Bermuda Triangle Story Archives - Retirement Income Journal

‘Asset-intensive’ annuity reinsurance has NAIC’s attention

By Kerry Pechter Mon, Nov 4, 2024

At an Oct. 24 meeting, the NAIC's Life Actuarial Task Force (LATF) continued to hammer out a new guideline for 'asset adequacy testing' of offshore reinsurance reserves. Starting in...

Published November 2024

Private assets, reinsurance pose systemic risks, research warns

By Editorial Staff Mon, Sep 30, 2024

Life insurers’ exposure to risky assets and reliance on reinsurance raises concerns about their interconnectedness and complexity, research from the Bank of International Settlements shows.

Published October 2024

Briefs from the ‘Bermuda Triangle’

By Editorial Staff Sun, Sep 29, 2024

US insurers hold more private equity, but income on PE drops; State Street sued again for recommending Athene in PRT deals; State Street and Apollo to partner on distribution...

Published October 2024

US life/annuity insurers cede $1.74 trillion to reinsurers, 2016-23

By Editorial Staff Wed, Sep 4, 2024

New capital keeps flowing into the reinsurance segment, primarily via reinsurers owned by investment managers focused on annuity business, AM Best analysts write. These newer entrants co-insure assets that...

Published September 2024

British regulators scrutinize ‘FundedRe’ in pension deals

By Kerry Pechter Thu, Aug 1, 2024

The Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England's financial regulatory arm, told UK life insurers in late July that it has concerns about the use of 'funded reinsurance' (FundedRe)...

Published August 2024

Private credit holdings of US life/annuity firms reach $1.7 trillion: AM Best

By Editorial Staff

Aside from providing new data, this article describes the 'Bermuda Triangle' strategy, and includes comments from an AM Best managing director.

Published August 2024

Offshore Regulatory Arbitrage by US Insurers Explained

By Editorial Staff Sat, Jun 29, 2024

In a recent report, Moody's analysts showed that the accounting 'regime in Bermuda tends to allow for a higher discount rate than other jurisdictions' and this 'directly impacts the...

Published July 2024

Bermuda Shorts

By Editorial Staff Wed, Jun 26, 2024

Nassau Financial gets $200 million from Golub Capital; AM Best affirms ratings of Aspida Group, backed by Ares Mgt; 3M swaps its $2.5bn DB pension for a MetLife group...

Published July 2024

Athene’s group annuities not the ‘safest available,’ lawsuit charges

By Editorial Staff Sun, Jun 2, 2024

The suit against Athene may be a test case for the legitimacy of Bermuda Triangle strategy. In other news from the Bermuda Triangle: Annuity sales boom attracts private equity-backed...

Published June 2024

For Ibexis Life, Cayman Outshines Bermuda

By Kerry Pechter Tue, Apr 30, 2024

This Missouri-domiciled life insurer epitomizes the asset-manager-driven life/annuity companies that have been disrupting the U.S. life/annuity business since 2010 or so. In its first year selling fixed indexed annuities,...

Published May 2024

Life Insurers as LEGO Monsters

By Kerry Pechter Tue, Apr 2, 2024

Michael Gordon, CEO of Axonic Insurance, part of Axonic Capital, sees the future of the life/annuity/asset-management business as an increasingly a la carte affair, where the components of the...

Published April 2024

MassMutual platform to distribute Aspida Life fixed-rate annuities

By Editorial Staff Wed, Mar 13, 2024

The platform, Flourish, is a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of MassMutual. It serves more than 750 wealth management firms managing some $1.5 trillion in financial assets.

Published March 2024

Reinsurance on NAIC agenda this week

By Editorial Staff Tue, Mar 12, 2024

More news: Private ownership of life re/insurers may affect credit ratings, says Fitch; F&G issues its first RILA; American Equity Investment Life reports 2023 results; Global Atlantic closes $10bn...

Published March 2024

This Year’s Legal Battles

By Kerry Pechter Mon, Mar 4, 2024

The life/annuity industry faces three big legal issues this year. All stem from, or are complicated by, the patchwork regulation of financial products in the US, our out-of-date pension...

Published March 2024

NAIC Urged to Limit ‘Bermuda Triangle’ Strategy

By Kerry Pechter Mon, Feb 12, 2024

'The ability of insurers to significantly lower the total asset requirement for long-duration blocks of business that rely heavily on asset returns appears to be one of the drivers...

Published February 2024

Of Athene, Pension Risk Transfers, and Fiduciaries

By Kerry Pechter Fri, Jul 28, 2023

The ERISA Advisory Council recently heard comments on changing the criteria that fiduciaries use when vetting annuity providers in pension risk transfer deals. Athene's vice chairman defended his company's...

Published July 2023

Why ‘Offshoring’ Annuity Risk Is Wrong

By Tom Gober Wed, Jun 15, 2022

Many for-profit US life/annuity companies do not use independent reinsurers. They use an affiliated or captive reinsurer in a jurisdiction like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Vermont, or Arizona. This...

Published June 16, 2022

NAIC Reassures Congress on Private Equity-Led Insurers

By Kerry Pechter Fri, Jun 3, 2022

Responding to Sen. Sherrod Brown's March inquiry, the association of state insurance commissioners gave high marks to their own oversight of PE-linked life/annuity companies. But the NAIC's 'nothing...

Published June 3, 2022

Fortitude Re’s expansion continues

By Editorial Staff Thu, May 19, 2022

Fortitude Re bought Rx Life Insurance Company from Heritage Life. Now named 'Fortitude US Reinsurance Company,' and domiciled in Arizona, it will enable Bermuda-based Fortitude Re to offer clients...

Published May 19, 2022

Why RIJ Obsesses over the ‘Bermuda Triangle’

By Kerry Pechter Thu, May 5, 2022

Private equity is no longer a sideshow in the annuity industry. Its involvement is now the main event. But we know too little about private equity’s growing role in...

Published May 5, 2022

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