Corebridge Financial, Inc. Price & Performance (CRBG)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Corbridge Financial's earnings update for the fourth quarter and full year 2024. 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, 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. Fortbridge'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 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 you are cautioned to not place undue 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.corbridgefinancial.com Corebridge.

With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Kevin and Alliance for their prepared remarks. [indiscernible] Thank you, Ishel, and good morning, everyone. Since our IPO two years ago, Corbrus has consistently generated strong top line results and bottom line growth delivered on commitments and made great progress executing on our strategy. We are capitalizing on favorable industry dynamics and attractive market opportunities while navigating persistent inflation, volatile markets, and the prospect of lower interest rates. This success is a testament to our leading market positions diversified business model, strong balance sheet and disciplined execution. Turning to Slide three, At the time of our IPO, we established several financial goals to chart our performance as a new public company. Achieve an adjusted ROE of 12% to 14%, a payout ratio of 60% to 65% and maintain a light sweet RBC ratio at or above 400%. These initiatives have been supported by our efficiency program Corebridge Forward, with the further goal of reducing our run rate expenses by $400,000,000 I am pleased to report that we met or exceeded each of these goals while positioning Corbrich for long term success and establishing financial and operational independence. We grew run rate ROE over 300 basis points firmly landing within our range of 12% to 14%.

Strong top line growth margin expansion and lower expenses combined with the investments we made in our operating model, positioned us to capitalize on historic opportunities We also improved our quarterly run rate operating earnings per share by 35% with approximately two thirds of that improvement from earnings growth and one third from capital management. For payout ratio, we exceeded the original target by a significant margin. Since the IPO, we delivered a cumulative payout ratio of 73% returning $4,900,000,000 to shareholders over that time an amount equaling 36% of our market cap at the IPO. And we repurchased 14% of our outstanding shares over that same period. [indiscernible] Importantly, we actively maintain strong financial flexibility while delivering robust growth in our businesses. In terms of expenses, we achieved our contracted on $400,000,000 of run rate savings ahead of schedule with $350,000,000 earned in to date.

Over the last two years, we reduced expenses by 13% on a comparable basis. As a result of this work, our expense ratio is in the top quartile across our industry and we remain diligently focused on further improving our operational efficiency. Finally, we have consistently demonstrated financial discipline. Our regulatory capital levels have exceeded the 400% target as we proactively manage our high quality assets and liabilities while maintaining strong parent liquidity. Moving to Slide four, We have built a solid foundation since the IPO and 2024 was another successful year for Corbrich Corebridge. I will review our full year results and Elias will cover the fourth quarter. In 2024, Corbrich increased full year operating earnings per share by 18% year over year to $4.83 We grew ROE to 12.8% and on a run rate basis, ROE improved over 100 basis points year over year to 13.2%. At the same time, in 2024, we returned $2,300,000,000 to shareholders. Additionally, excluding notable items and the sale of our U. K. Life insurance business, we grew core sources of income by 4% seeing improvement across all three sources. Corebridge achieved these positive results through our focus on four strategic pillars. Organic growth, balance sheet optimization, expense efficiencies and active capital management.

To drive organic growth, we worked with our extensive network of distribution partners and leveraged our broad suite of products and services. Our business has continued to thrive as we fulfilled strong customer demand. We delivered robust sales volumes in 2024 with premiums and deposits of $41,700,000,000 a 5% increase over what was a very strong 2023. Our distribution platform remains an important differentiator for [indiscernible] We have for many years taken a long term approach to our distribution partnerships, which has created active productive and long lasting relationships. The insight we have into our partner strategies is key. With this insight, we can more effectively meet the needs of their clients and manufacture products that align with their business plans giving us the opportunity to compete beyond price. Customized products and specialized strategies have been essential to our success and represent an important part of our product development emphasis. With the fourth quarter launch of our MarketLock, registered index linked annuity, [indiscernible] Corebridge now has offerings in every major product category. We are proud of our broad product range and recognize the value of choice for financial professionals. Our second pillar is balance sheet optimization. Which includes strategic use of reinsurance, strong asset origination and proactive management of our portfolio of high quality assets liabilities.

We launched our Bermuda affiliated reinsurers strategy in July and began ceding fixed and fixed indexed annuity new business. By year end, we added both in force and new business for structured settlements and term life. In total, we have ceded just over $12,000,000,000 of reserves to our affiliate in Bermuda. Relative to asset origination, our unique investment platform which includes our own internal teams and our external partners, LAP and BlackRock, has been instrumental in sourcing attractive high quality assets. These investments support our target returns and product management and collectively sourced over $43,000,000,000 of assets in 2024. We continue to develop new and expanded asset strategies and maximize the value of our strategic partners. This work has improved credit quality while enhancing income and yield also supporting increased levels Our third pillar is expense discipline. We are very focused on expense management and operational efficiency and in 2024, Corbrich delivered with full year GOE lower by 4% over the prior year on a comparable basis. Looking forward, we see more opportunity as we further digitize end to end processes that support our insurance operations and begin to build on the significant investments we made as part of our separation to further modernize our finance and actuarial capabilities.

Our fourth strategic pillar is active capital management. In 2024, we we increased full year dividends from our U. S. Insurance subsidiaries by 10% supporting a full year payout ratio of 81% or 62% excluding proceeds Corbridge is proactive with balance sheet and capital management to ensure we deliver on our financial goals while also pursuing profitable growth and creating financial flexibility. Reflecting the strength of our financial position, and our continuing commitment to an attractive return for shareholders, I am pleased to announce that our Board of Directors increased the existing share repurchase authorization by $2,000,000,000 and increased the quarterly dividend to $0.24 per share.

Corbridge will continue to build on these four pillars, organic growth, balance sheet optimization, expense efficiencies and active capital management to generate further growth and shareholder returns. As we look ahead, we expect our annual run rate EBITDA on average in the range of 10% to 15% over the long term, but this growth will not be linear. In some years, the increase may be higher and in others lower. Based on current expectations for short term interest rates, may see some pressure during the year as we manage our floating rate portfolio, but we view this as only temporary. Additionally, as we look ahead, we expect dividends from our insurance companies to increase another 5% to 10% in 2025. And now, I will hand it over to Elias to cover our fourth quarter results. Thank you, Kevin. I will begin my remarks today on Slide five. The fourth quarter was a continuation of our strong performance since the IPO driven by organic growth balance sheet optimization expense efficiencies and active capital management. Corbridge reported fourth quarter adjusted pretax operating income of $878,000,000 or operating earnings per share of $1.23 an 18% increase year over year on a per share basis.

Our operating EPS included one notable item this quarter resulting Details can be found in our earnings presentation. Annualized alternative investment returns were $0.03 short of our long term expectation. This reflected positive trends across traditional private equity hedge funds and real estate equity as returns improved in 2024 with activity slightly picking up.

In the second half of the year.

Adjusting for notable items and alternative investment we delivered a run rate operating EPS of $1.28 an 11% increase year over year on a comparative basis. Moving to Slide six. The diversity in our sources of income allows Corbrich to consistently deliver attractive financial results under different market conditions. Core sources of income excluding notable items, grew 4% year over year driven by increases in fee income and underwriting margin.

Fee income which comprises approximately 30% of our core sources of income improved 10% as a result of higher account values along with our growing advisory and brokerage business. On a comparable basis, underwriting margin improved 22% driven by more favorable mortality Base spread income declined 5% from the strong levels of the previous year.

Driven by the impact of net outflows in our group retirement business as well as the impact from changes in short term interest rates, and related hedging activities to maintain alignment between assets and liabilities. The sequential decline was in line with the interest rate sensitivities we shared last quarter. We anticipate the impact of changes in short term interest rates along with the related hedging activities and the runoff of our floating rate portfolio, will only be a near term headwind. Underlying base spread income continues to be strong driven by general account growth and higher new money yields. Overall, Borbridge continues to fire on all cylinders and the combination of our diversified market leading businesses working together continues to be a key component of our shareholder value proposition. Before moving on, want to spend a moment on highlights from each of our businesses. For purposes of this discussion, results exclude the impact of notable items variable investment income and the sale of our international life business. In individual retirement, adjusted pretax operating income declined 7% primarily driven by base spread compression arising from the impact of changes in short term interest rates and related hedging activities on floating rate asset exposure.

Strong sales in the quarter reflected pricing discipline and the $5,000,000,000 of premiums and deposits represents another very good quarter. Our broad product suite allows us to feel not only growing customer demand, but also evolve with changes in customer appetite serving as a meaningful differentiator. General account net inflows of $1,600,000,000 in the fourth quarter further demonstrate the value of our origination capabilities product portfolio and distribution network. Full year net inflows were $6,900,000,000 nearly double the level achieved in the prior year.

The fixed annuity surrender rate dropped to 9.7% for the quarter as surrenders continued to improve from their peak earlier in the year. We expect to see our surrender rate increase in the coming year. With large blocks of fixed and fixed in the annuities exiting their surrender charge period That said, we expect continued net inflows in the general account Group retirement delivered another steady quarter through its balanced contribution from spread and fee income.

Both spread and fee income will continue to reflect the impact of net outflows and asset values. Advisory and brokerage sales through 31% year over year, supported by strong customer demand and favorable equity market performance, while auto plan annuity sales in the current quarter mirrored broader industry trends. We saw net outflows of $3,500,000,000 in the fourth quarter, due to planned losses and required minimum distributions by plan participants Excluding these two items, net flows remained relatively stable throughout the year. Looking forward, we expect first quarter group retirement net flows to be more consistent with levels observed in the first half of twenty twenty four. Life insurance continues to be a strong performer. Adjusted pretax operating income increased more than 100% year over year primarily driven by more favorable universal life mortality experience. Sales volume continued to outpace the industry as a result of strong product positioning, investments in our digital and automated underwriting capabilities and expanded distribution. In institutional markets, adjusted pretax operating income was virtually flat year over year. As a reminder, earnings from this segment may reflect some quarterly volatility but core earnings should increase as reserves grow over time. Full year earnings increased 17% in line with reserves.

We continue to grow our FABM program As a disciplined but consistent issuer, and continue to see an attractive pipeline for pension risk transfer transactions in the coming year. Our financial results for the quarter demonstrate the benefits of multiple sources of income as well as our ability to improve expense efficiency while also growing the balance sheet. From the end of twenty twenty two, the cumulative improvement in our operating expenses was 13% primarily driven by efficiencies from Corebridge Forward. On a year over year basis, fourth quarter general operating expenses for our insurance businesses parent company were modestly lower after excluding the sale of our International Life business and the one time notable item. This largely was the result of savings from our expenses offset by costs attributable to sales growth as well as some non recurring and seasonally higher expenses. Moving to Slide seven. Forbearance remains well capitalized with strong liquidity. We ended the year with holding company liquidity of $2,200,000,000 This includes approximately $1,000,000,000 of proceeds from debt issuance in September and November that prefunds our upcoming maturities in 2025.

Our disciplined and proactive balance sheet management has enabled corporates to pursue profitable growth while delivering our financial and capital management goals. Our U. S. Insurance companies distributed $550,000,000 in the fourth quarter bringing full year distributions to $2,200,000,000 a 10% increase year over year.

At the same time, we returned $527,000,000 of capital to shareholders during the quarter. Including nearly 400,000,000 of share repurchases.

Dollars 1,800,000,000.0 of share repurchases for the full year includes proceeds from the sale of our UK Life Insurance business which we have fully deployed. CoreBridge continues to target a 60% to 65% payout ratio Our strong balance sheet which saw asset growth of 7% year over year continues to reflect a clean in force portfolio backed by high quality assets. We estimate our life lead RBC ratio to be in the range of 420% to 430% as of the end of twenty twenty four. In conclusion, our diversified business model from balance sheet and disciplined execution, has continued to lead to growing cash flows and financial flexibility. Which strengthen our franchise and ultimately increase shareholder value. With that, I will now turn the call to Ishu. Thank you, Elias.

As a reminder, Operator, we are now ready to begin the Q and A portion of the call. Thank you.

First question is from KV Montaseri at Deutsche Bank. Thank you. My first question is on base spread income.

As it stands today, it's probably not unreasonable to think that the Fed is done cutting rates could remain on hold throughout the year. With that in mind, how should we think about base spread income in the first half of twenty twenty five versus the second half we lapse the lagged impact of the 2024 rate cuts which you previously mentioned take about two quarters to earnings.

Yes. Thanks KV, and good morning. First, what I would say is just that across the board, the business conditions remain excellent. Our distribution platform is very strong and vibrant. And all of our businesses are supported by macro trends. So we expect our spread income as well as our other sources of income to grow over time. Notwithstanding some of these short term impacts of the rate reductions. We provided our sensitivity to SOFA rates last quarter and our results are consistent with that sensitivity. And let me unpack it a little bit. When the Fed cuts rates, right, it creates short term headwinds and spread income and spreads. As the floating rate assets reset. And this impact generally earns in over two quarters, like I said, some resets are within thirty days. Most are within 90. Of the day of the cuts. So it does depend to a certain extent when the cuts occur how those earn in. I'll also add, most of the effect is in our Individual Retirement segment. As these floating rate assets are used to align the ALM profile with our liabilities that are beyond their surrender charge period. And so we saw the sequential impact in the fourth quarter, which was around $30,000,000 And as we earlier stated, our individual retirement spreads also reflect a marginal single digit spread compression.

As the new business cost of funds are lower than the in force cost of funds. And of the 18 bps of sequential compression, most of it was due to resets. So once the floater reset cycle earns through, we do expect spread [indiscernible] And we expect to continue above all to enjoy positive net flows in the general account.

Further supporting our future growth and spread income. And are confident in achieving our financial objectives and growing not only the spread income, but our other sources of income and increasing our earnings per share over time. Thank you. And my follow-up is on the EPS growth target of 10% to 15% that you mentioned. Should be using for 2024 for that, like should we just use the reported one externable items and normalizing for VII?

Hey, Kavy, it's Elias. Yes, I would go with the reported. EPS going forward. As Kevin said in his comments, we expect to grow it on average 10% to 15% per year. 25% will be on the lighter end of that given the earn end of the actions the Fed has already taken into consideration. But I repeat, we've got four levers on how we're going to deliver the growth in EPS. Whether it's organic growth, balance sheet optimization, continued focus on expenses and capital management. So those levers that brought us to here have more upside and we're confident in our ability to continue to grow EPS going forward.

Thank you. [indiscernible] Our next question comes from Alex Scott at Barclays.

First one I have is on the cash flow. I think you mentioned that you expect some growth off of the subsidiary dividends, the holdco that you had in 2024 as we look into 2025. And so I just wanted to if you could help us I think through the components of that. I mean, the spread compression is a little bit of a headwind, but what are some of the things that are benefiting cash flow [indiscernible] whether it's Bermuda or other things, Hey, Alex, it's Elias. So there's different variables that could contribute to the cash generation in the insurance companies. And part of it is the diversified revenue sources we have. And that's contributed to stability in the cash flow generation. Over time. We're also focused on expenses and reducing expenses in the business units. And then what Bermuda does, it's another tool in our capital management toolkit that gives us financial flexibility to make sure we deliver on our capital management objectives while creating capacity to grow the business and allow us to grow earnings and cash flows over time. So the combination of those things gives us the confidence in increasing the dividends from the insurance companies while continuing to grow the business.

That's helpful. Thank you. And just on the The pillar that you kind of talked about with the capital optimization, Now that Bermuda, I don't want to say fully behind you, but it sounds like a lot of the work has been done there at this point. I mean, where does your focus turn in terms of what's next on work that's being done there? Are you still exploring potential third party reinsurance? Are there other things that you can do internally?

Just interested in any color there.

Yes, thanks. I mean, there's a couple of different levers relative to balance sheet optimization. We've done a lot of work in the asset portfolio, but there continues to be some additional opportunities there. As you've pointed out, I mean, reinsurance another lever that we have available. We have been working a lot on Bermuda as an extension management toolkit. In the mid year, we started seeding the fixed annuity and indexed annuity new business. As well as new business on structured settlements and term life. But we still have further opportunities both for in force and new business sessions, and we continue to evaluate opportunities there. While we focused on Bermuda in 2024, we continue to evaluate potential external transactions. Some discussions further along than others. And we continue to evaluate all options in the interest of driving shareholder value. And then the other thing I would say on balance sheet is we do expect CII to recover to our long term expectations of 8% to 9% this year. Albeit the back half of the year is going to be stronger than the first half based on our expectation.

Got it. Thank you. The next question is from Ryan Krueger at KBW.

Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning. Wanted to come back to the EPS growth because I think I just want to make sure we get twenty twenty five on the right basis with your expectations. So guess given the spread pressures that I know are near term in nature, but I guess to me, it would seem logical that your EPS growth would be less than in 2025. I know you said laggard end, but don't want to get in a situation where 10% and then consensus is too high. So can you give any more clarification on you're thinking about this?

Yes, it's Ryan. And I want to clarify also my response to KB. We're looking at what's our core EPS. That's what we're targeting for growth. Right now, given the current outlook, we do think EPS will grow. It will be less than 10%. There are a number of dynamics As you mentioned, spread income, but that's only like 50% of our revenue sources. There's a short term impact in the front part of the year. But if you look at our fee income and the underwriting margins we have, we do see favorable conditions for those to grow in 2025.

And as Kevin said, they're on VII. We are based on the current outlook, we do expect it to recover close to our long term expectations and we're focused on reducing expenses and we're also focused on returning capital to shareholder. So collectively that will grow EPS, but we do think it could be lighter than [indiscernible] Sorry, I did believer this, but the starting point So I think you reported $483,000,000 Is that are we should we be normalizing for both notable items and lower VII or what's the right basis No, that would be the right basis. So adjust the VII performance as well as adjust for notable items.

Okay, thanks. And then just on can you expand on the potential for further expense efficiencies. I think And how I guess how meaningful you're thinking that could be over the next several years?

Yes, thanks. I mean, first of all, what I'd say is that we have the other $50,000,000 on Corebridge Forward that's going to earn in throughout the course of the year. And our current focus is on the our data our actuarial and finance and applying digitization and automation capabilities across the business. On a same store basis, we are looking to reduce our unit costs over time. We don't have any particular targets to announce. At this point relative to expenses, but we continue to work through our opportunities and plans.

And do expect to increase our expense efficiencies over time.

Thank you.

The next question is from Elyse Greenspan at Wells Okay.

Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks. Good morning. My first question was on individual retirement. You guys highlighted that surrender rates would increase. Over the coming year. Can you just give a little bit more color [indiscernible] expectations [indiscernible] For Q1, but even throughout 2025?

Yes. Thanks, Elyse. Good morning. Look, our experience surrender rates reflect where market interest rates and credit spreads are at any given time. Also pointing out that these are the same factors that reflect in new business volumes. And we have not seen anything in the last several cycles of surrender rates that were outside of our expectations in this respect. And we do expect that surrender rates going forward will continue to reflect that.

Certainly in the fourth quarter, based on the conditions there, we saw lower surrender rates than we have experienced in some time. What I will point out is there's a natural growth in our portfolio. We've consistently been growing index annuities for basically a decade. And the last couple of years, fixed annuity growth has been several has been strong for several years. So that will impact the volume of product exiting the surrender charge protection, but not necessarily [indiscernible] where the new business conditions are. And what I'd say right now is that the current environment and expectations are that new business conditions are very supportive. The margins are attractive. And we continue to expect our general accounts and spread income will grow over And also I'll point out spread income is just one of our sources of income. And we're also expanding our portfolio such as which which is off to a great start. So So the surrender rates we will reflect where market conditions are. But our portfolio has been growing over time. So the amount of surrender the amount of product exiting surrender charge protection, that's what's expected to increase over time. And then, my second question on capital return.

Is the baseline expectation just that you'll be within the 60% to 65% target in all of the four quarters of the year? And then then given that we're almost done with Corebridge forward, I'm assuming should we just think about whole co cash obviously adjust for the $1,000,000,000 of debt think about, what you want to have on hand is kind of annual needs thinking about interest and dividend or is there anything else we need to consider? [indiscernible] So with respect to the first part of your question on capital return, The baseline right now is 60% to 65% over the course of the year.

Over the course of 2024. In terms of the Holtco liquidity, we ended the year at $2,200,000,000 We had about $1,000,000,000 in for we prefunded for 2025. And our philosophy is to hold cash equal to the parent needs for next year. Which includes debt service as well as parent expenses, which are coming down. As well as for the dividend, which is different than what others might do. We prefund the full year dividend from it. So the philosophy around how much liquidity we need to hold at the parent hasn't changed. That number has come down as we've worked through all the one time expenses that the parents was covered.

Thank you.

Our next question is from Joel Howitz at Dowling and Partners. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning.

So the life results were strong in the quarter and for the full year. Guess, can you guys just mention how favorable mortality was both in Q4 and for 2024? Just trying to get a better sense of how sustainable these levels of earnings are in light?

Joel, hey, it's Elias. So listen, we've been working on improving the coming through our numbers. Our run rate is we think is in the $110,000,000 to $120,000,000 range on a quarterly basis. On average for the life business. With the exception of the first quarter where seasonally we expect mortality to be higher by about $15,000,000 maybe twenty million I think the new run rate for us is you should be thinking around $110,000,000 to $120,000,000 a quarter other than the first quarter for the Life business.

Great. That's helpful. And then just shifting to the new RILO product. Can you just provide us how much that contributed to sales in in the fourth quarter? And any color on expectations for sales contribution in 2025?

Yes. Thanks, Joel. So So we've observed RAYLE as an increasingly important product in the market. As seen in the fourth quarter when it looks like sales for the first time exceeded traditional variable annuity sales. In the cost of the market, In our case, we're very pleased with the RYLA launch so far. I would point out that some of the largest states have yet to come online and some of our largest distribution partners won't come online until first quarter or later in the year. But But the response has been excellent. By year end, we had already received over $90,000,000 worth of applications. And so we came into the first quarter seeing strong momentum. As some of our larger distribution partners are now coming online. So we feel this is a very good start and we are looking forward to continuing to report our progress We do expect over time that we will attain our sort of national market share in this product alongside our [indiscernible] Makes sense.

Thank you. Our next question is from Suneet Kamath at Jefferies.

Please go ahead.

Great, thanks. On the surrenders in individual retirement, is there any way that you can help us size you expect might happen in 2025? And are the spreads on that business pretty consistent with the overall segment or are they different one way or the other? [indiscernible] yes, look, as I had pointed out, we do believe that the surrenders are going to reflect what market conditions are at a given time and interest rates and credit spreads. So So at this point in time, we're not really projecting any dramatic difference from the the conditions that you would read into forward curve. In terms of the increase in volumes, it's an incremental increase in volumes but that also we expect is going to reflect the increase in the overall earnings in the portfolio. So it's impossible to predict what ultimate conditions will be. But we're comfortable with the fact that we're going to be able to continue to grow the general accounts and grow spread earnings over time once we get through the impact of the rate resets. Yes, Suneet. If you look at 2024, we had higher surrenders, but we had strong sales. And the net inflows to the general accounts was about $9,000,000,000 sorry, dollars 7,000,000,000 for the year and we grew the general account and individual retirement by 9%.

Looking into 2025, the fundamentals in this business and individual retirement, as Kevin said, are very strong. So even though we may have higher surrenders, we're expecting strong inflows into the general account for 2025. We expect to grow spread income in the business Once we're past earning in the 100 basis points rate cut, we expect spread income to grow. The fundamentals in that business are very strong, whether you want to look at market conditions, you want to look at the demographic conditions, And this fourth quarter, had it not been for the rate cuts, spread income would have grown sequentially. So we're bullish on the business. It's an important source of business for us. And we expect it to be continuing to grow and delivering strong results going forward.

Got it. Okay. And then, on the fixed annuities, it looked like on a sequential basis your sales were down a decent amount more than the industry. Just wondering if that was if there was anything unusual going on there, maybe more of focus on RILA or something else from a pricing perspective? And would you expect fixed annuity sales to grow in '25 relative to '24?

Yes. Thanks, Janit. I mean, we priced very dynamically relative to where market conditions are.

Normally, we replace our fixed annuity business on a weekly basis. And there were there are micro cycles through the course of the quarter that reflect where our pricing may be relative to others. Often when rates are increasing certain parts of the curve, we can price ahead of that. And likewise, when rates are coming down, we can price ahead of that. And that's I think what you saw in the fourth quarter. The conditions, strategy is to focus the capital where the risk adjusted returns are the most attractive. At a given point in time.

And so we have saw very strong outcomes in the fixed index annuity in the first quarter. So it's not a matter of anything other than reflective of where we believe the competitive pricing was. We see a very robust environment for fixed annuity still, and it's continues to be a very valuable product. There's a whole new range of advisors that have discovered the importance of fixed income like products as part of long term retirement savings asset allocation and we see that trend continue. And as I pointed out and as Elias reinforced, new business conditions right now appear excellent. So we expect momentum. Coming through the year and we do expect that we'll continue to focus our capital where the risk adjusted returns are the most effective. The next question is from Jack Matting at BMO.

Please go ahead.

Good morning. Just a follow-up on the base spreads. In individual retirement, they fell 18 basis points sequentially. [indiscernible] to 10 basis points given the number of rate cuts so far. I guess the remainder, is that just from the new business cost of funds impact that you mentioned or anything else you'd call out How would you expect base spreads to trend moving forward, excluding the impact of short term rates?

Hey, Jack, it's Elias. So the three basis points impact from rate cuts that we gave on the last quarter was for the full company. So with the floating rate exposures concentrated in individual retirement, you got to multiply that by two. Just given the denominator is almost half the total company denominator. So you've had 100 basis points worth of cuts, let's ignore December, you just go through November, that would imply 18 basis points of reduction in base yields and individual retirement, if all three cuts fully earned in. [indiscernible] they didn't all fully earn in given timing and the timing of resets. But what we're seeing is the majority of the 18 basis point compression in the base spreads in individual retirement is coming from the impact of the rate cuts as well as the impact of us reducing our floating rate exposure. If you look at the investment portfolio, we reduced our floating rate exposure from about 8% to 6% in the portfolio at the December. Through a combination of additional hedging or just natural runoff of the book. From it. So the margin compression was small and kind of in line with our expectation. When you think in terms of base spreads this quarter.

That's helpful. Thank you. And just a follow-up on capital generation. Is the 5% to 10% growth rate a good proxy for kind of a longer run growth that you would expect? I guess for 2025, is the outlook at all impacted by sales levels? Like if sales moderated this year, would that potentially drive better near term cash flows with less new business strain.

So listen, there's different variables that influence how much capital we generate. Sales, the profitability of the business, all those are variables. We're very disciplined in how we manage our balance sheet and how we allocate capital giving priority to maintaining a strong balance sheet and delivering on our capital management objectives. And we look at the capacity to support new business in there, which is important to continue investing in the company to grow earnings and cash flow over time. As a baseline for the next couple of years, 5% to 10% increase in the annual dividend is a kind of a fair assumption right now.

Thank you. Next question is from John Barnidge at Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. Looks like institutional market businesses had some good funding agreement distribution and pension risk transfer continues to have some volume. In your pipeline commentary, it seemed upbeat on that. Can you talk about how the impact of some of the industry litigation is impacting your opportunity or the volumes in the market? Thanks.

Yes. Thanks, John. I'm not going to comment a lot about it. I think that the insurance industry is very well positioned with the mechanisms that it has to protect policyholders Fundamentally, some of these lawsuits seem to be challenging. That element of the regulatory mechanism of the insurance industry. It's We haven't seen any impact whatsoever relative to the pipeline and the willingness of planned sponsors to transact As you pointed out, we have since the time of the IPO committed to being a more regular tick issuer and we expect continually incrementally grow. Our GIC and our FABN portfolio. And we continue to be disciplined, but optimistic about our pension risk transfer business, both in The U. S. And The UK. Where the pipelines are very strong. The conditions remain supportive and clients appear prepared to transact.

Thank you. My follow-up question, sticking with institutional markets. Do you view ASR capital regime change in Japan as a opportunity for corporates to participate in. Thank you.

Well, it's a significant development for the market there and if you look at other markets that have introduced similar solvency regime, that certainly has created opportunities that we can explore. Our institutional markets business has been been a good position to engineer and risk manage large transactions and expanding our position as a reinsurer beyond The UK, where we've focused on the pension risk transfer market is certainly an opportunity that we're exploring.

Thank you.

Our next question is from Tom Gallagher at Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

Good morning. The elevated expense in individual retirement on DAC amortization and non insurance commissions. Can you talk a little bit about What's happening there and do you expect this sort of elevated level to continue into '25?

Yes. Hey, Tom, it's Elias. So the commission on is a good expense. That's because we're growing the business. And so that should be viewed as sort of a run rate going forward. And on the DAC piece, it's a combination of tied to volume. As well as the sensitivity to rates with a significant rise in like long term rates and the fourth quarter, there's an acceleration.

In the amortization on it. But none of these items have any impact on our ability to grow EPS or deliver 12% to 14% ROE or deliver percent to 65% payout ratio. I look at it as a growth component, that's a good thing. We're growing the business. [indiscernible] that makes sense. The, I guess my follow-up is can you quantify the FAA and FIA blocks that are exiting surrender charge in 2025 Can you tell us the amount the AUM amount of those? And do you as those come off surrender, presumably they're low credit lower crediting rate. Do you try and aggressively defend those? Do you look to raise crediting rate to try and you have like an ongoing retention program or is it just you let them play out as they will Well, Tom, we've been in the fixed end index annuity business for a long time consistently and managing the economics of new business versus crediting rates on the in force is extremely important part of our analysis and management of this business. And actually earlier in the interest rate cycle, we talked about this quite a bit. I mean, we look at the economics of increasing crediting rates on the portfolio versus the attractive relative new business.

Even surrender rates when they're 10% or 12% or 14%, to increase crediting rates, you're essentially paying the other 6% of the portfolio or 88% of the portfolio in order to protect 12% or 14% of it. And so we do factor into the economics what our crediting rate strategies are. In terms of specifically retention type strategies, I mean, we have to be cognizant of the fact that the advisors that we work with are focused on the best interest of their customers. And so so it's really maintaining a competitive position on new business. And managing the liquidity necessary to support the surrenders. Is the management element of the behaviors that we're most focused on. And then then the size of those? So listen, we're not providing kind of details on it. The dollar amounts will increase but Tom, what's more important is the net flows and we expect the net flows in the business to be very strong for 2025. Saw what happened in 2024. Was roughly $7,000,000,000 of net inflows and we expect '25 to be another strong year and continue to grow our individual retirement business. Okay.

Thanks. The next question is from Wes Carmichael at Autonomous Research.

Hey, good morning. Thank you. On Group Retirement, you had a couple of lumpy outflows in the quarter.

Seems like core flows ex those was relatively in line with your expectations. [indiscernible] nothing really in the first quarter, but anything longer term? [indiscernible] There's a fair timeline between when we learn of of large account decisions to consolidate or move to another provider. And we'll continue to provide a heads up when we have large accounts that we have learned have made a decision that results in a surrender and an outflow for us. What I would point out is that whilst we had some large surrenders and outflows in the fourth quarter, The bulk of those assets were group mutual fund assets, which have a lower immediate impact to earnings. And it's important to monitor the sort of spread based versus fee based assets. And that's why we provide that disclosure in the financial supplement. Not every dollar of outflows is equal.

And we continue to grow our out of plan and advisory brokerage base in this business and it continues to be a very attractive contributor to our portfolio over time.

Okay, got you. And regarding the Black Stone relationship, can you just update us on how much [indiscernible] perspective on how you view the yield uplift net of expenses on that portfolio on a relative basis? Yes. The Blackstone partnership is very productive and the origination continues to be very attractive. It's helped support some of our new business sales and our new money rates The book value at the end of the year is about $69,000,000,000 in assets. And in the third quarter, they originated just under $4,500,000,000 with a coupon of just under 6.6%.

Thank you. This now concludes the Q and A session. So I will hand the floor back to Kevin for closing remarks. Before we end the call, I want to welcome our new partner Nippon Life.

We look forward to working with Nippon and exploring how we may collaborate and learn from one another. Also want to take a moment to thank our many partners who helped us deliver another strong year. And finally, I would like to thank everyone at Corbridge. All of you worked so hard to achieve our success while at the same time living out our larger purpose to make it possible for more people to take action in their financial lives. Operator, you may end the call.

Thank you all for joining today's Corebridge Financial Fourth Quarter twenty twenty four Earnings Call.