Insurers struggle to find signs of life in flat market

Strong first quarter sales of universal life products kept total life insurance sales from falling during the first half of 2008

Sales of individual life insurance policies in the second quarter of 2008 were 2% down on the same period last year and flat for the half year, according to new research. And, in its quarterly survey of the US life insurance market – which analyses the results of nearly 80 participating companies – Connecticut-based Limra International found that universal life (UL) was the only individual life insurance product to produce more new premium in the first half of 2008 compared with the prior-year first half.