remained certain was that people still love their families and still need to make financial decisions to ensure their family’s security. And when making much-needed financial decisions, families and businesses turned to New York Life,” said Mark Pfaff, executive vice president, New York Life. “New York Life continues to build on this momentum in 2010 with an agent force of more than 11,800 highly trained professionals across the country who bring financial peace of mind to families and businesses in their communities.”
Other 2009 life insurance highlights include:
Conversions of term policies to permanent policies were up 39% over 2008.
Borrowing from permanent policies increased 30% in 2009 – a sign of the value of permanent insurance in stressful economic times.
Cash additions to existing policies (known in the industry as "dump-ins") and new single premium policies were up 50%