Overview
Brighthouse Financial, Inc. is a U.S.-focused insurance holding company that provides annuity and life insurance products, describing itself as one of the largest providers of these products in the United States. Its business is organized around four reportable segments: Annuities, Life, Run-off, and Corporate & Other. The company distributes its products primarily through independent channels and a geographically diverse network of more than 400 distribution partners, with substantially all of its premiums and other revenues originating in the U.S.[1][2][3][4]
Its core offerings include annuities such as variable, fixed, index-linked, and income annuities, as well as life insurance products including term, universal, whole, and variable life. Brighthouse states that its mission is "to help people achieve financial security." As general indicators of scale, the company reported approximately 1,400 employees as of December 31, 2024, total revenue of about $4.7 billion for 2024, and total assets of about $238.5 billion at year-end 2024.
Products & services
Brighthouse Financial’s product set is centered on annuities and life insurance. Its annuity lineup includes Shield Annuities, fixed deferred annuities, income annuities, and variable annuities. Shield Annuities are the company’s flagship suite of registered index-linked annuities, designed to provide market-linked upside up to a stated level while protecting against part of market declines; they also offer account value and return-of-premium death benefits, and newer versions can add a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit for lifetime income. Fixed deferred annuities are single-premium deferred contracts that credit interest either at rates declared by Brighthouse or based on one or more indexes, subject to guaranteed minimums, and the fixed index annuity offering includes an optional guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit rider. Income annuities include single premium immediate annuities, where income starts within 12 months, and deferred income annuities, where income begins after at least 15 months; variable annuities are tax-deferred accumulation products invested through separate-account subaccounts or general-account options, and many in-force contracts carry GMxB protections such as guaranteed minimum death, income, withdrawal, and accumulation benefits.[10][11][12][13][14][15]
In life insurance, Brighthouse offers term life, whole life, universal life, and index-linked universal life products, and it also has a significant in-force block of variable life. Term life provides a fixed death benefit for a guaranteed level premium over a stated term with no cash value; whole life includes a guaranteed death benefit and guaranteed minimum cash surrender values, with some in-force policies also eligible for non-guaranteed dividends. Universal life products combine insurance charges with cash-value accumulation from excess premiums, and Brighthouse says it offers two universal life products with index-linked benefits. Its named products include SmartCare, an index-linked universal life policy introduced as a hybrid life insurance and long-term care product that allows acceleration of a significant portion of the face amount for qualified long-term care expenses and may continue benefits for up to four additional years, and SmartGuard Plus, an index-linked universal life product with a guaranteed distribution rider that provides a minimum distribution payment even if policy performance is weak. Brighthouse no longer currently offers new variable life policies, but its in-force variable life business allows excess premiums to be directed to separate-account investment options, with the policyholder bearing market risk.[16][17][18][19][20]
Where disclosed by product mix, annuity products generated $2.426 billion, or 70.0%, of total premiums, universal life and investment-type product policy fees and other revenues in 2024, versus $1.018 billion, or 29.4%, from life insurance products. Within Shield and variable annuity deposits, Shield Annuities represented 92.4% of 2024 deposits, compared with 4.3% for GMWB products, 3.0% for GMDB-only products, and 0.3% for GMIB products. Within direct life premiums received in 2024, term life represented 45.0%, whole life 32.5%, universal life 8.9%, and variable life 13.6%.
Geographic presence
Brighthouse Financial is predominantly U.S.-focused. Its principal executive offices are in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the company is incorporated in Delaware. Substantially all of its premiums, universal life and investment-type product policy fees, and other revenues originated in the U.S.[27][4]
Its sales footprint is spread across a geographically diverse network of more than 400 distribution partners. Annuity products are distributed through national and regional broker-dealers, banks, independent financial planners, independent marketing organizations and other financial institutions and planners, while life insurance products are distributed through national and regional broker-dealers, general agencies, financial advisors, brokerage general agencies, banks, financial intermediaries and online marketplaces.[3][28]
The insurance subsidiaries are licensed mainly across U.S. jurisdictions. Brighthouse Life Insurance Company is licensed in all U.S. states except New York, as well as the District of Columbia, the Bahamas, Guam, Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands; BHNY is licensed only in New York; and NELICO is licensed in all U.S. states and the District of Columbia. These subsidiaries are domiciled in Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, respectively.[29][30]
Other disclosed geographic exposure is also concentrated in the U.S. In the investment portfolio, 98% of commercial and agricultural mortgage loan collateral was located in the U.S. at December 31, 2024, with the largest state concentrations in California, Texas and New York, while 100% of residential mortgage loan collateral was in the U.S., led by California, Florida and New York.
Business segments
Brighthouse Financial reports four official segments: Annuities, Life, Run-off, and Corporate & Other [2]. The Annuities segment includes variable, fixed, index-linked and income annuities aimed at tax-deferred wealth accumulation, wealth transfer and income security [5]. The Life segment includes term, universal, whole and variable life insurance products focused on financial security and protected wealth transfer [33]. The Run-off segment primarily contains products no longer actively sold and managed separately, including ULSG, structured settlements, pension risk transfer contracts, certain company-owned life insurance policies and certain funding agreements [34]. Corporate & Other includes institutional spread-margin funding agreements, excess capital, debt-related interest expense, preferred dividends, certain legal and tax matters, and long-term care business ceded through 100% quota-share reinsurance agreements [35].
By 2024 total assets, Annuities was by far the largest segment at about 69% of the total, followed by Life at 11%, Run-off at 10%, and Corporate & Other at 10% [36]. Using the company’s combined premiums, policy charges and fees line, Annuities contributed about 66%, Life about 23%, and Run-off about 12%, with essentially none in Corporate & Other [37]. On adjusted earnings, Annuities contributed about 95% in 2024, while Life contributed about 3%, Run-off about 5%, and Corporate & Other was negative at roughly -2%, indicating that the company’s earnings profile is heavily concentrated in Annuities even though it reports four segments [37].
Company history
Brighthouse Financial, Inc. was formed in 2016 to own the legal entities that had historically operated a substantial portion of MetLife’s former retail segment. In January 2016, MetLife announced plans to separate a substantial portion of its U.S. Retail business, and in July 2016 it said the standalone company would be rebranded as Brighthouse Financial and led by Eric Steigerwalt. In March 2017, the business began offering annuity and life insurance products under the Brighthouse Financial name.[1][38][39][40]
The separation from MetLife was completed on August 4, 2017, when Brighthouse Financial became a separate publicly traded company. Its common stock began trading on Nasdaq on August 7, 2017, and the spin-off was effected through a distribution to MetLife shareholders of one Brighthouse share for every eleven MetLife shares held on the record date. The separation created Brighthouse from MetLife’s former retail operations, along with certain portions of its former Corporate Benefit Funding segment.
Sources
Continue your research
From company context to financial detail.
Explore original sources and worldwide fundamental financial data and intelligence with Finbar.
Explore Brighthouse Financial, Inc. in Finbar ↗