More than 60,000 fewer protection policies were sold in the UK for the second quarter of the year compared with the first three months, according to Gen Re.
The poor second quarter resulted in a contracting market over the first half of the year compared with 2022.
Across the first six months of the year 1,042,743 policies were sold, down 0.8% from 1,051,817 policies in the first half of 2022.
The reinsurer’s Protection Pulse update showed 491,125 policies were sold in Q2 2023, down 60,493 from the 551,618 policies sold in Q1 2023.
This was also 4% down on the 511,726 policies completed in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Total annual premium equivalent (APE) also fell to £191m, compared with £206m in Q1 2023 but this was up from £182m in Q2 2022.
Across product group in terms of APE, income protection witnessed a 31% increase on the same quarter of last year, while term assurance posted 5% growth over the same period. However, critical illness was largely unchanged year-on-year.
Turning to product market split, mortality accounted for 46%, with accelerated CI comprising 27% of the market – largely unchanged from the first quarter of the year.
