美國信安金融集團 (PFG) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Principal Financial Group First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. There will be a question-and-answer session after the speakers have completed their prepared remarks. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to turn the conference call over to Humphrey Lee, Vice President of Investor Relations.

早安，歡迎參加信安金融集團 2024 年第一季財務業績電話會議。演講者完成準備好的發言後將進行問答環節。 （操作員說明）。 我現在想將電話會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁漢弗萊李 (Humphrey Lee)。

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to Principal Financial Group's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. As always, materials related to today's call are available on our website at investor.principal.com.

謝謝你，早安。歡迎參加信安金融集團 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。與往常一樣，與今天電話會議相關的資料可在我們的網站 Investor.principal.com 上取得。

Following a reading of the safe harbor provision, CEO, Dan Houston; and CFO, Deanna Strable, will deliver some prepared remarks. We will then open up the call for questions. Other members of senior management will also be available for Q&A.

在閱讀了安全港條款後，執行長 Dan Houston 表示：財務長 Deanna Strable 將發表一些準備好的演講。然後我們將開放提問。其他高階管理層成員也將出席問答環節。

Some of the comments made during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The company does not revise or update them to reflect new information, subsequent events or changes in strategy. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied are discussed in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

本次電話會議期間發表的一些評論可能包含《私人證券訴訟改革法》含義內的前瞻性陳述。公司不會修改或更新它們以反映新資訊、後續事件或策略變化。該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新 10-K 表格年度報告中討論了可能導致實際結果與明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異的風險和不確定性。

Additionally, some of the comments made during this conference call may refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures may be found in our earnings release, financial supplement and slide presentation. Dan?

此外，本次電話會議期間發表的一些評論可能涉及非公認會計準則財務指標。非公認會計原則財務指標與最直接可比較的美國公認會計原則財務指標的調節可以在我們的收益發布、財務補充和幻燈片演示中找到。擔？

Thanks, Humphrey, and welcome to everyone on the call. This morning, I will discuss key milestones and highlights from the first quarter as we continue to execute our strategy with discipline and focus and deliver strong results for our customers and shareholders. Deanna will follow with additional details on our results and our capital position.

謝謝漢弗萊，歡迎大家參加電話會議。今天早上，我將討論第一季的關鍵里程碑和亮點，因為我們將繼續嚴格、專注地執行我們的策略，並為我們的客戶和股東帶來強勁的業績。迪安娜將隨後提供有關我們的業績和資本狀況的更多詳細資訊。

The first quarter of 2024 was a good start to the year for Principal. We reported $394 million of non-GAAP operating earnings or $1.65 per diluted share, an 11% increase in EPS over first quarter of 2023. Across the enterprise, we continue to focus on growth while balancing disciplined expense management. Investing for growth and innovation in our businesses and returning excess capital to shareholders. We remain well positioned to deliver on our outlook for 2024 as well as our long-term financial targets.

2024 年第一季對信安來說是今年的好開局。我們公佈的非GAAP 營業利潤為3.94 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益1.65 美元，每股收益比2023 年第一季增長11%。 。投資於我們業務的成長和創新，並將多餘的資本回饋給股東。我們仍有能力實現 2024 年的前景以及長期財務目標。

We returned more than $360 million of capital to shareholders in the first quarter, including $200 million of share repurchases. We raised our common stock dividend for the fourth consecutive quarter aligned with our targeted 40% dividend payout ratio. Strong sales and favorable market performance contributed to total company managed AUM of $709 billion at the end of the quarter.

第一季我們向股東返還了超過 3.6 億美元的資本，其中包括 2 億美元的股票回購。我們連續第四個季度提高了普通股股息，與我們 40% 的股息支付率目標一致。強勁的銷售和良好的市場表現使公司管理資產總額在本季末達到 7,090 億美元。

We generated nearly $1.5 billion of positive total company AUM net cash flow after adjusting for the redemption in PGI that we discussed on recent calls. In Principal Asset Management, PGI generated positive institutional net cash flow as private real estate continued to attract investors, and we saw renewed demand for specialty fixed income investments. In addition, general account flows were also strong in the quarter.

在對我們在最近電話會議中討論的 PGI 贖回進行調整後，我們產生了近 15 億美元的公司 AUM 淨現金流量。在信安資產管理領域，隨著私人房地產繼續吸引投資者，PGI 產生了正的機構淨現金流，我們看到了對專業固定收益投資的新需求。此外，本季一般帳戶流量也強勁。

PGI sales were strong in the first quarter, including a rebound in U.S. mutual fund sales. It was the best quarter for mutual fund sales in 2 years driven by wins across equities and preferred securities. Principal International net cash flow was positive $1 billion, our strongest quarter since 2021, driven by robust sales in Brazil. Principal International ended the quarter with $179 billion of total reported AUM. Favorable market performance and strong net cash flow were more than offset by foreign currency headwinds, primarily in Chile.

第一季 PGI 銷售強勁，其中美國共同基金銷售出現反彈。在股票和優先證券的勝利推動下，這是共同基金兩年來銷售最好的季度。受巴西強勁銷售的推動，信安國際淨現金流量為正 10 億美元，是自 2021 年以來最強勁的季度。本季末信安國際報告的資產管理規模總額為 1,790 億美元。良好的市場表現和強勁的淨現金流被外匯逆風（主要是在智利）所抵消。

While persistently high inflation and low unemployment could keep the Fed from cutting rates in the near term, we remain optimistic that investors will continue to move money into longer duration and higher-yielding assets based on our engagements and conversations with customers and distribution partners.

雖然持續的高通膨和低失業率可能會阻止聯準會在短期內降息，但我們仍然樂觀地認為，根據我們與客戶和分銷合作夥伴的接觸和對話，投資者將繼續將資金轉移到期限較長和收益較高的資產。

Turning to U.S. retirement, RIS generated strong revenue and earnings growth in the first quarter. Margins remained stable and at the high end of our guidance, as we continue to focus on revenue generation while investing for future growth. Importantly, the fundamentals of our retirement business remain healthy with strong contract retention as well as increases in recurring deposits, participant deferrals and employer matches.

談到美國退休金，RIS 在第一季實現了強勁的營收和獲利成長。由於我們繼續專注於創收，同時投資於未來成長，因此利潤率保持穩定並處於我們指導的高端。重要的是，我們的退休業務基本面依然健康，合約保留率強勁，定期存款、參與者延期和雇主匹配也有所增加。

Total retirement sales grew 6% over the year ago quarter, and the pipeline remains strong. This included more than $750 million of pension risk transfer sales in the first quarter, building on a $2.9 billion of PRT sales in 2023 across 73 contracts. 2023 LIMRA rankings for PRT were recently released and Principal ranked #4 in industry based on premium and #3 for a number of contracts. We are the only PRT provider in the top 5 for both metrics, solidifying our leadership position in this attractive market and supported by our market-leading defined benefit business.

退休金銷售總額較去年同期成長 6%，且銷售通路依然強勁。其中包括第一季超過 7.5 億美元的退休金風險轉移銷售，2023 年 PRT 銷售涉及 73 份合同，銷售額為 29 億美元。 PRT 的 2023 年 LIMRA 排名最近發布，信安在溢價方面排名行業第四，在多個合約中排名第三。我們是唯一在這兩個指標上都躋身前 5 名的 PRT 供應商，鞏固了我們在這個有吸引力的市場中的領導地位，並得到了我們市場領先的固定福利業務的支持。

We continue to leverage our favorable market position in the retirement industry with a full suite of solutions, and we are optimistic on the momentum we're seeing across our retirement platforms. This week, Department of Labor published its final rule to finding fiduciary investment advice under ERISA and revised related regulatory exemptions. Principal has a history of effectively adapting and responding to regulatory change while continuing to meet customer needs, and we'll do the same with this latest rule.

我們繼續透過全套解決方案利用我們在退休行業的有利市場地位，並且我們對我們在退休平台上看到的勢頭感到樂觀。本週，美國勞工部公佈了《僱員退休收入保障法案》(ERISA) 下尋找信託投資建議的最終規則，並修訂了相關監管豁免。信安有著有效適應和回應監管變化、同時繼續滿足客戶需求的歷史，我們也將在這項最新規則中採取同樣的做法。

We are analyzing the final rule and what it means to intermediaries we work with, along with our plan sponsors and participants. We are encouraged that the DOL confirmed and protected the importance of financial education within the workplace retirement plans with language affirming that educational support to retirement savers enforces positive savings behaviors. Having said that, we remain concerned it will have an unintended consequence of limiting consumer access to meaningful financial tools and advice on top of creating significant compliance costs for firms.

我們正在分析最終規則以及它對我們合作的中介機構以及我們的計劃發起人和參與者意味著什麼。我們感到鼓舞的是，美國勞工部確認並保護了工作場所退休計畫中金融教育的重要性，並確認對退休儲蓄者的教育支持可以促進積極的儲蓄行為。話雖如此，我們仍然擔心這會產生意想不到的後果，即限制消費者獲得有意義的金融工具和建議，同時為公司帶來巨大的合規成本。

In Benefits and Protection, record sales, along with employment and wage growth, drove an 8% increase in premium net fees and specialty benefits over the first quarter of 2023. More than half of this growth is from net new business, demonstrating our competitive advantage by focusing on the unserved small to midsized business market. We continue to grow faster than the industry by deepening relationships with key distribution partners and with our customers.

在福利和保障方面，創紀錄的銷售額以及就業和工資增長推動保費淨費用和特殊福利較2023 年第一季度增長8%。優勢專注於未獲得服務的中小型企業市場。透過深化與主要分銷合作夥伴和客戶的關係，我們繼續以比行業更快的速度成長。

The life insurance premium and fees for the total block increased 4% over the first quarter of 2023, including a 23% increase in the business market. Our focus on business market and SMBs are driving growth across the enterprise. More than half of our first quarter nonqualified sales were part of a total retirement solutions plan. I'm excited about the opportunities across Principal and remain confident that our focus on higher-growth markets, combined with our integrated product portfolio and important distribution partnerships will continue to create value and drive growth.

壽險整體保費及費用較2023年第一季成長4%，其中商業市場成長23%。我們對商業市場和中小企業的關注正在推動整個企業的成長。我們第一季超過一半的不合格銷售是全面退休解決方案計畫的一部分。我對信安的機會感到興奮，並堅信我們對高成長市場的關注，結合我們的綜合產品組合和重要的分銷合作夥伴關係，將繼續創造價值並推動成長。

Before turning it over to Deanna, I'd like to highlight the strong progress we've made against our sustainability goals. We've taken a measured approach to sustainability, ensuring our commitments, such as supporting the growth of diverse small businesses, accelerating the execution of our business strategy. And in recognition of strong corporate governance, Principal is once again named one of the world's most ethical companies by Ethisphere recognizing ethical leadership and business practices. This is our 13th time on this list since it was launched in 2006.

在將其交給 Deanna 之前，我想強調我們在永續發展目標方面取得的巨大進展。我們對永續發展採取了審慎的方法，以兌現我們的承諾，例如支持多元化小型企業的發展，加速我們業務策略的執行。為了表彰其強有力的公司治理，信安再次被 Ethisphere 評為全球最具道德的公司之一，表彰道德領導力和商業實踐。自 2006 年推出以來，這是我們第 13 次上榜。

Approaching our 145th anniversary, we've always recognized the importance of keeping our promises while building a track record of progress on issues that matter to our customers, employees, businesses and communities. Building trusted meaningful relationships across all stakeholders continues to be a bedrock for driving growth into the future. Deanna?

在我們成立 145 週年之際，我們始終認識到信守承諾的重要性，同時在對我們的客戶、員工、企業和社區至關重要的問題上取得進展。在所有利害關係人之間建立值得信賴的有意義的關係仍然是推動未來成長的基石。迪安娜？

Thanks, Dan. Good morning to everyone on the call. This morning, I'll share the key contributors to our financial performance for the quarter as well as details of our capital position. First quarter reported net income was $533 million. Excluding exited business, net income was $376 million with minimal credit losses of $19 million. Excluding significant variances, first quarter non-GAAP operating earnings were $419 million or $1.75 per diluted share.

謝謝，丹。各位來電的人早安。今天早上，我將分享本季財務表現的主要貢獻者以及我們資本狀況的詳細資訊。第一季淨利為 5.33 億美元。不包括退出業務，淨利潤為 3.76 億美元，信貸損失最小為 1,900 萬美元。排除重大差異，第一季非 GAAP 營業利潤為 4.19 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 1.75 美元。

EPS increased nearly 10% over the first quarter of 2023 and stronger than we expected heading into the quarter. This was aided by top line growth and market outperformance despite pressured foreign currency translation impacts. We're confident in our ability to deliver on our targeted 9% to 12% EPS growth for the full year.

每股盈餘較 2023 年第一季成長近 10%，強於我們對本季的預期。儘管受到外幣折算影響，但營收成長和市場表現出色仍推動了這一成長。我們對實現全年 9% 至 12% 每股盈餘成長的目標充滿信心。

As detailed on Slide 12, significant variances impacted non-GAAP operating earnings by a net negative $34 million pretax, $25 million after tax and $0.10 per diluted share. Favorable encaje performance was more than offset by impacts from variable investment income and a GAAP-only regulatory closed block dividend adjustment in Life.

如同投影片 12 中所詳述的，重大差異對非 GAAP 營業利潤產生了稅前淨負 3,400 萬美元、稅後淨負 2,500 萬美元和稀釋後每股淨負 0.10 美元的影響。人壽保險的可變投資收益和僅限 GAAP 監管的封閉式股息調整的影響遠遠抵消了良好的 encaje 業績。

Looking at macroeconomics in the first quarter, while markets were generally favorable across the board, the S&P 500 performed better than mid-cap, small cap and international equities as well as fixed income and alternatives. While the S&P 500 is a conventional gauge for market performance, it is important to note that our equity exposure is more diversified. When you break down the equity portion of PGI AUM, approximately 40% of our exposure is S&P 500, 30% small and mid-cap, 20% international and 10% REITs. Foreign exchange rates were a headwind relative to both the first quarter and fourth quarter of 2023, but remained a tailwind on a trailing 12-month basis.

從第一季的宏觀經濟來看，雖然市場總體上總體有利，但標準普爾 500 指數的表現優於中盤股、小型股和國際股票以及固定收益和另類股票。雖然標普 500 指數是衡量市場表現的傳統指標，但值得注意的是，我們的股票部位更加多元化。當您細分 PGI AUM 的股權部分時，我們的曝險中約 40% 是標準普爾 500 指數，30% 是中小型股，20% 是國際股，10% 是房地產投資信託基金。與 2023 年第一季和第四季相比，外匯匯率是不利因素，但在過去 12 個月的基礎上仍然是有利因素。

Turning to the business units. The following comments exclude significant variances. RIS pretax operating earnings increased 7% over the first quarter of 2023, driven by growth in the business, higher net investment income and favorable market performance. margin remained strong and at the high end of our guided range. PGI tax operating earnings increased 4% over the first quarter of 2023, as the benefit from market performance was partially offset by the impact of recent redemptions as well as lower transaction and borrower fees and immaterial performance fees.

轉向業務部門。以下評論排除了重大差異。受業務成長、淨投資收入增加和良好的市場表現的推動，RIS 稅前營業利潤較 2023 年第一季成長 7%。利潤率仍然強勁，處於我們指導範圍的高端。 PGI 稅收營業利潤比 2023 年第一季度增長了 4%，因為市場表現帶來的收益被近期贖回以及較低的交易和借款人費用以及無關緊要的績效費用的影響部分抵消了。

The expected first quarter seasonality that we discussed on last quarter's call played out as we anticipated. PGI had approximately $25 million of higher deferred compensation and elevated payroll taxes, slightly higher than the impact in the first quarter of 2023. NPI strong performance in Latin America was muted by impacts of unfavorable foreign exchange as well as macroeconomic headwinds in Asia.

我們在上個季度的電話會議上討論的預期第一季季節性因素的結果正如我們預期的那樣。 PGI 的遞延薪資和薪資稅上漲約 2,500 萬美元，略高於 2023 年第一季的影響。

Specialty Benefits pretax operating earnings increased 12% from the first quarter of 2023, driven by growth in the business and more favorable underwriting experience. The underwriting results reflect the seasonal pattern of dental claims, which tend to be higher in the first half of the year.

受業務成長和更有利的核保體驗的推動，特殊福利稅前營業利潤較 2023 年第一季成長 12%。承保結果反映了牙科索賠的季節性模式，上半年的索賠額往往較高。

In life, pretax operating earnings were impacted by typical first quarter seasonality and some higher nonqualified surrenders, which can be volatile quarter-to-quarter. Across the businesses, we remain confident in delivering on our revenue growth and margin guidance for the full year, anchored to our long-term financial targets.

在生活中，稅前營業利潤受到典型的第一季季節性因素和一些較高的不合格退保的影響，這些退保可能會按季度波動。在所有業務中，我們仍然有信心實現全年的收入成長和利潤指導，以我們的長期財務目標為基礎。

Turning to capital and liquidity. We are in a strong position with approximately $1.4 billion of excess and available capital including approximately $1.1 billion at the holding company, which is above our $800 million targeted level and $300 million in our subsidiaries. Our risk-based capital ratio was approximately 400%, in line with our RBC target.

轉向資本和流動性。我們處於有利地位，擁有約 14 億美元的剩餘資本和可用資本，其中控股公司約 11 億美元，高於我們 8 億美元的目標水準和我們子公司的 3 億美元。我們的創投比率約為 400%，符合我們的 RBC 目標。

As shown on Slide 3, we returned more than $360 million to shareholders in the first quarter, including $200 million of share repurchases and $162 million of common stock dividends. We continue to expect to deliver on our targeted 75% to 85% free capital flow for the full year. As discussed on last quarter's call, free capital flow is always the lightest in the first quarter due to timing of capital generation and increases throughout the year.

如投影片 3 所示，我們在第一季向股東返還了超過 3.6 億美元，其中包括 2 億美元的股票回購和 1.62 億美元的普通股股息。我們繼續期望實現全年 75% 至 85% 自由資本流動的目標。如上季電話會議所討論的，由於資本產生的時間和全年的成長，第一季的自由資本流動始終是最輕的。

We are committed to returning excess capital to shareholders and continue to expect $1.5 million to $1.8 million of capital deployment for the full year, including $800 million to $1.1 billion of share repurchases. The pace of share repurchases will increase throughout the year as free capital flow increases. Last night, we announced a $0.71 common stock dividend payable in the second quarter, a $0.02 increase from the dividend paid in the first quarter and an 11% increase over the second quarter 2023 dividend. This is in line with our targeted 40% dividend payout ratio and demonstrates our confidence in continued growth and overall performance.

我們致力於將多餘資本返還給股東，並繼續預計全年資本部署為 150 萬至 180 萬美元，其中包括 8 億至 11 億美元的股票回購。隨著自由資本流動的增加，全年股票回購的步伐將會加快。昨晚，我們宣布第二季應付普通股股息為 0.71 美元，比第一季支付的股息增加 0.02 美元，比 2023 年第二季股息增加 11%。這符合我們 40% 的股息支付率目標，並表明我們對持續成長和整體績效的信心。

Our disciplined capital management strategy is aligned with our commitment to deliver long-term enterprise growth while allowing a significant amount of capital to be returned to shareholders. Based on net income, excluding exited business, we target 15% to 25% to organic capital to support growth in our businesses, 40% to common stock dividends, 35% to 45% to share repurchases and up to 10% to strategic M&A to enhance our capabilities and support organic growth. We remain focused on maintaining our capital and liquidity targets at both the life company and the holding company and will continue a balanced and disciplined approach to capital deployment.

我們嚴格的資本管理策略與實現企業長期成長的承諾一致，同時允許大量資本回饋給股東。基於淨利潤（不包括已退出業務），我們的目標是將15% 至25% 用於有機資本，以支持業務成長，40% 用於普通股股息，35% 至45% 用於股票回購，高達10% 用於策略併購，以支持業務成長。我們仍然專注於維持壽險公司和控股公司的資本和流動性目標，並將繼續採取平衡和嚴格的資本部署方法。

Our investment portfolio remains high quality, aligned with our liability profile and well positioned for a variety of economic conditions. The commercial mortgage loan portfolio remains healthy. Discussed on our last call, we had one scheduled loan maturity in the first quarter in our office portfolio, and it was paid off in January. The remainder of the office portfolio and the underlying metrics are relatively unchanged from last quarter.

我們的投資組合保持高質量，與我們的負債狀況一致，並針對各種經濟條件做好了準備。商業抵押貸款組合保持健康。在我們上次電話會議上討論時，我們的辦公室投資組合中有一筆預定貸款在第一季度到期，並在一月份還清了。辦公大樓投資組合的其餘部分和基本指標與上季相比相對沒有變化。

In closing, I am proud of our first quarter results, demonstrating the power of our higher growth, higher return and more capital-efficient portfolio. We are in a strong financial position and are well positioned to deliver on our enterprise 2024 targets, including 9% to 12% growth in earnings per share, increasing return on equity and 75% to 85% free capital flow conversion.

最後，我對我們第一季的業績感到自豪，這展示了我們更高的成長、更高的回報和更資本效率的投資組合的力量。我們的財務狀況強勁，有能力實現我們的 2024 年企業目標，包括每股收益成長 9% 至 12%、股本回報率增加以及 75% 至 85% 的自由資本流動轉換。

We are grounded in our growth drivers of retirement, asset management and benefits and protection and executing on a strategy focused on continuing to drive long-term shareholder value. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the call for questions.

我們立足於退休、資產管理、福利和保護等成長動力，並執行專注於繼續推動長期股東價值的策略。我們準備好的演講到此結束。接線員，請打開電話提問。

(Operator Instructions). The first question comes from Ryan Krueger of KBW.

（操作員說明）。第一個問題來自 KBW 的 Ryan Krueger。

My first question was on PGI flows. And I guess, in particular, can you provide some more color on the conversations you're having and kind of the optimism you discussed in the prepared remarks for continued improvement in allocations to yield products going forward?

我的第一個問題是關於 PGI 流程。我想，特別是，您能否對您正在進行的對話提供更多的信息，以及您在準備好的評論中討論的對未來收益產品分配持續改善的樂觀態度？

Yes. Ryan. Thanks for joining the call. And Kamal Bhatia is here with us to replace Pat Halter. He's certainly getting well-grounded after having been with us now for 4 years and an industry vet. So with that, I'll ask Kamal to respond directly to you.

是的。瑞安.感謝您加入通話。卡邁勒·巴蒂亞 (Kamal Bhatia) 與我們一起接替帕特·哈爾特 (Pat Halter)。作為一名行業資深人士，在我們工作了 4 年後，他確實已經打下了堅實的基礎。因此，我將請卡邁勒直接回覆您。

Ryan, thank you for your question. Thanks, Dan. Ryan, I'll just reiterate something Dan said and give you additional data points that will help you with your question regarding what we see from a sentiment perspective. As you saw, we had a very good flow quarter particularly on the institutional side with real estate and fixed income. And also, as we -- as Dan mentioned, we had our best quarter in mutual fund sales in 2 years.

瑞安，謝謝你的問題。謝謝，丹。瑞安，我將重申丹所說的話，並為您提供更多數據點，這將幫助您回答有關我們從情緒角度看到的問題。正如您所看到的，我們有一個非常好的流動季度，特別是在房地產和固定收益的機構方面。而且，正如丹所提到的，我們的共同基金銷售季度表現是兩年來最好的。

So I'll give you 3 data points from a global perspective. The first one is retail. And as you saw, we are seeing encouraging signs of turnaround in retail. More interestingly, retail flows are difficult to predict, but we have a different momentum with our client base right now. We see interest expanding across sophisticated gatekeepers, particularly with our higher revenue fundamental equity strategies. And some of these mandates are significantly higher sized but they will continue to be lumpy. That is the big change in the retail space, unlike a trickle that would come from the advisory base.

所以我從全球角度提供3個數據點給大家。第一個是零售。正如您所看到的，我們看到零售業出現令人鼓舞的改善跡象。更有趣的是，零售流量很難預測，但我們現在的客戶群有不同的動力。我們看到複雜的看門人的興趣不斷擴大，特別是我們收入較高的基本股權策略。其中一些任務的規模明顯更大，但仍將是不穩定的。這是零售領域的巨大變化，而不是來自諮詢基礎的細流。

The other data I would point to you is we are seeing early signs with our real estate business. As you know, we have roughly $6 billion of unfunded capital commitments in our institutional real estate strategies which we project to call over the next 18 to 24 months. These are predominantly in closed-end funds and separate accounts. We are seeing early signs of value emerging in that market to call capital but we will have to do so on a selective basis as these opportunities emerge. One of the things I would highlight for you is sellers are finally reconciling to a higher plateau in rates and that's creating a better environment for us as investors in that space.

我想向您指出的其他數據是，我們看到了房地產業務的早期跡象。如您所知，我們的機構房地產策略中有大約 60 億美元的無資金承諾資本，我們預計將在未來 18 至 24 個月內調用這些資本承諾。這些主要是封閉式基金和獨立帳戶。我們看到該市場出現了價值召喚資本的早期跡象，但隨著這些機會的出現，我們必須有選擇地這樣做。我要向您強調的一件事是，賣家最終適應了更高的利率水平，這為我們作為該領域的投資者創造了更好的環境。

And then the last thing to your question on where we see in Global Asset Management, this was a very strong quarter for our international business, particularly in Latin America, and we anticipate positive momentum for the rest of the year, particularly with our Brazil pension business and our Mexico funds business as well.

關於您關於我們在全球資產管理中看到的問題的最後一件事，對於我們的國際業務來說，這是一個非常強勁的季度，特別是在拉丁美洲，我們預計今年剩餘時間將出現積極的勢頭，特別是我們的巴西退休金業務以及我們的墨西哥基金業務。

So overall, encouraging signs in retail, we continue to see more interest from our institutional client base and our international segment is continuing to scale up. Ryan, does that help?

因此，總體而言，零售業出現了令人鼓舞的跡象，我們繼續看到我們的機構客戶群對我們產生了更多興趣，並且我們的國際業務正在繼續擴大規模。瑞安，這有幫助嗎？

Yes, that was great. And then just a follow-up was on the fee rate, down some year-over-year, 28 basis points in the quarter. What are your expectations on the fee rate in PGI going forward?

是的，那太好了。接下來是費率，本季年減了 28 個基點。您對 PGI 未來的費率有何預期？

Yes. At 28 to 29 is where we said it would be and it falls within that range and maybe Kamal any additional comments you'd like to make here?

是的。 28 到 29 是我們所說的位置，它也在這個範圍內，也許卡邁勒你想在這裡發表任何其他評論？

Sure. I'll give you a couple of data points on that, Ryan, as well, maybe 3 data points. As Dan said, we remain comfortable in managing to our 28 to 29 data points. So just with respect to 1Q, market conditions did shift the product mix, which impacted our revenue. As you heard in our comments earlier, if you exclude the previously communicated large outflow at the beginning of 1Q, our flows were positive.

當然。 Ryan，我也會給你一些關於這方面的數據點，也許是 3 個數據點。正如 Dan 所說，我們仍然能夠輕鬆管理 28 到 29 個數據點。因此，就第一季而言，市場狀況確實改變了產品結構，這影響了我們的收入。正如您之前在我們的評論中聽到的那樣，如果排除先前在第一季初通報的大量資金流出，我們的流量是正值。

The other change in the revenue rate for 1Q was based on annual price reviews on our U.S. mutual funds and some of the real estate valuations late in fourth quarter, which also had some additional effect. I would point to the -- moving forward, when I look at the revenue rate, I think the strong institutional real estate flows and fixed income flows. Our fixed income sales are continuing to happen in the high-yield credit space which is a strength of ours, but also in area where generally it is good for management fee rate. And we also are continuing to see retail flows improved, which traditionally go to higher revenue and higher margin products such as equity mutual funds.

第一季收入率的另一個變化是基於我們美國共同基金的年度價格審查和第四季度末的一些房地產估值，這也產生了一些額外的影響。我想指出的是——展望未來，當我考慮收入率時，我認為機構房地產流動和固定收益流動強勁。我們的固定收益銷售繼續在高收益信貸領域進行，這是我們的優勢，但也在管理費率普遍有利的領域進行。我們也持續看到零售流量的改善，傳統上零售流量會流向更高收入和更高利潤的產品，例如股票共同基金。

I would also reiterate for you because clients obviously pay keen attention to performance and that drives flows and growth in management fee rate. We had a very, very strong investment performance track record this last quarter. In particular, I would highlight for you the substantial improvement in our multi-asset strategies that drives our future retirement flows. So the shift towards private assets, which we see improving over as the year goes by, should help with the performance rate as well.

我還要向您重申，因為客戶顯然非常關注業績，這會推動流量和管理費率的成長。上個季度我們擁有非常非常強勁的投資業績記錄。我特別要向您強調的是我們的多元資產策略的重大改進，這些策略推動了我們未來的退休流動。因此，我們看到隨著時間的推移，向私人資產的轉變有所改善，這也應該有助於提高績效。

The next question is coming from Suneet Kamath of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的蘇尼特·卡馬斯 (Suneet Kamath)。

Just a question on RIS fee. I guess we're all sort of going on the assumption that we're going to be in a high for longer rate environment. So just curious if that's having any impact on the participant level withdrawals one way or the other? And maybe if you can talk a little bit about what you're seeing at the participant level maybe currently versus prior years?

只是關於 RIS 費用的問題。我想我們都假設我們將處於長期高利率環境。所以只是好奇這是否會對參與者層級的提款產生任何影響？也許您可以談談您在參與者層面所看到的情況，也許是當前與前幾年的情況？

Chris, please?

克里斯，請嗎？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Suneet. Yes, on a participant basis, we are seeing a little bit of an uptick in the participant retirement withdrawals. So again, that's going to really be impacted both by the strong equity markets, which actually increases account values and then when they take the withdrawals that has of an impact. So we are seeing some elevated activity in participant withdrawals in the first quarter, and we'll be monitoring those elevated withdrawals through the balance of the year.

是的。謝謝你的提問，蘇尼特。是的，就參與者而言，我們看到參與者退休提款略有上升。再說一次，這將真正受到強勁的股票市場的影響，這實際上會增加帳戶價值，然後當他們提取資金時也會產生影響。因此，我們看到第一季參與者提款活動增加，我們將在今年剩餘時間內監控這些增加的提款活動。

Got it. And then, Chris -- sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

知道了。然後，克里斯——抱歉，請繼續。前進。對不起。

I was going to first just make any comments with regards to the higher fees rate environment and how we might see that play its way through in terms of that capture perhaps benefiting that.

我首先打算就較高的費率環境發表任何評論，以及我們如何看待這種情況在可能受益的捕獲方面發揮作用。

Well, we definitely are seeing the benefit from higher interest rates in RIS. And certainly, we're getting some benefit as we capture participant accounts on rollover to the extent that we capture those accounts, either an IRA rollover or SAFO, we definitely are seeing some benefit in bank in terms of those higher interest rates as well. So we do see retirement withdrawals. We capture some of those withdrawals on rollover and to the extent they end up within our bank product, we do see some benefit from that as well. Sorry to interrupt, you can go ahead.

嗯，我們確實看到了 RIS 更高利率的好處。當然，當我們在展期中取得參與者帳戶時，我們會得到一些好處，無論是 IRA 展期還是 SAFO，我們肯定會看到銀行在更高的利率方面也有一些好處。所以我們確實看到退休金提款。我們在展期時捕獲了其中的一些提款，並且在它們最終進入我們的銀行產品的範圍內，我們確實也看到了一些好處。抱歉打擾了，您可以繼續了。

That's actually where I was going to go next. I think, Dan, in the past, you actually used to give us a stat on that, like when you have a benefit event, what percentage of the assets you guys retain? So just curious if there is a stat that you can give us there? And I don't know if you have any sense on how that would compare to sort of the overall industry?

這其實就是我接下來要去的地方。我想，丹，過去，您實際上曾經向我們提供過相關統計數據，例如當您舉辦福利活動時，您們保留的資產百分比是多少？所以只是好奇你是否可以提供一個統計數據給我們？我不知道您是否知道這與整個行業相比如何？

Yes. Suneet, on that one, I think competitors generally don't disclose that. And so we don't disclose that at this point.

是的。 Suneet，關於這一點，我認為競爭對手通常不會透露這一點。所以我們目前不透露這一點。

Correct me, onetime we used to share that number years ago and a benefit event, there's job changers, the retirees. It's really trying to identify the best prospects for Principal and whether that's retained through partnering with our brokers that brought the business to us or it is on a direct basis, but it's -- again, it is a significant part of our value creation for our participants to be able to give them that choice of benefit event for either purchasing a Principal product or, in many cases, leaving the money in the plan, and that's another area that's sort of hard to measure because we don't know how long that money will stay within the plan. But anyway, it's -- there's a real mix of measurements out there in the industry. Hopefully, that helps.

糾正我，有一次我們在幾年前和一次福利活動中分享過這個數字，其中有換工作的人、退休人員。它確實試圖確定信安的最佳前景，以及是否通過與為我們帶來業務的經紀人合作來保留這一前景，還是直接進行保留，但它是我們為我們的價值創造的重要組成部分。能夠為他們提供福利活動的選擇，要么購買主要產品，要么在許多情況下，將錢留在計劃中，這是另一個難以衡量的領域，因為我們不知道這種情況持續多久資金將留在計劃內。但無論如何，業界確實存在多種測量方法。希望這會有所幫助。

The next question is coming from Wes Carmichael of Autonomous Research.

下一個問題來自自主研究中心的韋斯·卡邁克爾。

I wanted to stick with RIS maybe for a moment, but you mentioned the pipeline remained strong, and you called out PRT is one of those areas. Can you maybe just help us with what the size of that pipeline looks like and what you might be targeting in terms of sales or capital you want to deploy there for the year?

我想暫時堅持使用 RIS，但您提到管道仍然強大，並且您指出 PRT 是其中之一。您能否幫助我們了解該管道的規模以及您今年想要在那裡部署的銷售或資本目標？

Wes, congratulations on joining Autonomous. I appreciate you being on the call. One other thing I'm just going to add before Chris jumps into the specifics. We just -- actually, we're on the West Coast together, Chris and I and his team with our institutional client counsel and our institution client advisory group and the feedback was really positive. We really are seeing a strong momentum with our customers in terms of them embracing, helping their participants be better educated, very open to providing additional services to those plan sponsors. And frankly, the IRT integration is well behind us at this point in time. And the sentiment was quite positive. Chris, do you want to go ahead and respond directly to the question.

韋斯，恭喜您加入 Autonomous。感謝您接聽電話。在克里斯詳細介紹之前，我要補充另一件事。事實上，我們一起在西海岸，克里斯和我以及他的團隊以及我們的機構客戶顧問和機構客戶諮詢小組，反饋非常積極。我們確實看到了客戶的強勁勢頭，他們擁抱、幫助他們的參與者接受更好的教育，並且非常願意為這些計劃發起人提供額外的服務。坦白說，IRT 整合目前已經遠遠落後於我們了。人們的情緒非常正面。克里斯，你想直接回答這個問題嗎？

Sure. Yes. I think was your question was about PRT and the momentum in PRT and what we expect for the year? I mean, we certainly had a strong start to the year in the first quarter with PRT sales at close to $800 million. We certainly saw that carryover benefit from the fourth quarter. We saw a good fourth quarter momentum, and that carried into the first quarter. And so we continue to take advantage of that and most importantly, we did that above our targeted returns. As we've talked about in the past, we really tried to get the right balance between gross and net bill, growth in our PRT business and overall returns.

當然。是的。我認為您的問題是關於 PRT 和 PRT 的勢頭以及我們對今年的期望嗎？我的意思是，今年第一季我們確實取得了良好的開局，PRT 銷售額接近 8 億美元。我們當然看到了第四季的結轉收益。我們看到了第四季度良好的勢頭，並且這種勢頭延續到了第一季。因此，我們繼續利用這一點，最重要的是，我們的回報超越了目標。正如我們過去談到的，我們確實試圖在總帳單和淨帳單、PRT 業務成長和整體回報之間取得適當的平衡。

As we look toward the balance of the year, the industry is expecting another strong year in PRT at about $30 billion to $40 billion in total industry sales. We are targeting and we said on the first quarter -- the end of the year call, we're targeting somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion to $3 billion in PRT sales for the full year, and we expect most of that to come a little bit now later in the year as people close out their defined benefit pension liabilities and look at that as they head into '25. So we do generally see a ramp-up in PRT activity in the late third and fourth quarters, and we expect that sort of seasonality of the sales to continue.

當我們展望今年剩餘時間時，業界預計 PRT 將迎來強勁的一年，產業總銷售額約為 300 億至 400 億美元。我們的目標是，我們在第一季——年終電話會議上說過，我們的目標是全年 PRT 銷售額約為 25 億至 30 億美元，我們預計其中大部分將在今年晚些時候，人們會結清固定福利退休金負債，並在進入25 世紀時審視這一點。因此，我們確實普遍看到 PRT 活動在第三季末和第四季有所增加，我們預計這種銷售季節性將持續下去。

And just on the Department of Labor, I know you're still in early innings of analyzing a very big document. But you mentioned a little bit in terms of increased compliance costs. Is there any way you can help us with sizing that? And what you think the increased expense might be associated with that based on what you know today?

至於勞工部，我知道你們仍處於分析一份非常大的文件的早期階段。但您提到了合規成本增加的問題。您有什麼辦法可以幫助我們確定尺寸嗎？根據您今天所了解的情況，您認為增加的費用可能與此相關？

Yes. My guess is that's going to be sorted out over the next 6 to 12 months as we continue to digest this most recent decision on the Department of Labor. It's something I've been involved with all the way back to 2010. One of the pieces of good news that came out of that is the regulation that provides a bit more clarity on guidance and advice in education at the work site, which we find very positive. But I don't think we've got this all sort of out, except to say that it will require more licensing on the part of some of our internal personnel. There's training that will need to take place. And of course, just the appropriate oversight and overseeing these registered reps and staying in compliance and working on matters related to transparency and disclosure.

是的。我的猜測是，隨著我們繼續消化勞工部的最新決定，這個問題將在未來 6 到 12 個月內解決。這是我從 2010 年起就一直參與的事情。但我認為我們還沒有完全解決這個問題，只是說這需要我們的一些內部人員獲得更多許可。需要進行一些訓練。當然，只有適當的監督和監督這些註冊代表並保持合規性並致力於與透明度和揭露相關的事項。

So we'll sort it out over the course of the next 6 to 12 months to keep you apprised of how that's impacting our business. Bottom line is it's something we view as manageable and quantifying the cost is not something we've put a figure on yet.

因此，我們將在接下來的 6 到 12 個月內解決這個問題，以便讓您了解這對我們的業務有何影響。最重要的是，我們認為這是可以管理的，我們還沒有量化成本。

The next question is coming from Joel Hurwitz of Dowling.

下一個問題來自 Dowling 的 Joel Hurwitz。

I wanted to start on RIS fee rates. So the fee rate looked to be down around 2 basis points from where it ran in '23. Can you just provide some color on sort of the fee rate compression you saw in the quarter and the expectations moving forward? And then also in terms of the fee business, how much of the business has revenue that's based off of account value versus per participant fee?

我想從 RIS 費率開始。因此，費率看起來比 23 年的水準下降了約 2 個基點。您能否提供一些關於您在本季看到的費率壓縮以及未來預期的資訊？然後，就收費業務而言，有多少業務的收入是基於帳戶價值與每位參與者的費用？

Great questions, and I'll just have Chris pick that one up, Joel.

很好的問題，我會讓克里斯來回答這個問題，喬爾。

Yes. Great. Thank you, Joel, for the question. So we think fee revenue rate performed largely in line with our expectations this quarter. We've previously guided that we expect in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 bps of compression in normal markets.

是的。偉大的。謝謝喬爾提出的問題。因此，我們認為本季的費用收入率表現基本上符合我們的預期。我們先前預期正常市場會出現 2 至 3 個基點的壓縮。

The one big couple of factors I'd point out, strong equity markets impact fee revenue rate. And when you think about the proportion that's asset-based versus either per member or transaction or flat fee based, about 80% of that revenue is asset based and around 20% is non-asset based. So as a result, when you see a significant equity market performance, it can impact fee revenue rate as the denominator tends to be more sensitive to equity markets than the numerator.

我要指出的兩大因素是，強勁的股市會影響費用收入率。當你考慮以資產為基礎的收入與基於每個會員、交易或固定費用的收入比例時，你會發現大約 80% 的收入是基於資產的，大約 20% 是非資產收入。因此，當您看到股市表現顯著時，它可能會影響費用收入率，因為分母往往比分子對股市更敏感。

In addition, there's fluctuation in fee revenue collection from period to period. And reminder that fourth quarter of last year, the revenue was quite strong due to seasonal demand for some consulting and other billable services. And as a result, because that fee revenue rate fluctuates from quarter-to-quarter, whether it's through the market or seasonality of fees or expenses of fees, it's better to look at it on a long-term basis. And when you look at the trailing 12-month period, the fee revenue rate held steady at about 40 bps. So that's the comment I'd give you on fee rev rate? Did that help Joel?

此外，不同期間的收費收入也存在波動。並提醒您，去年第四季度，由於某些諮詢和其他計費服務的季節性需求，收入相當強勁。因此，由於費用收入率每季都會波動，無論是透過市場還是費用的季節性或費用支出，最好從長期的角度來看待它。當您查看過去 12 個月期間時，您會發現費用收入率穩定​​在 40 個基點左右。這就是我對費用轉速的評論？這對喬爾有幫助嗎？

That helps. And then switching gears to Specialty Benefits. So sales were very strong, particularly in group disability. Could you just provide some color on what you saw in terms of the group disability sales? And then in terms of group disability top line overall, I guess, I was sort of surprised though to see it down from where it was in Q4 given the strong sales, anything that drove the sequential decline in group disability premiums and fees?

這有幫助。然後切換到專業福利。因此銷售非常強勁，特別是在團體殘疾方面。您能否提供一些您在團體殘障人士銷售方面所看到的情況？然後，就團體殘疾總體收入而言，我想，鑑於強勁的銷售，看到它比第四季度的水平有所下降，我有點驚訝，是什麼推動了團體殘疾保費和費用的連續下降？

And I think it's another example of where Principal focuses on that SMB marketplace where we still see growth in a strong, vibrant SMB place in which we do business. So do you want to go ahead and cover that, Amy?

我認為這是信安專注於中小企業市場的另一個例子，我們仍然看到我們開展業務的強大、充滿活力的中小企業市場的成長。那艾米，你想繼續報道這個問題嗎？

Yes, sure. Thanks for the question. So a couple of questions embedded in there, kind of what's going on, on that line and then let's look at it sort of sequentially. And the answer actually to both of those questions kind of comes back to the same product. So one of the newer products in that group and keep in mind, when we look at group disability, we're going to have long-term disability, short-term disability and that paid family medical leave is going to be on that line.

是的，當然。謝謝你的提問。因此，其中嵌入了幾個問題，例如該行發生了什麼，然後讓我們按順序查看它。事實上，這兩個問題的答案都可以歸結為同一個產品。因此，該組中的較新產品之一，請記住，當我們考慮群體殘疾時，我們將有長期殘疾、短期殘疾，並且帶薪家庭病假將在該範圍內。

One of the things we've seen happen is that markets state-by-state have kind of been opening up with paid family and medical leave products. So we participate in that marketplace. There's markets that we participate in, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, and one of the things you're seeing flowing through those sales results is when you open up a state and when basically you say, we have put a product in front of the state. They've qualified that product. It's an improved private plan carrier and helps meet the state-driven and mandate for meeting that coverage.

我們看到發生的事情之一是，各州的市場已經開始開放有薪家庭和病假產品。所以我們參與了這個市場。我們參與了馬薩諸塞州、康乃狄克州、俄勒岡州、科羅拉多州等市場，您在這些銷售結果中看到的一件事就是當您開放一個州時，基本上您會說，我們已經將一種產品放在了前面國家。他們已經對該產品進行了鑑定。它是一家改進的私人計劃承運人，有助於滿足國家驅動和滿足該覆蓋範圍的要求。

When you're part of that grouping, then those new products all kind of come in at the same time. So those have been a little bit lumpier. What you're seeing in fourth quarter last year for PFML was one of the states that opened up that came in that quarter. And then you're seeing that again in the first quarter. Actually, the one that came in fourth quarter last year on that line item was even a little bit larger than what we saw in first quarter. But it's a good explainer for why that's moving up.

當您成為該群體的一部分時，這些新產品就會同時出現。所以這些有點笨拙。你在去年第四季看到的 PFML 是該季度開放的州之一。然後你會在第一季再次看到這種情況。事實上，去年第四季該訂單項目的數量甚至比我們在第一季看到的還要大一些。但這很好地解釋了為什麼這個數字會上升。

When I look at short-term disability and long-term disability, those are growing in ways we expect them to grow. So we're seeing more like that 3% to 5%, 3% to 7% growth in some of those products in terms of new sales. Does that help give some color to that?

當我觀察短期殘疾和長期殘疾時，它們正在以我們預期的方式增長。因此，我們看到其中一些產品的新銷售量成長了 3% 到 5%、3% 到 7%。這有助於給它一些色彩嗎？

That does. It is very helpful. Thank you.

確實如此。這非常有幫助。謝謝。

The next question is coming from John Barnidge of Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 John Barnidge。

Maybe if we could stick with that strong specialty benefit sales in the quarter. Can you maybe talk about growth from pricing versus employee count? It seems like there's pretty strong growth outside of just the paid family leave expansion.

也許我們可以在本季保持強勁的專業福利銷售。您能否談談定價與員工數量的成長？除了帶薪家庭假的擴大之外，似乎還有相當強勁的成長。

Yes. Yes. I talk about that. One of the things that we always keep track of because we want to make sure that what's happened with our growth. And again, we're really pleased with the growth we're seeing. We like the growth rates we're seeing across our specialty benefits line. But one of the things we look at consistently is what's coming from what we would consider net new business versus what's coming from that employment or wage growth and then what's coming from rate actions.

是的。是的。我談論這個。這是我們始終跟踪的事情之一，因為我們想確保我們的成長發生了什麼。再說一遍，我們對所看到的成長感到非常滿意。我們對我們在專業福利領域看到的成長率感到滿意。但我們始終關注的一件事是，我們所認為的淨新業務與就業或薪資成長以及利率行動的結果。

When we divide that up in this quarter, we're getting about 55% of our premium growth that net new business. So by far, the biggest number in there is that net new business. So that's going to be new business we brought on, minus any of the lapses that happened. 40% is going to be from a combination of employment growth and wage growth. The bigger driver there is still employment growth and then 15% is going to be from rate action. Within that employment growth picture, we are still seeing the smaller market be the driver of that employment growth. Under -- if you're an employer that has under 200 folks, that's been the strongest employment growth that's still happening. That -- what we would consider mid-market, 200 to 500 have seen good growth as well. Our block over 500 lives is the place where that growth in terms of employment growth is really moderating.

當我們在本季度將其分開時，我們將獲得約 55% 的保費增長來自淨新業務。到目前為止，其中最大的數字是淨新業務。因此，這將是我們帶來的新業務，減去任何發生的錯誤。 40%將來自就業成長和薪資成長的結合。更大的推動力仍然是就業成長，然後 15% 將來自利率行動。在就業成長的情況下，我們仍然看到較小的市場是就業成長的驅動力。如果您的雇主人數不到 200 人，那麼這是目前仍在發生的最強勁的就業成長。我們認為中階市場 200 至 500 家也出現了良好的成長。我們這個人口超過 500 人的社區是就業成長真正放緩的地方。

Hopefully, that helps John?

希望這對約翰有幫助嗎？

Yes, it does. It's very helpful. My follow-up question. You have attempt capital allocation to strategic M&A in the presentation. With the change in noncompete laws, how does that impact maybe how you approach recruitment and asset management?

是的，它確實。這非常有幫助。我的後續問題。您在演示中嘗試了策略併購的資本配置。隨著競業禁止法的變化，這對您的招募和資產管理方式有何影響？

Yes. Great question. And frankly, we don't use a lot of employment agreements here at Principal. I'd like to think the culture that we've built allows us to attract and retain talent for the organization. Within asset management, we're paying competitive fees. We have a lot of flexibility, and we've had frankly not a lot of turnover.

是的。很好的問題。坦白說，我們在信安並沒有使用很多僱傭協議。我認為我們建立的文化使我們能夠為組織吸引和留住人才。在資產管理方面，我們支付有競爭力的費用。我們有很大的靈活性，但坦白說，我們的人員流動率並不高。

So in the grand scheme of things, I don't really anticipate that, that's going to alter Principal's ability to attract or retain talent. As it relates to our clients, in terms of opportunity, we know from the studies that go out there, the employee benefits matter, strong retirement plans, health care, specialty benefits. So we actually think it plays with the strength of making sure that the employment environment is healthy and people want to be part of that.

因此，從長遠來看，我並不真正預期這會改變信安吸引或留住人才的能力。因為它與我們的客戶有關，就機會而言，我們從那裡的研究中知道，員工福利很重要，強大的退休計劃，醫療保健，特殊福利。因此，我們實際上認為它有助於確保就業環境健康並且人們願意參與其中。

The other thing, as you very well know, is we're a big player in the nonqualified deferred compensation space, which is another one of those areas where you think about locking in talent and having the proper plan designs. We do a lot of work with employers and designing ways to retain talent. Having said all of that, I'll see if Kamal has anything as it relates to anything within asset management.

另一件事，正如您所知，我們是非合格遞延薪酬領域的重要參與者，這是您考慮鎖定人才並製定適當計劃設計的另一個領域。我們與雇主做了很多工作，設計留住人才的方法。說了這麼多，我會看看卡邁勒是否有任何與資產管理相關的東西。

No. John, just to add on, Dan covered it very well. I think you'll remember that we are one of those firms that continues to get year-over-year the reward for being best places to work in money management. And one of the reasons for that is the culture we have created in our Investment Management or Asset Management division. And 2 of those reasons are obviously the investment culture that really encourages independent thinking and independent growth, which is what the top tier investment talent always looks for. We don't have a top-down view. And our view is you can create an environment where the best investors can do their work without having a big legal structure around it. And so I would just point to that as the additional data point.

不，約翰，補充一下，丹講得很好。我想您會記得，我們​​是那些年復一年連續獲得資金管理最佳工作場所獎勵的公司之一。原因之一是我們在投資管理或資產管理部門所創造的文化。其中兩個原因顯然是真正鼓勵獨立思考和獨立成長的投資文化，而這正是頂尖投資人才一直在尋找的。我們沒有自上而下的視圖。我們的觀點是，你可以創造一個環境，​​讓最好的投資者可以進行他們的工作，而無需圍繞它建立一個龐大的法律結構。所以我只想指出這一點作為附加數據點。

The next question is coming from Wilma Burdis of Raymond James.

下一個問題來自雷蒙德·詹姆斯的威爾瑪·布爾迪斯。

Just talking about the Specialty Benefits loss ratio. It appeared to be a little bit favorable despite the seasonal impact. Could you talk about some of the repricing and should we expect it to continue throughout 2024?

只是談論專業福利損失率。儘管受到季節性影響，但似乎還是有點有利。您能談談一些重新定價的情況​​嗎？

Amy?

艾米？

Yes. So it is looking favorable. What I would say is we continue to reiterate that, that long-term range that we have is -- we're going to be probably towards the lower end of that range. We have definitely seen the market as well as our portfolio do a little bit of repricing. What I would say is, though, that's not been in one consistent direction.

是的。所以它看起來很有利。我想說的是，我們繼續重申，我們所擁有的長期範圍是——我們可能會接近該範圍的下限。我們確實看到市場以及我們的投資組合進行了一些重新定價。但我要說的是，這並不是一個一致的方向。

So some of the things we've had to do with our pricing to realign the experience we are seeing emerging in dental means we did a little bit of that rate increase action, some of the things we were seeing in some of our disability block has meant that we've taken that down. So in sum total, what we see is that we think the rate actions that we're taking, the rate environment, the competitive environment that we're seeing is going to mean we're still going to sit towards that lower end of the range.

因此，我們必須在定價方面做一些事情，以重新調整我們在牙科領域看到的體驗，這意味著我們做了一些提高費率的行動，我們在一些殘疾人區塊中看到的一些事情已經意味著我們已經把它拿下來了。總而言之，我們看到的是，我們認為我們正在採取的利率行動、利率環境、我們所看到的競爭環境將意味著我們仍將處於較低水平範圍。

Okay. And then can you talk a little -- could you talk a little about the -- okay. Can you just talk about some of the competitors at the small end of the PRT market? And just talk about the sourcing of those small PRT deals as well, please?

好的。然後你能談談——你能談談——好吧。您能談談 PRT 市場小端的一些競爭對手嗎？請談談那些小型 PRT 交易的來源，好嗎？

Chris?

克里斯？

Yes. Thanks for the question. Yes. So we certainly, over the last couple of years, have seen a lot of new entrants into the PRT market. I think what distinguishes us and gives us competitive advantage is the fact that we know the defined benefit business extremely well. We've been involved in it. We know that we provide consulting services on it.

是的。謝謝你的提問。是的。因此，在過去幾年中，我們確實看到了許多新進業者進入 PRT 市場。我認為我們的獨特之處並賦予我們競爭優勢是因為我們非常了解固定福利業務。我們一直參與其中。我們知道我們提供這方面的諮詢服務。

And as a result, when our customers look for solutions to defease that liability, they talk to us and we're able to provide them a solution that allows them to secure a good outcome for them. So if we think about our overall business and the type of business we get, we get about 20% in the first quarter, about 20% of the business came from existing customers, existing customers of Principal. And so we just play in a different part of the market.

因此，當我們的客戶尋求解決方案來減輕這種責任時，他們會與我們交談，我們能夠為他們提供一個解決方案，使他們能夠獲得良好的結果。因此，如果我們考慮我們的整體業務和我們獲得的業務類型，我們在第一季獲得大約 20% 的業務，大約 20% 的業務來自現有客戶，信安的現有客戶。所以我們只是在市場的不同部分發揮作用。

We also, as we talked about in the fourth quarter, have very strong onboarding capabilities that lets us take advantage of times when the PRT market is very favorable because onboarding tends to be a little bit of the pipeline thing that can close the pipeline for others. So we're used to doing lots of different contracts, which also gives us a diversity of the risk and then able to source a lot of them from existing customers of Principal, which, again, really believe gives us a competitive advantage in the PRT space.

正如我們在第四季度談到的，我們還擁有非常強大的入職能力，這讓我們能夠利用 PRT 市場非常有利的時期，因為入職往往是一個管道問題，可以為其他人關閉管道。因此，我們習慣於簽訂大量不同的合同，這也給我們帶來了多樣化的風險，然後能夠從信安的現有客戶那裡採購大量合同，這再次證明我們確實在 PRT 方面具有競爭優勢空間。

Thanks. The next question is coming from Tom Gallagher of Evercore ISI.

謝謝。下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Tom Gallagher。

On another earnings call, they mentioned that group life pricing is the widest, I think they've ever seen it, which sounded a bit extreme, but -- and then they were suggesting that they're seeing some aggressive price competition, and they lost business. Just curious what you're seeing specifically in group life. I know your results were pretty good this quarter there from an underwriting perspective. Are you -- would you share that view? And if so, how are you responding to it?

在另一次財報電話會議上，他們提到團體人壽定價是最廣泛的，我想他們見過，這聽起來有點極端，但是 - 然後他們暗示他們看到了一些激烈的價格競爭，他們失去了生意。只是好奇你在群體生活中具體看到了什麼。我知道從承保的角度來看，你們本季的業績相當不錯。你會同意這個觀點嗎？如果是這樣，您對此有何反應？

Good to hear from you, Tom. Amy?

很高興收到你的來信，湯姆。艾米？

Yes. So I'll give you my perspective on that. Keep in mind that our portfolio is going to be squarely in that small to mid-sized marketplace. So when we work with smaller or midsized employers, the things that we typically have to do in terms of the maximums we put in, the types of coverage they want maybe on some of their executive populations, the types of standards and what we will do in terms of what is underwritten as a group. We tend to stay closer to sort of a fundamental smaller box.

是的。所以我會告訴你我對此的看法。請記住，我們的產品組合將完全針對中小型市場。因此，當我們與中小型雇主合作時，我們通常必須做的事情包括我們投入的最高限額、他們想要的可能針對某些高管人員的保險類型、標準類型以及我們將採取的措施就團體承保的內容而言。我們傾向於接近一個基本的小盒子。

So we tend to have amounts that are more standard, the coverages that are a bit more standard, and we don't have to do any -- as many things as we look at getting coverage out there for either some of those kind of executive-type populations. And so what I would say is, yes, I understand the comment in terms of the competitiveness, but in Principal, nearly sole focus in the small to midsize marketplace, we don't have to compete on that.

因此，我們傾向於擁有更標準的金額，更標準的承保範圍，而且我們不必做任何事情 - 我們考慮為其中一些高管提供承保範圍的事情盡可能多型人群。所以我想說的是，是的，我理解關於競爭力的評論，但原則上，幾乎只關注中小型市場，我們不必在這方面競爭。

We don't have to offer 3- and 4- and 5-year rate guarantees. We offer single, sometimes 2-year rate guarantees. We don't tend to have to compete on some of the maximum, and we don't have to tend to extend beyond our underwriting parameters consistently. So I feel really good about the marketplace we're in. We are seeing rational competition for group life in the marketplace we're in. We rarely write group life alone. We tend to write it with a bundle, meeting the needs of the full employer. So we don't have to get into that competition just based on a single product. It's a bundle, we're in the small market and it's pretty rational in that space.

我們不必提供 3 年、4 年和 5 年的利率保證。我們提供單一的、有時是 2 年的利率保證。我們不必在某些最高限額上競爭，也不必始終超出我們的承保參數。所以我對我們所處的市場感覺非常好。我們傾向於將其捆綁在一起編寫，以滿足完整雇主的需求。因此，我們不必僅基於單一產品來參與競爭。這是一個捆綁，我們處於一個小市場，在這個領域它是相當合理的。

Yes, that's great color. So it sounds like that's really in the larger end of the market, then it's not filtering down to small to mid. Is that fair?

是的，那是很棒的顏色。所以聽起來這確實是在高端市場，然後它並沒有滲透到中小型市場。這樣公平嗎？

I have not seen it filter down. Correct.

我還沒有看到它被過濾掉。正確的。

All right. Great. And then, Dan, for my follow-up, just, I guess, Joel asked a question earlier on the fee proportion that's non-asset-based. And Chris, I think you said it was 20%. Just curious for that per participant price business, what has the growth rate actually been? Is this a fee pool that's growing or shrinking and by how much?

好的。偉大的。然後，丹，對於我的後續行動，我想喬爾早些時候問了一個關於非資產費用比例的問題。克里斯，我想你說過 20%。只是好奇每位參與者價格業務的實際成長率是多少？這個費用池是在成長還是收縮，成長了多少？

Yes. Tom, I would say that has stayed relatively stable in that, call it, anywhere between 17% to 20%. So we're not seeing a big increase. The big increase happened when we integrated the IRT block, which tended to be a larger customer. But we're a little bit more steady state now that we're 5 years beyond that acquisition. So I would say it's staying relatively constant.

是的。湯姆，我想說的是，這一比例保持相對穩定，在 17% 到 20% 之間。所以我們沒有看到大幅成長。當我們整合 IRT 區塊時，出現了大幅成長，該區塊往往是一個更大的客戶。但現在距離收購已經過去 5 年了，我們的狀態更加穩定了。所以我想說它保持相對穩定。

And relatively constant, but is it actually growing? Like is that having -- is that -- does that look different or very similar to the overall blocks from a net growth or shrinkage perspective organically?

而且相對穩定，但它真的在成長嗎？從有機淨成長或收縮的角度來看，這與整體區塊看起來是否不同或非常相似？

It looks pretty similar to the overall block.

它看起來與整體塊非常相似。

The next question is coming from Jimmy Bhullar of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的吉米·布拉爾。

So most of my questions were answered, but maybe on individual life, to what extent were the weak margins this quarter an aberration or seasonality driven versus indicative of the earnings power of that business?

因此，我的大部分問題都得到了解答，但也許就個人生活而言，本季度的疲軟利潤率在多大程度上是異常或季節性驅動的，而不是該業務盈利能力的指標？

Amy?

艾米？

Yes, happy to answer that. I see it more as a one-off, more as an aberration as you're saying, than indicative. We continue to see some seasonality with the business. We build a bit of that seasonality expectation in, especially for kind of that first quarter claims. What I would say is we do expect 2024 earnings to be higher than 2023. And we think the margin results, as we communicated in outlook expectations are going to be just below that lower end of that long-term guidance range. So we're seeing more of an adjusted margin expectation to be in that 13% to 15% range for the bulk of the year for Life.

是的，很高興回答這個問題。我認為它更像是一次性的，更像是你所說的一種失常，而不是指示性的。我們繼續看到業務存在一定的季節性。我們建立了一些季節性預期，特別是對於第一季的索賠。我想說的是，我們預計 2024 年的獲利將高於 2023 年。因此，我們預計人壽保險今年大部分時間的調整後利潤率預期將在 13% 至 15% 的範圍內。

Okay. And then Dan, on the DOL rule, it seems like there was a possibility that it could have been negative for you guys, but the carve-out for employers not being considered fiduciaries it seems like somewhat of a positive. I don't know if there -- do you agree with that or not, but then any other things within the rule that are potentially positive or negative for principal based on your initial assessment?

好的。然後丹，關於勞工部的規則，似乎有可能對你們不利，但排除不被視為受託人的雇主似乎有點積極。我不知道您是否同意這一點，但是根據您的初步評估，規則中是否還有其他可能對本金有利或不利的事情？

Yes, Jimmy, I appreciate the question. So you're exactly right. One of our primary concerns was our ability to, in the normal course of working with plan participants, providing them with education and guidance and then it wouldn't fall underneath the definition of the fiduciary rule.

是的，吉米，我很欣賞這個問題。所以你是完全正確的。我們主要關心的問題之一是我們在與計劃參與者合作的正常過程中為他們提供教育和指導的能力，這樣它就不會落入信託規則的定義之列。

Because if you think about it, so many of those plan participants, in particular, the lower income, smaller account balances, they don't have the financial adviser. They are looking for us to help them and guide them in the right direction. And a lot of these products that are available were chosen from the employer -- and so defaulting to a target date option effectively can really help out a great deal. Before we were even having some limitations on being able to provide guidance on whether or not to take out or providing insights on loans and hardship withdrawal.

因為如果你想一想，很多計劃參與者，特別是收入較低、帳戶餘額較小的人，他們沒有財務顧問。他們正在尋找我們幫助他們並引導他們走向正確的方向。許多可用的產品都是由雇主選擇的 - 因此有效地默認目標日期選項確實可以提供很大幫助。在此之前，我們甚至無法就是否提取貸款或提供有關貸款和困難提款的見解提供指導。

So without question, the ability for us to continue in the normal course of business of providing that participant insights is now affirmed it seems from the initial read on the reg. Likewise, for those individuals who are asking for advice, Principal has had a 25-year history of having that capability inside Principal to help provide the guidance and the advice necessary to have the right products to do so.

因此，毫無疑問，從對法規的初步解讀來看，我們現在有能力繼續在正常業務過程中提供參與者的見解。同樣，對於那些尋求建議的個人，Principal 已有 25 年的歷史，Principal 內部擁有這種能力，可以幫助提供必要的指導和建議，以便擁有合適的產品來實現這一目標。

And as I said earlier on that call, there are instances where we're handing that call back off to the original plan -- the adviser who sold the plan originally. End of the day, this is going to be around making sure that we have all the proper rules in place, all of the scripts were necessary and then, of course, maintaining compliance. So I think the bottom line is we'll manage our way through this as we have all the other times that we've had these sort of regulatory opportunities and manage it accordingly. Hopefully, that helps.

正如我之前在電話會議上所說，在某些情況下，我們會將電話交回給最初的計劃——最初出售該計劃的顧問。歸根結底，這將是為了確保我們擁有所有適當的規則，所有腳本都是必要的，然後當然保持合規性。因此，我認為最重要的是，我們將設法解決這個問題，就像我們在其他時候遇到此類監管機會一樣，並進行相應的管理。希望這會有所幫助。

The next question is coming from Michael Ward of Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥可沃德。

Maybe for Kamal, and I'm just a little bit curious about private credit. It seems like a pretty solid growth area across the industry has been. Just wondering if you could remind us like how you're participating in that and if that could maybe bolster flows over the near term?

也許對卡邁勒來說，我只是對私人信貸有點好奇。整個行業似乎有一個相當穩健的成長領域。只是想知道您是否可以提醒我們您是如何參與其中的，以及這是否可以在短期內增加流量？

Mike, great question. Thank you for asking. I think we started organically a private credit business inside Principal. We are quite proud of the investment results we have generated with that business over the past 3 years. And as you highlighted, it's one of the high-growth areas in asset management.

麥克，好問題。謝謝你的慰問。我認為我們在信安內部有機地開展了私人信貸業務。我們對該業務在過去三年中所取得的投資成果感到非常自豪。正如您所強調的，它是資產管理領域的高成長領域之一。

I'll give you a couple of observations on the marketplace today. One of the things we personally designed our expertise around was to be to the smaller and middle end of the direct lending space. which gives us an edge, both in terms of generating long-term performance, but also it was less covered by the larger private credit players. As you've observed, the industry has grown bigger and bigger and many of the large private credit operations are only operating at the large end of the marketplace, where I would observe there has been some reduction in pricing in terms of management fees, but also the quality of underwriting has become slightly less stringent. And so we remain focused on the smaller end where we find more alpha, but I'll also observe that from our seat, we have become more risk aware also in that space.

今天我將向您提供一些對市場的觀察。我們個人設計我們的專業知識的其中一件事就是面向直接貸款領域的中小端。這為我們帶來了優勢，無論是在產生長期業績方面，還是在大型私人信貸機構的覆蓋範圍內。正如您所觀察到的，該行業已經變得越來越大，許多大型私人信貸業務僅在市場的高端運營，我觀察到管理費方面的定價有所下降，但是承保質量也變得稍微寬鬆一些。因此，我們仍然專注於較小的一端，在那裡我們發現更多的阿爾法，但我也會從我們的座位上觀察到，我們在該領域也變得更加具有風險意識。

We are passing on more deals than we have historically because we want to make sure the deals we get into will generate the IRRs we expect. And this comes a little bit from our culture as Principal, our legacy around high-yield credit has been to be much more smarter about risk management through a full market cycle, and that's our approach to private credit. I hope that answers the question, Mike?

我們正在傳遞比歷史上更多的交易，因為我們希望確保我們進行的交易能夠產生我們預期的內部報酬率。這在某種程度上源於我們作為委託人的文化，我們在高收益信貸方面的傳統是在整個市場週期中更加明智地進行風險管理，這就是我們對待私人信貸的方法。我希望這能回答這個問題，麥克？

Yes. No, that's helpful. Maybe for Deanna, I was just wondering on the Bermuda entity, I think that freed up like $200 million in the fourth quarter or last quarter. Assuming you kind of used that for PRT a little bit, maybe some life in 1Q. Just curious if there's any change. Should we think of that as maybe bolstering free cash generation? Or is it just kind of supporting the profile as it stands?

是的。不，這很有幫助。也許對於迪安娜來說，我只是想知道百慕達實體，我認為這在第四季度或上季度釋放了大約 2 億美元。假設你在 PRT 中使用了一點，也許在 1Q 中有一些生命。只是好奇有沒有什麼變化我們是否應該認為這可能會促進自由現金的產生？或者它只是支援現有的配置文件？

I'm glad you asked the question because you're on the verge of breaking a record of never having a question for the CFO. So I think Deanna is very enthusiastic about this response.

我很高興您提出這個問題，因為您即將打破從未向財務長提問的記錄。所以我認為迪安娜對這個回應非常熱情。

Yes. Thanks a lot, Mike, for the question. I actually just woke up, and so I can now answer the question. So a couple of things there. As you remember from our last call, we really started that entity to really support new business, both on the term life side as well as PRT. It really is going to allow us to look at more growth opportunities for the same amount of capital usage.

是的。非常感謝麥克提出這個問題。其實我剛剛睡醒，現在可以回答這個問題了。有幾件事。正如您在我們上次通話中所記得的那樣，我們真正啟動該實體是為了真正支援新業務，無論是在定期壽險方面還是在 PRT 方面。它確實將使我們能夠以相同的資本使用量尋找更多的成長機會。

And so if you actually just think about the first quarter, all of our new business for term was seeded over to the Bermuda entity. PRT is a little bit different in that we evaluate that on a case-by-case basis to understand whether that Bermuda entity is advantageous, and there actually wasn't any of our first quarter sales that utilized Bermuda. But we're still optimistic that we'll continue to be a good move for us as we continue to grow those businesses by doing it in a more capital-efficient way.

因此，如果您實際上只考慮第一季度，我們所有的新業務都將轉移到百慕達實體。 PRT 有點不同，因為我們根據具體情況進行評估，以了解百慕達實體是否有利，而且實際上我們第一季的銷售中沒有任何利用百慕達的業務。但我們仍然樂觀地認為，隨著我們以更具資本效率的方式繼續發展這些業務，我們將繼續成為我們的良好舉措。

Does that help, Mike?

這有幫助嗎，麥克？

Yes. That's great.

是的。那太棒了。

The next question is coming from Wes Carmichael of Autonomous Research.

下一個問題來自自主研究中心的韋斯·卡邁克爾。

Maybe let's keep Deanna woken up. But on variable investment income, it was softer in the quarter, which I think is probably to be expected with lower real estate transactions, but maybe not quite to the magnitude that it was. So just hoping you could maybe share your perspective in the next couple of quarters and what your expectations are there?

也許讓迪安娜保持清醒吧。但就可變投資收入而言，本季較為疲軟，我認為這可能是房地產交易量下降的預期，但可能沒有那麼嚴重。所以只是希望您能分享您對未來幾季的看法以及您的期望是什麼？

Yes. Thanks, Wes, for coming back in. You're correct. We did have some pressured variable investment income in the quarter. Actually, the drivers were a little bit different than what we have seen. If you look at it in total, it was a little bit lower than what we would have seen in the second half of the year, more similar to the first half of '23 but some of the drivers were a little bit different. Again, we continue to see minimal prepays in the quarter. We also saw lower real estate activity in the quarter.

是的。謝謝你回來，韋斯。本季我們確實有一些有壓力的可變投資收入。事實上，驅動程式與我們所看到的有點不同。如果你從總體上看，它比我們在今年下半年看到的要低一些，與 23 年上半年更相似，但一些車手有點不同。同樣，我們仍然看到本季的預付款很少。我們也發現本季房地產活動有所下降。

But the real -- the 2 bigger drivers of the underperformance in the current quarter actually, the majority of that actually came in Principal International, which would be something that we wouldn't anticipate repeating for the rest of the year. Where they do have within their general accounts, some real estate funds, and we took a mark-to-market on that, which caused that $13 million of lower-than-expected variable investment income in the quarter. And then the other place where we did see positive returns but lower than expected within our alts portfolio and in particular, our private equity holdings.

但真正導致本季表現不佳的兩個更大因素實際上是信安國際，我們預計今年剩餘時間不會再出現這種情況。他們的普通帳戶中確實有一些房地產基金，我們對此進行了按市值計價，這導致本季可變投資收入低於預期 1300 萬美元。然後，在我們的另類投資組合中，特別是我們的私募股權投資中，我們確實看到了正回報，但低於預期。

And so as I look for the rest of the year, as I mentioned, that IP should more normalize we'll likely continue to see pressured prepays. But again, we did lower our actual run rate expectations for prepays as we came into 2024, just understanding the interest rate environment as well as the specifics of our bond portfolio.

因此，正如我所提到的，當我展望今年剩餘時間時，智慧財產權應該更加正常化，我們可能會繼續看到預付款壓力。但同樣，進入 2024 年，我們確實降低了預付款的實際運行利率預期，只是了解了利率環境以及債券投資組合的具體情況。

But I think alts is the one that it's just harder to predict, and we will expect some more quarterly volatility relative to that. Just to size it a little bit on alts. In the quarter, we saw about a 5% to 6% annualized return and again, our run rate is more in that 8% to 9% return and PE was even lower but still positive than that 5% to 6%. Hope that helps.

但我認為替代品是更難預測的，我們預期相對於此，季度波動會更大。只是為了在替代品上調整一點大小。在本季度，我們看到了約5% 至6% 的年化回報率，同樣，我們的運行率更多於8% 至9% 的回報率，PE 甚至更低，但仍高於5% 至6 %。希望有幫助。

Yes. Thanks so much. And maybe just a higher-level question. But with higher rates now, I guess one area where the insurance industry or the retirement industry has seen more growth has been in retail annuities. And I know you guys exited the fixed annuity business when you did your [LSG] transaction. But curious if there's any consideration of maybe reentering that market especially now with the Bermuda entity.

是的。非常感謝。也許只是一個更高層次的問題。但隨著現在利率的提高，我猜想保險業或退休業成長最快的領域是零售年金。我知道你們在進行 [LSG] 交易時退出了固定年金業務。但很好奇是否有考慮重新進入該市場，尤其是現在與百慕達實體的合作。

Chris?

克里斯？

Yes. Wes, thanks for that. We continue to participate in the variable annuity market. And the only other thing I'd point out is in midyear last year, we did launch a registered index-linked annuity product which shows up a little bit more as in our spread based. That is a business that is nicely since its launch, and we've seen nice momentum in that RILA business. If you've been following the annuity trends, you know that the RILA space is the largest growing portion of the RILA market.

是的。韋斯，謝謝你。我們繼續參與可變年金市場。我唯一要指出的另一件事是，去年年中，我們確實推出了一款註冊的指數掛鉤年金產品，該產品在我們的利差基礎上表現得更多一些。這項業務自推出以來一直表現良好，我們已經看到 RILA 業務的良好勢頭。如果您一直關注年金趨勢，您就會知道 RILA 領域是 RILA 市場中成長最大的部分。

So we do like that product. We think it's a nice product, provides a nice risk profile but that's probably the extent of it. We are not looking to launch new retail fixed annuities. We're focused on the variable annuity and the RILA offerings at this point.

所以我們確實喜歡那個產品。我們認為這是一個很好的產品，提供了很好的風險狀況，但這可能是它的範圍。我們不打算推出新的零售固定年金。目前我們的重點是可變年金和 RILA 產品。

Thank you. We have reached the end of our Q&A. Mr. Houston, your closing comments, please.

謝謝。我們的問答已經結束。休斯頓先生，請您發表結束語。

Well, we feel good about the start of the year, and we remain laser like focus on delivering our 2024 outlook, including profitable growth, leveraging technology and innovating products. We want to make sure that we are maintaining our disciplined approach to capital deployment, which I discussed earlier. And of course, we always want to be mindful of aligning our expenses with revenues.

嗯，我們對今年的開局感覺良好，並且我們仍然專注於實現 2024 年的展望，包括獲利成長、利用技術和創新產品。我們希望確保我們保持嚴格的資本部署方法，這一點我之前已經討論過。當然，我們始終希望注意使我們的支出與收入一致。

And so with that, I look forward to visiting any follow-up, and I appreciate the support of the company. Have a good day.

因此，我期待任何後續行動，並感謝公司的支持。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。