Caroline Feeney
Analyst · Jefferies. Your line is now live
Yeah. So, Suneet, it’s Caroline, and I’ll take your question. So, right now, the annuity market continues to be extremely strong, as you referenced, with the market on pace to deliver a third straight record year, outpacing last year’s run rate by over 20%. It’s certainly possible that in a decreasing interest rate environment, we could see some pullback from the record sales levels, particularly in fixed annuities. From a Prudential perspective, while we’ve been very pleased with the growth in our fixed annuity sales, for us, it’s really just a piece of the overall portfolio. We have the broadest product portfolio we’ve ever had, with no overconcentration in any single product. In fact, this past quarter, we had record sales in three distinct products, and two of those products are in our RILA suite of solutions, which are actually less sensitive to interest rates. And Suneet, this really reflects our very deliberate strategy, which enables us to serve the broadest set of customers across all market conditions. Frankly, we’re also very excited about the broader retirement opportunity. We do see strengthening tailwinds from rapid growth in the population of Americans over age 65, and as well as increased demand for solutions that protect retirement savings and provide lifetime income. So, we believe customer demand for protected income will continue to be the driving force behind growth over the long-term and we’re well positioned to meet that demand with our diverse portfolio of solutions and the strength of our brand and distribution. Finally, Suneet, you asked a question about pricing. We are also very well positioned to continue with our pricing discipline, which we have the ability to adapt pricing and enter the market with revised pricing in very short order, which enables us to be very nimble with changing markets.