Brighthouse CEO Likes Life Insurers. The Economy? Not So Much.

The head of a life insurer that was once at the heart of MetLife said Wednesday that he’s happier with life insurers than with the economy.

“This industry is in good shape,” Brighthouse Financial CEO Eric Steigerwalt told a room full of rating analysts and investment managers. “But we don’t know what’s going to happen. We are defensive.”

Steigerwalt appeared with Allan Levine, the CEO of KKR’s Global Atlantic arm, and Dan Houston, Principal Financial’s CEO, on a panel at an S&P Global Ratings insurance conference in New York City.

What It Means

The leaders of insurers that have about $700 billion in assets backing your clients’ life insurance policies and annuity contracts emphasized that they have no clear idea about how their own investments will perform in the coming year.

That might be a sign that even your most aggressive clients should think carefully about investment risk.

Empty Offices

The CEOs talked about banks’ recent problems and worries about half-empty office buildings.

Steigerwalt said that Brighthouse is happy with its sales but continuing to focus on investment portfolio liquidity.