(Illustration: Allison Bell. Photo: JonRev)
Athene Holding Ltd. has joined the list of annuity issuers with a big gap between adjusted operating income and net income for the first quarter.
The Pembroke, Bermuda-based life insurer is reporting a $1.1 billion net loss for the quarter on negative $1.5 billion in revenue, compared with $708 million in net income on $5 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2019.
Results for the latest quarter include $3.6 billion in losses on the value of investments.
The company's adjusted operating loss for the first quarter was $65 million, compared with adjusted operating income of $287 million for the year-earlier quarter.
Jim Belardi, Athene's chief execuive officer, said, during a conference call with securities analysts, that the company did well, overall; has about $5 billion in cash, and about $2 billion in other forms of liquidity; and hopes to increased liquidity to $10 billion in the next two months.
"Our significant pool of liquidity is supplemented further by a $33 billion portfolio of liquid public corporates," Belardi said.
Bill Wheeler, Athene's president, said he believes Athene will be in a position to increase its share of the annuity market.
"First, the principal protection features in our core products have become increasingly valuable to consumers," Wheeler said. "Second, competitors who aren't as well capitalized, or who've been mispricing product in the pursuit of market share gains, will likely be forced to pull back meaningfully."
The managers of Athene (Stock symbol: ATH) built the company into a powerhouse quickly by acquiring large blocks of business from President Life, Aviva USA, Voya and other companies.
In other earning news:
Ameriprise Financial Inc., Minneapolis (Stock symbol: AMP)
Ameriprise is reporting $2 billion in net income for the first quarter on $3 billion in revenue, compared with $395 million in net income on $3.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2019.
