CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO)

ITEM 2.    MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

In this section, we review the consolidated financial condition of CNO as of June 30, 2026, and its consolidated results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, and, where appropriate, factors that may affect future financial performance. Please read this discussion in conjunction with the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes. Results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for a full year.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Our statements, trend analyses and other information contained in this report and elsewhere (such as in filings by CNO with the SEC, press releases, presentations by CNO or its management or oral statements) relative to markets for CNO's products and trends in CNO's operations or financial results, as well as other statements, contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements typically are identified by the use of terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "contemplate," "possible," "attempt," "seek," "should," "could," "goal," "target," "on track," "comfortable with," "optimistic," "guidance," "outlook," "sustainable," "repeatable," "confident in" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently.  You should consider statements that contain these words carefully because they describe our expectations, plans, strategies and goals and our beliefs concerning future business conditions, our results of operations, financial position, and our business outlook or they state other "forward-looking" information based on currently available information.  The "Risk Factors" section of our 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K provides examples of risks, uncertainties and events that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in our forward-looking statements.

A wide variety of factors continue to impact financial and economic conditions. Consumer and economic uncertainty due to rapid changes in global trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and potential changes to existing tariffs, and geopolitical actions are also causing market volatility and heightening inflationary concerns. Reactions to these factors and fluctuations in the value of the U.S. dollar compared to foreign currencies may result in reduced economic growth in the United States, the targeted nations and globally, increase inflation, disrupt global supply chains and increase volatility in financial markets, including currency and interest rate markets.

Assumptions and other important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements include, among other things:

•general economic, market and political conditions and uncertainties, including the performance and fluctuations of the financial markets (including the impact of inflation, market volatility, tariffs, changes in tax laws, changes in commodity prices, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and the impact of a U.S. federal government shutdown), which may affect the value of our investments as well as our ability to raise capital or refinance existing indebtedness and the cost of doing so;

•exposure to interest rate risk, including interest rate volatility, may negatively impact our results of operations, financial position or cash flow;

•future investment results, including the impact of realized losses (including other-than-temporary impairment charges) may diminish the value of our invested assets and negatively impact our profitability, our financial condition and our liquidity;

•the ultimate outcome of lawsuits filed against us and other legal and regulatory proceedings to which we are subject;

•our ability to make anticipated changes to certain non-guaranteed elements of our life insurance products;

•our ability to obtain adequate and timely rate increases on our health products;

•the receipt of any required regulatory approvals for dividend and surplus debenture interest payments from our insurance subsidiaries;

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•mortality, morbidity, the increased cost and usage of health care services, persistency, the adequacy of our previous reserve estimates, changes in the health care market and other factors which may affect the profitability of our insurance products;

•the recoverability of our deferred tax assets and the effect of potential ownership changes and tax rate changes on their value;

•our assumption that the positions we take on our tax return filings will not be successfully challenged by the IRS;

•changes in accounting principles and the interpretation thereof;

•our ability to continue to satisfy the financial ratio and balance requirements and other covenants of our debt agreements;

•our ability to identify products and markets in which we can compete effectively against competitors with greater market share, higher ratings, greater financial resources and stronger brand recognition;

•our ability to generate sufficient liquidity to meet our debt service obligations and other cash needs;

•changes in capital deployment opportunities;

•our ability to maintain effective controls over financial reporting and modeling;

•our ability to continue to recruit and retain productive agents and distribution partners;

•customer response to new products, distribution channels and marketing initiatives;

•inflation or other unfavorable economic or business conditions may impact the sales and persistency of insurance products, a portion of our insurance policy benefits affected by increased medical coverage costs and various selling, general and administrative expenses;

•our ability to maintain the financial strength ratings of CNO and our insurance company subsidiaries as well as the impact of our ratings on our business, our ability to access capital, and the cost of capital;

•regulatory changes or actions, now or in the future, including, but not limited to: those relating to regulation of the financial affairs of our insurance companies, such as the calculation of risk-based capital and minimum capital requirements, and payment of dividends and surplus debenture interest to us; regulation of the sale, underwriting and pricing of products; health care regulation affecting health insurance products; and privacy laws and regulations;

•changes in the Federal income tax laws and regulations which may affect or eliminate the relative tax advantages of some of our products or affect the value of our deferred tax assets;

•availability and effectiveness of reinsurance arrangements, as well as the impact of any defaults or failure of reinsurers to perform;

•the use or anticipated use of artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies, including generative AI, by us or third-parties;

•the performance of third-party service providers (both domestic and international) and potential difficulties arising from outsourcing arrangements;

•expectations for the growth rate of sales, collected premiums, annuity deposits and assets;

•interruption in telecommunication, information technology or other operational systems or failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data on such systems;

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•events of terrorism, natural disasters or other catastrophic events, including potential adverse impacts from climate change which may increase the frequency or severity of weather-related disasters;

•the impact of pandemics and major public health issues and the resulting financial market, economic and other impacts;

•cybersecurity attacks, risk of data loss and other security breaches;

•ineffectiveness of risk management policies and procedures in identifying, monitoring and managing risks; and

•the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to time in our filings with the SEC.

Other factors and assumptions not identified above are also relevant to the forward-looking statements, and if they prove incorrect, could also cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.

All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statement.  Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made.  We assume no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements.

The reporting of risk-based capital ("RBC") measures is not intended for the purpose of ranking any insurance company or for use in connection with any marketing, advertising or promotional activities.

OVERVIEW

We are a holding company for a group of insurance companies that develop, market and administer health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance and other insurance and financial services products.  We focus on serving middle-income pre-retiree and retired Americans, which we believe are attractive, underserved, high growth markets.  We sell our products through exclusive agents, independent producers (some of whom sell one or more of our product lines exclusively) and direct marketing.

We view our operations as three insurance product lines (annuity, health and life) and the investment and fee income segments. Our segments are aligned based on their common characteristics, comparability of profit margins and the way the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") makes operating decisions and assesses the performance of the business. Our CODM is the Chief Executive Officer.

Our insurance product line segments (annuity, health and life) include marketing, underwriting and administration of the policies our insurance subsidiaries sell. The business written in each of the three product categories through all of our insurance subsidiaries is aggregated allowing management and investors to assess the performance of each product category. When analyzing profitability of these segments, we use insurance product margin as the measure of profitability, which is: (i) insurance policy income; and (ii) net investment income allocated to the insurance product lines; less (i) insurance policy benefits; (ii) interest credited to policyholders; (iii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits; (iv) non-deferred commissions; and (v) advertising expense. Net investment income is allocated to the product lines using the book yield of investments backing the block of business, which is applied to the average insurance liabilities, net of insurance intangibles, for the block in each period. Net insurance liabilities for the purpose of allocating investment income to product lines are equal to: (i) policyholder account values for interest sensitive products; (ii) total reserves before the fair value adjustments reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), if applicable, for all other products; less (iii) amounts related to reinsured business; (iv) deferred acquisition costs; (v) the present value of future profits; and (vi) the value of unexpired options credited to insurance liabilities.

Income from insurance products is the sum of the insurance product margins of the annuity, health and life product lines, less expenses allocated to the insurance product lines. It excludes the income from our fee income business, investment income not allocated to product lines, net expenses not allocated to product lines (primarily holding company expenses) and income taxes. Management believes insurance product margin and income from insurance

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ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

In this section, we review the consolidated financial condition of CNO and its consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023 and, where appropriate, factors that may affect future financial performance. Please read this discussion in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in this Form 10-K.

OVERVIEW

We are a holding company for a group of insurance companies that develop, market and administer health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance and other insurance and financial services products.  We focus on serving middle-income pre-retiree and retired Americans, which we believe are attractive, underserved, high growth markets.  We sell our products through exclusive agents, independent producers (some of whom sell one or more of our product lines exclusively) and direct marketing.

We view our operations as three insurance product lines (annuity, health and life) and the investment and fee income segments. Our segments are aligned based on their common characteristics, comparability of profit margins and the way the CODM makes operating decisions and assesses the performance of the business.

Our insurance product line segments (annuity, health and life) include marketing, underwriting and administration of the policies our insurance subsidiaries sell. The business written in each of the three product categories through all of our insurance subsidiaries is aggregated allowing management and investors to assess the performance of each product category. When analyzing profitability of these segments, we use insurance product margin as the measure of profitability, which is: (i) insurance policy income; and (ii) net investment income allocated to the insurance product lines; less (i) insurance policy benefits; (ii) interest credited to policyholders; (iii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits, (iv) non-deferred commissions; and (v) advertising expense. Net investment income is allocated to the product lines using the book yield of investments backing the block of business, which is applied to net insurance liabilities for the block in each period. Net insurance liabilities for the purpose of allocating investment income to product lines are equal to: (i) policyholder account values for interest sensitive products; (ii) total reserves before the fair value adjustments reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), if applicable, for all other products; less (iii) amounts related to reinsured business; (iv) deferred acquisition costs; (v) the present value of future profits; and (vi) the value of unexpired options credited to insurance liabilities.

Income from insurance products is the sum of the insurance product margins of the annuity, health and life product lines, less expenses allocated to the insurance product lines. It excludes the income from our fee income business, investment income not allocated to product lines, net expenses not allocated to product lines (primarily holding company expenses) and income taxes. Management believes insurance product margin and income from insurance products provides an additional understanding of the business and a more meaningful analysis of the results of our insurance product lines.

We market our products through the Consumer and Worksite Divisions that reflect the customers served by the Company. The Consumer and Worksite Divisions are primarily focused on marketing insurance products, several types of which are sold in both divisions and underwritten in the same manner.

The Consumer Division serves individual consumers, engaging with them on the phone, virtually, online, face-to-face with agents, or through a combination of sales channels. This structure unifies consumer capabilities into a single division and integrates the strength of our agent sales forces with one of the largest direct-to-consumer insurance businesses with proven experience in advertising, web/digital and call center support.

The Worksite Division focuses on the sale of voluntary insurance benefits, including supplemental health and life insurance products in the workplace for businesses, associations, and other membership groups, interacting with customers at their place of employment and virtually.

The investment segment involves the management of our capital resources, including investments and the management of corporate debt and liquidity. Our measure of profitability of this segment is the total net investment income not allocated to the insurance products. Investment income not allocated to product lines represents net investment

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income less: (i) equity returns credited to policyholder account balances; (ii) the investment income allocated to our product lines; (iii) interest expense on notes payable, investment borrowings and financing arrangements; (iv) expenses related to the funding agreement-backed note ("FABN") program; and (v) certain expenses related to benefit plans that are offset by special-purpose investment income; plus (vi) the impact of annual option forfeitures related to fixed indexed annuity surrenders. Investment income not allocated to product lines includes investment income on investments in excess of amounts allocated to product lines, investments held by our holding companies, the spread we earn from our FHLB investment borrowing and FABN programs and variable components of investment income (including call and prepayment income, adjustments to returns on structured securities due to cash flow changes, income (loss) from Company-owned life insurance ("COLI") and alternative investment income not allocated to product lines), net of interest expense on corporate debt and financing arrangements. The spread earned from our FHLB investment borrowing and FABN programs includes the investment income on the matched assets less: (i) interest on investment borrowings related to the FHLB investment borrowing program; (ii) interest credited on funding agreements; and (iii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs related to the FABN program.

Our fee income segment includes the earnings generated from sales of third-party insurance products (primarily Medicare Advantage), services provided to employers through our Worksite division and the operations of our broker-dealer and registered investment advisor. In November 2025, we announced our intention to exit the fee services business within our Worksite Division to sharpen our focus on the core insurance business. As a result, beginning in fourth quarter of 2025, the net results of this business are no longer presented within the fee income segment, but are presented within net loss related to divested business within non-operating income. The resulting fee income metric is the fee income segment's measure of profitability.

Expenses not allocated to product lines primarily include the expenses of our corporate operations, excluding interest expense on debt.

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The following summarizes our earnings for each of the three years ended December 31, 2025 (dollars in millions, except per share data):

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(a)Management believes that an analysis of net income applicable to common stock before: (i) net realized investment gains or losses from disposals, impairments and the change in allowance for credit losses, net of taxes; (ii) net change in market value of investments recognized in earnings, net of taxes; (iii) changes in fair value of embedded derivative liabilities and market risk benefits ("MRBs") related to our fixed indexed annuities, net of taxes; (iv) fair value changes related to the agent deferred compensation plan, net of taxes; (v) gains or losses related to material reinsurance transactions, net of taxes; (vi) loss on extinguishment of debt, net of taxes; (vii) changes in the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets and other tax items; (viii) costs related to our three-year project to modernize certain elements of our technology ("TechMod") that are incremental to normal spend and will not recur following implementation, net of taxes; (ix) goodwill and other asset impairment expenses, net of taxes; (x) gains or losses related to divested business, net of taxes; and (xi) other non-operating items including earnings attributable to variable interest entities, net of taxes ("net operating income," a non-GAAP financial measure) is important to evaluate the financial performance of the company, and is a key measure commonly used in the life insurance industry. The income tax expense or benefit allocated to the items included in net non-operating income (loss) represents the current and deferred income tax expense or benefit allocated to the items included in non-operating earnings. Management believes this information provides a better understanding of the

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business and a more meaningful analysis of results of our insurance product lines. The table above reconciles the non-GAAP measure to the corresponding GAAP measure.

In addition, management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in its budgeting process, financial analysis of segment performance and in assessing the allocation of resources. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures enhance an investor's understanding of our financial performance and allows them to make more informed judgments about the Company as a whole. These measures also highlight operating trends that might not otherwise be apparent. However, net operating income is not a measurement of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to cas

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