Dutch Pensions Go Collective

Today’s financial Goldilocks moment—with strong equity returns and robust fixed income yields—creates favorable conditions for the Netherlands to complete its long-planned switch from traditional private defined benefit plans to 'collective defined contribution.' 'You can almost call it a tontine,' a Dutch pension consultant told RIJ.
Anecdotal Evidence

The Year of Living Uncertainly

By Kerry Pechter
The life insurance industry is sensitive to changes in interest rates and in regulations, and President Trump appears bent on lowering rates and removing regulations that he doesn't like in the coming year. We may also wake up on any given morning to hear that he's annexed an independent foreign country.
Guest Column

It’s Time to Raise the State Guaranty Fund Limits

By Paul McGillivray
State guaranty association coverage limits could also address the question of what is covered when lifetime income riders and enhanced death benefits are a benefit of the in-force annuity. Clarifying this 'rider question' might forestall much unnecessary litigation.

RIJ and ChatGPT Discuss ‘Business Development Companies’

By Editorial Staff
In the many-layered world of private credit, 'business development companies' are an important component. Their bland name tells us nothing. But what are they exactly, and what role could they play in the democratization of high-yield private credit? We asked ChatGPT.

News from around the Bermuda Triangle

By Editorial Staff
Corebridge moves the last of American General's variable annuity business to Venerable, which is partly owned by Apollo and Athene. AM Best confirmed the ratings of Bermuda reinsurers of Prudential Financial (partnering with Warburg Pincus) and Kuvare. KBRA affirmed the ratings of Soteria Re, the offshore reinsurer of Fidelity Investment Life Insurance.

COVER STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

December 2025

Research Roundup

By Editorial Staff
We feature two deep-dive research papers on private credit. One is from Victoria Ivashina of Harvard Business School and the other from a team that includes Amir Sufi, co-author of "House of Debt" (U....
November 2025

Third Point Joins the Triangle, Cayman-Style

By Kerry Pechter
Another asset manager goes subtropical. Third Point Investors Ltd. established Malibu Re in the Cayman Islands, bought a Texas life insurer from Mutual of America, acquired a private credit shop, and received $25m each...
October 2025

Gold, Not Tariffs, Saved the 1890s

By Kerry Pechter
President Trump said his "Liberation Day" tariffs would boost the U.S. economy the way President William McKinley's tariffs did in the 1890s. But the boom of the 1890s came from huge gold strikes and...