At a glance
- The report offers only a half-year comparison, no year-over-year figure, so the 3.9% cannot be set against the same stretch of 2025.
- A base like this widens for reasons that pull in different directions: new premiums and annuity deposits add assets alongside new obligations to fund, while investment income and portfolio marks add assets without them.
- Size at home also says less than it once did about where life and annuity risk sits: as this publication reported in September, Bermuda's life and annuity sidecar liabilities have quadrupled in four years, to $375 billion, with no known recaptures, and collateral terms now set the pace of further growth.
The U.S. life and health industry's admitted assets reached $10.28 trillion at the midpoint of 2026, up 3.9% over the preceding six months — a gain of roughly $386 billion since year-end — under a statutory measure that counts what carriers may hold on the balance sheet, not the market value of the portfolio. That total comes from AM Best's Best's Rankings report, published October 2, three months after the position it measures, and it arrives without the company-by-company table that gives a rankings report its purpose; the coverage names Prudential in its opening line and stops there.
The report offers only a half-year comparison, no year-over-year figure, so the 3.9% cannot be set against the same stretch of 2025. For a general account, the industry total is a denominator. It sizes the pool of assets behind sector liabilities and sets the base for allocation programs, but the number as published does not separate general accounts from separate accounts, where policyholder-directed money is held.
A base like this widens for reasons that pull in different directions: new premiums and annuity deposits add assets alongside new obligations to fund, while investment income and portfolio marks add assets without them. A 3.9% half-year gain is consistent with either, or with both at once, and the industry total does not say which.
Size at home also says less than it once did about where life and annuity risk sits: as this publication reported in September, Bermuda's life and annuity sidecar liabilities have quadrupled in four years, to $375 billion, with no known recaptures, and collateral terms now set the pace of further growth. That book is not part of this one, and the assets behind it are not counted in the $10.28 trillion.
The next comparable figure is the year-end count from the same ranking; another 3.9% across the second half would put the industry near 8% for the year, and that is the rate general-account allocators would need to plan capacity around.
For a general account, the industry total is a denominator.
Reported by the Insurer portfolios desk from AM Best News. Published . Corrections