EQUITABLE HOLDINGS, INC. - 10-Q - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Insurance News | InsuranceNewsNet

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May 10, 2022 Newswires
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EQUITABLE HOLDINGS, INC. – 10-Q – Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Edgar Glimpses
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of
operations should be read in its entirety and in conjunction with the
consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in   Part I, Item
1   of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as "Management's Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" section contained
in our   Annual Report on Form 10-K   for the year ended December 31,
2021 ("2021 Form 10-K").

In addition to historical data, this discussion contains forward-looking
statements about our business, operations and financial performance based on
current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual
results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors. See the Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements and Information. Investors are directed to consider
the risks and uncertainties discussed in   Part II, Item 1A   of this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q, as well as in other documents we have filed with the SEC.

Executive Summary

Overview

We are one of America's leading financial services companies, providing:
(i) advice and solutions for helping Americans set and meet their retirement
goals and protect and transfer their wealth across generations; and (ii) a wide
range of investment management insights, expertise and innovations to drive
better investment decisions and outcomes for clients worldwide.

We manage our business through four segments: Individual Retirement, Group
Retirement, Investment Management and Research, and Protection Solutions. We
report certain activities and items that are not included in these segments in
Corporate and Other. See Note 14 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial
Statements for further information on our segments.

We benefit from our complementary mix of businesses. This business mix provides
diversity in our earnings sources, which helps offset fluctuations in market
conditions and variability in business results, while offering growth
opportunities.

COVID-19 Impact


We continue to closely monitor COVID-19 developments and the impact on our
business, operations and investment portfolio. The pandemic's impact on us
depends on future developments that are highly uncertain, including the scope
and duration of the pandemic and any recovery period, the emergence and spread
of COVID-19 variants, the availability, adoption and efficacy of COVID-19
treatments and vaccines, and future actions taken by governmental authorities,
central banks and other parties in response to COVID-19. It is not possible to
predict or estimate the longer-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the
economy and on our business, results of operations, and financial condition,
including the impact on our investment portfolio or the need for us to revisit
or revise targets previously provided to the markets and/or aspects of our
business model. For additional information regarding the actual and potential
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and action we have taken to mitigate certain
impacts, see "Risk Factors-Risks Relating to Conditions in the Financial Markets
and Economy-The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic", "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Executive
Summary-COVID-19 Impact" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations-General Account Investment Portfolio" in the
2021 Form 10-K.

Revenues

Our revenues come from three principal sources:

•fee income derived from our retirement and protection products and our
investment management and research

services;

• premiums from our traditional life insurance and annuity products; and

• investment income from our General Account investment portfolio.


Our fee income varies directly in relation to the amount of the underlying AV or
benefit base of our retirement and protection products and the amount of AUM of
our Investment Management and Research business. AV and AUM, each as defined in
"Key Operating Measures," are influenced by changes in economic conditions,
primarily equity market returns, as well as net flows. Our premium income is
driven by the growth in new policies written and the persistency of our in-force
policies, both of which are influenced by a combination of factors, including
our efforts to attract and retain customers and market conditions that influence
demand for our products. Our investment income is driven by the yield on our
General

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Account investment portfolio and is impacted by the prevailing level of interest
rates as we reinvest cash associated with maturing investments and net flows to
the portfolio.

Benefits and Other Deductions

Our primary expenses are:

• policyholders' benefits and interest credited to policyholders' account
balances;

• sales commissions and compensation paid to intermediaries and advisors that
distribute our products and services; and

• compensation and benefits provided to our employees and other operating
expenses.


Policyholders' benefits are driven primarily by mortality, customer withdrawals,
and benefits which change in response to changes in capital market conditions.
In addition, some of our policyholders' benefits are directly tied to the AV and
benefit base of our variable annuity products. Interest credited to
policyholders varies in relation to the amount of the underlying AV or benefit
base. Sales commissions and compensation paid to intermediaries and advisors
vary in relation to premium and fee income generated from these sources, whereas
compensation and benefits to our employees are more constant and impacted by
market wages and decline with increases in efficiency. Our ability to manage
these expenses across various economic cycles and products is critical to the
profitability of our company.

Net Income Volatility


We have offered and continue to offer variable annuity products with GMxB
features. The future claims exposure on these features is sensitive to movements
in the equity markets and interest rates. Accordingly, we have implemented
hedging and reinsurance programs designed to mitigate the economic exposure to
us from these features due to equity market and interest rate movements. Changes
in the values of the derivatives associated with these programs due to equity
market and interest rate movements are recognized in the periods in which they
occur while corresponding changes in offsetting liabilities not measured at fair
value are recognized over time. This results in net income volatility as further
described below. See "-Significant Factors Impacting Our Results-Impact of
Hedging and GMxB Reinsurance on Results."

In addition to our dynamic hedging strategy, we have static hedge positions
designed to mitigate the adverse impact of changing market conditions on our
statutory capital. We believe this program will continue to preserve the
economic value of our variable annuity contracts and better protect our target
variable annuity asset level. However, these static hedge positions increase the
size of our derivative positions and may result in higher net income volatility
on a period-over-period basis.

Due to the impacts on our net income of equity market and interest rate
movements and other items that are not part of the underlying profitability
drivers of our business, we evaluate and manage our business performance using
Non-GAAP Operating Earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure that is intended to
remove these impacts from our results. See "-Key Operating Measures-Non-GAAP
Operating Earnings. "

Significant Factors Impacting Our Results

The following significant factors have impacted, and may in the future impact,
our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Impact of Hedging and GMxB Reinsurance on Results


We have offered and continue to offer variable annuity products with GMxB
features. The future claims exposure on these features is sensitive to movements
in the equity markets and interest rates. Accordingly, we have implemented
hedging and reinsurance programs designed to mitigate the economic exposure to
us from these features due to equity market and interest rate movements. These
programs include:

•Variable annuity hedging programs. We use a dynamic hedging program (within
this program, generally, we reevaluate our economic exposure at least daily and
rebalance our hedge positions accordingly) to mitigate certain risks associated
with the GMxB features that are embedded in our liabilities for our variable
annuity products. This program utilizes various derivative instruments that are
managed in an effort to reduce the economic impact of unfavorable changes in
GMxB features' exposures attributable to movements in the equity markets and
interest rates. Although this program is designed to provide a measure of
economic protection against the impact of adverse market conditions, it does not
qualify for hedge accounting treatment. Accordingly, changes in value of the
derivatives will be

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recognized in the period in which they occur with offsetting changes in reserves
partially recognized in the current period, resulting in net income volatility.
In addition to our dynamic hedging program, we have a hedging program using
static hedge positions (derivative positions intended to be HTM with less
frequent re-balancing) to protect our statutory capital against stress
scenarios. This program in addition to our dynamic hedge program has increased
the size of our derivative positions, resulting in an increase in net income
volatility. The impacts are most pronounced for variable annuity products in our
Individual Retirement segment.

•GMxB reinsurance contracts. Historically, GMIB reinsurance contracts were used
to cede to non-affiliated reinsurers a portion of our exposure to variable
annuity products that offer a GMIB feature. We account for the GMIB reinsurance
contracts as derivatives and report them at fair value. Gross GMIB reserves are
calculated on the basis of assumptions related to projected benefits and related
contract charges over the lives of the contracts. Accordingly, our gross
reserves will not immediately reflect the offsetting impact on future claims
exposure resulting from the same capital market or interest rate fluctuations
that cause gains or losses on the fair value of the GMIB reinsurance contracts.
Because changes in the fair value of the GMIB reinsurance contracts are recorded
in the period in which they occur and a majority of the changes in gross
reserves for GMIB are recognized over time, net income will be more volatile. In
addition, on June 1, 2021, we ceded legacy variable annuity policies sold by
Equitable Financial between 2006-2008 (the "Block"), comprised of non-New York
"Accumulator" policies containing fixed rate GMIB and/or GMDB guarantees. As
this contract provides full risk transfer and thus has the same risk attributes
as the underlying direct contracts, the benefits of this treaty are accounted
for in the same manner as the underlying gross reserves.

Effect of Assumption Updates on Operating Results


During the third quarter of each year, we conduct our annual review of the
assumptions underlying the valuation of DAC, deferred sales inducement assets,
unearned revenue liabilities, liabilities for future policyholder benefits and
embedded derivatives for our Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, and
Protection Solution segments (assumption reviews are not relevant for the
Investment Management and Research segment). Assumptions are based on a
combination of Company experience, industry experience, management actions and
expert judgment and reflect our best estimate as of the date of the applicable
financial statements.

Most of the variable annuity products, variable universal life insurance and
universal life insurance products we offer maintain policyholder deposits that
are reported as liabilities and classified within either Separate Accounts
liabilities or policyholder account balances. Our products and riders also
impact liabilities for future policyholder benefits and unearned revenues and
assets for DAC and DSI. The valuation of these assets and liabilities (other
than deposits) are based on differing accounting methods depending on the
product, each of which requires numerous assumptions and considerable
judgment. The accounting guidance applied in the valuation of these assets and
liabilities includes, but is not limited to, the following: (i) traditional life
insurance products for which assumptions are locked in at inception;
(ii) universal life insurance and variable life insurance secondary guarantees
for which benefit liabilities are determined by estimating the expected value of
death benefits payable when the account balance is projected to be zero and
recognizing those benefits ratably over the accumulation period based on total
expected assessments; (iii) certain product guarantees for which benefit
liabilities are accrued over the life of the contract in proportion to actual
and future expected policy assessments; and (iv) certain product guarantees
reported as embedded derivatives at fair value.

For further details of our accounting policies and related judgments pertaining
to assumption updates, see Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial
Statements and "-Summary of Critical Accounting Estimates-Liability for Future
Policy Benefits" included in the 2021 Form 10-K.

Macroeconomic and Industry Trends


Our business and consolidated results of operations are significantly affected
by economic conditions and consumer confidence, conditions in the global capital
markets and the interest rate environment.

Financial and Economic Environment


A wide variety of factors continue to impact financial and economic conditions.
These factors include, among others, volatility in financial markets, economic
growth, inflationary pressures, fuel and energy costs supply chain disruptions,
low interest rates, changes in fiscal or monetary policy and geopolitical
tensions. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the sanctions and other measures
being imposed in response to this conflict significantly increased the level of
volatility in the financial markets and have increased the level of economic and
political uncertainty.

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Stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in the capital markets,
particular markets, or financial asset classes can have an adverse effect on us,
in part because we have a large investment portfolio and our insurance
liabilities and derivatives are sensitive to changing market factors, including
interest rates, which are anticipated to continue to rise in 2022 based on
statements of members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
An increase in market volatility could continue to affect our business,
including through effects on the yields we earn on invested assets, changes in
required reserves and capital and fluctuations in the value of our AUM, AV or
AUA from which we derive our fee income. These effects could be exacerbated by
uncertainty about future fiscal policy, changes in tax policy, the scope of
potential deregulation and levels of global trade.

The potential for increased volatility, coupled with prevailing interest rates
remaining below historical averages despite inflationary pressures, could
pressure sales and reduce demand for our products as consumers consider
purchasing alternative products to meet their objectives. In addition, this
environment could make it difficult to consistently develop products that are
attractive to customers. Financial performance can be adversely affected by
market volatility and equity market declines as fees driven by AV and AUM
fluctuate, hedging costs increase and revenues decline due to reduced sales and
increased outflows.

We monitor the behavior of our customers and other factors, including mortality
rates, morbidity rates, annuitization rates and lapse and surrender rates, which
change in response to changes in capital market conditions, to ensure that our
products and solutions remain attractive and profitable. For additional
information on our sensitivity to interest rates and capital market prices, see
"Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk."

Interest Rate Environment

We believe the interest rate environment will continue to impact our business
and financial performance in the future for several reasons, including the
following:


•Certain of our variable annuity and life insurance products pay guaranteed
minimum interest crediting rates. We are required to pay these guaranteed
minimum rates even if earnings on our investment portfolio decline, with the
resulting investment margin compression negatively impacting earnings. In
addition, we expect more policyholders to hold policies with comparatively high
guaranteed rates longer (lower lapse rates) in a low interest rate environment.
Conversely, a rise in average yield on our investment portfolio should
positively impact earnings. Similarly, we expect policyholders would be less
likely to hold policies with existing guaranteed rates (higher lapse rates) as
interest rates rise.

•A prolonged low interest rate environment also may subject us to increased
hedging costs or an increase in the amount of statutory reserves that our
insurance subsidiaries are required to hold for GMxB features, lowering their
statutory surplus, which would adversely affect their ability to pay dividends
to us. In addition, it may also increase the perceived value of GMxB features to
our policyholders, which in turn may lead to a higher rate of annuitization and
higher persistency of those products over time. Finally, low interest rates may
continue to cause an acceleration of DAC amortization or reserve increase due to
loss recognition for interest sensitive products, primarily for our Protection
Solutions segment.

For a discussion on derivatives we used to hedge interest rates, see Note 4 of
the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-Q.

Regulatory Developments


Our life insurance subsidiaries are regulated primarily at the state level, with
some policies and products also subject to federal regulation. In addition,
Holdings and its insurance subsidiaries are subject to regulation under the
insurance holding company laws of various U.S. jurisdictions. Furthermore, on an
ongoing basis, regulators refine capital requirements and introduce new
reserving standards. Regulations recently adopted or currently under review can
potentially impact our statutory reserve, capital requirements and profitability
of the industry and result in increased regulation and oversight for the
industry. For additional information on regulatory developments and the risks we
face, see "Business-Regulation" and "Risk Factors-Legal and Regulatory Risks."
in the 2021 Form 10-K.

Climate Risks. In March 2022, the SEC released proposed rule changes on
climate-related disclosure. The proposed rule changes would require companies to
include certain climate-related disclosures including information about
climate-related risks that have had or reasonably likely to have a material
impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition, and
certain climate-related financial statement metrics in a note to the audited
financial statements. Among other things, the required information about
climate-related risks also would include disclosure of a company's greenhouse
gas emissions,

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information about climate-related targets and goals, and if a transition plan,
has been adopted as part of climate-related risk management strategy, and
requires extensive attestation requirements. If adopted as proposed, the rule
changes are expected to result in additional compliance and reporting costs.

Privacy and Security of Customer Information and Cybersecurity Regulation. In
March 2022, the SEC released proposed rules enhancing cybersecurity risk and
management disclosure requirements for companies. If enacted, the proposed rules
would, among other things, require disclosure of any material cybersecurity
incident on its Form 8-K within four business days of determining that the
incident it has experienced is material. They would also require periodic
disclosures of, among other things, (i) details on the company's cybersecurity
policies and procedures, (ii) cybersecurity governance, oversight policies and
risk management policies, including the board of directors' oversight of
cybersecurity risks, (iii) the relevant expertise of members of the board of
directors with respect to cybersecurity issues and (iv) details of any
cybersecurity incident that was previously disclosed on Form 8-K, as well as any
undisclosed incidents that were non-material, but have become material in the
aggregate.

Productivity Strategies

Retirement and Protection Businesses


As part of our continuing efforts to drive productivity improvements, in January
2021, we began a new program expected to achieve $80 million of targeted
run-rate expense savings by 2023, of which $35 million has been achieved as of
March 31, 2022. We expect to achieve these saving by shifting our workforce into
an agile working model, leveraging technology-enabled capabilities, optimizing
our real estate footprint, and continuing to realize a portion of COVID-19
related savings.

Key Operating Measures


In addition to our results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we report
Non-GAAP Operating Earnings, Non-GAAP Operating ROE, and Non-GAAP operating
common EPS, each of which is a measure that is not determined in accordance with
U.S. GAAP. Management principally uses these non-GAAP financial measures in
evaluating performance because they present a clearer picture of our operating
performance and they allow management to allocate resources. Similarly,
management believes that the use of these Non-GAAP financial measures, together
with relevant U.S. GAAP measures, provide investors with a better understanding
of our results of operations and the underlying profitability drivers and trends
of our business. These non-GAAP financial measures are intended to remove from
our results of operations the impact of market changes (where there is mismatch
in the valuation of assets and liabilities) as well as certain other expenses
which are not part of our underlying profitability drivers or likely to re-occur
in the foreseeable future, as such items fluctuate from period-to-period in a
manner inconsistent with these drivers. These measures should be considered
supplementary to our results that are presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and
should not be viewed as a substitute for the U.S. GAAP measures. Other companies
may use similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures that are calculated
differently from the way we calculate such measures. Consequently, our non-GAAP
financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by other
companies.

We also discuss certain operating measures, including AUM, AUA, AV, Protection
Solutions Reserves and certain other operating measures, which management
believes provide useful information about our businesses and the operational
factors underlying our financial performance.

Non-GAAP Operating Earnings


Non-GAAP Operating Earnings is an after-tax non-GAAP financial measure used to
evaluate our financial performance on a consolidated basis that is determined by
making certain adjustments to our consolidated after-tax net income attributable
to Holdings. The most significant of such adjustments relates to our derivative
positions, which protect economic value and statutory capital, and are more
sensitive to changes in market conditions than the variable annuity product
liabilities as valued under U.S. GAAP. This is a large source of volatility in
net income.

Non-GAAP Operating Earnings equals our consolidated after-tax net income
attributable to Holdings adjusted to eliminate the impact of the following
items:


•Items related to variable annuity product features, which include: (i) certain
changes in the fair value of the derivatives and other securities we use to
hedge these features; (ii) the effect of benefit ratio unlock adjustments,
including extraordinary economic conditions or events such as COVID-19; (iii)
changes in the fair value of the embedded derivatives reflected within variable
annuity products' net derivative results and the impact of these items on DAC
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amortization on our SCS product; and (iv) DAC amortization for the SCS variable
annuity product arising from near-term fluctuations in index segment returns;

•Investment (gains) losses, which includes credit loss impairments of
securities/investments, sales or disposals of securities/investments, realized
capital gains/losses and valuation allowances;


•Net actuarial (gains) losses, which includes actuarial gains and losses as a
result of differences between actual and expected experience on pension plan
assets or projected benefit obligation during a given period related to pension,
other postretirement benefit obligations, and the one-time impact of the
settlement of the defined benefit obligation;

•Other adjustments, which primarily include restructuring costs related to
severance and separation, COVID-19 related impacts, net derivative gains
(losses) on certain Non-GMxB derivatives, net investment income from certain
items including consolidated VIE investments, seed capital mark-to-market
adjustments, unrealized gain/losses associated with equity securities, certain
legal accruals; and a bespoke deal to repurchase UL policies from one entity
that had invested in numerous policies purchased in the life settlement market,
which disposed of the risk of additional COI litigation by that entity related
to those UL policies; and

•Income tax expense (benefit) related to the above items and non-recurring tax
items, which includes the effect of uncertain tax positions for a given audit
period.

In the first quarter 2022, the Company updated its Non-GAAP Operating Earnings
measure to exclude the DAC amortization impact of near-term fluctuations in
indexed segment returns of $20 million on the SCS variable annuity product to
reflect the impact of market fluctuations consistently with the long term
duration of the product. Operating earnings was favorably impacted by this
change in the current period.The presentation of Non-GAAP Operating Earnings in
prior periods was not revised to reflect this modification, however, the Company
estimated that had the treatment in the Company's Non-GAAP Operating Earnings
measure of the Amortization of DAC for SCS been modified in 2020, the pre-tax
impact on Non-GAAP Operating Earnings of excluding the SCS-related DAC
amortization from Non-GAAP Operating Earnings would have been a decrease of $4
million, $16 million and $34 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 and
years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Because Non-GAAP Operating Earnings excludes the foregoing items that can be
distortive or unpredictable, management believes that this measure enhances the
understanding of the Company's underlying drivers of profitability and trends in
our business, thereby allowing management to make decisions that will positively
impact our business.

We use the prevailing corporate federal income tax rate of 21% while taking into
account any non-recurring differences for events recognized differently in our
financial statements and federal income tax returns as well as partnership
income taxed at lower rates when reconciling Net income (loss) attributable to
Holdings to Non-GAAP Operating Earnings.

The table below presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) attributable to
Holdings to Non-GAAP Operating Earnings for the three months ended March 31,
2022 and 2021:

                                                                           Three Months Ended March 31,
                                                                              2022                2021
                                                                                   (in millions)
Net income (loss) attributable to Holdings                               $        573          $ (1,488)
Adjustments related to:
Variable annuity product features                                                (601)            2,267
Investment (gains) losses                                                         326              (183)

Net actuarial (gains) losses related to pension and other
postretirement benefit obligations

                                                 19                34
Other adjustments (1) (2) (3)                                                     220               524
Income tax expense (benefit) related to above adjustments                           8              (555)
Non-recurring tax items                                                             3                 1
Non-GAAP Operating Earnings                                              $  

548 $ 600

______________

(1) Includes Separation Costs of $21 million for the three months ended March
31, 2021. Separation costs were completed during 2021.
(2)Includes certain legal accruals related to the cost of insurance litigation
of $59 million and $180 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and
2021, respectively. Includes policyholder benefit costs of $75 million for the
three months ended March 31, 2022
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stemming from a deal to repurchase UL policies from one entity that had invested
in numerous policies purchased in the life settlement market.
(3)Includes Non-GMxB related derivative hedge losses of ($2) million and $244
million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Non-GAAP Operating ROE


We calculate Non-GAAP Operating ROE by dividing Non-GAAP operating earnings for
the previous twelve calendar months by consolidated average equity attributable
to Holdings' common shareholders, excluding AOCI. AOCI fluctuates
period-to-period in a manner inconsistent with our underlying profitability
drivers as the majority of such fluctuation is related to the market volatility
of the unrealized gains and losses associated with our AFS securities.
Therefore, we believe excluding AOCI is more effective for analyzing the trends
of our operations.

The following table presents return on average equity attributable to Holdings'
common shareholders, excluding AOCI and Non-GAAP Operating ROE for the trailing
twelve months ended March 31, 2022.

                                                                         

Trailing Twelve Months Ended

March 31, 2022

                                                                                 (in millions)
Net income (loss) available to Holdings' common shareholders             $               1,542

Average equity attributable to Holdings' common shareholders, excluding
AOCI

                                                                     $               8,140

Return on average equity attributable to Holdings' common shareholders,
excluding AOCI

                                                                            18.9       %

Non-GAAP Operating Earnings available to Holdings' common shareholders $

              2,693
Average equity attributable to Holdings' common shareholders, excluding
AOCI                                                                     $               8,140
Non-GAAP Operating ROE                                                                    33.1       %

Non-GAAP Operating Common EPS


Non-GAAP operating common EPS is calculated by dividing Non-GAAP Operating
Earnings by diluted common shares outstanding. The following table sets forth
Non-GAAP operating common EPS for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and
2021.

                                                                              Three Months Ended March
                                                                                        31,
                                                                                           2022                 2021
                                                                                            (per share amounts)
Net income (loss) attributable to Holdings (1)                                      $     1.46               $  (3.43)
Less: Preferred stock dividends                                                           0.03                   0.03
Net income (loss) available to Holdings' common shareholders                              1.43                  (3.46)
Adjustments related to:
Variable annuity product features                                                        (1.53)                  5.22
Investment (gains) losses                                                                 0.83                  (0.42)

Net actuarial (gains) losses related to pension and other
postretirement benefit obligations

                                                        0.05                   0.08
Other adjustments (2) (3) (4)                                                             0.55                   1.21
Income tax expense (benefit) related to above adjustments                                 0.02                  (1.28)
Non-recurring tax items                                                                   0.01                      -
Non-GAAP operating common EPS                                                       $     1.36               $   1.35


______________

(1)For periods presented with a net loss, basic shares was used for the three
months ended March 31, 2021.
(2)Includes separation costs of $0.05 for the three months ended March 31, 2021.
(3)Includes certain legal accruals related to the cost of insurance litigation
of $0.15, and $0.41 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021,
respectively. Includes policyholder benefit costs of $0.19 for the three months
ended March 31, 2022 stemming from a deal to repurchase UL policies from one
entity that had invested in numerous policies purchased in the life settlement
market.
(4)Includes Non-GMxB related derivative hedge losses of ($0.00), and $0.56 for
the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
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Assets Under Management

AUM means investment assets that are managed by one of our subsidiaries and
includes: (i) assets managed by AB; (ii) the assets in our General Account
investment portfolio; and (iii) the Separate Accounts assets of our Individual
Retirement, Group Retirement and Protection Solutions businesses. Total AUM
reflects exclusions between segments to avoid double counting.

Assets Under Administration


AUA includes non-insurance client assets that are invested in our savings and
investment products or serviced by our Equitable Advisors platform. We provide
administrative services for these assets and generally record the revenues
received as distribution fees.

Account Value

AV generally equals the aggregate policy account value of our retirement
products. General Account AV refers to account balances in investment options
that are backed by the General Account while Separate Accounts AV refers to
Separate Accounts investment assets.

Protection Solutions Reserves

Protection Solutions Reserves equals the aggregate value of policyholders'
account balances and future policy benefits for policies in our Protection
Solutions segment.

Consolidated Results of Operations


Our consolidated results of operations are significantly affected by conditions
in the capital markets and the economy because we offer market sensitive
products. These products have been a significant driver of our results of
operations. Because the future claims exposure on these products is sensitive to
movements in the equity markets and interest rates, we have in place various
hedging and reinsurance programs that are designed to mitigate the economic risk
of movements in the equity markets and interest rates. The volatility in net
income attributable to Holdings for the periods presented below results from the
mismatch between: (i) the change in carrying value of the reserves for GMDB and
certain GMIB features that do not fully and immediately reflect the impact of
equity and interest market fluctuations; (ii) the change in fair value of
products with the GMIB feature that have a no-lapse guarantee; and (iii) our
hedging and reinsurance programs.

Ownership and Consolidation of AllianceBernstein

Our indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, AllianceBernstein Corporation, is the
General Partner of AB. Accordingly, AB's results are fully reflected in our
consolidated financial statements.

Our economic interest in AB was approximately 65% during the three months ended
March 31, 2022 and 2021.

Consolidated Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our consolidated statements of income (loss) for
the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

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