F&G CEO Conor Murphy told investors at the KBW Insurance Conference on September 10, 2026, that the insurer is deliberately moving away from what he called "the spread margin business" toward a "spread maintenance business," emphasizing fee-based earnings growth alongside its existing insurance operations.
F&G reported gross assets under management of $75 billion, growing roughly 8% annually or about $6 billion per year. Retained AUM stands at $55 billion, up from approximately $25 billion five years ago, with expected annual growth of $2 billion to $3 billion.
The company generates about $1 billion in organic capital each year from its writing business. Annual debt service and dividends each run approximately $150 million, with no material debt maturities due for roughly 18 months. Despite the solid balance sheet, Murphy noted the stock trades at about half of book value, around $23.05.
Expense ratios have compressed steadily, falling from 60 basis points at year-end 2024 to 50 basis points at year-end 2025 and 47 basis points in 2026, with a target of 45 basis points by year-end. Fee-based earnings grew from nearly zero to about 15% at year-end 2025 and now target 25% by 2028.
Trailing 12-month return on assets stands at about 119 basis points, adjusted for alternatives and certain expense items. Return on equity is approximately 11%, with a management target of 14%.
In indexed universal life, F&G ranks sixth by premium dollars and third by policy count among writers, serving roughly 500,000 life customers out of about one million total. Average policy size remains under $250,000 with premiums of $1,250 to $1,500.
Fixed indexed annuities are split roughly evenly between income-based and accumulation-based products, with about half reinsured. Multi-year guaranteed annuities see about 90% reinsurance, and F&G has reduced MYGA writing for four consecutive quarters. Pension risk transfer production runs $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually, placing the company seventh or eighth in the market and typically competing in deals ranging from $100 million to $600 million–$800 million. RILA volume written year-to-date in 2026 has already exceeded all of 2025.
Peak Altitude, F&G’s owned distribution platform, accounts for about 30% of life sales and 10% of annuity sales. Combined EBITDA is approximately $80 million to $85 million, against total investment of about $700 million funded partly with holding company debt. Murphy said he prefers owning half of a twice-as-big entity with deep-pocketed partners rather than full control.
The fixed income portfolio is 97% investment grade, with core fixed income yield reaching 4.91% in Q2, up 14 basis points sequentially and 8 basis points year-over-year. Credit-related impairments over the trailing five years have totaled just 6 basis points, roughly half the industry average. Over $3 billion in portfolio repositioning has been completed over the same period.
Alternative investments total $4 billion, or about 8% of total investments, with $3 billion in limited partnerships—85% of which is in early to mid-stage life—and $1 billion in residuals. The alternative portfolio has yielded about 7% over the past 3.5 years against a long-term target of 12%.
CFO Michael Bailey, who joined approximately six weeks before the conference, and CIO Leena Punjabi also participated in the session. Murphy, who became CEO at the end of June 2025 after 18 months as CFO, has been steering the company’s strategic repositioning since taking the helm.
