THE ACORD GLOBAL LIFE INSURANCE VALUE CREATION STUDY SPONSORED BY

THE ACORD GLOBAL LIFE INSURANCE VALUE CREATION STUDY SPONSORED BY June 2018

ABOUT ACORD CORPORATION ACORD, the global standards-setting body for the insurance industry, facilitates fast, accurate data exchange, and efficient workflows through the development of electronic standards, standardized forms, and tools to support their use. For nearly 50 years, ACORD has been an industry leader in identifying ways to help its members make improvements across the insurance value chain. Implementing ACORD Standards improves data quality and flow, increases efficiency, and realizes billion-dollar savings to the global insurance industry. ACORD engages more than 4,000 participating organizations spanning 20 countries, including insurance and reinsurance companies, agents and brokers, software providers, financial services organizations and industry associations. With the tools and resources provided by ACORD, our members are equipped to address current business and technology imperatives while influencing and shaping the future. Learn more at www.acord.org. 2018 ACORD Corporation. All rights reserved. The ACORD name and logos are among the registered trademarks and trademarks of ACORD Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners.

The global life insurance industry is notoriously idiosyncratic among not only insurance lines of business, but across all sectors in general. leveraged in-depth financial analysis, data-driven research, and interviews with industry leaders to answer three key questions: 1) How have life insurers performed globally? 2) What metrics correlate to shareholder returns? 3) Which strategies and capabilities support high performance? The study analyzed six years of data spanning 50 companies, 17 countries, over 20 lines of business, and 1/3 of global life NPW. By comparing multiple financial performance metrics and carrier attributes, we were able to highlight critical best-practice capabilities across the value chain. SCOPE & APPROACH The global life insurance segment is complex, with over 3,500 firms offering hundreds of unique solutions worldwide. Measuring success across such a diversity of products, customer segments, and geographies is equally complex one may choose to focus on revenue growth, operating margin, return on assets, return on equity, ratings, customer satisfaction, or several other metrics. analyzed all of these, but ultimately measured performance by Total Shareholder Return, because of its consistency and shareholder impact. The study therefore focused on the 50 publicly traded companies among the 100 largest global life insurers. ACORD not only examined the performance of these carriers against global and local indices, but also developed the proprietary ACORD Global Life Insurance Index in order to benchmark and segment the carriers into performance categories. SCOPE APPROACH INSIGHT Identified 50 largest listed global life insurers, spanning 17 countries and representing 1/3 of global Net Premium Written Analyzed performance against global, local and proprietary indices, in order to segment into Value Creators, Value Neutrals, and Value Destroyers Conducted financial, operational, and strategic analyses to identify key performance and outcome drivers, as well as winning strategies, capabilities, and implications 1

The 50 largest publicly traded carriers account for $882 billion in net premium written and $1.2 trillion in market capitalization. These carriers operate across 17 countries, and are active in over 20 lines of business within the life insurance segment. 3,500 L&A Carriers 100 Largest 50 Publicly Traded 1/3 Global NPW The study included six years of financial data, representing the period following the most recent global economic recovery. We compared Total Shareholder Return real share price appreciation, adjusted for inflation, plus dividends to both global and local indices to determine the carriers' performance. The ultimate arbiter of value categorization, however, was the proprietary ACORD Global Life Insurance Index. 225 175 125 TSR (%) 75 25 ACORD Index 90.5 S&P 500 77.7 DAX 66.1 CAC 27.8 FTSE 21.1 Shanghai 10.5-25 -75 2

21 Value Creators outperformed the ACORD index benchmark of 90.5%. 26 Value Neutrals demonstrated positive TSR, but underperformed the index. 3 Value Destroyers showed a decline in Total Shareholder Return. TOTAL SHAREHOLDER RETURN & THE ACORD INDEX Why use TSR as the definitive metric? Simply put, management must focus on creating value for owners, owners demand returns, and returns lower than the relevant index are not sustainable. Markets will draw capital away from insurers incapable of achieving minimum returns. TSR provides the most consistent baseline metric for performance across the diverse mix of companies analyzed. ACORD has expanded the proprietary stock index created in the course of this study to include insurers across all lines of business worldwide. Quarterly updates and more information on the ACORD Global Insurance Stock Index can be found at www.acord.org/globalindex. HOW HAVE LIFE INSURERS PERFORMED GLOBALLY? Over the period covered by the study, the S&P 500 returned 77.7%, with most European and Asian indices performing lower. The life insurance industry performed significantly better in aggregate, with the ACORD Global Life Index averaging 90.5%. ACORD Global Life Index 90.5% S&P 500 77.7% DAX 66.1% CAC 27.8% FTSE 21.1% Shanghai 10.5% Weighting the ACORD index by market capitalization makes little difference (90.1% vs. 90.5%). This is a strong indication that scale does not have a significant impact on the ability to create or destroy value. However, other capabilities clearly did - the carriers change in market cap over the six-year period varied significantly between the high and low performers. 3

Shareholder Returns (Weighted by Market Cap) Share Price Dividends Total TSR Change in Market Cap (vs. Weighted Average) Value Creators 99.1 46.7 145.8 +$110B Value Neutrals 25.2 25.1 50.3 -$165B Value Destroyers -27.0 0.8-26.2 -$76B Study Average 56.1 34.0 90.1 0 On average, across the 50 carriers examined, stock price appreciation accounted for roughly 2/3 of TSR, with dividends making up the balance. The Value Creators demonstrated a similar proportion, although at a much more impressive magnitude they doubled in absolute share price while paying out 46.7% in dividends. The Value Neutrals, on the other hand, showed a 50/50 division between price appreciation and dividends perhaps making a conscious decision to improve their TSR. Geographically, European life writers had the strongest return. Americas 2010-2016 TSR % EMEA 2010-2016 TSR % Asia-Pacific 2010-2016 TSR % 131.5 163.8 131.5 57.4 63.2 40.2-71.0 0.0-22.5 This more than likely is accounted for by the fact that European indices suffered worse in the years immediately preceding the global recovery, and therefore had further to rebound. 4

WHICH METRICS CORRELATE TO SHAREHOLDER RETURNS? Perhaps the most surprising result of the study is that none of the traditional, commonly used metrics showed a statistically significant correlation with performance. Despite being widely used to analyze companies throughout the industry, the typical balance sheet and income statement metrics correspond weakly at best to TSR. Overall, when measured against TSR, these metrics had an R 2 of just 38%, well below what is typically considered statistically significant. Return on Assets (ROA) stood out as having the highest contribution to R 2 relative to the other financial metrics, but correlation was weak across all of them. TSR Variance Non-Financial Factors 62% 38% Selected Financial Metrics Coefficients Contribution to R 2 Return on Assets 16.2 95% Return on Equity 3.8 5% Market Change 0.4 <1% EBITDA Growth -0.1 <1% Operating Margin -0.4 <1% Revenue Growth -0.6 <1% So, what did correlate with high performance? The strongest relationship with TSR was found in two factors: M&A activity and business mix. Deals per Carrier (indexed) Divestiture vs. Geographical Scope Deal Size (indexed) Acquisition Seller Buyer National International Seller Buyer Total Value Creators 114 42% 58% 31% 69% 130 120 124 Value Neutrals 100 38% 62% 38% 62% 58 96 81 Value Destroyers 27 53% 47% 68% 32% 25 58 41 Study Average 100 40% 60% 35% 65% 92 106 100 Successful Value Creators engaged in a significant amount of M&A activity relative to their competitors, both in the number and size of their deals. In particular, unlike the Value Neutrals and Value Destroyers, the overall amount of their divestitures was greater than their acquisitions. They were also more likely to make deals internationally than their competitors. 5

Perhaps the most striking correlation with performance was business mix. Life Creators 72 Non-Life 28 Neutral 79 21 Destroyers 94 6 Value Creators had almost 30% of their book in non-life lines of business. Why is a diverse mix associated with high performance? Some reasons, while they cannot be conclusively proven, suggest themselves. Companies selling a variety of products will by necessity leverage more sophisticated agents, who are likely to outperform in multiple ways. Also, the more types of coverage an insurer offers, the more convenient it is to bundle them, resulting in less price-sensitive consumers. There are also some other discernible trends in the company characteristics associated with performance. TSR by... Number of Brands Organizational Structure Geographic Focus Single Multiple Centralized Decentralized Federated National Regional Global Value Creators 140 156 127 197 150 137 128 149 Value Neutrals 49 61 40 75 64 49 48 51 Value Destroyers -26 - -26 - - -25 - -30 Study Average 79 128 55 106 118 75 69 97 Diversity of brands tended to result in higher returns, as did non-centralized structures. In fact, the three Value Destroyers were all single-brand, centralized companies. Geographically, global writers performed the best, but strictly national carriers outperformed regional ones insurers were better off choosing one extreme or the other. 6

There was one final characteristic separating the Value Destroyers from the companies with positive returns: product focus. Traditional Savings A&H Creators Neutral Destroyers Accident & Health is a rapidly growing area which tends to be outside the core competency of life insurers all carriers tended to "dabble" in it at about the same level. The difference between the Value Destroyers and their more successful competitors was in the proportion of traditionally underwritten products versus savings-based products which rely on investment spread to generate profit. Value Destroyers neglected the opportunities presented by savings products, focusing almost entirely on traditional policies to their detriment. WHICH STRATEGIES & CAPABILITIES SUPPORT HIGH PERFORMANCE? Like all insurers, life writers must choose to focus on one or more of four fundamental strategic options: Operational Excellence ("compete on price") Customer Intimacy ("compete on experience") Product Leadership ("compete on solution") Innovation ("compete on speed") 7

While the top 50 insurers were fairly evenly distributed across these strategies, there were clear performance implications to their choices. TSR by Strategy Operational Excellence Customer Intimacy Product Leadership Innovation Mixed Creators 97.9 138.9 117.2 141.0 151.1 Neutral 48.9 58.8 36.4 84.3 60.6 Destroyers -18.3-37.2 Study 45.0 95.6 54.2 137.1 106.3 Competing on price and product were significantly less effective than other strategies. On the other hand, innovation either as a sole focus or as part of a mixed strategy drove particularly high performance. This strategy is ultimately, for the most part, technology-based, but it may leverage that technology to enable improvements and advancements in sales processes, marketing, agent interaction, underwriting, or any other facet of the business. LIFE VS. P&C is a companion piece to the ACORD U.S. Property & Casualty Value Creation Study, which includes a comparable analysis of the top U.S. P&C Carriers. Because of the diversity of products offered by life insurers, varying widely by customer segment and geography, the Life Study is more complex and offers fewer clean and obvious outcomes. One key difference is in the strategic options favored by Value Creators in each line of business. P&C carriers have historically chosen to focus on Customer Intimacy, but our P&C Study showed that sustainable value creation now requires superiority across all four strategies. This is in marked contrast to the results for life insurers. More information on the ACORD U.S. P&C Value Creation Study can be found at www.acord.org/research. 8

Within the context of these strategic options, the ACORD Global Life Insurance Value Creation Study identified several value chain imperatives. These key performance drivers were common to the successful Value Creators. Opportunity Assessment & Selection Explicit link between new product, service model, and execution reality with an acute awareness of willingness-to-buy Pervasive understanding of customer needs and behaviors, both existing and emerging Actionable customer segmentation, including demographic & psychographic characteristics and potential CLTV factors Solution Development & Execution Disciplined innovation developing new product through conservative sourcing, sales, and service Near-exclusive focus on product value, including minimum efficiency scale, key milestones, and underlying value drivers Extensive stakeholder testing, insight, and consideration examining customer, channel, sales, and operations Marketing Strategy & Operations Omni-channel approach maximizing CLTV tailored to individual products, brands, geographies, and customer segments Full continuum of pricing options, based on multiple pricing dimensions (cost, market price, and willingness-to-pay) Clear understanding of customer needs and wants, particularly at the moment of value Sales Strategy & Operations Explicit segment-specific value propositions, leveraging awareness of channels, brands, products, and geographies Sales channel optimization for effectiveness, efficiency, and positioning Screening criteria and compensation strategies aligned to attract and motivate the best independent agents and customer service personnel Service Strategy & Operations Customer service levels determined by customer needs and wants, in the context of CLTV valuedriven resource allocation Moment-of-value customer insight driving actions which are consistent across the value chain and multiple touchpoints Data leveraged to drive outcomes ensuring the organization has the proper capabilities, capacity, and competencies 9

Overall, high-performing life insurers aligned strategy, capabilities, and resources; focused on execution; and promoted a talent-rich workforce and performance-driven culture. STRATEGY ALIGNMENT EXECUTION TALENT & CULTURE PROCESS ORGANIZATION TECHNOLOGY FOR MORE INFORMATION Details of this study, as well as other ACORD research, can be made available to ACORD members by request. To arrange an opportunity to learn more about this study, or explore the findings in more detail, please contact us at research@acord.org or visit www.acord.org/research. 10

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