Lion Street 2019 Annual Report FINAL - Flipbook - Page 9
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LIFE INSUR ANCE
2019 was another strong year in the Life Insurance business, resulting in 25%+
year-over-year growth in sales and revenue. In aggregate, Lion Street Firms placed
over $12 billion in Death Benefits, $500+ million in Total New Premium with
insurance carriers and $125+ million in Target Premium.
Life insurance sales were well diversified across the country, with each
geographical region outperforming their goals. Our average premium per Firm
continued to grow, with our Top 100 Firms averaging $1.1 million in life sales, and
our Top 25 Firms averaging $2.8 million.
Key drivers to growth this year included a continued balance between Cash
Accumulation sales of 57% and Death Benefit sales of 43%. The largest
year-over-year growth product was Variable UL, due to increased features,
guarantees and investment options. The end of 2019 also marked a deadline for
carriers to transition products to the 2017 CSO tables and implement PrincipalBased Reserves (PBR), creating a strong 4th quarter of sales before products
expired or had pricing increases.
Index UL continued to be Lion Street’s top-selling life insurance product for 2019,
including new insurance companies making a strong entrance into the market that
fueled additional growth in the product line. Discussions around revisions to AG49
illustration parameters for Index UL started late in 2019, and we will continue to
educate our Firms on any changes and impacts to policyholders and advisors.
Additionally, Reg BI and NY 187 have created new compliance frameworks that we
will further operationalize in 2020.
CARRIER PARTNERS
Lion Street has grown to be a top distributor of life insurance, and has influential
relationships and access to the top life carriers in the marketplace. Lion Street
maintains relationships with more than 50 companies for open architecture, but the
ones below have had the most success, with products and underwriting built for the
advanced markets our Firms serve.
James Joyce
Executive Vice President
$125M+
Target Premium
$12B+
Total Death
Benefit
300+
Cases over
$100K
of Premium
$64K
Average
Premium
per case
$651K
Average
Premium
per Firm