ST. PAUL, Minn., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Individual life sales at Securian's Minnesota Life Insurance Company were up 57 percent in 2009 despite an industry-wide drop of 16 percent, according to an industry report.
Limra, a trade group that tracks life insurance industry data, says 2009 industry-wide "… Year-end sales were 16 percent lower than in 2008, and … the industry has not seen a decrease of such magnitude since 1942 …"
But Minnesota Life bucked that trend with a banner sales year, due in large part to its indexed life product, Eclipse, and Securian's financial strength through the recession, says Ben Roth, actuary and director of Individual Life Sales.
"Eclipse was the right product at the right time," said Roth. "Securian's financial strength gave us the ability to gain market share during the recession. Eclipse provides death benefit protection but also gives policyholders what they're looking for in a recession – opportunities for cash value growth with protection from the down side." *
The third leg of the sales success stool – distribution – also was in place for Securian and Minnesota Life in 2009. The company's career agency field force, the Securian Financial Network, tripled its sales of Eclipse from 2007 to 2009.
"Our career advisors embraced the indexed life product because of its value for their clients in good times and bad," said Roth. Securian's network of independent advisors, the Independent Distribution Group, also generated substantial premium volume with the Eclipse product, he added.
The Securian Financial Network, the marketing name for the sales and distribution arm of Securian Financial Group, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a nationwide network of financial services firms. Products and services are offered and sold only by appropriately licensed entities and financial representatives.
Since 1880, Securian Financial Group and its affiliates have provided financial security for individuals and businesses in the form of insurance, investments and retirement plans. Now one of the nation's largest financial services providers, it is the holding company parent of a group of companies that include Minnesota Life Insurance Company.
* Eclipse Indexed Universal Life is a flexible premium universal life product that credits interest on the basis of changes in a chosen index and is primarily designed to provide life insurance protection. While the interest crediting options available with indexed products are attractive for cash value accumulation, the purchaser's fundamental objective in buying an indexed product should be the peace of mind that the life insurance protection provides to the purchaser's family or business. Purchasers of indexed life products could lose money in the product.
SOURCE Securian Financial Group, Inc.
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