Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated

Good day, and welcome to the Reinsurance Group of America Q1 conference call. All participants will be in 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 first quarter 2024 conference call. I'm joined on the call this morning with Tony Chang, RGA's President and Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Barbee, Chief Investment Officer, and Jonathan Porter, Chief Risk Officer. 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, the 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 to GAAP measures. Throughout the call, we will be referencing slides from the earnings presentation, which again is posted on our website. And now I'll turn the call over to Tony for his comments.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Last night, we reported adjusted operating earnings of $6.02 per share, which is our highest ever quarterly result. Our adjusted operating return on equity for the past 12 months was 14.8%, exceeding the intermediate targets we previously shared. The record earnings and attractive ROE is not solely from one or two areas of the company. All four geographic regions and both the traditional and GFS businesses met or exceeded our run rates. In particular, our traditional results stood out, driven by strong underlying experience, notably in the US. It was a quarter where many things came together and follows an excellent 2023 for RJA. I am very pleased that we just learned that RJA was rated number one for the 13th consecutive year on NMG Consulting's Global All Respondents Business Capability Index. This is based on 2023 feedback from the life and health insurance companies around the world. In addition to the outstanding earnings, and external recognition, our new business activity was very strong. We deployed a record amount of capital into in-force transactions of $737 million. We have always shared a preference to redeploy our excess capital back into the business for both financial and strategic reasons. Successful transactions lead to favorable economics over the long run, and can create repeat opportunities from these clients. In addition to the record quantity of new business, we are delighted with the quality of the new business as we continue to see a high percentage of transactions centered around exclusive arrangements with some of the leading life insurers in the world. These transactions are more innovative in nature and create greater value for RJ and its partners. When we see excellent earnings, ROE, new business performance across many parts of the enterprise, and external recognition of our capabilities, we know our strategy is working. We know our brand and capabilities are strong. And I know our people and culture are second to none. Combining this incredibly strong foundation with macro tailwinds, we are highly confident in delivering long-term attractive results and shareholder returns. I have previously outlined four areas of notable growth in the company. Let me discuss some of the activities and successes in each of these areas. Starting with our longevity and PRT business. Longevity not only diversifies our mortality exposure, but also provides favorable opportunities given the increased funding levels of pension funds around the world. In the US PRT market, we announced deals with both of our partners, including our largest PRT transaction to date, and we remain optimistic about our prospects going forward. In the UK longevity space, where RJ is a market leader, we built on the very successful 2023 with additional transactions this quarter. The pipeline remains active in both the US and the UK, and we expect 2024 to be another exciting year. Our second area of notable growth is the asset intensive business in Asia. During the quarter, we executed a number of important transactions in the region. As announced, we closed an approximately $4.7 billion deal in Japan. Our success shows the powerful position RJ has in many of our markets around the world. This is a client that we have shared a strong business relationship with for over a decade. This is an innovative solution being the first sizeable longevity transaction in Japan, leveraging our strengths in the UK and the US. This transaction demonstrates our integrated approach with our investment and business teams working hand in hand to arrive at the right asset solution tailored for these liabilities. Strong local relationships coupled with worldwide expertise further enhanced by the collaboration amongst our teams is how we win at RGA. In our third area of notable growth, which is our Asia traditional segment, we continue to see very positive results. Our focus is to package product development with capital and underwriting solutions to fuel our clients' growth and success. In January, we adapted a product from Japan and launched with a major insurer in Korea. Given the success of this product launch, we expect multiple clients to launch with RJ in 2024. In China, we closed an in-force transaction and we expect this success to lead to further opportunities in this space in the near future. Finally, in Hong Kong, which is our largest Asian market, we continue to be excited by the increased volume of mainland Chinese visitors buying life insurance. Throughout the past few years, we have increased our share of key products and are therefore well-positioned to benefit. And finally, in our US traditional segment, which is our home market and the largest reinsurance market in the world, we continue to strategically build our offerings in the underwriting space, to act as our key differentiator. In the quarter, we launched a partnership to extend our digital underwriting offerings. This complements our full-service facultative and supplemental underwriting programs. It is this ability to offer the full breadth of the underwriting spectrum that positions RGA so well in this market. In addition, we see strong momentum and in-force activity as clients continue de-risking their balance sheets, which we believe is a leading indicator for future new business for RJ. Beyond these four areas of growth, we also continue to have tremendous success in other markets. You will have seen our announcements on the 4.4 billion US dollar transaction in Canada, as well as our 900 million euro asset transaction in Belgium. Both of these transactions create long-term value for the organization and is due to the tremendous work and effort of our local and global teams. You can see that we have won a lot of meaningful transactions this quarter. But what you have not seen are the transactions we have looked at and have chosen not to pursue. We remain disciplined and execute only when the risk return trade-off meets our requirements. This risk management focus is as important as any other part of our culture in delivering long-term sustainable performance. As proud as I am about all these accomplishments, I am even more excited about the future. My job as CEO is to make sure that we continue to execute today but also make sure we are in an even better position tomorrow. It's a true privilege to lead this organization, and I am clearly confident in our ability to continue to deliver growth and attractive returns to our shareholders for many years to come. I will now turn it over to Todd to discuss the financial results in more detail. Thanks, Tony.