Reinsurance Group of America Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• RGA posted a strong Q1 2026, with pre-tax adjusted operating income of $611 million and adjusted operating ROE of 16.2%. Management said the quarter benefited from broad-based strength across Asia Pacific, EMEA and the U.S.
• Claims experience was notably favorable, with economic claims experience of $117 million positive across all regions. Management said this reinforces confidence in its mortality assumptions, while noting some of the benefit will be deferred to future periods.
• Capital deployment remains active and selective, including $338 million deployed into in-force transactions and $50 million in share buybacks. RGA ended the quarter with $2.4 billion in excess capital and plans to prioritize high-quality opportunities and shareholder returns.

Reinsurance Group of America NYSE: RGA reported a strong first quarter of 2026, with management pointing to broad-based earnings strength across regions, favorable claims experience and continued capital deployment into new business opportunities.

On the company’s earnings call, President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Cheng said the quarter reflected “disciplined execution, strong underlying fundamentals, and the benefits of the diversified global platform” RGA has built. Cheng said performance was strong across many regions and products, with Asia Pacific, EMEA and the U.S. all contributing to results.

Chief Financial Officer Axel André said RGA generated pre-tax adjusted operating income of $611 million for the quarter, or $6.97 per share after tax. Adjusted operating return on equity, excluding notable items, was 16.2% for the trailing 12 months. André said management views first-quarter run-rate earnings per share at approximately $6.70 after considering claims experience, variable investment income and other items.

Broad-Based Regional Strength

Cheng said Asia Pacific delivered another strong quarter, supported by ongoing growth and execution. He highlighted several notable transactions in Japan, including both in-force and flow deals involving asset and biometric risk.

In EMEA, Cheng said earnings exceeded expectations, helped by favorable overall experience and continued momentum in longevity. He said RGA completed additional longevity transactions in the region by leveraging long-standing client relationships.

In the U.S., management said adjusted operating performance was strong, aided by favorable claims experience and contributions from recent new business. Cheng said U.S. individual life activity remained robust, driven in large part by the company’s strategic underwriting initiative. He also said U.S. group results were in line with 2026 expectations.

André said traditional premium growth was 5% year over year, helped by growth in EMEA and Asia Pacific. U.S. traditional premium growth was approximately 1%, reflecting the effect of strategic recaptures of certain treaties in the second half of 2025. André said those recaptures involved lower-quality and less profitable blocks and reduced volatility.

Claims Experience Remains Favorable

Management emphasized favorable biometric claims experience during the quarter. André said economic claims experience was favorable by $117 million, with a corresponding favorable current-period financial impact of $4 million. More than half of the economic experience came from U.S. individual life, and every region posted favorable experience.

André said much of that favorable experience was deferred to future periods because of uncapped cohorts, while the portion recognized in current-period income was partly offset by unfavorable experience in EMEA traditional capped cohorts. Since the beginning of 2023, he said total company economic claims experience has been favorable by $343 million.

During the Q&A session, Chief Risk Officer Jonathan Porter said first-quarter U.S. claims experience benefited from lower frequency of both large and non-large claims. He said RGA did not see other significant trends in its own data during the quarter. Porter also noted that the flu season was more moderate than last year based on CDC data.

Asked about longer-term mortality trends and GLP-1 drugs, Porter said RGA has not made material assumption changes related to GLP-1s. However, he said the expected benefit gives the company more confidence that its existing mortality improvement assumptions will be realized over time.

Capital Deployment and Share Repurchases

RGA deployed $338 million into in-force transactions during the quarter. André said the company remains selective and is focused on the quality and expected returns of new business. Cheng said most in-force deployment during the quarter was in Asia, where RGA saw attractive risk-reward opportunities.

The company also repurchased $50 million of shares in the quarter, bringing total repurchases to $175 million since buybacks were reinstated in the third quarter of last year. André said RGA ended the quarter with estimated excess capital of $2.4 billion and estimated next-12-month deployable capital of $2.9 billion.

André said RGA expects shareholder capital returns to range between 20% and 30% of after-tax operating earnings over the long term. He also said the company expects to allocate $400 million of excess capital to reduce financial leverage during 2026.

Responding to an analyst question about whether RGA has enough opportunities to meet its capital deployment needs, André said the company is tracking in line with expectations and will prioritize quality over quantity. He said RGA expects to meet its financial targets through a combination of capital deployment and shareholder returns.

Investment Portfolio and Private Credit

André said RGA’s non-spread book yield, excluding variable investment income, was 4.85% in the quarter. The new money rate was 5.64%, above the portfolio yield, which he said continues to provide a tailwind to the overall book yield. Variable investment income was modestly below the company’s 7% annual return expectation by about $8 million.

André also addressed RGA’s private credit strategy, saying private credit represents approximately 9% of the total portfolio and is diversified across categories such as investment-grade private placements, private asset-backed securities, fund finance, infrastructure debt and middle-market loans. He said most private assets are investment grade, and the majority of below-investment-grade private assets are first-lien senior secured loans underwritten by RGA’s internal team.

“Overall, fundamentals across the portfolio remain healthy,” André said, adding that credit performance has been in line with expectations.

Pipeline, Competition and Regulatory Topics

Cheng said RGA’s pipeline remains strong, high quality and globally diversified. He cited continued opportunities in Asia tied to product development and capital framework changes in markets such as Japan and Korea. He also pointed to strong U.K. longevity momentum and continued U.S. opportunities linked to RGA’s biometric and underwriting strengths.

Asked about competition, Cheng said RGA’s “sweet spot” remains transactions that combine biometric and asset risks. He said competition has increased in some markets, particularly for more “vanilla” asset-intensive transactions, but argued that RGA is uniquely positioned in more complex deals involving both asset and biometric expertise.

Management also addressed several client and regulatory topics. Porter said RGA does not expect the planned merger of Equitable and Corebridge to affect its in-force or flow reinsurance transactions with Equitable. On potential U.K. regulatory changes related to funded reinsurance counterparty charges, Porter said RGA does not expect a large impact because roughly 90% of its in-force U.K. longevity block is done on a swap basis rather than funded reinsurance.

André said RGA does not expect the NAIC’s Actuarial Guideline 55 to have a material impact on the company, noting that its U.S. business typically uses its onshore flagship entity, RGA Re, as the reinsurer facing clients.

Cheng closed the call by saying RGA was pleased with its strong start to the year and remains confident in its outlook for 2026 and beyond.

About Reinsurance Group of America NYSE: RGA

Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated NYSE: RGA is a leading global provider of life and health reinsurance solutions. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, RGA partners with primary insurance companies to help them manage risk, improve capital efficiency and develop innovative products. The company's offerings span traditional risk transfer, financial solutions and facultative underwriting services, enabling clients to address a wide range of mortality, longevity, morbidity and critical-illness exposures.

RGA's product suite includes life reinsurance, living benefits reinsurance, structured reinsurance and financial solutions that support product innovation and capital management.

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