Brighthouse Financial reports Q3 2024 results

Brighthouse Financial  held its earnings call on November 8. Highlights include:

• Brighthouse Financial’s growth in Shield annuities over recent years created a balanced risk profile but added complexity in managing its annuity business. To simplify, the company began hedging Shield sales independently with a new product launch in July and will expand this approach in the fourth quarter to include Shield Level Pay Plus and all remaining Shield product sales.
• It estimates that its combined RBC ratio was between 365% and 385% at the end of Q3.
• Brighthouse reported strong Shield annuity sales, reaching $5.8 billion year-to-date—a 15% increase over 2023 and a record for the company. They aim to maintain leadership in the registered index-linked annuity (RILA) market, driven by continued growth in Shield sales. Fixed annuity sales have also shown year-over-year growth, led by the SecureKey product in their fixed index annuities lineup.
• Fixed deferred annuity sales were down year-to-date but rebounded in the third quarter following a reinsurer transition in June. Life insurance sales grew to $87 million year-to-date through September 30, marking a 19% increase over the same period last year.
• The company expanded into the institutional market with BlackRock’s LifePath Paycheck product earlier this year. Initial deposits were received, but as expected, third-quarter activity remained limited, with inflows anticipated to be uneven due to the gradual implementation of the solution by defined contribution plans.

“We continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives designed to improve capital efficiency, unlock capital and return our combined risk-based capital or RBC ratio to our target range of 400% to 450% in normal market conditions.” – President & CEO, Eric Thomas Steigerwalt.