Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH)

Item 2.     Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in its entirety and in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes contained in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the subsequent amendment thereto, filed with the SEC (“2025 Form 10-K”).

In addition to historical data, this discussion contains forward-looking statements about our business, operations and financial performance based on current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. See the Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information. Investors are directed to consider the risks and uncertainties discussed in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as in other documents we have filed with the SEC.

Executive Summary

Overview

We are one of America’s leading financial services companies, providing: (i) advice and solutions for helping Americans set and meet their retirement goals and protect and transfer their wealth across generations; and (ii) a wide range of investment management insights, expertise and innovations to drive better investment decisions and outcomes for clients worldwide.

As previously announced, effective July 1, 2025, our financial reporting presentation was revised to reflect the reorganization of the Company’s reportable segments to reflect how the Company’s chief operating decision maker now makes operating decisions and assesses performance. We manage our business through three segments: Retirement, Asset Management and Wealth Management. We report certain activities and items that are not included in these segments in Corporate and Other. Prior period results have been revised in connection with updates to our reportable segments. See Note 16 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on our segments.

We benefit from our complementary mix of businesses. This business mix provides diversity in our earnings sources, which helps offset fluctuations in market conditions and variability in business results, while offering growth opportunities.

Overview of Recent Developments

Corebridge Merger

On March 26, 2026, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among Holdings, Corebridge Financial, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Corebridge”), Mountain Holding, Inc., a newly formed Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Corebridge (“Corebridge HoldCo”), Marcy Holding, Inc., a newly formed Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corebridge HoldCo (“Equitable Merger Sub”), and Palisade Holding, Inc., a newly formed Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corebridge HoldCo (“Corebridge Merger Sub”).

Holdings and Corebridge have agreed, subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, to effect an all stock merger transaction to combine their respective businesses by: (a) Corebridge Merger Sub merging with and into Corebridge, with Corebridge surviving such merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corebridge HoldCo (the “Corebridge Merger”), (b) immediately following the consummation of the Corebridge Merger, Equitable Merger Sub merging with and into Holdings, with Holdings surviving such merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corebridge HoldCo (the “Equitable Merger” and, together with the Corebridge Merger, the “Proposed Transaction”), and (c) as of the closing of the Proposed Transaction (the “Closing”), changing the name of Corebridge HoldCo to “Equitable Holdings, Inc.”

On July 30, 2026, stockholders of both Holdings and Corebridge voted to approve all stockholder proposals necessary to complete the Proposed Transaction at their respective special stockholder meetings. The Proposed Transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals.

Macroeconomic and Industry Trends

Our business and consolidated results of operations are significantly affected by economic conditions and consumer confidence, conditions in the global capital markets and the interest rate environment.

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Financial and Economic Environment

U.S. equity markets staged a strong reversal in the second quarter 2026, with the S&P 500 Index returning approximately 15%, its best quarterly performance since the 2020 post-pandemic rebound, while the Russell 2000 surged more than 21% for its strongest quarter in decades. A wide variety of factors continue to cause market volatility and heighten concerns regarding inflation. These factors include, among others, concerns around private credit, interest rate changes, AI-related concerns, and escalating geopolitical tensions, including increased tariffs and other trade restrictions and barriers, high fuel and energy costs, ongoing economic disruption, and other factors, including the Ukraine-Russia conflict and conflict in the Middle East. For further information on the risk of increased volatility in the financial markets to our business, see “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Conditions in the Financial Markets and Economy—Conditions in the global capital markets and the economy and Equity market declines and volatility” in the 2025 Form 10-K.

Stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in the capital markets, particular markets, or financial asset classes can have an adverse effect on us, in part because we have a large investment portfolio. In addition, our insurance liabilities and derivatives are sensitive to changing market factors, including equity market performance and interest rates. An increase in market volatility could continue to affect our business, including through effects on the yields we earn on invested assets, changes in required reserves and capital and fluctuations in the value of our AUM, AV or AUA from which we derive our fee income. These effects could be exacerbated by uncertainty about future fiscal policy, changes in tax policy, the scope of potential deregulation and levels of global trade.

The potential for increased volatility could pressure sales and reduce demand for our products as consumers consider purchasing alternative products to meet their objectives. In addition, this environment could make it difficult to consistently develop products that are attractive to customers. Financial performance can be adversely affected by market volatility and equity market declines as fees driven by AV and AUM fluctuate, hedging costs increase and revenues decline due to reduced sales and increased outflows.

We monitor the behavior of our customers and other factors, including mortality rates, morbidity rates, annuitization rates and lapse and surrender rates, which change in response to changes in capital market conditions, to ensure that our products and solutions remain attractive and profitable. For additional information on our sensitivity to interest rates and capital market prices, see “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in the 2025 Form 10-K.

Regulatory Developments

Our U.S. life insurance subsidiaries are regulated primarily at the state level, with some policies and products also subject to federal regulation. Holdings and its insurance subsidiaries are subject to regulation under the insurance holding company laws of various U.S. jurisdictions. On an ongoing basis, regulators refine capital requirements and introduce new reserving standards. Regulations recently adopted or currently under review can potentially impact our statutory reserve, capital requirements and profitability of the industry and result in increased regulation and oversight for the industry.

Insurance Regulation

Regulation of Investments

The NAIC is evaluating the risks associated with insurers’ investments in certain categories of structured securities, including CLOs. In 2023, the NAIC approved interim rules that raise capital requirements for holdings of CLO and other asset-backed security residual interests. Effective January 1, 2024, the NAIC adopted an amendment to the Purposes and Procedures Manual of the NAIC Investment Analysis Office (the “Purposes and Procedures Manual”) to give the NAIC’s Structured Securities Group, housed within the NAIC’s Securities Valuation Office (the “SVO”), responsibility for modeling CLO securities and evaluating tranche level losses across all debt and equity tranches under a series of calibrated and weighted collateral stress scenarios in order to assign NAIC Designations. Under the amended Purposes and Procedures Manual, CLO investments will no longer be broadly exempt from filing with the SVO based on ratings from credit rating providers. The NAIC’s goal is to ensure that the weighted average RBC factor for owning all tranches of a CLO more closely aligns with what would be required for directly owning all of the underlying loan collateral, in order to avoid RBC arbitrage. The NAIC has delayed reporting multiple times with the goal currently being to require reporting by year-end 2026. The NAIC is collaborating with interested parties to refine the process for modeling CLO investments.

In related work, the NAIC’s Financial Condition (E) Committee launched a holistic review of the insurance regulatory framework related to insurer investment risk regulation, on which work began in 2023. The primary objective is to enhance the insurance regulatory framework in order to strengthen oversight of insurers’ investments. The proposed changes to modernize

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investment oversight include (i) reducing / eliminating “blind” reliance on credit rating providers while continuing to use them by implementing a due diligence framework that oversees the effectiveness of credit rating providers; and (ii) bolstering the SVO’s risk analysis capabilities by investing in a risk analytics tool and adding specialized personnel. Effective January 1, 2026, the NAIC replaced the former Valuation of Securities (E) Task Force with a new Invested Assets (E) Task Force and three working groups related to the oversight of insurance company investments and credit rating provider matters.

In November 2024, the NAIC adopted an amendment to the Purposes and Procedures Manual effective January 1, 2026, which sets forth procedures for SVO staff to identify and evaluate a filing-exempt security with an NAIC Designation determined by a rating that appears to be an unreasonable assessment of investment risk. The procedures include, without limitation, sending an information request to insurers that hold the security under review and determining whether the NAIC Designation is three or more notches different from the SVO’s assessment, which would allow the SVO to request the removal of the credit rating from the filing exempt process. At any time during the process, an alternate credit rating may be requested and, if one is received, it will be incorporated into the filing exempt process. The NAIC has developed the technology enhancements necessary to carry out these procedures and this process is now operational.

In February 2025, the NAIC announced the formation of a new Risk-Based Capital Model Governance (EX) Task Force. The purpose of the new task force is to provide executive-level oversight and coordination of the various NAIC groups that are reviewing RBC-related standards. The task force is also charged with completing a comprehensive gap analysis to identify gaps in the current RBC framework and developing guiding

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Executive Summary

Overview

We are one of America’s leading financial services companies, providing: (i) advice and solutions for helping Americans set and meet their retirement goals and protect and transfer their wealth across generations; and (ii) a wide range of investment management insights, expertise and innovations to drive better investment decisions and outcomes for clients worldwide.

We manage our business through three segments: Retirement, Asset Management and Wealth Management. We report certain activities and items that are not included in these segments in Corporate and Other. Prior period results have been revised in connection with updates to our reportable segments. See Note 21 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on our segments.

We benefit from our complementary mix of businesses. This business mix provides diversity in our earnings sources, which helps offset fluctuations in market conditions and variability in business results, while offering growth opportunities.

Overview of Recent Developments

RGA Reinsurance Transaction

On July 31, 2025, Equitable Financial, as well as Equitable America and Equitable Financial L&A (each a “Ceding Company” and, collectively, the “Ceding Companies”), completed the master transaction agreement with RGA entered into on February 23, 2025 pursuant to which and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in such agreement, RGA entered into reinsurance agreements, as reinsurer, with each Ceding Company, to effect the RGA Reinsurance Transaction.

At the closing of the transaction, (i) each of Equitable Financial and Equitable America entered into a separate coinsurance and modified coinsurance agreement with RGA and (ii) Equitable Financial L&A entered into a coinsurance agreement with RGA, each with an effective date of April 1, 2025, pursuant to which each ceding company ceded to RGA a 75% quota share of such ceding company’s in-force individual life insurance block and Closed Block. At the closing of the transaction, assets supporting the general account liabilities relating to the reinsured contracts were deposited into a trust account for the benefit of Equitable Financial and a trust account for the benefit of Equitable America and Equitable Financial L&A, which assets will secure RGA’s obligations to each ceding company under the applicable reinsurance agreement. Equitable Financial and Equitable America reinsured the applicable separate accounts and closed block relating to the applicable reinsured contracts on a modified coinsurance basis. In addition, the investment of assets in each trust account will be subject to investment guidelines and certain capital adequacy related triggers will require enhanced funding. The reinsurance agreements also contain additional counterparty risk management and mitigation provisions. Each ceding company will continue to administer the applicable reinsured contracts.

As part of the transaction, on June 16, 2025, ABLP entered into an investment advisory agreement with RGA, pursuant to which AB will manage certain assets to be specified representing approximately 70% of assets supporting the reserves associated with the ceded policies under the reinsurance agreements.

Novation

Effective January 17, 2025, Equitable Financial novated certain legacy variable annuity policies sold between 2006-2008, comprised of non-New York “Accumulator” policies containing fixed rate GMIB and/or GMDB guarantees reinsured by Venerable under the combined co-insurance and modified coinsurance basis agreement executed on June 1, 2021.

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As a result of the novation of certain Legacy VA policies completed during the first quarter 2025, the Company recorded a loss of $499 million in pre-tax net income and an increase of $263 million in pre-tax AOCI, for a total impact loss of $236 million. The negative net income impact is mostly driven by the reduction of the purchased MRB asset of $2.0 billion and the reduction of Liability for MRBs of $1.6 billion, offset by a decrease in reinsurance deposit liability of $183 million. Purchased MRB asset reduction is larger than the direct MRB liability reduction since the Venerable reinsurance assets sit in a collateralized trust and thus materially reduce the non-performance risk associated with the counterparty. Deposit account liability decreases as novation leads to faster amortization of the liability. The novation impact from the base contracts and the contracts in payout status is less material, as the decrease in policyholders’ account balance of $33 million and decrease in liability for future policyholders’ benefits of $458 million are largely offset by a decrease in Amounts due to reinsurers of $432 million.

Tender Offer and AB Unit Exchange

On February 24, 2025, Holdings commenced the AB Tender Offer to purchase up to 46 million AB Holding Units at a price of $38.50 per unit, less any applicable tax withholding, for an aggregate purchase price of $1.8 billion. On April 3, 2025, Holdings purchased (the “Purchase”) 19.7 million AB Holding Units pursuant to the AB Tender Offer for an aggregate cost of $758 million. The AB Holding Units accepted for purchase represent approximately 17.9% of the outstanding units as of March 31, 2025. On July 10, 2025, AB and Holdings entered into an Amended and Restated Master Exchange Agreement to increase the AB Units that remain available for exchange from 4.8 million AB Units to 19.7 million AB Units, and Holdings exchanged 19.7 million AB Holding Units for an equal number of limited partnership interests in ABLP. The exchange had no effect on Holdings’ economic interest in AB.

Macroeconomic and Industry Trends

Our business and consolidated results of operations are significantly affected by economic conditions and consumer confidence, conditions in the global capital markets and the interest rate environment.

Financial and Economic Environment

U.S. stocks finished higher in the fourth quarter of 2025, despite a long government shutdown and signs of a cooling labor market. The S&P 500 gained 2.7% for the quarter and delivered about 18% for the year, its third straight year of double‑digit returns. Small‑cap stocks, represented by the Russell 2000, rose 2.2% in the fourth quarter and ended the year up 13%.

Despite the above, a wide variety of factors continue to impact global financial and economic conditions. These factors include, among others, uncertainty regarding the federal debt limit, volatility in the capital markets, equity market declines, plateauing or decreasing economic growth, high fuel and energy costs, changes in fiscal or monetary policy and geopolitical tensions. The Russian invasion of the Ukraine, Middle Eastern hostilities, and the ensuing conflicts and the sanctions and other measures imposed in response to these conflicts, tariffs and trade disputes, significantly increased the level of volatility in the financial markets and have increased the level of economic and political uncertainty.

Stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in the capital markets, particular markets, or financial asset classes can have an adverse effect on us, in part because we have a large investment portfolio. In addition, our insurance liabilities and derivatives are sensitive to changing market factors, including equity market performance and interest rates, which fell three times in 2025, including by 0.25% in December 2025. However, the Federal Reserve signaled a more cautious approach for 2026, which contributed to some late-year market volatility. An increase in market volatility could continue to affect our business, including through effects on the yields we earn on invested assets, changes in required reserves and capital and fluctuations in the value of our AUM, AV or AUA from which we derive our fee income. These effects could be exacerbated by uncertainty about future fiscal policy, changes in tax policy, the scope of potential deregulation and levels of global trade.

The potential for increased volatility could pressure sales and reduce demand for our products as consumers consider purchasing alternative products to meet their objectives. In addition, this environment could make it difficult to consistently develop products that are attractive to customers. Financial performance can be adversely affected by market volatility and equity market declines as fees driven by AV and AUM fluctuate, hedging costs increase and revenues decline due to reduced sales and increased outflows.

We will continue to monitor the behavior of our customers and other factors, including mortality rates, morbidity rates, annuitization rates and lapse and surrender rates, which change in response to changes in capital market conditions, to ensure that our products and solutions remain attractive and profitable. For additional information on our sensitivity to interest rates

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and capital market prices, see “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Conditions in the Financial Markets and Economy” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”

Regulatory Developments

Our life insurance subsidiaries are regulated primarily at the state level, with some policies and products also subject to federal regulation. In addition, Holdings and its insurance subsidiaries are subject to regulation under the insurance holding company laws of various U.S. jurisdictions. Furthermore, on an ongoing basis, regulators refine capital requirements and introduce new reserving standards. Regulations recently adopted or currently under review can potentially impact our statutory reserve, capital requirements and profitability of the industry and result in increased regulation and oversight for the industry. For additional information on regulatory developments and the risks we face, see “Business—Regulation” and “Risk Factors—Legal and Regulatory Risks.”

Revenues

Our revenues come from three principal sources:

•fee income derived from our retirement and protection products and our asset management services;

•premiums from our traditional life insurance and annuity products; and

•investment income from our General Account investment portfolio.

Our fee income varies directly in relation to the amount of the underlying AV or benefit base of our retirement and protection products, the amount of AUM and AUA in our Wealth management business, and the amount of AUM of our Asset Management business. AV and AUM, each as defined in “Key Operating Measures,” are influenced by changes in economic conditions, primarily equity market returns, as well as net flows. Our premium income is driven by the growth in new policies written and the persistency of our in-force policies, both of which are influenced by a combination of factors, including our efforts to attract and retain customers and market conditions that influence demand for our products. Our investment income is driven by the yield on our General Account investment portfolio and is impacted by the prevailing level of interest rates as we reinvest cash associated with maturing investments and net flows to the portfolio.

Benefits and Other Deductions

Our primary expenses are:

•policyholders’ benefits and interest credited to policyholders’ account balances;

•sales commissions and compensation paid to intermediaries and advisors that distribute our products and services; and

•compensation and benefits provided to our employees and other operating expenses.

Policyholders’ benefits are driven primarily by mortality, customer withdrawals, and benefits which change in response to changes in capital market conditions. In addition, some of our policyholders’ benefits are directly tied to the AV and benefit base of our variable annuity products. Interest credited to policyholders varies in relation to the amount of the underlying AV or benefit base. Sales commissions and compensation paid to in

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