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Reinsurance: the insurers behind your insurer
How life reinsurance works, why insurers buy it, who the big reinsurers are and what it means for your policy, with figures from their own 2025 reports.
Reinsurance is insurance for insurance companies: a life insurer, called the ceding company, passes part of the risk (and premium) on a block of policies to another company, the reinsurer. If you own a life policy, the insurer that issued it is almost always still the company you deal with and the one legally responsible for paying your claim, even when a reinsurer carries much of the risk behind the scenes.
Why insurers buy reinsurance
- To cap the size of any single loss. Each insurer sets a retention limit, the most it keeps on one life. A $10 million policy might be mostly passed to reinsurers, so one death does not strain the insurer's finances.
- To free up capital. Insurers must hold reserves and capital against policies. Reinsuring a block can reduce what the insurer must hold, so it can write more business; see risk-based capital and life insurer solvency.
- To get underwriting help. Reinsurers hold large pools of mortality data and often help insurers design accelerated underwriting: approval without an exam rules and set prices.
- To exit or reshape old business. An insurer that no longer wants a legacy block, such as old universal life or long-term care, can reinsure it.
- To manage catastrophe and pandemic risk. Reinsurers spread large mortality shocks across the world.
The main structures
| Type | What the reinsurer takes | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly renewable term (YRT) | Only the mortality risk (the amount at risk), priced year by year; the ceding company keeps the reserves and investments | Day-to-day risk sharing on new term and permanent business |
| Coinsurance | A share of everything: premiums, claims, reserves and expenses | Capital relief or exiting a block |
| Modified coinsurance (modco) | A share of risk, but the ceding company keeps the assets and moves the investment return to the reinsurer | Where the insurer wants to keep control of the assets |
| Quota share or excess of retention | A fixed percentage of every policy, or only the amount above the retention | Matching risk to the insurer's size |
A reinsurance deal on an entire in-force block, with the insurer keeping policy service, is often called a block transaction. The reinsurer may also hold assets in the form of funds withheld by the insurer.
Who the big life reinsurers are
The largest groups active in U.S. life reinsurance include RGA, Swiss Re, Munich Re, SCOR and Hannover Re. Their own reports for 2025 give a sense of scale. These are company-wide figures, covering more than life reinsurance, and currencies differ.
| Reinsurer | 2025 result (company-reported) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RGA (Reinsurance Group of America) | Net income of $1.182 billion; total assets of $156.6 billion; about $4.3 trillion of life reinsurance in force at year-end | RGA fourth-quarter 2025 release |
| Swiss Re | Group net income of $4.8 billion, of which Life & Health Reinsurance contributed $1.3 billion | Swiss Re, Feb. 27, 2026 |
| Munich Re | Net result of 6.121 billion euros; reinsurance segment result of 5.204 billion euros (property-casualty and life combined) | Munich Re, Feb. 26, 2026 |
| Hannover Re | Group net income of 2.6 billion euros | Hannover Re results release, March 12, 2026 (trade-press report) |
| SCOR | Net income of 851 million euros | SCOR fourth-quarter 2025 results release |
Reinsurers also include affiliates of insurers and private-capital-backed companies such as Global Atlantic.
Recent U.S. block deals
Reinsurance now shapes who stands behind older policies. Examples reported in company announcements and filings:
- Equitable: RGA reinsured 75% of its in-force individual life block effective April 1, 2025. See Equitable.
- American National: About half of its in-force life business was reinsured to RGA on July 1, 2024. See American National.
- John Hancock: In early 2024 it reinsured four blocks of legacy business with Global Atlantic and in January 2025 closed a deal with RGA on a long-term care block and structured settlements. See John Hancock and Global Atlantic.
- Nationwide: Agreed in May 2026 to reinsure a roughly $16 billion-face block of MassMutual universal life, which MassMutual still services.
Some deals send business to offshore affiliates, particularly in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands; the policy and regulatory questions are covered in Offshore reinsurance and Bermuda: why it matters to policyholders and private equity's push into life insurance.
What it means for your policy
- Who pays your claim. Your contract is with the issuing insurer. In the John Hancock case above, the company states that unless policies are formally transferred, the issuing company remains directly responsible to policyholders. A transfer of the policy itself is a different process; see when your life insurance policy is sold to another company.
- Who services your policy. Normally the same company as before. You usually do not hear about reinsurance at all.
- Your premiums and benefits. A reinsurance deal does not by itself change guaranteed premiums or death benefits. Non-guaranteed elements such as dividends and cost-of-insurance rates can be affected over time if the economics of a block change; see universal life cost-of-insurance increases and what to do.
- If the reinsurer fails. The ceding insurer is still liable and must keep adequate capital; regulators look at the credit the insurer takes for reinsurance when judging solvency. If the issuing insurer itself fails, your state guaranty association provides limited protection; check state guaranty association coverage lookup.
Checklist: how to check if you are worried
- Look at the issuing company's name in your policy and its financial strength rating.
- Read any notice you receive; an assignment or transfer of the policy must be disclosed, while reinsurance usually is not.
- Ask the insurer in writing whether your policy has been reinsured and whether your service provider has changed.
- Check your state insurance department's website for the insurer's financial exam reports.
- Review policy changes such as cost-of-insurance notices with the annual process in how to review your life insurance policy every year.
Key takeaways
- Reinsurance lets insurers share risk, free up capital and exit old business; it is a business-to-business contract, not something you buy.
- The insurer that issued your policy remains responsible to you even when a reinsurer carries most of the risk.
- The largest life reinsurers include RGA, Swiss Re, Munich Re, SCOR and Hannover Re; their 2025 reports show multi-billion-dollar earnings.
- Block reinsurance deals have become common, and offshore reinsurance and private capital are the main policy debates around them.
- Your protections come from the issuing insurer's financial strength, regulator oversight and your state's guaranty association.