Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated

Welcome to the Reinsurance Group of America third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's prepared remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note that this event is being recorded today. I would now like to turn the conference over to Todd Larson, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to RGA's third quarter 2022 conference call. I'm joined on the call this morning with 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. A quick reminder about forward-looking information and non-GAAP financial measures. 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, all of which are posted on our website for discussion of these terms and reconciliations to GAAP measures. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Anna for her comments.

Thank you, Todd. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Last night, we reported adjusted operating earnings per share of $5.20, another very strong quarter following the record level of earnings in the second quarter. The results this quarter include favorable performance across many of our segments and businesses. As well, new business activity and production levels were robust and encouraging, and we have started to see some tangible benefits from higher investment yields. The COVID-19 claim costs were comfortably absorbed, and our underlying non-COVID-19 mortality experience was favorable in many of our markets. Segments of particular strength this quarter include U.S. and Latin America traditional, Asia traditional, and U.S. asset intensives. In the US and Latin America traditional segment, the individual mortality business performed very well with favorable underlying mortality experience and a modest impact from COVID-19. The US group and individual health businesses also performed very well. In the Asia traditional segment, we continued to see strong overall performance and our client-centric product development capabilities and underwriting expertise continues to solidify our market leadership in the region. Reported premium growth was 4.9% and 10.1% on a constant FX basis, reflecting the strong new business activity I mentioned earlier. We had another good quarter for capital deployment, putting $100 million into Inforce and other transactions, bringing the year-to-date total to $351 million. Our transaction pipelines remain very active and broad-based across many risks and geographies, and we expect this good momentum to continue. This quarter's results help to underscore the substantial additional value and earnings power we've added in the last few years through focused execution on our strategy, and we are in a great position to continue this momentum going forward. The life insurance industry has proven its value during the pandemic, and we expect the increase in demand for protection products to continue. I believe that RGA's value proposition has been amplified throughout the pandemic as we have worked closely with our clients helping them navigate through increasing levels of uncertainty. Further, our client-centric partnership efforts are translating into more exclusive opportunities as well as additional arrangements combining our value-added services and solutions. these last few years have reinforced the strength of this client strategy. For example, in the U.S. individual market, we are seeing new business from key clients in recognition of underwriting services that accelerate policy issuance through digital and data solutions. In addition, our facultative underwriting support, which provides valuable capacity to our clients are seeing nice growth through expanded programs and new clients. In Asia, I am very pleased with work we've just completed for a large market-leading client to develop an innovative first-to-market product providing access to protection that was previously not available. Because of RGA's leadership and partnership in the development efforts, this new product will be co-promoted within our client's large distribution network, creating value for their distributors and consumers while also enhancing RGA's visibility and brand recognition. In another recent example, our team in Italy closed its largest health deal to date with expected annual reinsurance premiums of over $50 million. We delivered a novel reinsurance structure to address specific client needs by leveraging the deep market knowledge of our local Italian team, combined with the experience and expertise of our global health team. These are just a few examples of partnership initiatives with our clients that help to differentiate us, while also providing us the ability to better manage competitive dynamics. Turning to another important earnings growth lever, interest rates. Higher interest rates and investment yields are notable earnings positive for us, as future cash flows in many of our biometric businesses can be reinvested at higher rates than in the past. What for us had been a steady headwind over many years is now moving into becoming a measurable tailwind, and we would expect to see continued benefits going forward if these higher rates are sustained. We have a great franchise and we are well positioned around the world. Our business is resilient. We've successfully managed through periods of elevated risk and uncertainty. And this quarter continues to demonstrate our many strengths. As I think about the future, I am very encouraged by the dynamics we are seeing in the underlying life insurance industry. And I remain optimistic and confident in our ability to continue to create substantial long-term value for our investors. Thank you for your interest in RGA. I'll now hand it over to Todd to review the detailed financial results.