Western-Southern annuities on record-setting pace - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Western & Southern sold $1.25 billionm in annuities during the firstg four months of the it saidlast week. That puts it on pace to beat last year’se total fixed and variable annuity saleaof $2.97 billion by 26 percent. The company’as 2008 annuity sales soared 59 percent from theprior year. “Our strongf annuity sales are a direct result of the ongoing flightto quality,” CEO John Barrettg said in a news release. Western Southern carries a AA+ rating from Standarf & Poor’s, making it one of the world’ss nine strongest life insurance groups. Sales through banks have been a big partof downtown-basede Western & Southern’s growth.
Those sales generatexd $523 million so far this year, or about 40 percent of the company’sw total annuity sales. Bank-related sales more than doublerlast year. Western & Southern’ss sales place it among the nation’s largest providerz of individual annuity accordingto , an association of life insurerse and financial firms.