Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated

Good day and welcome to the Reinsurance Group of America fourth 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 presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. 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. Welcome to RGA's fourth quarter 2022 conference call. I'm joined on the call this morning with Anna Manning, RGA's Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Barbee, our Chief Investment Officer, Jonathan Porter, our Chief Risk Officer, and Jeff Hobson, Head of Investor Relations. A quick reminder before we get started regarding 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, and quarterly financial supplement, all of which are posted on our website, for discussion of these terms and reconciliation of the GAAP measures. And now I'll turn the call over to Anna for her comments.

Good morning. and thank you for joining our call. Last night, we reported adjusted operating earnings for the fourth quarter and full year of $2.99 per share and $14.43 per share, respectively. This was a solid quarter that included favorable performance across many of our segments and business. Areas of particular strength this quarter include our global financial solutions business in all regions and product lines, Asia Pacific traditional, and U.S. group and individual health. We continue to see very good new business activity and momentum with notable premium growth on a constant currency basis. Our product development capabilities, capital solutions, and underwriting expertise are particular strengths that serve as valuable differentiators and are leading to first-to-market and exclusive new business opportunities. Our overall investment performance was good, and the quarter saw minimal impairments. This was also a solid quarter for capital deployment, with $80 million deployed into Inforce and other transactions across a range of geographies and product lines, which brings the year-to-date total to $430 million, another successful year. The transaction pipelines remain very active and broad-based across our many risks and geographies and we expect the strong demand to continue. As I look back on 2022, I am proud of our many accomplishments. First, we achieved record adjusted operating EPS of $14.43, despite absorbing $5.02 of COVID-19 claims and 53 cents of foreign currency headwinds, demonstrating the strength of the underlying earnings power of our business. Second, Our client-centric solutions-oriented strategy is driving good quality new business opportunities. Third, global non-COVID underwriting experience was favorable, led by our U.S. individual mortality business and our Asia-Pacific traditional segment. Fourth, global financial solutions had another record performance year. We completed many transactions at attractive returns adding to the substantial underlying earnings power and the diversification of our business. Fifth, investment results were favorable, in part benefiting from higher available yields and some nice realized gains on our real estate joint ventures and limited partnerships. Interest rates have shifted from a multi-year headwind to a tailwind and we are seeing a measurable benefit. And finally, I am proud of the progress we made on our ESG efforts. In 2022, we published our first sustainability report, providing transparency into our ESG strategy, targets, and accomplishments, and demonstrating our ongoing commitments. But as proud as I am of these accomplishments, I'm even more excited about the future. The life insurance industry delivered on its purpose during the course of the last three and RGA demonstrated its leadership position and the strength of our business and long-term client partnerships. We have a great franchise, have highly engaged and talented teams, and are very well positioned in all our markets. Our business is resilient, our strategy is delivering value to our clients and returns to our shareholders, and I am optimistic about our future growth prospects. After 17 years with RGA, In more than 42 years in the insurance industry, I will be retiring at the end of 2023. As you've heard me say over many years, one of our key strengths is the depth and breadth of our leadership team. And that was certainly highlighted with the recent announcement that Tony Chang, who has been with RGA for more than 25 years, was named president and will become CEO on January 1, 2024 upon my retirement. Tony, besides being a very capable and talented executive, has played an instrumental role in the growth of our business in Asia, and more recently in his leadership role overseeing EMEA and Australia. He understands and appreciates our many strengths and our unique culture, and I'm confident that RGA will be in great hands. Thank you for your interest in RGA, and I'll now turn it over to Todd to review the detailed financial results.