American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. reported third-quarter net income of $57 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $7.4 million, or 9 cents per share, for third quarter 2016. Annuity sales of $915 million were down 22 percent from the previous year’s quarter. American Equity CEO John Matovina said in a release that the decline in sales occurred after the company lowered lifetime monthly income benefits on its most most popular guaranteed income products and discontinued offering a “no-fee” lifetime income rider to recognize lower valuation interest rates used to compute statutory reserves. “We anticipated similar changes from our competitors which did not materialize, and we began to experience declining sales levels soon after these changes,” he wrote.