LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP

Details underlying the results for Life Insurance (in millions) were as follows:

(1)Includes term insurance premiums, which have a corresponding partial offset in benefits for changes in reserves.

Loss from operations for this segment decreased due primarily to the following:

•Lower policyholder liability remeasurement (gain) loss and benefits driven by less unfavorable impacts from the annual assumption review and the impact of the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction, respectively, partially offset by higher benefits due to growth in reserves.

•Higher net investment income, net of interest credited, driven by higher investment income on alternative investments, partially offset by lower prepayment and bond make-whole premiums and the impact of the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction.

•Higher fee income driven by growth in business in force, partially offset by the impact of the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction.

The decrease in loss from operations was partially offset by the following:

•Higher commissions and other expenses due to higher compensation-related expenses and other costs pertaining to business operations.

•Lower amortization of deferred gain (loss) on business sold through reinsurance driven by the deferred loss recognized as part of the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction.

See “Summary of Critical Accounting Estimates – Annual Assumption Review” above for information on the impacts from our annual assumption review.

For more information on the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction, see “Additional Information” below.

Effective October 1, 2023, we entered into reinsurance agreements with Fortitude Re to reinsure liabilities under certain blocks of in-force UL with secondary guarantees (“ULSG”) and MoneyGuard®. Due to the timing of when the reinsurance agreements were finalized in mid-November, income (loss) from operations for the fourth quarter of 2023 was unfavorably impacted by approximately $15 million. We expect an ongoing reduction in income (loss) from operations in future quarters of approximately $25 million to $30 million per quarter as a result of this reinsurance transaction. See Note 8 for more information on the transaction, which improved our capital position and is expected to be accretive to ongoing free cash flow.

For information on interest rate spreads and interest rate risk, see “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Market Conditions – Changes in interest rates and sustained low interest rates may cause interest rate spreads to decrease, impacting our profitability, and make it more challenging to meet certain statutory requirements” and “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Market Conditions – Increases in interest rates may negatively affect our profitability, capital position and the value of our investment portfolio and may also result in increased contract withdrawals” and “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Interest Rate Risk.” For information on the current interest rate environment, see “Introduction – Executive Summary – Industry Trends – Interest Rate Environment” above.

Insurance premiums relate to traditional products and are a function of the rates priced into the product and insurance in force. Insurance in force, in turn, is driven by sales, persistency and mortality claims.

Details underlying fee income, sales, net flows, account balances and in-force face amount (in millions) were as follows:

(1) Net of reinsurance ceded.

Fee income relates only to interest-sensitive products and includes cost of insurance assessments, expense assessments and surrender charges. Both cost of insurance and expense assessments can have deferrals and amortization related to DFEL. Cost of insurance and expense assessments are deducted from our policyholders’ account balances. These amounts are a function of the rates priced into the product and premiums received, face amount in force and account balances.

Sales are not recorded as a component of revenues (other than for traditional products) and do not have a significant effect on current quarter income from operations but are indicators of future profitability. Generally, we have higher sales during the second half of the year with the fourth quarter being our strongest.

Sales in the table above and as discussed above were reported as follows:

•UL, IUL and VUL – first-year commissionable premiums plus 5% of excess premiums received;

•MoneyGuard® linked-benefit products –MoneyGuard (UL), 15% of total expected premium deposits, and MoneyGuard Market Advantage SM (VUL), 150% of commissionable premiums;

•Executive Benefits – insurance and corporate-owned UL and VUL, first-year commissionable premiums plus 5% of excess premium received, and single premium bank-owned UL and VUL, 15% of single premium deposits; and

•Term – 100% of annualized first-year premiums.

We monitor the business environment, including but not limited to the regulatory and interest rate environments, and make changes to our product offerings and in-force products as needed, and as permitted under the terms of the policies, to sustain the future profitability of our segment.

(2)See “Consolidated Investments – Alternative Investments” below for additional information.

(3)Represents net investment income on the required statutory surplus for this segment and includes the effect of investment income on alternative investments for such assets that are held in the portfolios supporting statutory surplus versus the portfolios supporting product liabilities.

A portion of the investment income earned for this segment is credited to policyholder accounts. Statutory reserves will typically grow at a faster rate than account balances because of reserve requirements. Investments allocated to this segment are based upon the statutory reserve liabilities and are affected by various reserve adjustments, including financing transactions providing relief from reserve requirements. These financing transactions lead to a transfer of investments from this segment to Other Operations. We expect to earn a spread between what we earn on the underlying general account investments and what we credit to our policyholders’ accounts. Investment income partially offsets the earnings effect of the associated growth of our policy reserves. Commercial mortgage loan prepayments and bond make-whole premiums and investment income on alternative investments can vary significantly from period to period due to a number of factors, and, therefore, may contribute to investment income results that are not indicative of the underlying trends.

Benefits and Policyholder Remeasurement (Gain) Loss

Details underlying benefits and policyholder remeasurement (gain) loss (dollars in millions) were as follows:

(1)Includes primarily long-term care claims and life surrender benefits.

Benefits for this segment include claims incurred during the period in excess of the associated reserves for its interest-sensitive and traditional products. In addition, benefits include the change in secondary guarantee, linked-benefit and term life insurance product reserves. These reserves are affected by changes in expected future trends of assessments and benefits causing remeasurements. Generally, we experience higher mortality in the first quarter of the year due to the seasonality of claims. We expect COVID-19-related mortality to continue to follow U.S. death trends.

Commissions and other expenses that result directly from and are essential to the successful acquisition of new or renewal business are deferred to the extent recoverable. For our interest-sensitive and traditional products, DAC and VOBA are amortized on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts using the groupings and actuarial assumptions consistent with those used for calculating the related policyholder liability balances.