RGA Pension Risk Transfer Lifts Premium Growth

The Tip Desk · November 5, 2026 · 3 min read

Net premiums reached $5.35 billion in the third quarter, including about $800 million from single-premium pension risk transfer.

Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), a global provider of life and health reinsurance, reported third-quarter net income available to shareholders of $456 million, or $6.92 a share, compared with $253 million, or $3.81 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted operating income was $558 million, or $8.49 a share, versus $310 million, or $4.66 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding notable items, adjusted operating income was also $558 million, or $8.49 a share, compared with $424 million, or $6.37 a share, a year earlier.

Consolidated net premiums totaled $5.35 billion, up 25.0% from the prior-year quarter, after a 7.7% year-over-year increase in the second quarter. The company said the quarter included about $800 million from single-premium pension risk transfer transactions in U.S. Financial Solutions, versus no contribution from those deals a year earlier. Net foreign currency had an adverse effect of $16 million on premiums.

Investment income excluding spread-based businesses rose 17.5% from the year-ago quarter, after a 10.3% increase in the second quarter, which the company attributed to a larger average invested asset base, higher variable income and accretive new money rates. Average investment yield was 5.26%, versus 4.73% a year earlier.

President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Cheng said RGA delivered strong performance across all regions, with robust investment performance and claims experience favorable to expectations. He said the pipeline for both in-force and flow business remains healthy and supports confidence in results for the remainder of 2026 and beyond.

U.S. and Latin America Traditional adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $163 million, versus $97 million a year earlier. The company said results excluding notable items rose primarily on more favorable claims experience and continued favorable impacts of in-force actions executed in prior periods. The 2026 annual actuarial assumption review added $13 million of favorable notable items in that line. U.S. and Latin America Financial Solutions adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $127 million, versus $100 million a year earlier, on strong variable investment income.

Canada Traditional adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $41 million, versus $34 million a year earlier, with $22 million of favorable assumption-review notable items. EMEA Traditional adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $52 million, versus $30 million a year earlier, with $31 million of unfavorable assumption-review notable items. EMEA Financial Solutions adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $151 million, versus $116 million a year earlier, on contributions of new business and associated higher investment income.

Asia Pacific Traditional adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $111 million, versus $137 million a year earlier, which the company said reflected less favorable claims experience. Asia Pacific Financial Solutions adjusted operating income before taxes excluding notable items was $96 million, versus $71 million a year earlier, on new business growth and strong variable investment income. Corporate and Other adjusted operating loss before taxes narrowed to $22 million from a $58 million loss a year earlier, due to strong variable investment income.

The effective tax rate was 26.8% on pre-tax income and 24.1% on adjusted operating income before taxes, above the company’s expected range of 22% to 23%, primarily due to the jurisdictional mix of earnings and an increase in the valuation allowance.

Trailing-twelve-month return on equity was 13.1%. Adjusted operating ROE was 19.2%, and adjusted operating ROE excluding notable items was 19.1%.

RGA returned $139 million to shareholders in the quarter, including $75 million of share repurchases and $64 million of dividends, versus $111 million in the second quarter. The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.98, payable December 1, 2026, matching the dividend declared after the second quarter.

Book value per share was $178.89. Excluding accumulated other comprehensive income, book value per share was $179.51. Total assets were $169.5 billion.