Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated

Good day and welcome to the Reinsurance Group of America third quarter 2021 results conference call. Today's conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to introduce Mr. Todd Larson, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Ms. Anna Manning, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Mr. Larson.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to RGA's third quarter 2021 conference call. With me this morning on the call is Anna Manning, RGA's President and Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Barbee, Chief Investment Officer, Jonathan Porter, Chief Risk Officer, and Jeff Hobson, Head of Investor Relations. We will discuss the third quarter results after a quick reminder about forward-looking information and non-GAAP financial measures. Following our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to take your questions. Some of our comments or answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from expected results. Please refer to the earnings release we issued yesterday for a list of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Additionally, during the course of this call, information we provide may include non-GAAP financial measures. Please see our earnings release, earnings presentation, quarterly financial supplement, and website for discussion of these terms and reconciliations to GAAP measures. And now I'll turn the call over to Anna for her comments.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Last night, we reported a loss of $1.11 in adjusted operating EPS, which included pre-tax $500 million in COVID-19 impacts, or $5.59 per share. Our 12-month trailing ROE was 2.1%, which included 9.8% in COVID-19 impacts. Premium growth was strong at 9.5%, and we ended the quarter with excess capital of $1 billion. This quarter saw elevated COVID-19 claims in the U.S., India, and South Africa, consistent with the levels of general population mortality. In the U.S. individual mortality business, COVID-19 claims were 235 million in the quarter, slightly above the high end of our rules of thumb range. We also had a level of excess non-COVID-19 claims, reflecting the elevated levels of excess mortality reported in the general population by the CDC. COVID-19 claims in India and South Africa were 161 million and 64 million respectively, as those countries also experienced a material delta wave. And Jonathan will provide further insights on our claims shortly. The performance this quarter, ex-COVID-19, was strong and featured many highlights, again demonstrating the value of our diversified global business and the strength of our new business franchise. The highlights this quarter include strong earnings across all lines and regions from our GFS business, deployment of $140 million of capital into in-force transactions including our largest to date longevity transaction in the Netherlands. This brings the year to date capital deployment into Inforce transactions to a total of 440 million, putting us on track for a very strong year as our pipelines remain very good with opportunities in all regions. I am particularly pleased with the recent success in our GFS business in Asia. That business has grown from a relatively small base a few years ago to one that has produced 66 million of adjusted operating income through the first nine months of this year. Our success is in large part the result of our high-caliber local teams working together with our global product and risk experts to bring new solutions that best fit the needs of the local markets and clients. We are actively managing our capital position, balancing deployment into organic business and attractive in-force block opportunities with shareholder dividends, and in this quarter, the resumption of share buybacks. And we generated additional capital with the completion of a financially attractive asset-intensive retrocession transaction. I believe clear evidence of an efficient and effective capital management approach. Investment results were favorable in the quarter despite the continued challenges of the low market yields, impairments were minimal, and we realized some nice gains in our limited partnerships and real estate joint ventures. Both our U.S. group and U.S. individual health business performed above our expectations, continuing a recent trend. As I think about this quarter, and the last six quarters of the pandemic, I remain encouraged by the resilience of our global business and by the positive momentum in our new business opportunities and growth prospects. Looking forward, we expect some continuing impact from COVID-19 claims, but believe these will be manageable and point to increasing vaccination rates globally as a reason for optimism. We operate from a position of strength with an outstanding workforce, valued client relationships, and healthy business fundamentals. We have a strong balance sheet and a track record of successful execution against our strategy. All this gives me confidence in our business and in our opportunities for growth. Even though a lot of the focus this quarter is on COVID-19 claims, we are accomplishing a lot in terms of adding substantial new long-term value. I am proud of this team and all that we've achieved, and I am excited about the future and look forward to sharing more thoughts at our investor day on December the 9th. Thank you for your interest in RGA. I hope you all remain safe and stay well. And let me now turn it over to Todd to go over the detailed financial results.