Corebridge Financial Inc.

My name is Becky and I'll be your operator today. During the presentation, you can register a question by pressing Start followed by 1 on your keypad. If you change your mind, please press Start followed by 2. I will now hand over to your host, Ishamu Durisola, Head of Investor and Rating Agency Relations, to begin. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Corbridge Financial's earnings update for the third quarter of 2025. Joining me on the call are Kevin Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Elias Habayeb, Chief Financial Officer. We will begin with prepared remarks by Kevin and Elias, and then we will take your questions. Today's comments may contain forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and are based upon management's current expectations and assumptions. Corbridge's filings with the SEC provide details on important factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by the applicable securities laws, Corbridge is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. and your caution to not place and due reliance on any forward-looking statements. Additionally, today's remarks may refer to non-GAAP financial measures. The reconciliation of such measures to the most comparable GAAP figures is included in our earnings release, financial supplement, and earnings presentation, all of which are available on our website at investors.corbidgefinancial.com. With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Kevin and Elias for their prepared remarks. Kevin?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. I'll start this morning by providing some context around the announcement we made on Friday. As you have seen, our CFO, Elias Abayan, will be leaving Corbridge in April to take a senior leadership position at a publicly listed company that we do not consider a competitor. Elias and I have worked together for many years, and I know he will be missed at Corbridge. We've engaged a leading executive search firm and have begun a search process. We're pleased that there will be a six-month transition period that will allow for Elias to oversee the completion and filing of 2025 financial statements and the finalization of the 2026 budget and business and operating plans while the search is underway. I would also note that one of Elias' important contributions as CFO of Corbridge has been building a very strong finance team. that I am confident will support the ongoing execution of our four strategic pillars and our trajectory for continued growth. I know that this search will be one of Mark Costantini's top priorities when he arrives next month, and I am confident that he and the Board will select the right person for Corbidge's next chapter. We expect this to be a seamless transition. With that, let me turn to third quarter results. CoreBridge delivered another quarter of solid performance with our diversified businesses generating the highest sales since the IPO, even as we further strengthened our balance sheet and once again delivered both strong earnings and an attractive capital return to shareholders. Our financial results as presented reflect our position after the previously announced variable annuity transaction with Venerable, which marks an important inflection point for CoreBridge. Our company is now simpler with a lower risk profile, higher quality of earnings, and greater growth potential. Corbridge has been working since the IPO to strengthen every element of our value proposition. Our diversified business model is founded on a broad spectrum of products and services, distribution channels, and market segments, delivering diversified sources of income that enable us to generate sustainable cash flows and performed through various market cycles. Across our businesses, we are committed to deploying capital where the risk-adjusted returns are the highest and customer demand is the greatest. While our spread income is now a larger percentage of the whole, our sources of spread income streams themselves are diversified. We have a high-quality investment portfolio and minimal legacy liabilities. Our strong balance sheet provides us with financial flexibility to achieve our strategic objectives. We have maintained capital ratios of our insurance companies above their targets. And at $1.8 billion, including partial proceeds from the VA reinsurance transaction, we have more than ample liquidity at the parent. Finally, we continue to emphasize disciplined execution. The team at Corbridge has done an excellent job to date, managing through a complex corporate separation, divesting our international businesses, launching our strategy in Bermuda, executing one of the largest VA reinsurance transactions to date, upgrading our technology and customer service capabilities, and meeting or exceeding every financial target we set at the time of the IPO. It is a very strong foundation for continued success and shareholder value creation. Turning to slide four, our results in the quarter once again demonstrate that we continue to execute on all four of our strategic pillars. First, we delivered strong organic growth with total premiums and deposits of $12.3 billion, reflecting ongoing strength in individual retirement. Sales of our Ryla products were nearly $800 million in the third quarter and have topped $1.7 billion year to date. We are now the only company to have a top 10 ranking across all four major annuity product categories as measured by LIMRA. In October, we received regulatory approval to sell our Ryla in New York State. one of the nation's largest annuity markets and one where we feel very well positioned, and we remain on track to launch by the end of the year. In addition to our individual businesses, we had very strong performance in institutional markets in both GICs and pension risk transfer transactions. Overall, general account net inflows were $1.4 billion, up 27%, supporting general account growth of 6% year over year. Across all of our businesses, we remain disciplined in how we price new business, adjusting as market conditions evolve. For example, interest rates declined through the third quarter, prompting us to take rate actions to preserve margin. We generally respond quickly when conditions change, even at the risk of short-term production, and that discipline remains a hallmark of how we run the business. Our diversified business model gives us optionality to allocate capital to where it will earn the highest risk adjusted returns. We are focused on growing earnings and being responsible with the capital that our shareholders have entrusted us with. Turning to our second pillar, we remain focused on optimizing our balance sheet and creating greater capital efficiency. The capital freed up by our transformative VA reinsurance transaction was significant. And as we've said before, we continue to explore additional opportunities that would be value accretive. One example is expanding our Bermuda strategy, which is off to a great start with $18 billion of reserves seeded since inception. Third, we continue to focus on further improving our operating leverage, and we recently completed our voluntary early retirement program, which is creating capacity to invest in and upskill in key areas such as digital. By continuing to modernize our operations, we see ongoing opportunities to improve our customer and distribution partner experience, which is essential to growth and to further increase our operating leverage. Fourth and finally, we remain committed to active capital management. Year to date, we returned more than $1.4 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. While our payout ratio over the period was 80%, reflecting the impact of the VA reinsurance transaction, our target payout ratio remains 60 to 65%. Reflecting on the market, the macro environment remains attractive. The need for people to take care of themselves financially by growing their assets and locking in secure retirement income is a powerful tailwind for our individual and group retirement businesses. In life insurance, the large protection gap continues to represent a significant opportunity in those areas of the market where our advantages can drive attractive returns. And in institutional markets, pension plan funding levels remain very strong and plan sponsors are resolute in their intention to divest these liabilities. Corbidge is well positioned to capitalize on those trends and will do it with the same commitment to strong financial metrics that you've come to expect from us. A 12 to 14% return on equity, an average 10 to 15% annual EPS growth rate over time, and a 60 to 65% payout ratio, all while maintaining the life fleet RBC ratio above target. As I prepare to hand the reins over to Mark, I'm pleased to be doing so from a position of strength. Corbridge has market-leading businesses, a very strong balance sheet, and robust opportunities for continued profitable growth. That's why I believe Corbridge remains a compelling investment proposition. With that, I'll turn the call over to Elias.