Brighthouse Financial Inc (BHFAO) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Brighthouse Financial's first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Michelle, and I will be your coordinator today. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, the conference is being recorded for replay purposes.

女士們、先生們，早安，歡迎參加 Brighthouse Financial 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。我叫米歇爾，今天我將擔任您的協調員。（操作員指示）提醒一下，會議正在錄製以供重播。

I would now like to turn the presentation over to Dana Amante, Head of Investor Relations. Ms. Amante, you may proceed.

現在，我想將演講交給投資人關係主管 Dana Amante。阿曼特女士，您可以繼續。

Thank you and good morning. Welcome to Brighthouse Financial's first-quarter 2025 earnings call. Materials for today's call were released last night and can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. We encourage you to review all of these materials. Today, you will hear from Eric Steigerwalt, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ed Spehar, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，早安。歡迎參加 Brighthouse Financial 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。今天電話會議的資料已於昨晚發布，可在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。我們鼓勵您查看所有這些材料。今天，您將聽到我們的總裁兼執行長 Eric Steigerwalt 的演講；以及我們的財務長 Ed Spehar。

Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for a question-and-answer period. Also here with us today to participate in the discussions are Myles Lambert, our Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer; David Rosenbaum, Head of Product and Underwriting; and John Rosenthal, our Chief Investment Officer.

在我們準備好發言之後，我們將進入問答環節。今天與我們一起參加討論的還有我們的首席分銷和營銷官 Myles Lambert；產品和承保主管 David Rosenbaum；以及我們的首席投資官約翰·羅森塔爾 (John Rosenthal)。

Before we begin, I'd like to note that our discussion during this call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Brighthouse Financial's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Brighthouse Financial's filings with the SEC. Information discussed on today's call speaks only as of today, May 9, 2025. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call.

在我們開始之前，我想指出，我們在本次電話會議中的討論可能包括聯邦證券法所定義的前瞻性陳述。由於 Brighthouse Financial 不時向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的文件中所述的風險和不確定性，Brighthouse Financial 的實際結果可能與前瞻性聲明中預期的結果有重大差異。今天電話會議上討論的資訊僅截至今天（2025 年 5 月 9 日）有效。本公司不承擔更新今天電話會議上討論的任何資訊的義務。

During this call, we will be discussing certain financial measures that are not based on generally accepted accounting principles, also known as non-GAAP measures. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures on a historical basis to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and related definitions may be found on our earnings release, slide presentation and financial supplement. And finally, references to statutory results, including certain statutory-based measures used by management are preliminary due to the timing of the filing of the statutory statements.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論某些非基於公認會計原則的財務指標，也稱為非 GAAP 指標。在我們的收益報告、幻燈片簡報和財務補充資料中可以找到這些非 GAAP 指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標和相關定義的歷史對帳。最後，由於提交法定聲明的時間，對法定結果（包括管理層使用的某些基於法定的措施）的引用都是初步的。

And now I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Eric Steigerwalt.

現在我將電話轉給我們的執行長 Eric Steigerwalt。

Thank you, Dana, and good morning, everyone. Brighthouse Financial reported solid results in the first quarter of 2025. During the quarter, we made further progress against our focused business strategy, including delivering strong sales results in both annuities and life insurance. We also made additional progress against the capital-focused strategic initiatives that we announced last year and that we continue to execute.

謝謝你，達娜，大家早安。Brighthouse Financial 報告指出 2025 年第一季業績穩健。本季度，我們在重點業務策略方面取得了進一步進展，包括在年金和人壽保險方面取得強勁的銷售業績。我們也在去年宣布並將繼續執行的以資本為重點的策略性舉措方面取得了進一步進展。

We ended the quarter with holding company liquid assets of approximately $1 billion, maintaining a robust cash position. We also ended the quarter with an estimated combined risk-based capital or RBC ratio between 420% and 440%, which is within our target RBC ratio range of 400% to 450% in normal markets.

本季結束時，我們的控股公司流動資產約為 10 億美元，保持了強勁的現金狀況。截至本季末，我們的綜合風險資本或 RBC 比率估計在 420% 至 440% 之間，這在正常市場中我們的目標 RBC 比率範圍 400% 至 450% 之內。

As we have said in the past, balance sheet strength is essential to support our distribution franchise. I am pleased with the progress that we have made against our capital focused strategic initiatives, which includes our ongoing work to simplify our variable annuity or VA and Shield hedging strategy.

正如我們過去所說的那樣，資產負債表實力對於支持我們的分銷特許經營至關重要。我對我們在以資本為中心的策略性舉措方面取得的進展感到滿意，其中包括我們正在進行的簡化變額年金或 VA 和 Shield 對沖策略的工作。

As we discussed on our fourth-quarter earnings call, as of year-end 2024, we have fully transitioned to hedging Shield annuity new business on a stand-alone basis, an important milestone in simplifying our hedging strategy. In 2025, we have continued to revise our hedging strategy for both our in-force VA and our first-generation Shield book of business.

正如我們在第四季度財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，截至 2024 年底，我們已完全過渡到獨立對沖 Shield 年金新業務，這是簡化對沖策略的重要里程碑。2025 年，我們繼續修改現有 VA 和第一代 Shield 業務的對沖策略。

While the execution of our capital focused strategic initiatives continues, it is important to note that our focus on protecting our statutory balance sheet under adverse market scenarios remains unchanged.

雖然我們繼續執行以資本為重點的策略性舉措，但值得注意的是，我們在惡劣的市場環境下保護法定資產負債表的重點仍然沒有改變。

Shifting to sales, as I mentioned earlier, we delivered strong sales results in the quarter. I'm especially pleased with the continued sales growth of our flagship Shield annuity product suite, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment. Also in the quarter, we continued to drive steady growth in sales of our life insurance products.

談到銷售，正如我之前提到的，我們在本季取得了強勁的銷售業績。我對我們的旗艦產品 Shield 年金產品套件的持續銷售成長感到特別高興，稍後我將更詳細地討論這一點。本季度，我們的人壽保險產品銷售也持續穩定成長。

Our total annuity sales in the quarter were strong at approximately $2.3 billion. This includes approximately $2 billion in total Shield sales, which increased 3% sequentially and 5% compared with the first quarter of 2024. As we have said previously, last year, we launched updates to our Shield suite that are designed to help these products remain competitive and adapt to changes in the industry, and we remain proud to be a leader in the registered index-linked annuity marketplace.

本季我們的年金總銷售額強勁，約 23 億美元。其中包括約 20 億美元的 Shield 總銷售額，季增 3%，與 2024 年第一季相比成長 5%。正如我們之前所說，去年，我們推出了 Shield 套件的更新，旨在幫助這些產品保持競爭力並適應行業變化，我們仍然自豪地成為註冊指數掛鉤年金市場的領導者。

While our total annuity sales were strong in the quarter, they were down 21% compared with the first quarter of 2024, primarily driven by lower sales of fixed annuities. Sequentially, annuity sales increased 1%. We're pleased to be one of the top annuity providers in the United States, and we continue to leverage the depth and breadth of our expertise, along with our strong distribution relationships to competitively position ourselves in the markets that we choose to compete in.

雖然本季我們的年金總銷售額表現強勁，但與 2024 年第一季相比下降了 21%，主要原因是固定年金銷售額下降。年金銷售額連續成長 1%。我們很高興成為美國頂級年金提供者之一，並且我們將繼續利用我們專業知識的深度和廣度以及強大的分銷關係，在我們選擇競爭的市場中佔據競爭優勢。

As I mentioned earlier, we continue to drive steady growth in sales of our life insurance product suite in the quarter. Life sales totaled $36 million, which is a 24% increase compared with the first quarter of 2024 and a 9% increase sequentially. As we have discussed previously, we have expanded into the institutional space with BlackRock's LifePath Paycheck, or LPP product, becoming available in defined contribution plans last year. Earlier this year, BlackRock announced that LPP is now live in six employer retirement plans, totaling $16 billion in assets under management.

正如我之前提到的，本季我們繼續推動人壽保險產品套件銷售的穩定成長。人壽銷售額總計 3,600 萬美元，與 2024 年第一季相比成長 24%，季增 9%。正如我們之前所討論過的，我們已經透過貝萊德的 LifePath Paycheck 或 LPP 產品擴展到機構領域，該產品去年在固定繳款計劃中推出。今年早些時候，貝萊德宣布 LPP 現已在六個雇主退休計畫中生效，管理的資產總額達 160 億美元。

While inflows associated with LPP are expected to be uneven on a quarter-to-quarter basis as defined contribution plans implement the solution, we do expect to see additional flows in 2025. We remain very excited about LPP and its success to date and we expect our involvement with this product to enable Brighthouse to reach new customers through the worksite channel.

雖然隨著固定繳款計畫實施解決方案，預計與 LPP 相關的流入量在各個季度之間會不均衡，但我們預計 2025 年將出現更多流入。我們對 LPP 及其迄今為止的成功感到非常興奮，我們希望透過參與該產品，Brighthouse 能夠透過工作現場管道接觸到新客戶。

Turning to expenses, corporate expenses in the quarter were $239 million on a pretax basis, which was higher than our run rate expectation. It is important to note that this higher level of corporate expenses is nontrendable and we expect corporate expenses to normalize for the remainder of 2025.

談到費用，本季度企業費用按稅前計算為 2.39 億美元，高於我們的運行率預期。值得注意的是，這種較高水準的企業支出是非趨勢性的，我們預期企業支出在 2025 年剩餘時間內將恢復正常。

Additionally, we remain focused on maintaining a disciplined approach to expense management which is an important aspect of our business strategy. Regarding capital return to shareholders. In the quarter, we continued to return capital through the repurchase of our common stock. We repurchased $59 million of our common stock in the quarter, with an additional $26 million repurchased through May 6. Before wrapping up, I would like to briefly touch on the current macro environment.

此外，我們仍然致力於保持嚴謹的費用管理方法，這是我們業務策略的重要方面。關於向股東的資本回報。本季度，我們繼續透過回購普通股來返還資本。我們在本季回購了價值 5,900 萬美元的普通股，截至 5 月 6 日又回購了 2,600 萬美元。在結束之前，我想先簡單談談當前的宏觀環境。

Brighthouse Financial has a proven track record of being able to navigate volatile markets and periods of uncertainty, and we believe that we are well positioned to navigate this current environment. We remain focused on our mission and strategy and on delivering for our partners, customers and shareholders.

Brighthouse Financial 擁有成功應對動盪市場和不確定時期的良好記錄，我們相信我們完全有能力應對當前環境。我們始終專注於我們的使命和策略，並為我們的合作夥伴、客戶和股東提供服務。

To wrap up, we delivered a solid quarter to start the year, and I'm pleased with our progress as we continue to execute our business strategy. We continued to generate strong sales in both annuities and life insurance as well as support our distribution franchise through our strong balance sheet and robust liquidity position. In addition, we continue to make progress against our strategic initiatives, designed to improve capital efficiency, unlock capital and remain within our target combined RBC ratio range in normal markets.

總而言之，我們在年初取得了穩健的業績，並且我對我們繼續執行業務策略所取得的進展感到滿意。我們繼續在年金和人壽保險方面保持強勁的銷售勢頭，並透過強勁的資產負債表和穩健的流動性狀況支持我們的分銷特許經營權。此外，我們繼續推動策略性舉措，旨在提高資本效率、釋放資本並在正常市場中保持在目標綜合 RBC 比率範圍內。

I'll now turn the call over to Ed to discuss our first-quarter financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給 Ed，討論我們的第一季財務表現。

Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. After the market closed yesterday, Brighthouse Financial reported results for the first quarter of 2025, including preliminary statutory results. Statutory combined total adjusted capital or TAC, was approximately $5.5 billion at March 31, compared with approximately $5.4 billion at December 31. The estimated combined risk-based capital or RBC ratio was between 420% and 440%, within our target range of 400% to 450% in normal market conditions. And normalized statutory earnings for the quarter were approximately $300 million.

謝謝你，艾瑞克，大家早安。昨天收盤後，Brighthouse Financial公佈了2025年第一季業績，包括初步法定業績。截至 3 月 31 日，法定合併總調整資本或 TAC 約為 55 億美元，而截至 12 月 31 日約為 54 億美元。預計綜合風險資本或 RBC 比率在 420% 至 440% 之間，處於正常市場條件下 400% 至 450% 的目標範圍內。本季的正常法定收益約為 3 億美元。

Statutory results benefited from a 25 basis point increase in the prescribed 20-year treasury yield mean reversion point, which increased from 3.75% to 4%. Additionally, as Eric mentioned earlier, we continue to make progress on our capital focused strategic initiatives.

法定業績受惠於規定的20年期公債殖利率均值回歸點增加25個基點，從3.75%增加到4%。此外，正如 Eric 先前提到的，我們在以資本為中心的策略性舉措方面繼續取得進展。

As we discussed on the fourth-quarter earnings call, as of year-end 2024, we fully transitioned to hedging new business for our Shield product suite on a stand-alone basis. We continue to develop a separate hedging strategy for our variable annuity and first-generation Shield annuity block of business. We expect to complete the transition to this revised strategy for this legacy block of business before year-end.

正如我們在第四季度財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，截至 2024 年底，我們將完全過渡到獨立對沖 Shield 產品套件的新業務。我們繼續為我們的變額年金和第一代 Shield 年金業務板塊制定單獨的對沖策略。我們預計在年底前完成這項遺留業務板塊向修訂策略的過渡。

Importantly, we continue to focus on protecting our statutory balance sheet under adverse market scenarios. Holding company liquid assets are still substantial with approximately $1 billion at March 31. We think about our capital strength as a combination of the operating company's RBC ratio, holding company liquid assets and a conservative capital structure.

重要的是，我們將繼續致力於在不利的市場情況下保護我們的法定資產負債表。控股公司的流動資產仍然相當可觀，截至 3 月 31 日約為 10 億美元。我們認為我們的資本實力是營運公司的 RBC 比率、控股公司流動資產和保守資本結構的結合。

Now, turning to first-quarter adjusted earnings results, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $235 million, including an unfavorable notable item of $10 million, or $0.17 per share related to an actuarial model refinement. Adjusted earnings, excluding the impact from the notable item, were $245 million which compares with adjusted earnings on the same basis of $352 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and $268 million in the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted earnings results, excluding the impact of the notable item, were approximately $15 million or $0.26 per share below our average quarterly run rate expectation.

現在，轉向第一季調整後的收益結果，本季調整後的收益為 2.35 億美元，其中包括與精算模型改進相關的 1000 萬美元或每股 0.17 美元的不利顯著項目。在扣除重大項目的影響後，調整後收益為 2.45 億美元，而 2024 年第四季以相同基礎調整後的收益為 3.52 億美元，2024 年第一季以相同基礎調整後的收益為 2.68 億美元。調整後的收益結果（不包括顯著項目的影響）比我們平均季度運行率預期低約 1500 萬美元或每股 0.26 美元。

Alternative investment income was $39 million or approximately $0.66 below our quarterly average run rate expectation. The alternative investment portfolio yield in the quarter was 1.4%. As a reminder, we continue to expect a yield on this portfolio of 9% to 11% annually over the long term. Our underwriting margin was above our run rate expectation, which more than offset the impact from corporate expenses that were high relative to our quarterly run rate expectation. While the underwriting margin was higher versus our run rate expectation, it was lower sequentially, driven by normal fluctuations in the volume and severity of claims net of reinsurance.

另類投資收入為 3,900 萬美元，比我們的季度平均運行率預期低約 0.66 美元。本季另類投資組合收益率為1.4%。提醒一下，我們預計該投資組合的長期收益率將達到每年 9% 至 11%。我們的承保利潤率高於我們的運行率預期，這足以抵消相對於我們的季度運行率預期而言較高的企業費用的影響。雖然承保利潤率高於我們的運行率預期，但環比下降，這是由於扣除再保險後的索賠量和嚴重程度的正常波動所致。

Shifting to results by segment, the Annuity segment reported adjusted earnings less notable items of $324 million, which was relatively flat sequentially. The Life segment reported adjusted earnings of $9 million. Sequentially, results reflected a lower underwriting margin, lower net investment income and higher expenses. The Runoff segment had an adjusted loss of $64 million. Results reflected lower net investment income, partially offset by a higher underwriting margin sequentially. The Corporate and Other segment reported an adjusted loss of $24 million, which reflected higher expenses sequentially.

按部門劃分的業績來看，年金部門報告的調整後收益減去重要項目為 3.24 億美元，與上一季基本持平。人壽部門報告調整後收益為 900 萬美元。結果連續反映承保利潤率下降、淨投資收入下降和費用增加。Runoff 部門的調整後虧損為 6,400 萬美元。業績反映出淨投資收益下降，但部分被連續較高的承保利潤率所抵銷。企業及其他部門報告調整後虧損 2,400 萬美元，反映出環比支出增加。

In closing, we are pleased with our first quarter results, particularly because statutory results were in line with our expectations. The estimated combined RBC ratio ended the quarter within our target range and we maintained a robust level of holding company liquid assets.

最後，我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，特別是因為法定結果符合我們的預期。本季末，預計綜合 RBC 比率處於我們的目標範圍內，並且我們保持了強勁的控股公司流動資產水準。

We will now turn the call over to the operator to begin the question-and-answer session.

我們現在將把電話轉給接線員，開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Wes Carmichael, Autonomous Research.

（操作員指示）韋斯·卡邁克爾，自主研究。

Hey, good morning, everybody. Sorry if I missed this one clarification, but, Ed, the 25 basis point increase in mean reversion point, could you quantify how much of benefit that was to normalize net earnings?

嘿，大家早安。抱歉，如果我錯過了這一點澄清，但是，埃德，均值回歸點增加了 25 個基點，您能否量化這對於使淨收益正常化有多少好處？

Sure. Wes, it was around $200 million.

當然。韋斯，大約是 2 億美元。

Okay. I guess my second question on sales and fixed annuities. It's been a little bit softer the last couple of quarters. And I know you had some change in the reinsurance partner, but would you expect that to accelerate from here or is the competitive environment just not very attractive?

好的。我想我的第二個問題是關於銷售和固定年金。過去幾個季度，情況稍微緩和了一些。我知道你們的再保險夥伴發生了一些變化，但你們是否預期這種變化會從現在開始加速，還是競爭環境不是很有吸引力？

Wes, this is David. I'll start with that. So sales move around a bit, and you've seen that in our results for fixed annuities. The first quarter of last year 2024 was a big sales volume for us. And then the third quarter, as you mentioned, was also a solid quarter after we reestablished ourselves in the fixed market after we brought on a new reinsurance partner.

韋斯，這是大衛。我先從那裡開始。因此銷售額會有所波動，您已在我們的固定年金業績中看到了這一點。去年2024年第一季對我們來說是一個很大的銷售量。正如您所提到的，在我們引入新的再保險合作夥伴並重新確立固定市場地位之後，第三季也是一個穩健的季度。

So when we think about this market, there's a lot of competition, as you mentioned. It is very rate dependent, and we're going to continue to monitor sales volumes and the competitive environment in conjunction with our reinsurance partners. And our goal here is to really have consistent competitive rates while maintaining our pricing discipline. So we are looking to build momentum to drive fixed sales over the remainder of the year.

因此，當我們考慮這個市場時，正如您所說，競爭非常激烈。它非常依賴利率，我們將繼續與我們的再保險合作夥伴一起監控銷售量和競爭環境。我們的目標是在保持定價紀律的同時，真正擁有一致的競爭價格。因此，我們希望累積動力，推動今年剩餘時間內的固定銷售成長。

John Barnidge, Piper Sandler.

約翰·巴尼奇、派珀·桑德勒。

Thank you very much for the opportunity. My question is on your outlook for flows and surrender activity this year. How are you thinking about that trending given the dynamic macro environment?

非常感謝您給我這個機會。我的問題是關於您對今年流量和退保活動的展望。在動態的宏觀環境下，您如何看待這種趨勢？

Yes. Thanks, John. So let me just start with the drivers that we've seen over the last five to six quarters continued in the first quarter of this year as expected. So outflows were modestly lower than the fourth quarter and up over the first quarter of last year, driven by VA and Shield outflows, but specifically full surrenders.

是的。謝謝，約翰。因此，我首先要說的是，過去五到六個季度以來我們看到的驅動因素在今年第一季繼續發揮作用，正如預期的那樣。因此，流出量略低於第四季度，但高於去年第一季度，這是由 VA 和 Shield 流出（特別是全額退保）推動的。

So when we think about 2025, we have a substantial amount of fixed rate annuities, particularly the three- and five-year coming out of surrender in the second half -- in 2025, but weighted to the second half of 2025. We continue to have more shield come out of surrender each month as you've seen, as we've had growing sales over the last few years. And then third, not surrender charge related, but we do continue to see outflows of our variable annuity block. So given these factors, I currently expect flows to be at the 2024 level or higher this year.

因此，當我們考慮 2025 年時，我們將有大量的固定利率年金，特別是在 2025 年下半年退保的三年期和五年期年金，但重點關注 2025 年下半年。如您所見，由於過去幾年我們的銷量不斷增長，我們每個月都會有更多的盾牌被退還。第三，與退保費用無關，但我們確實繼續看到變額年金塊的流出。因此，考慮到這些因素，我目前預計今年的流量將達到 2024 年的水平或更高。

And my follow-up question, how do you think about the opportunity to better optimize your investment portfolio to be more competitive in the rival market?

我的後續問題是，您如何看待更好地優化投資組合以在競爭市場中更具競爭力的機會？

Hi, John, it's John. We're always thinking about ways to optimize the investment portfolio and the investment return. I can't give you any specifics but we're always working on it. So I think we're improving, but we're always working on it.

嗨，約翰，我是約翰。我們一直在思考如何優化投資組合和投資回報。我無法向您提供任何具體細節，但我們一直在努力。所以我認為我們正在進步，但我們一直在努力。

Elyse Greenspan, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的伊莉絲‧格林斯潘。

My first question is just on the RBC move in the quarter. And I think the mean reversion change was probably something within the neighborhood of 25 basis points. So were there any other pushes and pulls within RBC, it seems like it might have been stable to slightly up, excluding the mean reversion change in the quarter.

我的第一個問題是關於本季 RBC 的動向。我認為均值回歸變化可能在 25 個基點左右。那麼，如果 RBC 內部還有其他推拉因素，那麼除了本季的均值回歸變化外，它似乎可能保持穩定或略有上升。

Good morning, Elyse, I think it's closer to 15 percentage points, the $200 million number that I cited, not 25 million.

早安，伊莉絲，我認為我提到的 2 億美元這個數字更接近 15 個百分點，而不是 2500 萬美元。

Okay. So then anything else you would highlight within RBC away from that?

好的。那麼除此之外，您還想強調 RBC 內部的哪些面向？

Sure. So we had some higher -- we had norm stat earnings beyond the $200 million. You see we said it was approximately $300 million. I've also talked in the past about the seasonality of the capital charges associated with our fixed business. So in the past, I had said you could think about maybe 20 RBC points a year from strain in total.

當然。因此我們的收入更高——我們的正常收入超過了 2 億美元。您看，我們說的是大約 3 億美元。我過去也談到與我們的固定業務相關的資本費用的季節性。所以過去我曾說過，你可以考慮每年從菌株中獲得總計約 20 個 RBC 點數。

I would say that number is higher now than it was. And that's a good thing from the standpoint of we're writing business that we think is generating shareholder value. So we all know that strain is a fact of life in the life insurance industry. You have to put up capital when you write business and then you get the cash over time. So we do have more strain, I would say, than the 20 RBC points I've talked about in the past.

我想說現在這個數字比以前更高了。從我們開展業務的角度來看，這是一件好事，因為我們認為這些業務正在創造股東價值。我們都知道，壓力是人壽保險業的現實。你必須在開展業務時投入資金，然後隨著時間的推移才能獲得現金。因此我想說，我們面臨的壓力確實比我過去談到的 20 個 RBC 點還要大。

But we still have the seasonality impact that I've discussed, which is related to the business risk capital charge for fixed, the C4 charge, right? It comes in once a year and then -- I mean, over the course of a year, and then it's released and you start again in the new year. So you will see in the first quarter an impact from strain that's much more modest than what you would see in the subsequent quarters. So there is some benefit in the RBC from the seasonality of the capital charges.

但我們仍然有我討論過的季節性影響，這與固定的業務風險資本費用、C4 費用有關，對嗎？它每年發行一次，然後 — — 我的意思是，在一年的時間裡，它被發布，你在新的一年重新開始。因此，您會發現第一季的壓力影響比後續幾季小得多。因此，RBC 可以從資本費用的季節性中獲益。

And then my follow-up, in past quarters, you guys have spoken about actions to increase value. I think last quarter, you were talking about flow reinsurance, and there's been other actions mentioned. Can you just talk to -- talk about things that you guys are considering right now?

然後我的後續問題是，在過去的幾個季度中，你們談到了增加價值的行動。我認為上個季度您正在談論流量再保險，並且還提到了其他行動。你能談談——談談你們目前正在考慮的事情嗎？

Sure. So we did talk about flow reinsurance. We continue to look at reinsurance options, including flow reinsurance. So that still is something that we are considering over time. I think the top priority today would be the simplification of our hedging strategy for our in-force VA and first-generation Shield business.

當然。所以我們確實討論了流量再保險。我們繼續研究再保險選項，包括流量再保險。因此，這仍然是我們正在考慮的事情。我認為今天的首要任務是簡化我們現有的 VA 和第一代 Shield 業務的對沖策略。

You've heard us talk about how beginning in July of last year, we started to hedge our new product suite, Shield 2.0 on a stand-alone basis. We extended that to the entire in-force block of our level pay plus Shield products and implemented the modeling associated with that in our financial -- in our actuarial modeling to realize the full benefit of that stand-alone hedging for new business.

您已經聽我們說過，從去年 7 月開始，我們開始獨立對沖我們的新產品套件 Shield 2.0。我們將其擴展到我們的水平工資加盾產品的整個有效部分，並在我們的財務 - 精算模型中實施與之相關的模型，以充分實現新業務獨立對沖的全部好處。

And we've talked about modifying our strategy for this block of in-force VA and first-generation Shield. So an underlying goal of that effort is to simplify I would stress, though, that we continue to manage to protect our statutory balance sheet. Our hedging position is, again, maintaining that up to $500 million first loss tolerance that we've talked about. So we still have significant protection. It's not like a wholesale change in how we're managing the risk but it is an approach that we are taking to simplify how we're going to address this in-force VA and first-generation Shield block.

我們已經討論過修改針對這部分有效 VA 和第一代 Shield 的策略。因此，這項努力的一個根本目標是簡化，但我要強調的是，我們將繼續設法保護我們的法定資產負債表。我們的對沖頭寸再次維持了我們之前談到的高達 5 億美元的首次損失承受能力。所以我們仍然受到有效的保護。這並不是我們管理風險方式的全面改變，而是我們採取的一種方法，旨在簡化我們解決現行 VA 和第一代 Shield 封鎖的方式。

Suneet Kamath, Jefferies.

蘇尼特‧卡馬斯（Suneet Kamath），傑富瑞集團（Jefferies）。

I think on the last call, Ed, you mentioned that you weren't expecting distributable earnings out of BLIC in '25. Is that still your expectation? And if that's the case, I guess, what changes in '26 to get the distributable earnings going again? Thanks.

艾德，我記得在上次通話中你提到過，你不期望 25 年 BLIC 能產生可分配收益。這仍然是您的期望嗎？如果情況確實如此，我想，26 年需要做哪些改變才能再次獲得可分配收益？謝謝。

Good morning, Suneet, I recall on the last call that I said that our final financial plan, anticipated dividends over the three-year period from the operating companies. I don't remember a specific comment that I made about BLIC. And I guess I would just say, I'm not going to -- I wouldn't go beyond what I said last time, which is that our plan over the three-year period contemplates that we will take money up to the holding company we don't get into specifics about any annual forecast for statutory results.

早上好，Suneet，我記得在上次電話會議上我說過，我們的最終財務計劃預計在三年內從營運公司獲得股息。我不記得我對 BLIC 發表過什麼具體評論。我想我只想說，我不會——我不會超出我上次所說的範圍，也就是說，我們的三年計劃是考慮到我們會把錢交給控股公司，我們不會具體說明任何法定結果的年度預測。

Got it. I thought you said something about starting next year, but I get the point that you're making. And I guess --

知道了。我以為您說過一些關於明年開始的事情，但我明白您的意思。我想--

Maybe I did. I don't -- it doesn't -- I didn't recall but perhaps I did, but I know my point was that I was trying to make a comment about the three-year outlook for cash flow from the operating companies.

也許我做到了。我不記得了，但也許我記得，但我知道我的觀點是，我試圖對營運公司的三年現金流前景發表評論。

I got it. That's fine. And then I guess maybe a bigger question for Eric. If I look at your stock price at the end of '17, it was $58. If I look at where it is now, it's $58. So in seven-plus years were flat despite all the buybacks that you've done. And I guess, the question sort of like what I asked last time is, does it make sense to just be part of a larger organization where you can benefit from more capital and more diversification and all those sort of things versus being a stand-alone kind of annuity writer?

我得到了它。沒關係。我想這對 Eric 來說可能是一個更大的問題。如果我看一下 2017 年底的股價，它是 58 美元。如果我看一下它現在的價格，它是 58 美元。因此，儘管你們進行了大量的回購，但在七年多的時間裡，業績仍然持平。我想，這個問題有點像我上次問的，那就是，與成為一名獨立的年金保險公司相比，成為一個更大的組織的一部分是否有意義，在那裡你可以從更多的資本和更多樣化以及所有諸如此類的事情中受益？

Good morning, Suneet, how are you? And look, my answer is going to be pretty much the same as last time, right? I think last time you commented on complexity as well. And look, every single day, we're dealing with whether it's complexity or capital generation or sales, et cetera, we're doing our jobs here. We've got a strategy that I think logically can produce shareholder value. And so we're just going to keep following that strategy, whether it's sort of from a BAU point of view or when we talk about some strategic initiatives that we have I talked about them last time.

早安，Suneet，你好嗎？你看，我的答案和上次的差不多，對吧？我認為上次您也評論了複雜性。你看，每一天，我們都在處理各種複雜問題，無論是資本產生還是銷售等等，我們都在這裡做我們的工作。我認為，我們有一個邏輯上可以創造股東價值的策略。因此，我們將繼續遵循這項策略，無論是從 BAU 的角度，還是當我們談論我們上次談到的一些策略舉措時。

I won't repeat them because I think Ed kind of listed some of them off from Elyse's question. But even in addition to what he said, there are other sort of value drivers that we can unlock over time. And it's our job to do that. So we're just going to keep doing what we're doing. We have bought back about roughly $2.5 billion of stock over the years. And our strategy -- with the inclusion of strategic initiatives from time to time is unchanged.

我不會重複它們，因為我認為 Ed 已經從 Elyse 的問題中列出了一些。但除了他所說的之外，隨著時間的推移，我們還可以釋放其他類型的價值驅動因素。這就是我們的工作。因此我們將繼續做我們正在做的事情。這些年來，我們已經回購了大約價值 25 億美元的股票。我們的策略——不時納入策略舉措——是不變的。

(Operator Instructions) Wilma Burdis, Raymond James.

（操作員指示）威爾瑪·伯迪斯，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

You guys touched on this a little bit with Elyse's question, but could you just give us a little bit more detail on where you are with hedging the legacy block, where you're at right now, what steps you have left to complete? And then I know you kind of touched on this a little bit, but if you could just help me understand what you guys did in July with the new business versus year-end and just how the kind of new business hedging played out?

你們在 Elyse 的問題中稍微談到了這一點，但是你能否向我們詳細介紹一下你們對沖遺留區塊的進展情況，你們現在的處境，你們還剩下哪些步驟要完成？然後我知道您稍微提到了這一點，但您是否可以幫助我了解你們 7 月份在新業務方面與年底相比的表現，以及新業務對沖的進展情況？

Sure, Wilma. Let me start with the second one first. So when I said stand-alone hedging, it means essentially you're buying a call spread and writing an out of the money put. And that is the option basket that creates the payout profile that matches the -- what you're guaranteeing the customer.

當然，威爾瑪。我先從第二個開始。因此，當我說獨立對沖時，它本質上意味著你正在購買看漲期權價差並寫出價外看跌期權。這就是選擇權籃子，它創建了與您向客戶保證的相符的支付情況。

On the first question, we're not going to get into more detail about what we're doing. One of the -- I mean, the primary reason not to do that is we run a very large derivative book. We have a very large hedging program and we're not going to talk about things that we are working on and things that we will be doing that could be used to drive what actions we might be taking in the marketplace. That would not be in the interest of shareholders.

關於第一個問題，我們不會詳細討論我們正在做的事情。其中一個原因是——我的意思是，不這樣做的主要原因是我們經營著一本非常大的衍生性商品帳簿。我們有一個非常大的對沖計劃，我們不會談論我們正在做的事情以及我們將要做的事情，這些事情可能會推動我們在市場上採取什麼行動。這不符合股東的利益。

Ryan Krueger, KBW.

瑞安·克魯格（Ryan Krueger），KBW。

I guess just one more question on the changes you're making to the hedging strategy. I understand the simplification point. I guess I was just hoping to better understand like what is it -- like how do you expect the changes to -- from a practical standpoint to benefit the company going forward? Like what are the -- whatever the intended outcomes of what you're doing? And then are you making changes along the way or are you more studying what you want to do and then you're going to make all the changes at once later this year?

我想再問一個問題，關於您對沖策略所做的改變。我理解簡化點。我想我只是希望更好地理解它是什麼——例如，從實際角度來看，您希望這些變化如何使公司未來受益？例如，您所做的事情的預期結果是什麼？那麼，您是否會在過程中做出改變，還是會花更多時間研究自己想要做的事情，然後在今年稍後一次性做出所有改變？

Yes. So it is more the latter for your second question. So we will decide what we're going to do. We will then implement. So it is not a gradual approach.

是的。因此，對於您的第二個問題，答案更多的是後者。因此我們將決定要做什麼。然後我們就會實施。所以這不是一個漸進的方法。

It is more as you described. I would go back to your first question. I highlighted that an underlying goal here is simplification. So if we look at our block of business, historically, the approach we took managing this block of business with Shield and VA was driven by the capital benefits that we were achieving from writing Shield relative to the offset of VA. That had an inherent level of complexity that was more than tolerable, given the clear capital benefit that we were getting.

它更像您所描述的。我想回到你的第一個問題。我強調這裡的根本目標是簡化。因此，如果我們回顧一下我們的業務區塊，從歷史上看，我們採用 Shield 和 VA 來管理這個業務區塊的方法是由我們透過編寫 Shield 相對於 VA 的抵銷而獲得的資本收益所驅動的。考慮到我們所獲得的明顯的資本收益，這具有內在的複雜性，這是可以容忍的。

As we have now achieved what we have targeted since the separation, which is a balanced risk profile, between the VA block and our Shield block. We have decided that we would like to pivot away from complexity toward simplification. And so that is the overarching goal of what we're doing here.

現在我們已經實現了分離以來的目標，即 VA 區塊和我們的 Shield 區塊之間的平衡風險狀況。我們已決定從複雜性轉向簡化性。這就是我們在這裡所做事情的總體目標。

Got it. And then are you able to give us any perspective on how the VA hedge program performed in the volatility of April?

知道了。那麼您能否向我們介紹一下 VA 對沖計畫在 4 月波動中的表現？

Sure. So there are -- we look at grids when we think about our up to $500 million max loss tolerance, and those grids have the equity market and interest rates on the axis. And if we look at our vertical for the equity market -- now again, this is a grid. There are obviously other things that happen in market environments. Basis risk, for example, is something you've heard us talk about in the past is one thing.

當然。因此，當我們考慮高達 5 億美元的最大損失承受能力時，我們會考慮網格，這些網格的軸心是股票市場和利率。如果我們看一下股票市場的垂直情況——現在再說一遍，這是一個網格。市場環境中顯然還會發生其他事情。例如，您過去曾聽我們談論過基差風險。

But if we look at our grid today and you think about this vertical of the down equity market, we show very little impact between zero and down 30. And we show an impact between down 30 to down 50 that is underneath that $500 million max loss.

但如果我們看看今天的網格，想想下跌的股票市場的垂直情況，我們會發現零到下跌 30 之間的影響非常小。我們顯示的影響在下降 30% 到 50% 之間，低於 5 億美元的最大損失。

Wilma Burdis, Raymond James.

威爾瑪伯迪斯、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Could you just talk a little bit more about your share repurchase program and how it works, given it seems like you leaned in on buybacks in April when prices were low?

您能否再多談一下您的股票回購計劃及其運作方式，因為看起來您在四月份股價較低時傾向於回購？

I'll start, if Ed wants to jump in, he can. In the first quarter, I think I laid this all out, but I'll just tell you again, we repurchased $59 million. In -- since then -- since the end of the first quarter through May 6, we repurchased another $26 million. And so we haven't -- you can look historically at what we've done. We haven't given any forward-looking guidance in quite a while.

我先開始，如果 Ed 想加入，他可以。在第一季度，我想我已經把這一切都說出來，但我只想再告訴你一次，我們回購了 5,900 萬美元。從那時起，從第一季末到 5 月 6 日，我們又回購了 2,600 萬美元。所以我們沒有——你可以從歷史上看我們做了什麼。我們已經有一段時間沒有給出任何前瞻性的指導了。

So each time we're giving what we repurchased in the quarter and then up to close to the call date. That's what we did in the first quarter and then post the first quarter through May 6.

因此，每次我們都會給出本季回購的金額，然後直到接近贖回日為止。這就是我們在第一季所做的事情，然後在 5 月 6 日發布了第一季的報告。

(Operator Instructions) Tom Gallagher, Evercore ISI.

（操作員指示）湯姆·加拉格爾，Evercore ISI。

I guess first question is the -- was the $100 million to $150 million of, let's call it, normal capital generation excluding the mean reversion, was that more or less in line with your plan? Like did the hedges actually perform the way they were supposed to you on both the VA and the (inaudible) side this quarter within a certain tolerance?

我想第一個問題是──這 1 億到 1.5 億美元，我們稱之為正常的資本產生（不含均值回歸），是否或多或少符合你的計畫？例如，本季對沖在 VA 和（聽不清楚）的表現是否在一定公差範圍內達到了預期？

And then I guess I'm a little surprised to hear you saying -- sounds like everything is being reevaluated from a hedging standpoint. You guys have been at this for a year. So is it like what's changed other than performance and about what you're seeing, is it you've done more work on the cash flow projections and now you're wanting to have better outcomes? Like why is it you're now reevaluating trying to simplify what you've been spending a lot of time on already? Just want to understand kind of what's going on behind the scenes.

然後我想我有點驚訝地聽到你這麼說——聽起來一切都從對沖的角度重新評估。你們已經這樣做了一年了。那麼，除了業績之外，還有哪些變化呢？就您所看到的而言，您是否在現金流預測方面做了更多工作，現在您是否希望獲得更好的結果？例如，為什麼你現在要重新評估並嘗試簡化你已經花費大量時間的事情？只是想了解幕後發生的事情。

Yes. So let me start with your first question. I think I said in my prepared remarks that results were in line with our expectations. And so I would just reiterate that again that the first quarter statutory results were close to what we thought they were going to be. And obviously, the performance of our hedge portfolio is a key component of that expectation.

是的。那麼讓我先回答你的第一個問題。我想我在準備好的發言中說過，結果符合我們的預期。因此，我只想再次重申，第一季的法定結果接近我們預期的水平。顯然，我們的對沖投資組合的表現是這項預期的關鍵組成部分。

The second part of your question, I guess I would go back first to what I said to Ryan and second, in terms of the time line here, we started talking about hedging new business on a stand-alone basis on our third quarter earnings call. We talked about some additional steps on our fourth quarter call. And we have been talking about how we are working on what revised approach might make sense for this in-force VA and first-generation Shield given the size of the blocks now, given the fact that we have this more balanced risk profile than what we had seen historically.

關於你問題的第二部分，我想我首先要回到我對瑞安說的話，其次，就這裡的時間線而言，我們在第三季度財報電話會議上開始討論獨立對沖新業務的問題。我們在第四季電話會議上討論了一些額外的措施。我們一直在討論，考慮到現在的區塊規模，考慮到我們的風險狀況比歷史上更加平衡，我們正在研究如何對現行的 VA 和第一代 Shield 進行修改，使其更有意義。

So I don't know that it's -- I guess I would characterize it a little differently than what you have, which is this is not a surprise. We've been talking about this. It's not a wholesale change. I just described to you, for example, that we're very protected for what we believe were very protected for an adverse market environment, which has always been our overarching goal to protect the statutory balance sheet. So I wouldn't -- I wouldn't say that it's a -- it's a wholesale change. It's an approach that we think now makes sense given where we are in this current market environment with the current mix of business that we have.

所以我不知道——我想我會對它做出與你們稍有不同的描述，這並不奇怪。我們一直在談論這件事。這並不是徹底的改變。例如，我剛才向您描述過，我們認為在惡劣的市場環境下，我們受到了很好的保護，保護法定資產負債表一直是我們的首要目標。所以我不會——我不會說這是一個——這是一個徹底的改變。考慮到我們目前的市場環境和業務組合，我們認為這種方法是合理的。

Okay. Appreciate that, Ed. So really, this isn't going back to the drawing board wanting to do something meaningfully different? Would you say it's not wanting to pigeonhole you to a sound bite, but not -- would you say the frameworks in place and this is going to be making some changes to it or is it possible there's going to be something more meaningful? I just want to make sure I'm fully understanding like what the message is.

好的。非常感謝，埃德。那麼，實際上，這並不是回到繪圖板上，想要做一些有意義的不同的事情嗎？您是否會說這並不是想將您限制在一個聲音片段中，而是——您是否會說現有的框架將對其進行一些改變，或者是否有可能出現一些更有意義的事情？我只是想確保我完全理解這個訊息。

Yes, this is not going back to the drawing board.

是的，這並不是從頭再來。

Alex Scott, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的亞歷克斯·斯科特。

Maybe the first one for you, just on the cash flow projections you've given us over time, and I know you don't have any (inaudible) sort of officially out there right now. But I feel like there was a time where we expect these cash flows to like really inflect up over time. It seems to be getting pushed out. Is it just keep getting -- pushing -- is it getting pushed out? Or at this point, is it not reasonable to expect the cash flows would inflect up on the in-force block.

也許對您來說這是第一個問題，只是關於您在一段時間內向我們提供的現金流量預測，而且我知道您現在還沒有任何（聽不清楚）官方的資訊。但我覺得曾經有一段時間我們預計這些現金流會隨著時間的推移而真正增加。它似乎被排擠了。它是否只是不斷地推擠——它是否被推出去？或者在這一點上，預期現金流會對有效區塊產生影響是否不合理。

I'm just trying to understand that and if it's not, like what is it that's causing that? And like why wouldn't you need to adjust your balance sheet for that if it's not coming to fruition?

我只是想了解這一點，如果不是，那是什麼原因造成的呢？如果這個目標沒有實現，那為什麼你不需要調整你的資產負債表呢？

Yes. Could you clarify -- Alex, could you clarify that last comment, you trailed off a little bit, adjust our balance sheet for what?

是的。你能澄清一下嗎——亞歷克斯，你能澄清一下最後一條評論嗎，你稍微停頓了一下，調整我們的資產負債表是為了什麼？

Sure. I'm saying if you thought that eventually the reserves would release and you'd have more cash flow coming through and they're not, then do we need be concerned that if you don't find some strategic alternatives here that you would need to make a bigger adjustment to the statutory balance sheet, I guess, or the GAAP balance sheet, right, which I guess is more the GAAP balance sheet just given the GAAP equities, a heck is a lot higher than the stat. But I'm just trying to think about risk of -- risk around reserves, liability, valuation, whether GAAP or stat is -- there's no strategic alternatives. And if the cash flows really aren't inflecting upwards the way that you guys have kind of thought over the last few years?

當然。我是說，如果您認為最終儲備金將會釋放，您將有更多的現金流，但事實並非如此，那麼我們是否需要擔心，如果您在這裡找不到一些戰略替代方案，您將需要對法定資產負債表或 GAAP 資產負債表進行更大的調整，我猜，對，我猜這更像是 GAAP 資產負債表，因為 GAAP 股票比統計數據高得多。但我只是試著思考一下風險——圍繞儲備、負債、估值的風險，無論是 GAAP 還是統計量——都沒有策略替代方案。如果現金流真的沒有像你們過去幾年所想的那樣向上成長呢？

Yes. So, Alex, there's a lot that you're talking about here. I mean -- I mean, look, we're not going to discuss cash flow projections prior to having cash flow projections. I mean, we have put them out. You can deduce what you would like from what we have put out in the past.

是的。所以，亞歷克斯，你在這裡談論了很多事情。我的意思是——我的意思是，看，我們不會在有現金流量預測之前討論現金流量預測。我的意思是，我們已經把它們放出去了。您可以從我們過去發布的內容中推斷出您想要的內容。

But as I've said over the years, this is a very significant effort to create those cash flows. And as I said on the last call, we have things that we're working on to make sure that we have the right positioning, like I just said, on this revision to how we're going to hedge this in-force VA first-generation Shield block before we would be putting out new projected cash flows.

但正如我多年來所說的那樣，這是創造現金流的一項非常重要的努力。正如我在上次電話會議上所說的那樣，我們正在努力確保我們有正確的定位，就像我剛才說的，在我們推出新的預計現金流之前，我們將對如何對沖這一有效的 VA 第一代 Shield 區塊進行修訂。

So it's, number one, the priority of the people in the finance organization and elsewhere, to work on this simplification effort for the hedging strategy. And then after that, it would be to turn our attention to other things, which would include the cash flow projections. So clearly, we're in May right now, and you could probably deduce from my comments that the midyear target for releasing the long-term statutory free cash flow projections is no longer realistic.

因此，金融機構和其他地方的人員的首要任務就是努力簡化對沖策略。然後，我們就會將注意力轉向其他事情，包括現金流預測。顯然，現在已經是五月了，從我的評論中你可能已經推斷出，發布長期法定自由現金流預測的年中目標已經不再現實。

I had suggested on the last quarter call that there was a chance it was slipping because of the other things we're focused on. And I would confirm now that we don't have an updated date for when we would do it. But I don't think we would continue to stick with the midyear that we had said to you in the past.

我在上個季度的電話會議上曾表示，由於我們關注的是其他事情，所以有可能會下滑。現在我可以確認，我們還沒有確定具體的實施日期。但我不認為我們會繼續堅持我們過去對你們說過的年中計劃。

And so everything else that you're asking, I think you would have to think about what questions you would want to ask after you see the updated numbers because we're not going to go into discussions about cash flow projections that were put out, I guess, last September. Sorry, sorry, sorry, two Septembers ago.

所以，對於您問的所有其他問題，我想您必須考慮在看到更新後的數字後您想問什麼問題，因為我們不會討論去年 9 月發布的現金流預測。抱歉，抱歉，抱歉，兩年前的九月。

Got it. That's helpful. And thank you for entertaining the question. Maybe one that's much more on a positive note, we -- as much as we focus about the in-force, you all have talked about the growth opportunities. When you think across (inaudible), demographic changes, annuities and the potential for that to take a much bigger share of 401(k) assets over time.

知道了。這很有幫助。感謝您回答這個問題。也許更積極的一點是，我們——儘管我們關注的是現有員工，但你們都談到了成長機會。當你考慮（聽不清楚）、人口變化、年金以及隨著時間的推移，年金佔據 401（k）資產更大份額的可能性。

I mean, how do you think about the value there and just what you can do with that if you had more capital flexibility? I mean, if Brighthouse had more capital flexibility, would it be a game changer for what you could do in terms of growth into some of those opportunities? And how big can these opportunities be?

我的意思是，如果您擁有更多的資本靈活性，您如何看待那裡的價值以及您可以用它做什麼？我的意思是，如果 Brighthouse 擁有更多的資本靈活性，它是否會改變您在這些機會中的成長方式？這些機會有多大？

I'll start and Myles or David might want to jump in. So far, we've been able to grow everywhere we want to. I don't think we said this, maybe I said it in my prepared remarks, I can't remember. But March was our highest (inaudible) RILA sales month ever. So I mean, we're growing well.

我先開始，Myles 或 David 可能也想加入。到目前為止，我們已經能夠在任何我們想要的地方成長。我不認為我們說過這個，也許我在準備好的發言中說過，我不記得了。但三月是我們有史以來最高的（聽不清楚）RILA 銷售月份。所以我的意思是，我們發展得很好。

LifePath Paycheck, I think you mentioned, that's going to take some time, obviously. And I've said over and over that the flows will be intermittent. But we certainly expect more this year. And -- I and others think that the growth possibilities are fantastic potentially. We're not constrained there.

LifePath Paycheck，我想您提到過，這顯然需要一些時間。我已經多次說過，資金流動將是間歇性的。但我們今年肯定會有更多期待。而且——我和其他人都認為其潛在的成長潛力是巨大的。我們在那裡不受限制。

You do have to remember, right, as David said, I thought pretty eloquently, it's about growth. It's about our fabulous distributors. But it's also about pricing discipline. So we're constantly looking at that balance. And right now, I don't feel like we're constrained to grow.

你確實必須記住，對吧，正如大衛所說，我認為非常有說服力，這是關於成長的。這是關於我們出色的經銷商的。但這也與定價紀律有關。因此我們一直在關注這種平衡。而現在，我並不覺得我們的發展受到了限制。

We've never once -- I have never won some staring at miles here, told him, you can't sell. He's unconstrained, but we are going to run this company for profitable growth. David or Myles, do you want to add anything?

我們從來沒有一次——我從來沒有贏過一些盯著這裡的英里，告訴他，你不能賣。他不受約束，但我們將經營這家公司以實現獲利成長。David 或 Myles，你們還有什麼要補充嗎？

You nailed it , Eric.

你說對了，艾瑞克。

Wes Carmichael, Autonomous Research.

韋斯·卡邁克爾，自主研究。

I had a question on surrenders in the annuity business. And if I look at the AUM roll forward for VA and Shield, that surrender rate, maybe it's consistent quarter to quarter, but it's been picking up steam for quite some time. So just hoping you could talk a little bit about what you're seeing is that legacy VA, what types of products are surrendering here? And would you expect that pace to continue?

我對年金業務中的退保有疑問。如果我看一下 VA 和 Shield 的 AUM 滾動情況，那麼退保率可能與每個季度都保持一致，但已經持續上升了相當長一段時間。所以只是希望您能稍微談談您所看到的遺留 VA，哪些類型的產品正在放棄？您預計這種速度會持續下去嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Wes. So very similar remarks to John's question earlier. But the drivers that we've seen over the last five to six quarters continued in the first quarter of 2025. So we're seeing full surrenders of Shield and VA. And you think about Shield, we have more business coming out of the sort of intercharge period. Outflows are weighted to VA, continue to benefit from the outflows of the capital-intensive legacy blocks.

是的。謝謝，韋斯。這與約翰之前提出的問題非常相似。但我們在過去五到六個季度中看到的驅動因素將在 2025 年第一季繼續存在。所以我們看到了 Shield 和 VA 的全面投降。想想 Shield，我們在這種過渡期內會有更多的業務出現。資金流出主要集中在 VA，繼續受益於資本密集型遺留區塊的資金流出。

But given the volume of business that we've written, Shield is becoming a larger contributor to the outflows and from time to time, based on sales volumes, fixed annuities as well. So kind of where we think -- where I think about the flows for 2025, at the 2024 level or higher in 2025 is kind of the current expectation. And really, the difference year-over-year is more business from our fixed annuities coming out of surrender charge and that sort of weighted to the second half of the year.

但考慮到我們所承保的業務量，Shield 正在成為資金流出的更大貢獻者，根據銷售量，有時固定年金也會出現這種情況。所以，我認為 2025 年的流量將達到 2024 年的水平或更高，這是目前的預期。實際上，與去年同期相比，我們的固定年金業務因退保費用而產生的業務增多，而這種業務增多集中在下半年。

Got it. That's helpful, David. And just last one. I think last quarter, there was a $100 million or so cash injection into BLIC from the parent. And as we move forward to this quarter, RBC has improved here.

知道了。這很有幫助，大衛。只剩最後一個了。我認為上個季度母公司向 BLIC 注入了約 1 億美元的現金。隨著本季的推進，RBC 在這方面取得了進步。

I guess would you expect capital that's injected down there to stay down there? It seems like you've got a lot of liquidity at the holdco, but I guess in my mind, it always gives you a bit more flexibility if capital is at the top of the house.

我想，您是否希望注入那裡的資本留在那裡？看起來控股公司擁有大量流動性，但我想，如果資本處於最高水平，它總是會給你更多的靈活性。

Yeah, Wes, hey. I would just go back to what I said, I think, in response to Suneet's question, which is our three-year financial plan does contemplate dividends to the holding company.

是的，韋斯，嘿。我想回到我回答 Suneet 的問題時所說的話，那就是我們的三年財務計劃確實考慮向控股公司派發股息。

Tom Gallagher, Evercore ISI.

湯姆·加拉格爾，Evercore ISI。

Thanks. Hey, Eric, just wanted to get your perspective. We obviously have had recent industry transactions that certainly matter for Brighthouse from a business mix standpoint on the private side. You had the met VA (inaudible) deal, you had the Lincoln partnership announcement with Bain. I'm sure you guys are paying close attention to those. Anything you read into those on, we'll call it, market pricing points as it relates to private public. And anything that informed you on your business risk market dynamics? Anything you can comment on either one of those or kind of in a broader sense, what do you think is happening from an industry standpoint?

謝謝。嘿，艾瑞克，我只是想聽聽你的看法。顯然，我們最近進行了行業交易，從私人方面的業務組合角度來看，這對 Brighthouse 來說無疑很重要。您已經與 VA（聽不清楚）達成了協議，並宣布了與貝恩的林肯合作協議。我確信你們正在密切注意這些。您讀到的任何內容，我們都稱之為與私人大眾相關的市場定價點。有什麼可以告知您有關您的業務風險市場動態的資訊嗎？您能否對其中任何一個發表評論，或者從更廣泛的意義上講，您認為從行業角度來看正在發生什麼？

Sure, Tom. So you're referring to the Bain-Lincoln transaction, I think, and then I think you mentioned the MetLife transaction. So maybe overall, look, you're right. And -- we've known each other for a long time. We look at everything.

當然，湯姆。所以我認為您指的是貝恩-林肯交易，然後我認為您提到了大都會人壽交易。所以也許總的來說你是對的。而且──我們已經認識很久了。我們觀察一切。

We look in detail at everything. We're constantly tinkering with our strategy at the edges as any good management team would be doing. So the Bain-Lincoln transaction, I'm not really going to talk about it. I don't think it's my place to talk about it at all, but it's interesting. And it was opportunistic, I'm sure, on their part. And we look at transactions like that with an eye towards, okay, they are to the possible. Here's another transaction that we have to look about at and think about what could it possibly mean for Brighthouse in the future.

我們會仔細觀察每件事。正如任何優秀的管理團隊所做的那樣，我們不斷地對我們的策略進行調整。因此，對於貝恩-林肯交易，我實際上不想談論它。我認為我根本沒有資格談論這個，但這很有趣。我確信，這對他們來說是一種機會主義行為。我們看待這類交易時會著眼於，好的，它們是有可能的。這是我們必須關注的另一筆交易，並思考它對 Brighthouse 未來可能意味著什麼。

And then with respect to the VA transaction, look, I can't comment on any specifics, but I will tell you this. Certainly, again, your gut is always right on stuff like this, Tom. Obviously, we're looking at it. We've been looking at this kind of stuff for years and years. We have not done a transaction. We've done other reinsurance transactions, as you know.

然後關於 VA 交易，看，我無法對任何細節發表評論，但我會告訴你這一點。當然，湯姆，再說一次，在這種事情上你的直覺總是正確的。顯然，我們正在關注此事。我們已經研究這類東西很多年了。我們還沒有進行交易。如您所知，我們已經做過其他再保險交易。

But I would say one thing, this block of business isn't -- you can't logically draw a straight line to large blocks of business, right? So it doesn't really tell us anything with respect to our overall block of business.

但我想說的是，這塊業務不是——你不能從邏輯上畫一條直線到大塊業務，對吧？因此，它實際上並沒有告訴我們有關我們整體業務的任何資訊。

It's a small piece, and therefore, even though at separation, which is now almost eight years ago, there were a lot of similarities between us and our former parent's blocks. Eight years has gone by, very different potentially surrender patterns, et cetera. And then, of course, this is just one block. So you can't extrapolate one block to an average of much larger blocks and really in any company's cases. However, of course, Tom, as now I've already said, we're looking at all these things.

這是一小塊，因此，即使在分開時（現在已經快八年了），我們和我們前父母的積木之間仍然有很多相似之處。八年過去了，潛在的投降模式等等已經大不相同。當然，這只是一個區塊。因此，您不能將一個區塊推斷為更大區塊的平均值，實際上在任何公司的情況下都是如此。然而，當然，湯姆，正如我已經說過的，我們正在關注所有這些事情。

And if -- and if they could potentially be an avenue down the road that we ought to go, then at some point, we could go there. I hope that's helpful to some degree.

如果──如果它們有可能成為我們應該走的一條路，那麼在某個時候，我們就可以去那裡。我希望這在某種程度上有所幫助。

Jimmy Bhullar, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的 Jimmy Bhullar。

So first, I had a question on the RBC ratio. I think, Ed, you mentioned that the mean reversion benefit was around 15 points on the RBC. I don't know if you quantified the benefit of the lower C4 charge a seasonal impact. Could you tell us what that was?

首先，我對 RBC 比率有一個疑問。艾德，我想你提到過，均值回歸收益在 RBC 上約為 15 個點。我不知道您是否量化了較低 C4 費用的好處和季節性影響。你能告訴我們那是什麼嗎？

Yes, Jimmy, I did not quantify it. But I would just say, like I've said in the past, I think the first quarter of maybe '23. I made a comment about this. There was a capital benefit in the first quarter because of the C4 release. And then you will have this business risk charge release.

是的，吉米，我沒有量化它。但我只想說，就像我過去說過的，我認為可能是 23 年第一季。我對此發表了評論。由於 C4 的發布，第一季獲得了資本利得。然後你就會得到這個業務風險費用釋放。

And then you will have it come in as you write business over the course of the year. So while I have said that the strain. I used to say 20 RBC points, I'd say it's more than that now. The average you can take whatever that number is and divide by 4, but I'm telling you that the first quarter is generally going to be pretty insignificant from a strain standpoint. So you'll have more in the subsequent three quarters.

然後，當你在一年的時間裡寫業務時，它就會進入你的口袋。所以儘管我已經說過壓力了。我以前說的是 20 個 RBC 積分，但現在我會說更多了。你可以取平均值，無論這個數字是多少，然後除以 4，但我告訴你，從壓力的角度來看，第一季通常相當不重要。因此，在接下來的三個季度中，您將會獲得更多。

So -- and then I think in your -- in the past, your comments about 5 points a quarter and then that's coming back. It sort of implies that it would be a 5, maybe 10-point benefit. But if I'm not off by a lot, is it reasonable to assume that your RBC could drop in 2Q as -- at least that tailwind goes away. Obviously, the main reversion tailwind goes away, assuming normal hedging results, assuming normal statutory results outside of hedging?

所以 — — 然後我認為 — — 在過去，您的評論是每季大約 5 個百分點，然後這個數字又回來了。這暗示著它將帶來 5 點甚至 10 點的收益。但如果我的預測沒有偏差太多，那麼是否可以合理地假設您的 RBC 可能會在第二季度下降——至少順風已經消失了。顯然，假設對沖結果正常，假設對沖之外的法定結果正常，主要的迴歸順風就會消失？

Yes. So, Jimmy, I guess -- I mean, I said we don't give annual RBC forecast. So I'm certainly not going to get into quarterly RBC forecast, sorry.

是的。所以，吉米，我想——我的意思是，我說我們不提供年度 RBC 預測。所以我當然不會深入討論季度 RBC 預測，抱歉。

And then just on the strategic initiatives that you're thinking about. It seems like capital is not a constraint for growth. So is the reason that you thought of doing things and some of the actions that you've already taken more to just to improve your capital cushion on the balance sheet from a sort of balance sheet standpoint as opposed to accelerating growth. Is that a fair point?

然後談談您正在考慮的策略舉措。看起來資本並不是成長的限制因素。所以，您考慮做這些事情的原因以及您已經採取的一些行動更多的是為了從資產負債表的角度改善資產負債表上的資本緩衝，而不是加速成長。這個觀點合理嗎？

Well, we're [dueling] buttons here, Jimmy. Look, we're trying to unlock capital all the time. and we're going to continue to do that. It helps you eventually remain unconstrained from a growth point of view. So you've seen some of the ones that we've already executed on and you should expect us to be looking at other things as well.

好吧，我們在這裡進行按鈕決鬥，吉米。你看，我們一直在努力釋放資本。我們將繼續這樣做。它最終可以幫助您從成長的角度保持不受約束。因此，您已經看到了我們已經執行的一些內容，並且您應該期望我們也在關注其他內容。

I want to try to stay ahead of the curve so that we can remain, as I already said, unconstrained from a growth perspective, both on the retail side and on the institutional side.

我希望努力保持領先地位，這樣我們才能保持不受限制的成長，正如我已經說過的，無論是在零售方面還是在機構方面。

And just lastly, if you look at your valuation, obviously, the market is concerned about your capital and hedges and other results. You've been buying back stock, which implies that you're comfortable with how things are and you're willing to let capital out the door to buy stock at a reasonable price. So for a company that's buying back stock and has been buying back very actively over the past several years, considering the sale at such a low multiple would seem odd unless there was a need for capital and sort of a dire need for capital? Otherwise, you're capitalizing your business at a relatively low valuation. So what are your views on that?

最後，如果你看一下你的估值，顯然市場關心的是你的資本、對沖和其他結果。您一直在回購股票，這意味著您對現狀感到滿意，並且願意投入資金以合理的價格購買股票。那麼，對於一家正在回購股票並且在過去幾年中一直非常積極地回購的公司來說，考慮以如此低的倍數出售似乎很奇怪，除非需要資本並且迫切需要資本？否則，您就以相對較低的估值為您的業務注入資本。那麼您對此有何看法？

Because I can understand the logic of someone -- having somebody come in and take a small stake and give you a little bit of more cushion. But exploring the sale of an entire company at a multiple that's so low where you're actively -- so actively buying back stock seems a little odd, unless you really need the money.

因為我能夠理解某些人的邏輯——讓某人介入並拿走一小部分股份，從而給你多一點緩衝。但是，以如此低的市盈率出售整個公司，而你卻積極地回購股票，這似乎有點奇怪，除非你真的需要錢。

Jimmy, it's Eric. Look, I mean, I've already commented now a couple of times during the call with respect to the fact that we have not been constrained with respect to growth since the beginning. And then I'm going to assume that you're asking about some reports in the press. And I'm just going to say, we don't comment on market rumors or speculation, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

吉米，我是艾瑞克。你看，我的意思是，我在通話中已經多次評論過，事實上，從一開始，我們的成長就沒有受到限制。然後我假設你問的是一些新聞報道。我只想說，我們不對市場謠言或猜測發表評論，所以我就此打住。

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. And I would like to hand the conference back over to Dana Amante for closing remarks.

我現在沒有其他問題了。現在我想將會議交還給達娜·阿曼特 (Dana Amante) 做閉幕發言。

Thank you, Michelle, and thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. Have a great day.

謝謝你，米歇爾，也謝謝大家今天參加電話會議。祝你有美好的一天。

This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。