Athene Annuity Q3 2026 10-Q: $298.1B Net Reserves, 61% Private Credit, Bermuda Reinsurance

Which company holds your contract, and who stands behind it

The filing is for the holding company, not for the insurer that issued your contract. Athene Holding Ltd. conducts business through three groups: its non-US reinsurance subsidiaries (Athene Annuity Re Ltd. and Athene Life Re Ltd.), the ACRA vehicles (Athene Co-Invest Reinsurance Affiliate Holding Ltd. and Holding 2 Ltd.), and Athene Annuity and Life Company, which the 10-Q calls “our primary US insurance company.” The 10-Q says “AGM is the beneficial owner of 100% of our common stock,” and AGM is Apollo Global Management, Inc. Athene also files because of its listed preferred stock and junior subordinated notes, which is why it publishes a 10-Q at all; for the stock side of that story see our page on Apollo, Athene and the fees between them. This page is for the policyholder, not the shareholder.

The 10-Q gives no standalone balance sheet for Athene Annuity and Life Company, so a contract holder cannot read that one insurer’s own capital here. The statutory ratios it does give are for groups of insurers: the US insurance companies together, the Bermuda companies together, and the consolidated group.

What the liabilities are made of

“Net reserve liabilities” is Athene’s non-GAAP measure of what it owes policyholders and institutions, net of reinsurance to outside companies and excluding the 63% of ACRA owned by Apollo-managed funds. The supplement splits it by product.

Deferred annuities, which is what most readers hold, are 62.1% of the total. Funding agreements, which are contracts with institutions rather than individuals, are another 26.9%. On the gross measure the 10-Q reconciles $393,274 million of gross reserve liabilities, less $95,156 million that belongs to the ACRA investors, to $298,118 million of net reserve liabilities.

The 10-Q’s Note 7 gives the account balances by contract type, with the rate each earns and how much a policyholder could take out.

Traditional deferred annuities include multi-year guaranteed annuities and other fixed-rate contracts. In the same note, $14,784 million of the traditional balance was at its guaranteed minimum crediting rate and $113,246 million was more than 100 basis points above it. The cash surrender value is 92.8% of the traditional balance and 90.9% of the indexed balance (our arithmetic), which is the surrender-charge and market-value-adjustment gap.

How easy it is to leave: surrender charges, MVAs and what is locked

The 10-Q says “approximately 87% and 85%, respectively, of our deferred annuity liabilities were subject to penalty upon surrender” at September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025. In the Q3 2025 10-Q the figure was 84%. About 69% of policies carry a market value adjustment, and about 36% of net reserve liabilities are generally non-surrenderable (funding agreements, payout annuities, buy-out pension group annuities), while 55% are subject to a surrender penalty. A year earlier those were 37% and 52%.

The supplement splits what Athene itself paid out by cause.

Unplanned outflows from policies still inside a surrender-charge period were 7.3% of Q3 2026 outflows attributable to Athene, against 9.8% a year earlier (our arithmetic). The 10-Q’s own explanation for the nine-month rise in gross outflows is “an increase in maturities of, and interest payments on, funding agreements, as well as an increase in retail annuity outflows related to policies having exited the surrender charge period and additional income oriented withdrawals.”

Flows: sales kept up, institutional money slowed

Retail sales, which are the annuities sold to individuals, rose to $29.9 billion for nine months. The 10-Q says the increase was “primarily driven by an increase in the sales of our multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGA) and record volumes from our registered index-linked annuities (RILA), partially offset by a decrease in sales of our fixed indexed annuities (FIA).” If you are comparing a RILA, see our RILA prospectus census. The decline in organic inflows came from funding agreements (down $12.1 billion) and flow reinsurance (down $1.5 billion). Athene issued no pension group annuity contracts in the nine months; the 10-Q says the channel “continues to be impacted by the competitive environment and litigation against certain of our pension group annuity clients.”

What the portfolio holds, and what the 10-Q now calls private credit

The two shifts are in asset-backed securities, up 45% in nine months to $55.8 billion (17.3% of the total), and CLOs, down 27% to $18.6 billion (our arithmetic). The 10-Q lists ABS as including “AMAPS, Apollo-managed investment grade structured securities backed by a diversified pool of credit and hybrid collateral.” Alternative investments, which the filing says it keeps at “approximately 5% of our portfolio,” were 5.1%.

On private credit the 10-Q is unusually explicit. It defines private credit as “all credit assets except for government debt, government-guaranteed debt (e.g., Ginnie Mae mortgage debt), debt with an implied government guarantee (e.g., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage debt), and publicly registered securities,” and says holdings “were approximately 61% of our net invested assets as of September 30, 2026.” It adds that “private credit has varying definitions across the financial services industry” and that under the narrower definition, which excludes Rule 144A and Regulation S securities, the figure is approximately 19%, “which are primarily investment grade.” Corporate private placements were $24.4 billion, 7.6% of net invested assets, against $26.2 billion at September 30, 2025.

Credit quality, on the NAIC designations that the 10-Q calls the most appropriate way to evaluate its fixed maturity portfolio, improved on the supplement’s management view: assets below investment grade were $6,199 million, 3.0%, against $7,122 million, 3.9%, at December 31, 2025. By rating-agency (NRSRO) designation it was 3.8% against 4.9%. Two places where the numbers moved the other way are in real estate lending: commercial mortgage loans 90 or more days past due or in non-accrual were $974 million of fair value against $655 million, and residential loans in foreclosure were $352 million (0.8%) against $251 million (0.6%). Commercial loans were 13.3% office and 10.1% hotels, up from 11.6% and 7.1%, and 24.8% were outside the US, up from 19.9%.

Unrealized losses are the other balance-sheet fact. Available-for-sale securities, including related parties, had a fair value of $239,912 million against an amortized cost of $260,156 million, with gross unrealized losses of $20,598 million (against $12,317 million at December 31, 2025). The 10-Q attributes them to higher US Treasury rates and wider credit spreads in 2026. These are not realized losses, and Athene says it buys to hold, but they explain most of the equity movement in the capital section below.

Apollo: owner, manager, and counterparty

The 10-Q says “Substantially all of our investment portfolio is managed by Apollo.” The fee agreement has a base fee of 0.225% a year on assets up to $103.4 billion (the 2018 “Backbook Value”) and 0.15% a year on assets above it, a sub-allocation fee of 0.065% to 0.70% depending on the asset class, and a target performance fee of $37.5 million that can range from 0% to 200% of target. Athene incurred $388 million of management fees in Q3 2026 (against $351 million) and $1,173 million for nine months (against $1,070 million), up 9.6% (our arithmetic), while net invested assets grew 13% from September 30, 2025.

The 10-Q is careful about what “related party” means: for the securitizations “the underlying collateral, borrower or other credit party is generally unaffiliated with us.” The point for a policyholder is concentration of roles: one group owns the insurer, manages its assets, originates part of what it buys and co-invests in its reinsurance vehicles. The 10-Q also says Apollo “charges management fees and carried interest on Apollo-managed funds and other entities in which we invest,” and that those fees are not included in the $1,173 million. How that looks from Apollo’s side is in our Apollo page.

Bermuda: who reinsures what

The 10-K (Item 1, Reinsurance) states: “Subject to quota shares generally ranging from 80% to 100%, substantially all of the existing deposits held and new deposits generated by our US insurance subsidiaries are reinsured to our Bermuda reinsurance subsidiaries.” It uses two forms, modco and funds withheld, and in both “the US cedant retains physical possession and legal ownership of the assets supporting the reserves.” The 10-K adds that none of the Bermuda subsidiaries is licensed in a US state, so, unless they qualify as certified or reciprocal-jurisdiction reinsurers, they must post collateral for the US insurers to get statutory credit. ALRe is approved as a certified reinsurer in Iowa, and ALRe, AARe and Athene Annuity and Life Company are approved reciprocal-jurisdiction reinsurers in Iowa.

Your contract stays with the US insurer that issued it. What the structure changes is where the capital sits: the 10-K says “a significant majority of our aggregate capital is held by our Bermuda reinsurance subsidiaries.”

ACRA is the third piece. ALRe owns 37% of the economic interest in ACRA 1 and in ACRA 2 and all of the voting interests; Apollo-managed funds (ADIP I and ADIP II) own the other 63%. ACRA reserves attributable to those outside investors were $95,156 million at September 30, 2026 (against $86,826 million a year earlier). Their inflows for nine months were $11,975 million (against $14,937 million) and their outflows were $8,357 million (against $4,249 million, +97%) (our arithmetic). The filing does not explain the rise in ACRA outflows; Athene’s own outflows rose 18%.

The Q3 10-Q repeats year-end statutory figures; it gives no September 30, 2026 RBC ratio, and the next ones will be in the 2026 10-K. Separately, in January 2026 Athene revoked ACRA’s election into the Bermuda corporate income tax and wrote off its Bermuda deferred tax assets of $1.7 billion in the first quarter, which the 10-Q says reduced adjusted common equity by the same amount.

Ratings, equity and what changed this quarter

The financial supplement furnished on November 5, 2026 lists financial strength ratings for the insurance subsidiaries, including Athene Annuity and Life Company, of A+ from A.M. Best, A+ from S&P Global, A+ from Fitch and A1 from Moody’s. Athene Holding’s own credit ratings are a- (A.M. Best), A- (S&P) and A- (Fitch), not rated by Moody’s. The 10-K reported stable outlooks at all four as of February 23, 2026, and cautions that ratings “may be revised or revoked at any time at the sole discretion of the rating organization.” We did not check the agencies’ sites, so a rating action after November 5, 2026 would not be in this page.

Stockholders’ equity attributable to Athene Holding fell 34.5% in nine months (our arithmetic). The pieces are in the filing: a $1,158 million net loss to common in Q3 2026 and $2,178 million for nine months (against income of $2,146 million), the $1.7 billion deferred tax write-off, and a $4.4 billion larger accumulated other comprehensive loss. The 10-Q says the Q3 loss was “primarily driven by a $4.9 billion decrease in revenues,” with investment-related gains down $5.7 billion on a rise in Treasury rates. Athene’s own spread measure, which excludes market swings, was steadier: spread related earnings were $844 million against $872 million, and the net spread 1.06% against 1.24%. The 10-Q reports “no material changes” to risk factors from the 2025 10-K, and says the company estimates $5.4 billion of capital available to deploy.

Pension buyouts: one line

If your pension was transferred to Athene, the seven ERISA class actions are covered in our lawsuit tracker. One new fact from this quarter: the 10-Q says the 50 deals total $53.4 billion with “more than 514,000 plan participants,” while the 10-K said more than 528,000 at December 31, 2025, with the same number of deals and dollars. The filing does not explain the difference.

What a reader can do with this

Facts first. Ask Athene in writing for the surrender value and any market value adjustment on your contract today, the date your surrender-charge period ends and the issuing company’s exact legal name, because the 10-Q does not give company-level numbers for the insurer that holds your contract. Check your state’s guaranty association limit in our table by state; it applies only if a regulator takes over an insurer, and it differs by state. Surrender charges and income tax on gains apply to any withdrawal (see deferred annuity taxation), and a 1035 exchange into another contract defers the tax but starts new terms; our page on 1035 exchanges explains the mechanics. The filings do not say whether any contract should be kept or exchanged, and neither do we. Compare two numbers over time rather than trusting one quarter: the share of private credit and related-party assets, and the unplanned outflows from policies inside a surrender-charge period.

FAQ

Sources, read on November 10, 2026: Athene Holding Ltd., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 (accession 0001527469-26-000085, filed November 5, 2026); Form 8-K of November 5, 2026 with the Quarterly Financial Supplement, Exhibit 99.1 (accession 0001527469-26-000087); Form 8-K of November 3, 2026 furnishing Apollo’s earnings presentation (accession 0001527469-26-000081); Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 (accession 0001527469-26-000013); Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025 (accession 0001527469-25-000079). Ratings and capital ratios are as stated in those documents on their dates. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.