Life Insurance Carriers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 900 life insurance carriers underwrite annuities and policies for life insurance, disability income, and accidental death and dismemberment. Life insurance policies pay money to beneficiaries when a policyholder dies in exchange for a premium payment or series of payments. Annuities are financial contracts with insurers that provide a series of income payments at regular intervals in exchange for premiums. When assessing risk, underwriters consider a range of factors, including an applicant’s age, gender, medical history, financial profile, foreign travel, vocations, and alcohol, drug, and tobacco use. Life insurance companies invest a portion of premiums in assets with features that align with the characteristics of the policies they sell.
Investment Risk
Because life insurance companies invest premiums to ensure they have sufficient funds to satisfy future claims on and withdrawals from policies, firms are exposed to financial risk.
Market Maturity
The US life insurance market is mature and characterized by low growth.
Industry size & Structure
The average life insurance company employs between 300 and 400 workers and generates just over $630 million annually.
- The life insurance industry consists of about 900 firms that employ over 320,000 workers and generate over $560 billion annually.
- Companies that generate more than $100 million annually account for 20.7% of firms and 99.3% of industry sales.
- The industry is highly concentrated; the top 50 companies account for more than 90% of industry revenue.
- About 14% of life insurance companies operating in the US are foreign owned, according to the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI).
- Large companies include MetLife, Prudential Financial, New York Life Insurance, and The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Industry Forecast
Life Insurance Carriers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Nov 14, 2024 - Annuity Sales Increase
- Total annuity sales increased 29% year over year to $114.6 billion in the third quarter 2024, according to the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association’s (LIMRA) US Individual Annuity Sales Survey. It was the 16th consecutive quarter of growth and just shy of the quarterly record set in fourth quarter 2023. Total annuity sales increased 23% year over year during the first nine months of 2024 to $331.2 billion. “Favorable economic conditions and growing need for guaranteed retirement income continue to propel strong annuity sales results this year,” said Bryan Hodgens, senior vice president and head of LIMRA research. “Even with the potential of additional interest rate cuts, LIMRA expects fixed annuity products to outperform prior sales results driving overall sales to set new records in 2024.”
- About 39% of consumers who responded to a GlobalData survey across 11 countries are quite or very comfortable having an AI tool decide insurance claim outcomes. Over a third of global consumers are also open to interacting with AI for their insurance policy, even in the often-stressful situation of making a claim, according to GlobalData. Technology is becoming increasingly indispensable to the insurance industry, whether it is using artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things to bolster user experience or offering tech-related products such as cyber and parametric insurance, according to GlobalData.
- Generation Z members and Millennials represent the largest opportunity for the life insurance industry, according to the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association. More than 54 million younger adults say they live with a life insurance coverage gap. Consumer awareness about the risk of an untimely death and the importance of having life insurance has remained elevated since the coronavirus pandemic. Younger adults are more likely than older generations to say they intend to buy coverage in 2024 (47% versus 27%).
- Life insurance carrier industry employment decreased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased slightly during the first nine months of 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Life insurance carriers decreased prices slightly during the first nine months of 2024, according to the BLS. Life insurance industry sales are forecast to grow at a 6.52% compounded annual rate from 2024 to 2028, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
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