Resolution Life life insurance

Overview

Resolution Life US is the American arm of Resolution Life, a global group that buys and manages blocks of life insurance and annuity policies that other insurers no longer want to keep. It does not market new individual life insurance. Its main U.S. insurer is Security Life of Denver Insurance Company, a Colorado stock company, together with Midwestern United Life Insurance Company. Both came from Voya Financial in 2021, and most people who deal with Resolution Life bought their policy from Voya, ING, ReliaStar or Security Life of Denver years ago.

The Resolution Life US Holdings group ranked #57 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $486.8 million in premiums and a 0.31% share. Those premiums are renewal payments on existing policies, mostly universal life, not new sales. In 2025 Resolution Life said its U.S. business served about 1.1 million customers and had about 470 employees, with its head office in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and an office in New York. Since October 31, 2025, the whole Resolution Life group has been wholly owned by Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Company.

History

Resolution Life's founder, Sir Clive Cowdery, has run life insurance consolidators since 2003. Resolution Life Group Holdings, a Bermuda company, describes its business as reinsurance and the acquisition and management of life insurance portfolios, with a focus on existing customers rather than new sales.

Security Life of Denver is much older. Voya traces it to 1928, when it was established in Denver as a life and health insurer; it became part of the Dutch insurer Nationale-Nederlanden in 1977, which later merged into ING. When ING's U.S. business was spun off and renamed Voya Financial, Security Life of Denver went with it.

On January 4, 2021, Resolution Life completed its purchase of substantially all of Voya's in-force individual life business. The deal included Security Life of Denver, Midwestern United Life and certain other affiliates, plus the reinsurance of Voya's remaining in-force individual life and annuity blocks. About 350 Voya employees moved over, along with the systems used to run the policies, and more than $25 billion of assets were added to Resolution Life's balance sheet. Voya's own contact page now sends individual life policyholders to Resolution Life.

Two more transactions widened the policies tied to Resolution Life in the U.S. Effective August 1, 2023, Farmers New World Life Insurance Company reinsured all of its existing life, accident and health, and annuity business with Security Life of Denver, about $5.2 billion of statutory reserves. Farmers New World Life is still the insurer on those policies, but for older variable universal life policies and variable annuities, servicing moved to Security Life of Denver and its administrator (see Farmers Life). On March 6, 2025, Resolution Life agreed to reinsure about $9.7 billion of reserves from Protective Life, covering blocks of structured settlement annuities and secondary guarantee universal life policies in runoff. Protective kept the administration of those policies, so their owners still deal with Protective.

Ownership changed in 2025. Nippon Life, which already owned about 23% of the group, agreed in December 2024 to buy the rest from Resolution Life's investment partnership; three Blackstone representatives left the board at closing. The deal closed on October 31, 2025, and valued Resolution Life at about $10.6 billion. Cowdery remains chairman and chief executive, and Warren Balakrishnan has led the U.S. business since March 2025.

Life insurance products

Resolution Life US does not sell new life insurance to the public. It administers closed blocks of policies that were sold by other companies, mainly:

• Individual life policies issued by Security Life of Denver, sold for years under the ING and later Voya names.
• Former Voya and ING individual life and annuity business reinsured to Resolution Life in 2021, including policies issued by ReliaStar Life.
• Policies issued by Midwestern United Life.
• Older Farmers New World Life variable universal life policies and variable annuities serviced through Security Life of Denver since 2023.

If you own one of these policies, the contract terms did not change when the business moved. Your premiums, guarantees, cash values, riders and beneficiary designations stay as written. What changed is who sends statements, answers the phone and pays claims. For universal life owners, the main things to watch are the same as anywhere: whether planned premiums are still enough to keep the policy in force, and whether the insurer raises cost-of-insurance charges within the policy's limits. An how to request and read an in-force illustration shows where a policy is headed. when your life insurance policy is sold to another company explains how these transfers work.

Buying and service

There is no way to buy a new policy from Resolution Life US. For existing policies, its 2025 U.S. contact page listed individual life policy owner customer service at 877-886-5050, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. Documents for processing go to [email protected], and general correspondence to [email protected]. Mail goes to Resolution Life Customer Service, P.O. Box 981331, Boston, MA 02298-1331; overnight deliveries go to 10 Dan Road, Dock 2, Canton, MA 02021. An online Customer Portal lets owners view policy information, make changes and manage payment details.

Resolution Life's redesigned global site now asks policyholders to enter the company name shown on their policy at its policyholder page to get the right contact details, because different blocks may have different service centers. Farmers policyholders should start with the Farmers contact details in their own statements.

Claims

Resolution Life US runs an online Customer Claims Portal where beneficiaries can start a death claim and check its status. Have the policy number if you can find it, the insured's certified death certificate, and your own identification and payment details. If you are not sure which company issued the policy, Resolution Life's policyholder page and the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator can help. In 2022 the U.S. business said it paid $2.3 billion to beneficiaries. The claims guide covers the general steps.

Ratings and reputation

Resolution Life lists Moody's insurance financial strength rating for Security Life of Denver at A2 with a positive outlook; Moody's upgraded it from A3 on October 31, 2025, after Nippon Life completed its purchase, having raised it from Baa1 to A3 in October 2024. Resolution Life also lists Fitch's rating for Security Life of Denver at A+ with a stable outlook; Fitch upgraded the group's ratings on October 31, 2025. Resolution Life does not list an AM Best or S&P rating for its U.S. companies.

Security Life of Denver was not ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, which covers brands that sell new policies. The main reputational risk with any closed-block owner is service: system conversions after a sale can cause delays, and a company that is not trying to win new customers has less marketing reason to compete on service. When it bought the Voya business, Resolution Life said it would replace Voya's systems with its own over a transition of up to two years.

Who it suits

Resolution Life is not a company you choose; you end up there because your insurer sold or reinsured its business. For those policyholders, the stronger ratings since Nippon Life's purchase are reassuring, and the policy contract is unchanged. Anyone shopping for new coverage will need to look elsewhere.

• Strengths: owned by Nippon Life since October 2025; Moody's A2 and Fitch A+ ratings for Security Life of Denver; online customer and claims portals; a business built only to service existing policies.
• Weaknesses: sells no new individual life insurance; contact details depend on which block your policy belongs to, and the global website no longer lists U.S. phone numbers on a single page; past ownership by a private-equity-backed partnership until 2025; policies have moved through several owners and administrators, which can confuse long-time owners.

How to contact Resolution Life