Equitable Holdings Inc

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION

Certain of the statements included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “seeks,” “aims,” “plans,” “assumes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “may,” “will,” “shall” or variations of such words are generally part of forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Equitable Holdings, Inc. (“Holdings”) and its consolidated subsidiaries. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding projections, estimates, forecasts and other financial and performance metrics and projections of market expectations. “We,” “us” and “our” refer to Holdings and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context refers only to Holdings as a corporate entity. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Holdings will be those anticipated by management. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all matters that are not historical facts.

These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and there are certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements, including, among others: (i) conditions in the financial markets and economy, including the impact of geopolitical conflicts, changes in tariffs and trade barriers, and related economic conditions, equity market declines and volatility, interest rate fluctuations, impacts on our goodwill and changes in liquidity and access to and cost of capital; (ii) operational factors, including reliance on the payment of dividends to Holdings by its subsidiaries, protection of confidential customer information or proprietary business information, operational failures by us or our service providers, potential strategic transactions, changes in accounting standards, and catastrophic events, such as the outbreak of pandemic diseases; (iii) credit, counterparties and investments, including counterparty default on derivative contracts, failure of financial institutions, defaults by third parties and affiliates and economic downturns, defaults and other events adversely affecting our investments; (iv) our reinsurance and hedging programs; (v) our products, structure and product distribution, including variable annuity guaranteed benefits features within certain of our products, variations in statutory capital requirements, financial strength and claims-paying ratings, state insurance laws limiting the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends and key product distribution relationships; (vi) estimates, assumptions and valuations, including risk management policies and procedures, potential inadequacy of reserves and experience differing from pricing expectations, amortization of deferred acquisition costs and financial models; (vii) our Asset Management segment, including fluctuations in assets under management and the industry-wide shift from actively-managed investment services to passive services; (viii) recruitment and retention of key employees and experienced and productive financial professionals; (ix) subjectivity of the determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on our investments; (x) legal and regulatory risks, including federal and state legislation affecting financial institutions, insurance regulation and tax reform; (xi) risks related to our common stock and (xii) general risks, including strong industry competition, information systems failing or being compromised and protecting our intellectual property.

You should read this Annual Report on Form 10-K completely and with the understanding that actual future results may be materially different from expectations. All forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are qualified by these cautionary statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as otherwise may be required by law.

Other risks, uncertainties and factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors,” could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. Readers should read carefully the factors described in “Risk Factors” to better understand the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business and underlying any forward-looking statements.

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K we use certain defined terms and abbreviations, which are defined or summarized in the “Glossary” and “Acronyms” sections.

SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

Holding’s business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in Item 1A, “Risk Factors”. These risks include, but are not limited to the following:

•Conditions in the global capital markets and the economy.

•Equity market declines and volatility and economic downturns, defaults and other events.

•Interest rate fluctuations.

•Adverse capital and credit market conditions.

•Market conditions and other factors that could affect our goodwill.

•Dependence on the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer funds to it to meet its obligations.

•Failure to protect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of customer information or proprietary business information.

•Our operational failures or those of service providers on which we rely.

•Use or misuse of artificial intelligence technologies.

•The occurrence of a catastrophe, including natural or man-made disasters and/or pandemics or other public health issues.

•Our ability to recruit, motivate and retain key employees.

•Misconduct by our employees or financial professionals.

•Potential strategic transactions.

•Changes in accounting standards.

•Investment advisory agreements with clients and selling and distribution agreements with various financial intermediaries and consultants.

•Continued scrutiny and evolving expectations regarding ESG matters.

•Our counterparties’ requirements to pledge collateral related to declines in estimated fair value of derivative contracts.

•Changes in the actual or perceived soundness or condition of other financial institutions and market participants.

•Losses due to defaults by third parties and affiliates, including outsourcing relationships.

•Illiquid investments.

•Defaults on our mortgage loans and volatility in performance.

•Our reinsurance and hedging programs.

•Our reinsurance arrangement with an affiliated captive and pending reinsurance transactions.

•GMxB features within certain of our products.

•The amount of statutory capital that we have and the amount of statutory capital we must hold to meet our statutory capital requirements and our financial strength and credit ratings can vary significantly.

•A downgrade in our financial strength and claims-paying ratings.

•State insurance laws limit the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends and other distributions to Holdings.

•A loss of, or significant change in, key product distribution relationships.

•Our risk management policies and procedures.

•Inadequacy of reserves.

•Estimates, assumptions and projections used in our financial models.

•Subjectivity of the determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on our investments.

•AB’s revenues and results of operations depend on the market value and composition of AB’s AUM, reputation and performance and performance-based fee arrangements with AB’s clients.

•AB’ ability to develop new products.

•AB’s seed capital investments are subject to market risk.

•AB may not accurately value the securities it holds on behalf of its clients or its company investments.

•The quantitative and systematic models AB uses in certain of its investment services may contain errors.

•potential conflicts of interest that arise in AB’s business.

•Changes in the treatment of AB Holding and ABLP as partnerships for tax purposes.

•Changes in U.S. tax laws and regulations or interpretations thereof.

•Uncertainty surrounding potential legal, regulatory and policy changes, as well as the potential for general market volatility, because of the change in the presidential administration in the United States.

•Regulation, legal proceedings and regulatory actions.

•Certain provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws.

•We have designated a sole and exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders.

•Competition from other insurance companies, banks, asset managers and other financial institutions.

•Protecting our intellectual property.