PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INC

•In May 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with The Ohio National Life Insurance Company, now known as AuguStar Life Insurance Company (“AuguStar”), an affiliate of Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc., to reinsure approximately $10 billion of account values of PDI traditional variable annuity contracts with guaranteed living benefits issued by Pruco Life Insurance Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The transaction was completed on June 30, 2023 with an effective date of April 1, 2023. See Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

•In September 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with Prismic Re to reinsure approximately $9 billion of reserves for certain structured settlement annuity contracts issued by PICA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial, effective September 2023. These contracts represent approximately 70% of the Company’s in-force structured settlement annuities business. See Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The following table sets forth Retirement Strategies’ operating results for the periods indicated:

2023 to 2022 Annual Comparison. Adjusted operating income from our Institutional Retirement Strategies business increased $148 million, including a less favorable comparative net impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements. Results for 2023 and 2022 included net benefits from this update of $6 million and $14 million, respectively. Excluding this item, adjusted operating income increased $156 million, driven by higher net investment spread results, primarily reflecting business growth and higher reinvestment rates, partially offset by lower income on non-coupon investments. Also contributing to the increase was a higher gain from reserve experience and higher fee income, net of distribution expenses and other associated costs, primarily driven by business growth.

Adjusted operating income from our Individual Retirement Strategies business decreased $1,109 million, including a less favorable comparative net impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements. Results for 2023 had no net impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions, while results for 2022 included a $7 million net benefit. Excluding this item, adjusted operating income decreased $1,102 million primarily reflecting the absence of a gain in the prior year period from the sale of PALAC and lower fee income, net of distribution expenses and other associated costs, resulting from lower average separate account values due to net outflows and the impacts from the sale of PALAC and the PDI reinsurance transaction. These decreases were partially offset by higher net investment spread results due to more favorable short-term interest rates, higher reinvestment rates and growth in indexed variable annuities, partially offset by lower income on non-coupon investments.

Our Individual Retirement Strategies business includes both fixed and variable annuities which may include optional guaranteed living benefit riders (e.g., GMIB, GMAB, GMWB and GMIWB), and/or optional death benefit riders (e.g., GMDB). We also offer fixed annuities that provide a guarantee of principal and interest credited at rates we determine (subject to certain contractual minimums) or at rates based upon the performance of an index (subject to caps or participation rates), as well as indexed variable annuities that provide several index crediting strategies and varying levels of downside protection at predetermined levels and durations. The drivers of our business results are generally included in adjusted operating income, with exceptions related to certain guarantees, as discussed below.

Under U.S. GAAP, our guaranteed living and death benefit riders on variable annuities (e.g., GMAB, GMIB, GMWB, GMIWB and GMDB) are accounted for as MRBs and reported at fair value. For purposes of measuring segment performance, adjusted operating income excludes the changes in fair value of MRBs and instead reflects the performance of these riders in net income, net of related hedges, in “Change in value of market risk benefits, net of related hedging gains (losses),” except for the portion of the change attributable to changes in the Company’s NPR which is recorded in OCI. Sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders were discontinued as of December 31, 2020, and, in April 2022, the sale of a portion of our in-force traditional variable annuity block was completed. Effective April 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with AuguStar to reinsure approximately $10 billion of account values of PDI traditional variable annuity contracts with guaranteed living benefits. For additional information regarding our external reinsurance agreements, see “Business—Reinsurance” and Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

2022 to 2021 Annual Comparison. Adjusted operating income from our Institutional Retirement Strategies business decreased $585 million, including a favorable comparative net impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements. Results for 2022 and 2021 included net benefits from this update of $14 million and $4 million, respectively. Excluding this item, adjusted operating income decreased $595 million, driven by lower net investment spread results, primarily reflecting lower income on non-coupon investments, partially offset by higher reinvestment rates and business growth.

Adjusted operating income from our Individual Retirement Strategies business increased $1,163 million, including a favorable comparative net impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements. Results for 2022 included a $7 million net benefit from our annual reviews and update of assumptions, while results for 2021 had no net impact. Excluding this item, adjusted operating income increased $1,156 million primarily driven by the gain on sale of PALAC. Also contributing to the increase were higher net investment spread results, driven by growth in indexed variable annuities and more favorable interest rates, as well as lower expenses and market value gains on a strategic investment. These increases were partially offset by lower fee income, net of distribution expenses and other associated costs, resulting from lower separate account values due to the impact of the sale of PALAC, net outflows and unfavorable equity markets.

2023 to 2022 Annual Comparison. Revenues from our Institutional Retirement Strategies business decreased $8,086 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, revenues decreased $8,441 million. This decrease primarily reflected lower pension risk transfer premiums due to a significant sale in the prior period and the impact of the reinsurance of certain structured settlement annuity contracts, with corresponding offsets in policyholders’ benefits, as discussed below.

Benefits and expenses of our Institutional Retirement Strategies business decreased $8,234 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses decreased $8,597 million. Policyholders’ benefits, including changes in reserves, decreased primarily related to the lower pension risk transfer premiums and the impact of the reinsurance of certain structured settlement annuity contracts, as discussed above.

Revenues from our Individual Retirement Strategies business decreased $953 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, revenues decreased $946 million primarily driven by the absence of a gain in the prior year period from the sale of PALAC and lower policy charges and fee income, resulting from lower average separate account values due to net outflows and the impacts from the sale of PALAC and the PDI reinsurance transaction. These decreases were partially offset by higher net investment income due to higher reinvestment rates and growth in indexed variable annuities, partially offset by lower income on non-coupon investments.

Benefits and expenses of our Individual Retirement Strategies business increased $156 million primarily driven by higher interest expense, partially offset by lower general and administrative expenses, net of capitalization.

2022 to 2021 Annual Comparison. Revenues from our Institutional Retirement Strategies business increased $3,575 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, revenues increased $3,852 million. This increase primarily reflected higher pension risk transfer premiums due to new sales in 2022, with corresponding offsets in policyholders’ benefits, as discussed below, partially offset by lower net investment income and other income, primarily reflecting lower income on non-coupon investments.

Benefits and expenses of our Institutional Retirement Strategies business increased $4,160 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses increased $4,447 million. Policyholders’ benefits, including the change in policy reserves, increased primarily related to the higher pension risk transfer premiums, discussed above.

Revenues from our Individual Retirement Strategies business increased $1,010 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, revenues increased $1,003 million. The increase was primarily driven by the gain on sale of PALAC, partially offset by lower policy charges and fee income, reflecting lower average separate account values due to the impact of the sale of PALAC, net outflows and unfavorable equity markets.

Benefits and expenses of our Individual Retirement Strategies business decreased $153 million primarily driven by lower general and administrative expenses, net of capitalization, driven by lower distribution and asset management expenses reflecting lower average separate account values, as discussed above, as well as lower interest expense.

Account Values

Institutional Retire ment Strategies. Account values are a significant driver of our operating results and are primarily driven by net additions (withdrawals) and the impact of market changes. The investment income and interest we credit to policyholders on our spread-based products varies with the level of general account values. The income we earn on most of our fee-based products varies with the level of fee-based account values as many policy fees are determined by these values.

The following table shows the changes in the account values of Institutional Retirement Strategies’ products for the periods indicated. Account values include both internally- and externally-managed client balances as the total balances drive revenue for the Institutional Retirement Strategies business. For additional information regarding internally-managed balances, see “—PGIM.”

(1)Additions primarily include: group annuities and funded pension reinsurance calculated based on premiums received; international longevity reinsurance contracts calculated as the present value of future projected benefits; investment-only stable value contracts calculated as the fair value of customers’ funds held in a client-owned trust; and funding agreements issued calculated based on premiums received.

(2)“Other” activity includes the effect of foreign exchange rate changes associated with our British pounds sterling denominated international reinsurance business and changes in asset balances for externally-managed accounts. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, “Other” activity also includes $3,557 million in receipts offset by $3,533 million in payments, $3,800 million in receipts offset by $3,516 million in payments, and $3,079 million in receipts offset by $3,224 million in payments, respectively, related to funding agreements backed by commercial paper that typically have maturities of less than 90 days.

2023 to 2022 Annual Comparison. The increase in Institutional Retirement Strategies net account values reflects interest credited on customer funds, positive impact of foreign exchange rate changes, net additions primarily driven by significant pension risk transfer transactions, including funded pension risk transfer and international reinsurance sales, and an increase in the market value of the assets, partially offset by the reinsurance of certain structured settlement annuity contracts.

2022 to 2021 Annual Comparison. The increase in Institutional Retirement Strategies net account values reflects net additions primarily driven by significant pension risk transfer transactions, including funded pension risk transfer and international reinsurance sales, and interest credited on customer funds, partially offset by the decline in the market value of account assets and the negative impact of foreign exchange rate changes.

Individual Retirement Strategies. Account values are a significant driver of our operating results. Since most fees are determined by the level of separate account assets, fee income varies primarily based on the level of account values. Account values are driven by net flows from new business sales, surrenders, withdrawals and benefit payments, policy charges and the impact of positive or negative market value changes. The annuity industry’s competitive and regulatory landscapes may impact our net flows, including new business sales. The following table sets forth account value information of Individual Retirement Strategies’ products for the periods indicated:

(1)Includes net variable and fixed annuities sold as retail investment products. Variable annuity account values were $111.3 billion, $113.9 billion and $176.4 billion as of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Fixed annuity account values were $6.6 billion, $5.3 billion and $5.4 billion as of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

(2)Results for the year ended December 31, 2022 reflect the reduction in account values resulting from the sale of PALAC.

(3)Results for the year ended December 31, 2022 have been updated to conform to current period presentation.

(4)Ending total account value for the year ended December 31, 2021 includes approximately $30 billion of account values that were classified as “held-for-sale” as of December 31, 2021 in relation to the PALAC sale.

2023 to 2022 Annual Comparison. The decrease in Individual Retirement Strategies net account values during 2023 was primarily driven by the reinsurance of PDI traditional variable annuity contracts, net outflows and policy charges on contractholder accounts, partially offset by market value appreciation.

The increase in Individual Retirement Strategies sales, net of full surrenders and death benefits, reflects higher sales of fixed annuity products.

2022 to 2021 Annual Comparison. The decrease in Individual Retirement Strategies net account values during 2022 was primarily driven by the impact of the sale of PALAC and market value depreciation.

The increase in Individual Retirement Strategies sales, net of full surrenders and death benefits, reflected general uncertainty and volatility in financial markets in 2022 that led to lower full surrenders by policyholders, partially offset by lower sales.

Risks and Risk Mitigants

The following is a summary of certain risks associated with Individual Retirement Strategies’ products, certain strategies in mitigating those risks including any updates to those strategies since the previous year-end, and the related financial results.

Fixed Annuity Risks and Risk Mitigants. The primary risk exposure of our fixed annuity products relates to investment risks we bear for providing customers a minimum guaranteed interest rate or an index-linked interest rate required to be credited to the customer’s account value, which include interest rate fluctuations and/or sustained periods of low interest rates, and credit risk related to the underlying investments. We manage these risk exposures primarily through our investment strategies and product design features, which include credit rate resetting subject to the minimum guaranteed interest rate as well as surrender charges applied during the early years of the contract that help to provide protection for premature withdrawals. In addition, a portion of our fixed products has a market value adjustment provision that affords protection of lapse in the case of rising interest rates. We also manage these risk exposures through external reinsurance for certain of our fixed annuity products. For additional information regarding our external reinsurance agreements, see “Business—Reinsurance” and Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Indexed Variable Annuity Risks and Risk Mitigants. The primary risk exposure of our indexed variable annuity products relates to the investment risks we bear in order to credit to the customer’s account balance the required crediting rate based on the performance of the elected indices at the end of each term. We manage this risk primarily through our investment strategies and product design features, which include credit rate resetting subject to contractual minimums as well as surrender charges applied during the early years of the contract that help to provide protection for premature withdrawals. In addition, our indexed variable annuity strategies have an interim value provision that provides some protection from lapse in the case of rising interest rates.

Variable Annuity Risks and Risk Mitigants. The primary risk exposures of our variable annuity contracts relate to actual deviations from, or changes to, the assumptions used in the original pricing of these products, including capital markets assumptions such as equity market returns, interest rates and market volatility, along with actuarial assumptions such as contractholder mortality, the timing and amount of annuitization and withdrawals, and contract lapses. For these risk exposures, achievement of our expected returns is subject to the risk that actual experience will differ from the assumptions used in the original pricing of these products. We manage our exposure to certain risks driven by fluctuations in capital markets primarily through a combination of i) Product Design Features, and ii) our Asset Liability Management Strategy, as discussed below. We also manage these risk exposures through external reinsurance for certain of our variable annuity products.

Sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders were discontinued as of December 31, 2020, and, in April 2022, the sale of a portion of our in-force traditional variable annuity block was completed. Effective April 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with AuguStar to reinsure approximately $10 billion of account values of PDI traditional variable annuity contracts with guaranteed living benefits. For additional information regarding our external reinsurance agreements, see “Business—Reinsurance” and Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

i. Product Design Features:

A portion of the variable annuity contracts that we offered include an automatic rebalancing feature, also referred to as an asset transfer feature. This feature is implemented at the contract level, and transfers assets between certain variable investment sub-accounts selected by the annuity contractholder and, depending on the benefit feature, a fixed-rate account in the general account or a bond fund sub-account within the separate accounts. The objective of the automatic rebalancing feature is to reduce our exposure to equity market risk and market volatility. Other product design features we utilize include, among others, asset allocation restrictions, minimum issuance age requirements and certain limitations on the amount of purchase payments, as well as a required minimum allocation to our general account for certain of our products. In addition, there is diversity in our fee arrangements, as certain fees are primarily based on thebenefit guarantee amount, the contractholder account value and/or premiums, which helps preserve certain revenue streams when market fluctuations cause account values to decline.

ii. Asset Liability Management (“ALM”) Strategy (including fixed income instruments and derivatives):

We employ an ALM strategy that utilizes a combination of both traditional fixed income instruments and derivatives to meet expected liabilities associated with our annuity guarantees that under U.S. GAAP are considered MRBs. The MRB liability that we hedge consists of expected living and death benefit claims under various market conditions, which are managed using fixed income instruments, derivatives, or a combination thereof. For our PDI variable annuity, we utilize fixed income instruments to meet expected liabilities. For the portion of our ALM strategy executed with derivatives, we enter into a range of exchange-traded and OTC equity, interest rate and credit derivatives, including, but not limited to: equity and treasury futures; total return, credit default and interest rate swaps; and options including equity options, swaptions, and floors and caps. The intent of this strategy is to more efficiently manage the capital and liquidity associated with these products while continuing to mitigate fluctuations in net income due to movements in capital markets. To achieve this, we periodically review and recalibrate the ALM strategy by optimizing the mix of derivatives and fixed income instruments to achieve expected outcomes. As part of our periodic review of our variable annuities ALM strategy, and in accordance with our Risk Appetite Framework (“RAF”), the Company simplified its hedging approach in the first quarter of 2023 and collapsed the aggregate amount of equity hedging into one program.

Under our ALM strategy, we expect differences in the U.S. GAAP net income impact between the changes in value of the fixed income instruments (either designated as available-for-sale or designated as trading) and derivatives as compared to the changes in the MRB liability these assets support. These differences can be primarily attributed to two distinct areas:

•Different accounting treatment between liabilities and assets supporting those liabilities. Under U.S. GAAP, changes in the fair value of the derivative instruments and fixed income instruments designated as trading, and MRBs, excluding the changes in the Company’s NPR spreads, are immediately reflected in net income, while changes in the fair value of fixed income instruments that are designated as available-for-sale are recorded as unrealized gains (losses) in other comprehensive income.

•General hedge results. For the derivative portion of the ALM strategy, the net hedging impact (the extent to which the changes in value of the hedging instruments offset the change in value of the portion of the MRBs we are hedging) may be impacted by a number of factors, including: cash flow timing differences between our hedging instruments and the corresponding portion of the MRBs we are hedging, basis differences attributable to actual underlying contractholder funds to be hedged versus hedgeable indices, rebalancing costs related to dynamic rebalancing of hedging instruments as markets move, certain elements of the MRBs that may not be hedged (including certain actuarial assumptions), and implied and realized market volatility on the hedge positions relative to the portion of the MRBs we seek to hedge.

Product Specific Risks and Risk Mitigants

For certain living benefit guarantees, claims will primarily represent the funding of contractholder lifetime withdrawals after the cumulative withdrawals have first exhausted the contractholder account value. Due to the age of the in-force block, limited claim payments have occurred to date, and they are not expected to increase significantly within the next five years, based upon current assumptions. The timing and amount of future claims will depend on actual returns on contractholder account value and actual contractholder behavior relative to our assumptions. The majority of our current living benefit guarantees provide for guaranteed lifetime contractholder withdrawal payments inclusive of a “highest daily” contract value guarantee. Our PDI variable annuity complements our variable annuity products with the highest daily benefit and provides for guaranteed lifetime contractholder withdrawal payments but restricts contractholder asset allocation to a single bond fund sub-account within the separate accounts.

The majority of our traditional variable annuity contracts with living benefit guarantees, and contracts with our highest daily living benefit features, include risk mitigants in the form of an automatic rebalancing feature and/or inclusion in our ALM strategy. We may also utilize external reinsurance as a form of additional risk mitigation. The risks associated with the guaranteed benefits of certain legacy products that were sold prior to our development of the automatic rebalancing feature are also managed through our ALM strategy. Certain legacy products with GMAB rider options include the automatic rebalancing feature but are not included in the ALM strategy. Sales of traditional variable annuities with living benefit guarantees and automatic rebalancing features were discontinued as of December 31, 2020, and, in April 2022, the sale of a portion of our in-force traditional variable annuity block was completed. Effective April 2023, the Company entered into an agreement with AuguStar to reinsure approximately $10 billion of account values of PDI traditional variable annuity contracts with guaranteed living benefits. For additional information regarding our external reinsurance agreements, see “Business—Reinsurance” and Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

For our GMDBs, we provide a benefit payable in the event of death. Our base GMDB is generally equal to a return of cumulative deposits adjusted for any partial withdrawals. Certain products include an optional enhanced GMDB based on the greater of a minimum return on the contract value or an enhanced value. We have retained the risk that the total amount of death benefit payable may be greater than the contractholder account value; however, a substantial portion of the account values associated with GMDBs are subject to an automatic rebalancing feature because the contractholder also selected a living benefit guarantee which includes an automatic rebalancing feature. All of the variable annuity account values with living benefit guarantees also contain GMDBs. The living and death benefit features for these contracts cover the same insured life and, consequently, we have insured both the longevity and mortality risk on these contracts.

The following table sets forth the risk management profile of our living benefit guarantees and GMDB features as of the periods indicated:

(1) Includes approximately $30 billion of account values that were classified as “held-for-sale” as of December 31, 2021 in relation to the PALAC sale.

(2) All contracts with living benefit guarantees also contain GMDB features, which cover the same insured contract.

(3) Contracts with living benefits that are included in our ALM strategy and that have an automatic rebalancing feature.

(4) Excludes PDI which is presented separately within this table.

(5) Represents contracts subject to reinsurance transactions with external counterp arties. Includes approxi mately $10 billion of account values in relation to the PDI reinsurance transaction, as discussed above, and certain Highest Daily Lifetime Income (“HDI”) v.3.0 business for the period April 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016. The HDI contracts with living benefits also have an automatic rebalancing feature. See Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

(6) Includes contracts that have a GMDB feature and do not have an automatic rebalancing feature.

Results excluded from adjusted operating income

The following table provides the net impact to the Consolidated Statements of Operations from the portion of Retirement Strategies’ results excluded from adjusted operating income:

(1)Positive amounts represent income; negative amounts represent a loss.

(2)Also excludes related hedging gains (losses), which are included within this table in “Change in the fair value of hedge assets.”

(3)Represents the change in the liability for our fixed and variable indexed annuities, which is measured utilizing a valuation methodology required under U.S. GAAP. The total GAAP liability includes the fair value of all index credits for the current term and all future projected renewals of the policy; however, only changes in the fair value of the current term elected by the policyholder are included in adjusted operating income, while changes in the fair value of all future projected renewals of the policy are excluded from adjusted operating income.

(4)Represents the change in fair value of the derivatives utilized to hedge potential claims associated with our variable annuity living and death benefit guarantees.

(5)Includes changes in the fair value of equity derivatives related to the capital hedge program of $(225) million, $598 million and $(1,268) million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, that were intended to protect a portion of the overall capital position of the variable annuities business against its exposure to the equity markets. The capital hedge program was discontinued in the first quarter of 2023.

(6)Includes the changes in duration swaps, DAC amortization, trading gains or losses, and other activity.

For 2023, the loss of $1,678 million was primarily driven by the impact of rising interest rates on derivatives, MRBs and other liabilities, net of hedging, as well as an unfavorable impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, partially offset by favorable equity market performance.

For 2022, the loss of $3,013 million was primarily driven by the impact of rising interest rates on fixed maturity securities and derivatives, and unfavorable equity market performance, partially offset by a favorable impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements.

For 2021, the gain of $3,695 million was primarily driven by the impact of favorable equity market performance on MRBs, net of hedging, realized gains on asset sales and favorable impact from our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements.