Over the past fifteen years, the line between lending and insurance has blurred. Life insurers and annuity writers need long-dated assets to match the long promises they make to policyholders. Private credit managers originate exactly those assets. The result is a model in which asset managers own or partner with insurers, and insurers hold more private loans than they used to.
How big the shift has become
An industry analysis published in July 2026 estimated that privately owned life insurers held nearly $1.2 trillion, about 19.8 percent of U.S. life industry assets, at the end of 2025, compared with roughly 2.5 percent in 2011. The same analysis put U.S. life insurers’ offshore reinsurance reserves at about $1.1 trillion at the end of 2024, with Bermuda taking more than 60 percent of new cessions in 2023 and 2024, and their holdings of private credit and other illiquid investments at roughly $807 billion.
What the model gets right
The logic is sound. An annuity is a promise to pay over many years. A well-underwritten loan secured by real assets pays over many years too. When the people who originate and monitor the loans also care about the liabilities they back, there is a natural discipline: the loans have to perform for the promises to be kept. Matching duration this way can serve policyholders and borrowers alike.
What regulators are worried about
The concerns are real, and we take them seriously. Regulators have asked whether some offshore reinsurance arrangements lower capital requirements without lowering risk; whether private credit ratings and valuations are transparent enough; and whether insurers holding illiquid assets could meet demands for cash in a downturn. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has worked through proposals on capital charges for structured and private credit and on asset-intensive reinsurance, and in 2026 the U.S. Treasury opened its own conversations with state insurance regulators on private credit and offshore reinsurance.
“Matching long promises with long assets only works if the capital reflects the risk.”
The rules we think the model needs
- Capital that reflects risk. Reinsurance should move risk to where it is better held, not just to where it is cheaper to hold.
- Valuation that someone independent can check. Private assets should be valued by people with no stake in the answer, on a written policy.
- Liquidity planned for bad years. Enough liquid assets to meet surrenders and claims when markets are closed, tested regularly.
- Arm’s-length related-party terms. Where an insurer buys loans from, or reinsures with, an affiliate, the terms should be what an unrelated party would accept, approved by people without an interest in the deal, and disclosed to regulators.
- Nothing before it is licensed. An insurer should write business only after its regulator approves it, and say so plainly until then.
Where Fortuneo stands
Fortuneo is building two insurers as part of its platform: Fortuneo Redux, a planned Bermuda reinsurer, and Fortuneo Manens, a planned Texas life and annuity company. Neither is licensed, and neither offers any policy, annuity or reinsurance. We are building them on the principles above because we believe a lender that also stands behind long promises has to be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.
Sources
Insurance Business: Privately owned insurers now hold nearly 20% of U.S. life industry assets (ALIRT, July 9, 2026)The Global Treasurer: U.S. Treasury and NAIC regulators tackle the private credit pivot (May 13, 2026)For general information only. This is not an offer or commitment to lend, insure or invest, and not legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. Terms, availability and eligibility vary and are subject to credit approval and applicable law. Fortuneo Redux Reinsurance, Ltd. and Fortuneo Manens Life & Annuity Company are planned entities and are not licensed.