Corebridge Financial, Inc. provides retirement solutions and insurance products in the United States.
The addressable markets are large, with powerful, long-term secular trends given an aging U.S. population and a growing need for retirement solutions. The company offers a broad set of products and services through its market-leading Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Life Insurance, and Institutional Markets businesses.
The company is well-diversified across its operating businesses, wi...
Corebridge Financial, Inc. provides retirement solutions and insurance products in the United States.
The addressable markets are large, with powerful, long-term secular trends given an aging U.S. population and a growing need for retirement solutions. The company offers a broad set of products and services through its market-leading Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Life Insurance, and Institutional Markets businesses.
The company is well-diversified across its operating businesses, with its Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Life Insurance, and Institutional Markets businesses representing 59%, 18%, 11%, and 12% of associated Adjusted Pre-Tax Operating Income (‘APTOI’), respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024.
The company has large distribution platforms in the U.S. life and retirement market, with a wide range of relationships with financial advisors, insurance agents, and plan sponsors, as well as its own employee financial advisors and direct-to-consumer platform. Corebridge Financial Distributors, the company’s retail sales platform, serves as a valuable partner to its third-party distributors, including banks, broker-dealers, general agencies, independent marketing organizations, and independent insurance agents.
The company’s strategic partnership with Blackstone will allow it to leverage Blackstone’s ability to originate attractive and privately sourced fixed-income-oriented assets.
Segments
Individual Retirement
The company’s four product categories, fixed, fixed index, registered index linked, and variable annuities, address a range of savings, investment, and income needs. It offers a variety of optional benefits within these products, including lifetime income guarantees and death benefits, and sells its annuity products through its extensive distribution platform.
Diversified Product Portfolio
The company’s diverse and broad product suite allows it to quickly adapt its offerings in response to shifting customer needs, economic, and competitive dynamics, targeting areas where it sees the greatest opportunity for risk-adjusted returns. As an example, it typically re-prices its full fixed annuity product suite on a weekly basis to respond to market conditions, distributor preferences, and competitive actions, and can re-price more frequently if needed. The product diversification, as evidenced by balanced new business sales across all four annuity product categories, allows for further new business flexibility in meeting customer demand and changing macroeconomic conditions.
Products
Fixed Annuities
The company offers a range of fixed annuity products that provide principal protection and a specified rate of return over a single year or multi-year time periods. Beyond the guaranteed return periods, it offers renewal crediting rates that are dynamically managed in coordination with its investment team. It also offers optional living benefits for some of its fixed annuity products.
The company bears the risk of investment performance for fixed annuity products. These products primarily generate spread-based income on the difference between the investment income earned on the assets backing the policy (which are held in its general account) and the interest credited to the policyholder. Its product teams closely coordinate with its investment management function to efficiently manage this spread income. Such coordination provides the company with the ability to quickly reprice and reposition its market offerings as new asset opportunities are sourced, and as market conditions change, in addition to closely managed renewal rates.
Fixed index annuities and registered index linked annuities
The company offers fixed index annuity products that provide its customers with returns linked to the underlying returns of various market indices. In recent years, it has primarily sold modified single premium contracts that generally allow for multiple premium payments in the first 30 contract days. Virtually all of the policies in force as of December 31, 2024, are single premium contracts. Its products can include a range of optional benefits, including guaranteed minimum death benefits (‘GMDBs’) and guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits (‘GMWBs’).
In October 2024, the company launched Corebridge MarketLock Annuity, a registered index linked annuity (‘RILA’) contract. The RILA provides its customers with returns linked to the underlying returns of various market indices, with a level of downside protection. Policyholders bear the risk of loss of principal due to market downturns or fluctuations that exceed the downside protection.
Similar to its fixed annuities, the company’s fixed index and registered index linked annuities generate spread-based income on the difference between the investment income earned on the general account assets backing the policy and the interest credits its clients earn.
Variable annuities
The company offers variable annuities that allow a customer to choose from a selection of investment options. Its variable annuity products generate fee-based income that is typically paid as a percentage of the assets in the investment options selected by the policyholder and held in one of its separate accounts. Policyholders generally bear the risk of the investment performance of assets held in a separate account. These products typically offer, and in some cases, in order to limit volatility, require a portion of the account value to be allocated to general account investment options.
The company’s variable annuity products offer guaranteed benefit features (collectively known as ‘GMxBs’), including GMDBs and living benefits, which provide guaranteed lifetime income, such as GMWBs. It presently offers GMDBs, with 87% of its variable annuity GMDB account value as of December 31, 2024, either providing for a return of premium or locking in a maximum anniversary value, and has limited exposure to legacy GMDB options, including rollups, which represented 4% of variable annuity GMDB account value as of December 31, 2024. As of December 31, 2024, 76% of its variable annuity account value has a GMWB, and it has a small portion of in-force contracts with guaranteed minimum income benefits (‘GMIBs’), although as of 2006, it no longer offers this guaranteed benefit feature, and the majority of this exposure has been reinsured.
While only one living benefit can be purchased for a variable annuity contract, a contract can include both a GMDB and a living benefit. However, a policyholder can only receive payouts from one guaranteed feature on a contract containing both a GMDB and a living benefit, with the exception of a surviving spouse in spousal continuation status who has a rider to potentially collect both a GMDB upon his or her spouse’s death and a GMWB during the surviving spouse’s lifetime.
Distribution
Individual Retirement has a large and diverse distribution platform, allowing the business to reach and serve a wide range of consumers. Individual Retirement’s annuity products are offered through a longstanding, multichannel distribution network of approximately 490 third-party firms, including banks, broker-dealers, general agencies, independent marketing organizations, and independent insurance agents, as of December 31, 2024. At Corebridge Financial Distributors, the company’s distribution professionals work with these firms and their associated advisors to market and sell its products.
The company’s distribution strategy is built around its professionals maintaining long-term relationships with the firms that distribute its products and the individual agents and registered representatives within those firms. Corebridge Financial Distributors’ coordinated wholesaling approach positions the company to go to market as ‘one firm,’ thereby better serving its distribution partners and increasing its relevance and perceived value to them. It also develops customized products and specialized strategies for its channels as appropriate, including variations of its fixed annuity products that better align with partner business models, and variable annuity products with specialized rider options. The strong relationships formed through these collaborations are fundamental to the company’s ability to continue to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Markets
The company’s individual annuity products are primarily sold to mass affluent and high net worth individuals for retirement accumulation, retirement income, and legacy planning. Increasing life expectancy and reduced expectations for traditional retirement income from defined benefit programs and fixed income securities are leading Americans to seek additional financial security as they approach retirement. As the retirement age population in the United States continues to grow, the company expects the need for these retirement savings and income products to expand.
Strategy
This segment’s strategies are to deepen distribution relationships, continue to innovate products and features, and target opportunistic and profitable growth.
Group Retirement
The company’s Group Retirement business is a leading provider of retirement plans and services to employees of tax-exempt and public sector organizations as they plan and save for their financial futures. It provides products and services through its fully integrated product manufacturing and distribution model to employees that are individuals in employer defined contribution plans (‘in-plan’), as well as individuals outside of the traditional employer-sponsored plans (‘out-of-plan’). Its in-plan products include an open architecture recordkeeping platform and group annuities supported by plan administrative and compliance services. The company offers financial planning advice to employees participating in retirement plans through its employee financial advisors. In addition to engaging with participants in-plan, as permitted by employer guidelines, it seeks to manage employees’ other assets and retain rollover assets when employees separate from their employer. Its out-of-plan offering includes proprietary and limited non-proprietary annuities, financial planning, and brokerage and advisory services, and continues to be a key contributing factor to its fee-based revenue.
The company’s target markets include K-12 schools, higher education institutions, healthcare providers, government employers, and other tax-exempt institutions, where it serves plan sponsors across all 50 states in the 403(b), 457(b), 401(a), and 401(k) markets. It offers customized versions of its in-plan annuities and certain of its Individual Retirement annuity products to its customers for their out-of-plan assets, primarily through the large individual retirement account (‘IRA’) market.
Through its broad product and service offerings, the company creates relationships with both plan sponsors (employers) and plan participants (employees). Its retirement plan solutions are delivered to employers by its business development professionals, in coordination with third-party plan consultants, who deliver customized retirement plan solutions to employers that cater to the specific needs of their employees. The company’s subsidiary broker-dealer, VALIC Financial Advisors, engages directly with individual employees, ensuring their readiness for retirement through plan guidance, assistance with enrollment, expert advice, and comprehensive financial planning that prioritizes holistic financial wellness. The company’s financial advisors, augmented by digital self-service tools, enable it to reach the full range of employees, making retirement planning accessible to all.
Products and Services
The company’s Group Retirement offerings are segmented into in-plan and out-of-plan products and services.
In-Plan Products and Services: The company offers a variety of options for employer defined contribution plans, including products, plan administrative and compliance services, retirement education, financial planning, and advisory solutions.
In-Plan Recordkeeping: The company offers an open architecture recordkeeping platform that allows plan participants to allocate money to a variety of mutual fund options or a fixed interest account. A fixed investment-only option can also be provided on this platform for plans where it is not the recordkeeper. The company receives fee income for its provision of recordkeeping services and generates spread income on the fixed interest account.
In-Plan Annuity: The company offers a flexible group variable and fixed annuity that allows plan sponsors to select from a variety of fee structures, liquidity provisions, and fund options. Several variations of its in-plan annuity are available based on plan characteristics, market, size, and preferences. Customers receive additional protection from a modest guaranteed minimum death benefit and minimum guaranteed credited rates on the fixed account option. The company receives fee income on the variable assets and generates spread income on the fixed annuity assets.
Investment Advisory: Through its employee financial advisors and with approval from the plan sponsor, the company offers an in-plan investment advisory service to participants for an additional fee.
Out-of-Plan Products and Services: Through its employee financial advisors, the company offers a variety of annuity, advisory, and brokerage products to help clients meet their retirement savings goals outside of traditional employer-sponsored retirement plans. Its solutions reach clients primarily through their IRAs, which represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. retirement asset landscape.
Annuities: The company offers a suite of proprietary annuities for accumulation and guaranteed lifetime income. In addition, it offers a non-proprietary annuity as needed to ensure it has a broad range of solutions available to its clients. Several of the proprietary annuities and living benefits are customized versions of products offered by its Individual Retirement business. The company’s proprietary annuities include:
Fixed Annuities: The company offers a fixed annuity with a multi-year guaranteed fixed rate and another version with a guaranteed lifetime income benefit;
Fixed Index Annuities: The company offers a fixed index annuity for asset accumulation with a variety of index crediting strategies and multiple indexes, including a version with an optional guaranteed lifetime income benefit; and
Variable Annuities: The company offers a variable annuity for asset accumulation in both a brokerage and investment advisory account, including a version with an optional guaranteed lifetime income rider.
Advisory and Brokerage Products:
The company’s investment advisory solution offers fiduciary, fee-based investments with a variety of asset managers and strategists, fee-based financial planning; and
The company’s full-service brokerage offering supports a limited non-proprietary variable annuity, securities brokerage accounts, life insurance, mutual funds, and 529 plans.
Group Retirement Spread and Fee Income
The company’s revenue is generated by a combination of spread and fee income. It generates fee-based income by providing plan administration on its open architecture recordkeeping platform, from its variable annuity separate account, and from investment advisory services. The company generates spread-based income from fixed annuity, fixed index annuity, and variable annuity general account assets.
Distribution
Group Retirement has built a large, well-diversified business with many long-tenured partnerships. It is supported by institutional business development professionals that partner with the plan consultant community and maintain relationships with existing plan sponsors. The team is structured to engage effectively across its different employer markets to acquire, retain, and meet the different needs of exclusive and multi-vendor relationships.
The company offers plan sponsors actionable insights through SponsorFIT, its intuitive plan sponsor portal, helping plan sponsors use data to make well-informed decisions. With real-time data on participant engagement, advisor activity, and investment selection, plan sponsors can spot trends and adjust for improved retirement outcomes. The company’s relationship management team works closely with plan sponsors to leverage plan data and other key metrics from SponsorFIT to build comprehensive business plans aimed at improving their overall plan health.
The company’s financial advisors are able to engage plan participants early in their careers and serve them throughout their entire savings and retirement journey. To meet plan sponsor preferences and client needs, it has a range of financial professionals, including salaried retirement plan consultants, financial advisors, and phone-based financial professionals to provide the right level of support. These professionals provide a wide range of services, including enrollment support, details on plan design, financial plans, and individual financial wellness programs.
The company’s clients have access to self-service tools and education on its participant digital service platform specific to its Group Retirement business. In addition, it offers an interactive financial planning tool, Retirement Pathfinder, a do-it-yourself option or the choice to build a financial plan with an advisor. Retirement Pathfinder considers the individual’s entire financial picture and enables real-time decision-making relative to savings levels, investment allocation, retirement date, and personal goals, putting its clients in control of their financial futures. The company’s advisors seek to meet its clients early on in their careers and advocate for good financial planning habits, drive increased contributions and asset levels, and provide support into and through retirement. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 1.5 million of its in-plan participants did not have an out-of-plan product, resulting in a significant pipeline of potential clients for deeper engagement with its employee financial advisors. Over time, the company supports its clients entering the spending phase of their financial journey by reviewing solutions, such as remaining in-plan or other out-of-plan options, with approximately 22% of rollovers out of their retirement plans being retained by its advisors in an out-of-plan IRA in the year ended December 31, 2024.
Group Retirement has been actively investing in technology and contemporary digital solutions to improve the client experience and optimize its platform. These investments have led to broad-based improvements, efficiencies, and client satisfaction.
Markets
The company sees significant growth opportunities in two of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. retirement market. Its core in-plan business targets tax-exempt and public sector institutions spanning K-12 schools, higher education institutions, healthcare providers, government employers, and other tax-exempt institutions. Its out-of-plan business targets IRAs is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing segment of U.S. retirement assets. The end consumers in its core in-plan business are primarily mass market and mass affluent, with smaller average account sizes and are younger than its Individual Retirement clients.
Strategy
This segment’s strategies are to continue to grow the company’s sophisticated advisory platform; increase penetration in core markets and expand into new markets and solutions; build deeper, broader, and longer-term client relationships; and invest in technology and digitization to enhance the client experience.
Life Insurance
The company develops and distributes life insurance products in the U.S. market. It is a key player in the term life insurance (‘Term’), index universal life insurance (‘IUL’), and smaller face amount whole life insurance (‘Whole Life’) markets. The company is also expanding its presence in transactional segments of the Whole Life market with new product offerings. Its distribution relationships provide it with access to a broad range of customers from the middle market to high net worth and present it with growth opportunities across its customer base.
To further simplify its business model and to focus on its core businesses with leading market positions in the U.S. Life and Retirement markets, on October 31, 2023, the company completed the sale of its subsidiary, Laya Healthcare Limited (‘Laya’), to AXA S.A. Additionally, on April 8, 2024, the company completed the sale of its subsidiary, AIG Life Limited (‘AIG Life U.K.’), to Aviva plc.
Versatile and competitive product suite: The company offers a competitive and flexible product suite that is designed to meet the needs of its specific customer segments and actively manage new product margins and in-force profitability. It actively participates in chosen product lines for its offerings, including Term and IUL, and has reduced its exposure to interest rate sensitive products, including guaranteed universal life insurance (‘GUL’) and guaranteed variable universal life insurance (‘VUL’), the latter of which it no longer offers. The company’s dynamic product offerings and design expertise are complemented by its long-term commitment to the U.S. market; robust distribution capabilities, which enable it to expand its presence in key pockets of growth, such as guaranteed issuance whole life (‘GIWL’) and simplified issue whole life (‘SIWL’); and disciplined underwriting profile. The company continues to execute its multi-year strategies to enhance returns, including building state-of-the-art digital platforms and underwriting innovations, which are expected to continue to bring process improvements.
Products
The company focuses on providing financial security for its policyholders and their beneficiaries when they need it most. The company's life insurance and protection products include Term, IUL, and Whole Life. The company's product suite was historically positioned towards higher net worth customers, but its more recent mix of products has expanded its presence in the middle market with the introduction of GIWL and SIWL products, more emphasis on selected distribution channels, and de-emphasis of GUL.
The company's traditional life insurance (‘Traditional Life’) products include Term and Whole Life. The company's universal life insurance (‘Universal Life’) products include IUL and GUL.
Traditional Life
Term Life Insurance: Term provides death benefit coverage and level premiums for a specified number of years. A focus area for the company’s business, it offers Term products with coverage durations and coverage tailored to serve its customers’ financial plans. The company has a strong reputation as a top Term insurance provider, with key focus ages between 20 and 70 years old.
Whole Life Insurance: Whole Life provides permanent death benefit coverage and a tax-advantaged savings component that accumulates at a fixed rate. The company offers a GIWL product focused on the senior final expense market at low face amounts. With the aging U.S. population, the company sees this as an area that it expects to meaningfully contribute to its growth. The company also offers a SIWL product for this market, offering flexibility for this growing senior final expense market. For both GIWL and SIWL products, the company targets customers between the ages of 50 and 80 years old.
Universal Life
Index Universal Life Insurance: IUL provides permanent death benefit coverage and a tax-advantaged savings component that accumulates with performance tied to a chosen index. The company provides two main IUL products, Max Accumulator+ and Value+ Protector, to meet the accumulation and protection needs of its policyholders in a wide range of target ages from younger to middle-aged. The Max Accumulator+ product has key focus ages between 30 and 55 years old, while the Value+ Protector product has key focus ages between 45 and 70 years old.
Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance: GUL provides permanent death benefit coverage and a tax-advantaged savings component that accumulates at a crediting rate set by the insurance company. The company issues a guaranteed death benefit product that provides permanent death benefit protection. Beginning in 2019, the company began to diversify its sales away from GUL to focus on less interest rate sensitive market segments, resulting in a steep decline in sales.
Distribution
The company has a strong and well-balanced distribution platform through which it reaches and serves a wide range of customers. The company's products are sold primarily through independent distribution channels and its direct-to-consumer platform, Corebridge Direct Insurance Services, Inc.
The breadth of the company's distribution platform enables it to match its products with appropriate channels. For example, it sells final expense coverage for seniors primarily through its Transactional Markets Groups (‘TMG’) and a specialized IUL product primarily through Partners Group (‘PG’). Furthermore, the company’s strategy is to continue to expand its presence in underserved, higher growth areas, notably in the middle market. The company also intends to strengthen its presence in channels exhibiting strong sales growth in products, including TMG and PG. Regardless of the market, the company seeks to provide its policyholders with meaningful value for their premium dollars.
The company’s distribution channel structure is outlined below:
Corebridge Direct: The company’s direct-to-consumer channel employs approximately 85 salaried agents as of December 31, 2024, and sells Term products through a call center model. Corebridge Direct primarily markets to middle market consumers through a variety of direct channels, including several types of digital channels, such as search advertising, display advertising, and email, as well as direct mail.
Brokerage: A variety of traditional intermediaries market the company’s Term and IUL products to middle market, mass affluent, affluent, and some high net worth markets. The company’s broker intermediaries typically sell through a mix of digital, direct, and in-person methods. The company has de-emphasized GUL products in the brokerage channel over the last several years.
Partners Group: The company partners with independent managing general agents (‘MGAs’) who tend to work with a smaller number of carriers to sell its Term and IUL products to middle market, mass affluent, and affluent markets. The company’s independent MGA partners distribute products primarily face-to-face.
Transactional Markets Group: The company partners with senior market-focused BGAs and direct marketers to provide GIWL and SIWL products for middle market seniors.
Markets
The company’s life insurance products are sold to a diverse demographic, including high net worth, affluent, mass affluent, and middle market consumers. The company continues to see significant growth opportunities in the market, with nearly half of American adults not owning any form of life insurance, despite the growing number who recognize the importance of coverage. As a result, the company anticipates expansion of life insurance and protection products.
Strategy
This segment’s strategies include diverse distribution channels, meeting consumer demand from the protection gap, digitization and modernization of purchase and underwriting processes, and generating strong cash flows through reduction of interest sensitive and capital intensive products.
Institutional Markets
The company’s Institutional Markets business provides sophisticated, bespoke risk management solutions to both financial and non-financial institutions. Institutional Markets complements the company’s retail businesses by targeting large institutional clients.
The company’s Institutional Markets products are distributed in very specialized markets. The product portfolio consists of annuities sold through the pension risk transfer (‘PRT’) markets and annuities sold in the structured settlements markets, life insurance sold through the corporate-owned life insurance (‘COLI’) and bank-owned life insurance (‘BOLI’) markets, and capital market products, including guaranteed investment contracts (‘GICs’) and synthetic products, such as stable value wrap (‘SVW’) contracts. Institutional Markets also offers reinsurance for pension liabilities, mainly from cedants based in the United Kingdom (‘UK’).
Products
The company’s Institutional Markets business develops, markets, and distributes the following products and solutions.
Pension Risk Transfer
PRT provides solutions for employers who have decided to exit or defease all or a portion of their pension plan by transferring the accrued benefit liabilities and administrative responsibilities to an insurer. Such transfers can reduce obligations to pay future pension benefits to plan participants, eliminate risks, and provide for outside administration. The company’s PRT products are comparable to income annuities, as it generally receives an upfront premium in exchange for paying guaranteed retirement benefits. These products primarily create earnings through spread income. The company is active in both the domestic and international PRT markets. In the domestic market, it offers group annuity contracts to employers for defined benefit pension plan terminations, such as terminal funding, as well as the settlement of partial benefit liabilities. The company is cash-balance plan specialists and handles underwriting and administration of unique provisions, deliberately avoiding commoditized areas of the all-retiree middle market that are highly competitive, and instead focuses on the larger end of the plan termination market. The company offers contracts of various sizes, historically ranging from mid-market sized transactions to transactions with premiums in excess of $1 billion. Transaction types include buy-in and buy-out transactions. These transactions are often purchased by plan sponsors with assets-in-kind. The majority of the company’s PRT transactions involve full plan terminations. PRT liabilities have a longer duration, which allows them to be backed with higher yielding assets benefiting from duration and illiquidity premium. In the international market, the company provides funded reinsurance solutions to primary writers in the bulk purchase annuities (‘BPA’) market, where there is an appetite to cede risk due to capital constraints and requirements.
The company is also a premier group annuity underwriter and administrator of customized PRT contracts. The company notably created the industry’s first group annuity guide for pension plan terminations and settlements, which contains details on financial quality (criteria defined by the Department of Labor (‘DOL’) concerning rules for insurer selection), annuity contract experience and service capabilities, contract installation procedures and data requirements, sample participant correspondence and notification, and a sample group annuity contract.
Guaranteed Investment Contracts
GICs are single premium accumulation products that provide a guaranteed repayment of principal and a fixed or floating interest rate for a predetermined period of time. The company’s primary product in the GIC space is a Funding Agreement Backed Notes (‘FABN’) program. The company opportunistically issues FABNs, which are sold to institutional investors through investment banks and other third-party broker-dealers. The company also borrows from the Federal Home Loan Bank (‘FHLB’) utilizing their funding agreement program. These products generate spread-based income without significant longevity or mortality exposure, which enables the company to optimize its asset portfolio and improve its returns given the certainty in liability profile. The profitability of the company’s GIC portfolio is largely dependent on market conditions and asset origination.
Structured Settlement Annuities
Structured settlement annuities provide periodic payments specifically designed to meet an injured party’s needs over time. These periodic payments consist of recurring payment streams and lump-sum payments on both a guaranteed and life contingent basis. The company focuses on term certain funding, standard lives, and the lightly underwritten portion of the market, and avoids the highly competitive areas of the market that involve large case, highly underwritten, sub-standard lives.
Defined Contribution and BOLI Stable Value Wraps
SVW contracts are synthetic contracts that provide limited guarantees for stable value fund portfolios or corporate- and bank-owned life insurance (‘COLI-BOLI’) separate account portfolios, preserving the principal while providing steady, positive returns for participants or institutions. They are typically issued to QPAMs that manage stable value funds, typically for employee benefit plans and life insurance company separate accounts with respect to certain underlying VUL BOLI investment fund options. These products generate earnings through fee income without significant longevity or mortality exposure. The company primarily offers group annuity contracts and is among the leading providers of stable value wrap products to defined contribution employee benefit plans. The company’s product design does not provide non-zero guarantees, mitigates credit default risk, and allows for portfolio immunization at the discretion of the wrap provider.
Corporate Markets
COLI-BOLI comprises universal and variable universal life insurance products that are issued to both non-financial and financial corporate clients to provide financial efficiencies and offset rising costs of programs, such as health and welfare benefits, post-retirement benefits, and supplemental income to key individuals.
The company offers a number of COLI-BOLI products, including money center BOLIs and insurance COLIs. The company’s BOLI products are sold on a universal life or variable universal life product with exposure to spread and mortality, while the company’s COLI products are sold on a variable universal life product that generates earnings through spread, fee, and mortality exposure.
Within Corporate Markets, the company also manages a portfolio of private placement variable annuity and universal life insurance products historically offered in the high-net-worth market.
The company’s SVW products, for both the defined contribution market, as well as the separate account BOLI market (‘SVW-BOLI’), generate fee-based income as a percentage of assets. The company’s general account PRT, GIC, and structured settlement products generate spread-based income on the difference between crediting rates paid and yields earned on assets it invests. The company’s Corporate Markets products generate underwriting margin, a combination of premiums net of policyholder benefits, spread income, and fee income.
Distribution
Institutional Markets distributes products through the channels described below:
PRT: The company sources PRT liabilities through its long-standing relationships with insurance and reinsurance brokers and consultants, and through its assumed reinsurance channel from primary insurance partners.
GICs: The company has a FABN program, which is a medium term note program under which funding agreements are issued to a special-purpose trust that issues marketable notes. The notes are underwritten and marketed by major investment banks’ broker-dealer operations and are sold to institutional investors. The company also borrows from FHLBs by utilizing their funding agreement program.
Structured settlement annuities: The company distributes structured settlement products through independent insurance agencies.
Corporate Markets and SVW-BOLI: The company distributes COLI-BOLI and SVW-BOLI through specialized brokers representing large money center banks and corporations.
Stable Value Wrap Defined Contribution (‘SVW-DC’): The company distributes SVW products through QPAMs, trustees of stable value funds, and defined contribution plan sponsors.
Markets
The company’s Institutional Markets business provides sophisticated, bespoke risk management solutions to both financial and non-financial institutions. In PRT, large industry participants compete for a growing pool of assets driven by corporations seeking to transfer longevity and asset risks associated with their pension obligations to insurance companies; in structured settlements, these companies compete to help defendants or insurers of defendants in legal settlements provide long-term streams of payments to plaintiffs; in SVW-DC, QPAMs compete to provide value-added solutions to asset and wealth managers to satisfy growing demand for stable retirement income.
Strategy
This segment’s strategies are to expand the FABN program to accelerate cash flows, improve the PRT market position through new products and unique capabilities, grow and maintain a strong market presence in the SVW and Bank-Owned Life Insurance markets, and maintain presence in structured settlement annuities market.
Corporate and Other
The company’s Corporate and Other segment consists primarily of corporate expenses not attributable to its other segments, its institutional asset management business, which includes managing assets for non-consolidated AIG affiliates, the results of its consolidated investment entities, and the results of its legacy insurance lines ceded to Fortitude Re.
Fortitude Re
Fortitude Re is a Bermuda reinsurance company established in 2018 by AIG to enter into a series of reinsurance transactions related to AIG’s run-off portfolio. In two transactions in 2018 and 2020, AIG sold substantially all of its ownership interest in Fortitude Re’s parent company to Carlyle FRL, an investment fund advised by an affiliate of The Carlyle Group, and T&D Investments, Inc., a subsidiary of T&D Holdings, Inc. The company holds a less than 3% indirect interest in Fortitude Re.
Fortitude Re has become the company’s largest reinsurance counterparty. Accordingly, the reinsurance agreements between the company and Fortitude Re provide it with certain protections in the event that Fortitude Re becomes unable to meet its obligations related to the transactions. Also, the company has the right to recapture the ceded business in the case of certain events, including certain regulatory ratios applicable to Fortitude Re falling below certain thresholds.
The investment assets supporting the reinsurance agreements with Fortitude Re mostly consist of available-for-sale securities.
Investment Management
Investment Management is an integral part of the company’s business model. The company manages general and separate account assets across markets, including public fixed income, structured products, public and private equity, private debt, and commercial real estate. The company has produced consistent returns on invested assets and minimized the volatility of its earnings through different market environments.
The company manages a diverse array of corporate, municipal, infrastructure, and government bonds, sourced from public and private markets in developed and emerging economies, as well as various structured product asset classes, including asset-backed securities (‘ABS’), collateralized loan obligations (‘CLOs’), and mortgage-backed securities (‘MBS’). The company also originates commercial and residential mortgage loans and middle market commercial loans. In addition, the company manages, oversees, and originates certain types of equity and alternative investments.
In November 2021, the company entered into a strategic partnership with Blackstone. In addition, it has entered into investment management agreements with BlackRock.
Regulation
The company’s U.S. insurance subsidiaries are licensed to transact insurance business and are subject to extensive regulation and supervision by insurance regulators in the jurisdictions in which they do business, including the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. The primary regulator of an insurance company, however, is located in its state of domicile. AGC Life Insurance Company (AGC) is domiciled in Missouri and is primarily regulated by the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, AGL and VALIC are each domiciled in Texas and are primarily regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance, and USL is domiciled in New York and is primarily regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (‘NYDFS’).
The company provides products and services to certain employee benefit plans that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (‘ERISA’), and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the ‘Code’).
The company has implemented the requirements of Regulation BI (the SEC's Regulation Best Interest) and Form CRS, and continues to monitor interpretative guidance and enforcement activity from federal securities regulators.
The company’s investment products and services are subject to applicable federal and state securities, fiduciary, and other laws and regulations. The principal U.S. regulators of these operations include the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, state securities commissions, state insurance departments, and the DOL.
The company’s variable life insurance, variable annuity, registered index linked annuity, and mutual fund products generally are subject to regulation as ‘securities’ under applicable federal securities laws, except where exempt. Such regulation includes registration of the offerings of these products with the SEC, unless exempt from such registration, and requirements of distribution participants to be registered as broker-dealers, as well as recordkeeping, reporting, and other requirements. This regulation also involves the registration of mutual funds and other investment products offered by the company’s businesses, and the separate accounts through which the company’s variable life insurance, variable annuity, registered index linked annuity, and mutual fund products are issued, as investment companies under the Investment Company Act, except where exempt.
The company has several subsidiaries that are registered as broker-dealers under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ‘Exchange Act’), and are members of FINRA and/or are registered as investment advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the ‘Advisers Act’).
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and other regulatory bodies also have the authority to examine regulated entities, such as the company’s broker-dealer and investment adviser subsidiaries, and to institute administrative or judicial proceedings that may result in censure, fines, prohibitions, or restrictions on activities, or other administrative sanctions.
Further, the company’s licensed sales professionals appointed with certain of its broker-dealer and/or investment adviser subsidiaries and its other employees, insofar as they sell products that are securities, including wholesale and retail activity, are subject to the Exchange Act and to examination requirements and regulation by the SEC, FINRA, and state securities commissioners. Regulation and examination requirements also extend to the company’s subsidiaries that employ or control those individuals.
The Bermuda Monetary Authority (the ‘BMA’) regulates the company’s insurance subsidiary in Bermuda, Corebridge Insurance Company of Bermuda, Ltd. (‘CRBG Bermuda’).
The company’s non-U.S. entities, and potentially certain entities established in the U.S., are subject to privacy and cybersecurity laws and regulations applicable in foreign countries where they operate, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (‘UK GDPR’), the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (‘EU AI Act’), Bermuda’s Personal Information Protection Act, and BMA’s Insurance Sector Operational Cyber Risk Management Code of Conduct.
History
The company was incorporated in 1998. It was formerly known as SAFG Retirement Services, Inc. and changed its name to Corebridge Financial, Inc.
