Indexed Annuities Sales Hit $1.6 Billion at Banks.

Banks sold almost $1.6 billion in indexed annuities in 2005, up 67% from $932 million in 2004, according to a new report by Kenneth Kehrer Associates and Midwood Financial. Indexed annuities now account for 7.1% of all annuities sold through banks, the report says.

The popularity of indexed annuities has been cyclical since Quarterly Kehrer-Midwood Financial Bank Index Annuity Sales Report started collating data in 1996. Sales peaked in 1998 with $805 million and then fell dramatically to $139 million in 2001 before commencing their recent climb.

Indeed, sales in 2005 fluctuated wildly. While the first two quarters of that year pulled in the majority of …