American Equity Annuities After Brookfield: $96.1 Billion of Policyholder Balances at June 30, 2026

Who is behind an American Equity annuity now

The name on the contract and the name on the SEC filings are different. The 10-K for 2025 says: “On May 2, 2024, the Company's predecessor, American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, an Iowa corporation (“AEL” or “American Equity”) merged with and into Arches Merger Sub Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Wealth Solutions Ltd.” Five days later American National Group, LLC merged into AEL, and “In connection with the Reincorporation, AEL changed its name to American National Group Inc.” EDGAR's record for CIK 1039828 shows the former name until May 8, 2024. The registrant keeps filing because its Series D preferred stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ANGpD), and the 10-Q says its 10,000 common shares are all held by Brookfield Wealth Solutions Ltd. and its affiliates, which is why it files a reduced-disclosure 10-Q.

One consequence matters for every number below. The 10-K explains that “the consolidated financial statements for the periods prior to the Post-Effective Merger represent the results of American National as the accounting acquirer. For periods subsequent to the Post-Effective Merger, the consolidated financial statements represent the combined results of American National and AEL.” The filings do not split policyholder balances by insurer, so the $96,064 million is American Equity plus American National business. Only statutory capital is given by entity. Brookfield's own parent-level numbers are on our Brookfield Corporation page.

What the 10-Q shows is owed to policyholders

Policyholders' account balances are the largest liability: investment-type annuity contracts, universal life and funding agreements. The filings report them at four dates.

Inside the June 30, 2026 figure, Note 17 splits annuities ($88,509 million on the roll-forward base) from life insurance ($2,235 million), then adds $3,509 million of funding agreements, $956 million of supplemental contracts and $855 million of embedded derivative and other items to reach $96,064 million. The annuity base carries a weighted-average crediting rate of 3.60% and a cash surrender value of $81,571 million, which is 92.2% of the account value (our arithmetic). Of annuity account value, $49,142 million sits in products “with either a fixed rate or no guaranteed minimum crediting rate” in the filing's wording, $7,311 million is credited at its guaranteed minimum and $23,799 million is more than 150 basis points above its guaranteed minimum. The filing also reports a $4,751 million market risk benefit liability tied to guaranteed withdrawal benefits.

Retail sales in the six months to June 30, 2026 were $3,322 million of fixed index annuities (down 23.6% from $4,348 million, our arithmetic) and $2,554 million of fixed rate annuities (up 21.9% from $2,095 million). The 10-Q gives no separate sales figure for MYGA contracts inside the fixed rate line.

Where the money is invested

The 10-Q balance sheet lists $95,451 million of investments. The table adds our arithmetic share of the total.

Inside fixed maturities, corporate debt securities are $44,143 million (71.7% of the category, our arithmetic) and what the filing calls collateralized debt securities, which include loan-backed structures, are $7,507 million (12.2%). Commercial mortgage-backed securities are $2,860 million and residential ones $896 million. Gross unrealized losses on fixed maturities were $623 million, against $242 million at year-end 2025, and the 10-Q says about 95% of them are on securities rated investment grade, defined as the highest two NAIC designations. The filings do not give one below-investment-grade share for the whole bond portfolio in the pages we read; the rating split below is given for private loans only.

“Unrated” is the company's label for loans with no published or private agency rating; the 10-Q says those carry internal risk ratings. The commercial mortgage book is $9,082 million, 34% apartments and 16% office, with 30% in the Pacific region against 25% at year-end. Investment real estate of $3,035 million is 42% single-family residential and 39% land. The company also reports $7.1 billion of unfunded commitments to buy or improve real estate and to fund mortgage loans, private loans and investment funds. Its risk factors say: “Many of our investments are in securities that are not publicly traded or that otherwise lack liquidity”.

Reinsurance: who holds part of the risk

Insurers pass part of their contracts to other insurers. The 10-Q lists the significant treaties and what each reinsurer owed the company (reinsurance recoverable) at June 30, 2026.

The two annuity reinsurers owed $4,783 million, about 5.4% of the $88,509 million annuity base (our arithmetic). Note 23, which lists related-party transactions, does not mention either name in the pages we read, and the 10-Q says there were no significant changes to third-party or intercompany reinsurance agreements in the six months. The filings also say the company holds $2,887 million of “funds withheld for reinsurance liabilities”. We could not find, in the saved filings, where AeBe ISA LTD or Athene Life Re Ltd. is domiciled, so we do not say. One related-party treaty ended earlier: American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company had a Brookfield-owned reinsurer, North End Re (Cayman) SPC, cover part of its fixed index annuities until both sides agreed a recapture effective December 1, 2024, which the 10-K records as a capital contribution of about $762 million.

The 10-K describes two other arrangements that affect statutory capital. The Iowa insurer cedes lifetime income rider payments in excess of account value to three Vermont captive insurers, and the permitted practice “increased the statutory capital of these Vermont subsidiaries” by $6.5 billion at December 31, 2025. The filing adds: “Without such permitted practices, the risk based capital at the Vermont entities would fall below the minimum regulatory requirements.” The 10-K also says that “As of December 31, 2025, the capital level of each of our U.S. subsidiaries exceeded their regulatory action levels.” Permitted practices are approved by the state regulator and are disclosed in statutory accounting; they are a feature of how the structure is measured, not a statement that any payment is at risk, and the filings give no risk-based capital ratio.

The Iowa insurer's statutory capital and surplus fell 14.1% in 2025 (our arithmetic), and its 2024 statutory net loss includes earnings reported before Brookfield bought American Equity on May 2, 2024. The 10-K notes that the Iowa company's call-option prescribed practice lowered its capital by $140 million and its mortality-table practice raised it by $48 million. Freestone Re Ltd. is a Bermuda entity; the 10-K gives its maximum 2026 dividend without prior regulatory approval as $659 million.

Brookfield: fees and related-party holdings

Note 23 of the 10-Q is where the owner shows up in the numbers.

Related-party investments of $9.6 billion are 10.1% of the $95,451 million of total investments (our arithmetic). In the first half of 2026 the company refinanced an existing $450 million loan to subsidiaries of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. The 10-K acknowledges the difference in interests: “The interests of Brookfield Wealth Solutions in many cases will differ from those of holders of our outstanding indebtedness and preferred shares in material respects.” That sentence is about bond and preferred holders, not annuity holders, whose contracts are obligations of the insurer; but it is the filing's description of the owner's position.

Surrenders and withdrawals

Note 17 shows the dollars that left annuity contracts through surrenders and withdrawals.

Withdrawals in the first half of 2026 were 10.2% higher in dollars than a year earlier (our arithmetic) and about level as a share of the opening balance. New annuity issuances over the same six months were $6,229 million, down from $7,062 million. The MD&A says distributable operating earnings fell partly because of “a decrease in product charges as a result of lower surrender activity in 2026”; that sentence is about charges, a revenue line, while the table above counts dollars withdrawn, and we do not reconcile the two. Cash held fell from $11,660 million to $8,416 million over the six months while the company put $6.2 billion into investing activities, mostly fixed maturities and mortgage loans.

Ratings, as the filing quotes them

The 10-K lists agency ratings “as of December 31, 2025”. The 10-Q does not repeat the table, so anything after that date has to be checked with the agencies.

A rating is an agency's opinion of an insurer's ability to meet its obligations, not a promise and not a legal right. The 10-Q's own list of factors that could change results includes “credit or financial strength downgrades”.

What changed this quarter, and what has not been filed

Three items came between the 10-Q and today. On August 26, 2026 the company furnished its second-quarter financial supplement (an 8-K, Item 2.02, with the supplement as an exhibit we did not read). On September 15, 2026 it declared a $460.9375 per share dividend on its Series D preferred stock, payable October 15, 2026 to holders of record on September 30. And the 10-Q itself disclosed an out-of-period adjustment: the company “identified an immaterial error that existed in the previously issued financial statements” in how certain investments were classified, corrected it in the second quarter, and the adjustment lowered total investments by $101 million and total equity by $80 million.

Equity fell from $9,669 million to $8,669 million over the six months (-10.3%, our arithmetic): additional paid-in capital dropped from $6,404 million to $5,865 million and accumulated other comprehensive income from $1,094 million to $433 million, while the company reported net income attributable to its common stockholder of $191 million for the half-year, against a loss of $95 million a year earlier. Total liquidity was $52,834 million, of which $422 million was cash held outside the regulated insurers. The company also has a funding agreement-backed note program with $2.7 billion outstanding and a $4.0 billion maximum, plus $815 million of other funding agreements.

The next filing to watch is the 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. It is not on EDGAR as of November 10, 2026. Compare it with the September 30, 2025 figures in our CSV (policyholders' account balances $89,469 million; nine-month annuity withdrawals $7,916 million) and with the June 30, 2026 ones above.

The backstop: state guaranty associations

Each state's life and health insurance guaranty association has its own limit for annuity claims, written in that state's guaranty association act; our state-by-state table gives each state's limit and where it comes from. Nothing in these filings suggests that is the case here: the 10-Q reports no default on senior securities, and the 10-K says each U.S. subsidiary met its regulatory action levels. The limits differ by state and are listed on our annuity guaranty limits table; we do not restate them here.

What a reader can do with this

Start with your own contract, not the group totals. Ask American Equity in writing for your current account value, surrender value, any market value adjustment and the date a full surrender would be paid, and keep the reply. Read your contract's surrender-charge schedule: surrender charges and income tax on gains apply to any withdrawal, as set out on our deferred annuity taxation page. A tax-free exchange of one annuity for another under Section 1035 exists, and its rules are on our 1035 exchange page; the filings do not say whether that, or keeping the contract, suits anyone.

If you hold more than a state's guaranty limit, or a contract still inside its surrender period, the choice depends on your age, taxes and other assets. That is a question to put to an adviser with your numbers.

FAQ

Sources, read on November 10, 2026: American National Group Inc. (formerly American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, CIK 1039828) Form 10-K for 2025 (accession 0001039828-26-000004), Forms 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (0001039828-26-000016), March 31, 2026 (0001039828-26-000009) and September 30, 2025 (0001039828-25-000034), Forms 8-K of October 6 and October 7, 2025, August 26, 2026 (0001039828-26-000018) and September 15, 2026 (0001039828-26-000020), and the SEC submissions record for CIK 1039828. Percentages and shares marked as our arithmetic are ours. Ratings are those quoted in the 10-K at December 31, 2025. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.