Corebridge Financial powers through executive shakeup with big sales

Corebridge Financial is counting on steady and strong sales to muscle the company through a period of intense transition.

CEO Marc Costantini ran his first quarterly call with Wall Street analysts Tuesday, in what was Chief Financial Officer Elias Habayeb’s final call.

The Corebridge fourth-quarter shake-up was not limited to the executive team. Net income came in at $814 million, compared to $2.2 billion in the prior-year quarter. Costantini blamed the loss on lower investment gains, losses linked to Fortitude Re, and changes in the value of certain insurance liabilities.

Annuity sales remain strong, with Corebridge finishing the third quarter in third place, according to LIMRA rankings.

“Our growth in 2025 was strong, with sales up 4% to a record $42 billion,” Costantini said. “We launched our [registered index-linked annuity] product, Market Lock, in a crowded field and quickly joined the top 10 providers. In fact, we are the only company to have a top 10 position across every major annuity product category.”

Costantini replaced former CEO Kevin Hogan at the end of November, a CEO switch announced in September. During Corebridge's third-quarter call, Hogan announced Habayeb's departure for “a senior leadership position at a publicly listed company that we do not consider a competitor.”

Costantini joined Corebridge from Manulife, where he most recently served as global head of strategy and in-force management. Previously, Costantini served as president and CEO for corporate development, strategy and digital solutions for Munich Re’s North America Life & Health business.

As a competitor to Corebridge, Costantini said he learned that the insurer is a "distribution powerhouse" that is hard to replicate.

"I believe our vast distribution network provides us with a clear competitive advantage," Costantini said. "The average relationship with our top 25 partners is a quarter-century long, and more than 40% of the annuity sales came from products that have bespoke features tailored for each specific distributor."

In Other News

Reinsurance transaction. Last month, Corebridge successfully closed the final portions of the variable annuity reinsurance deal with Corporate Solutions Life Reinsurance, an insurance subsidiary of Venerable Holdings.

The transaction included the reinsurance of all variable annuities issued by The United States Life Insurance Co. in the City of New York, a Corebridge subsidiary, as well as the sale of a related investment adviser and manager, SunAmerica Asset Management.

The announcement builds on the August 2025 close of the largest component of the transaction, which reinsured all variable annuities issued by American General Life Insurance, also a Corebridge subsidiary.

Corebridge said in June the transaction is valued at $2.8 billion, comprising both ceding commission and capital release, and is expected to generate approximately $2.1 billion of net proceeds after tax.

"The transaction de-risked the company's most complex liabilities," Costantini said. "Going forward, our legacy liabilities comprise approximately 1% of the balance sheet."

Quarterly Snapshot

• Premiums and deposits were $41.7 billion for 2025, a 4% increase from the prior year, primarily driven by higher RILA deposits, reflecting a full calendar year of sales.
• In the individual retirement segment, Q4 premiums and deposits decreased $217 million, or 5%, from the prior-year quarter, primarily driven by lower fixed annuity and fixed index annuity deposits, partially offset by higher RILA deposits.
• In the life insurance segment, Q4 premiums and deposits fell $4 million from the prior-year quarter, driven by lower universal life sales, partially offset by higher traditional life sales.

Management Perspective

“There is a tremendous potential to grow wealth management by capturing more IRA rollovers and consolidating household assets. We have a captive opportunity with in- and out-of-plan clients to further expand and deepen our relationship. We believe this alone represents a $30 billion opportunity. But we have some work to do. We are actively investing to significantly enhance customer experience, adding more advisors and upgrading our digital wealth management capabilities.”

CEO Marc Costantini

By The Numbers

• Net Income: $814 million ($2.2 billion in Q4 2024)
• Earnings Per Share: $1.22 ($1.06 in Q4 2024)
• Share Repurchases: $1.1 billion in Q4 2025
• Dividend Declared: $119 million in Q4 2025
• Stock Price Movement: Shares rose about 1% to $31.48 as of Tuesday afternoon

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.