Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Wilma Burdis with Raymond James. Your line is now open.
Wilma Burdis: Hey, good morning. Could you just talk a little bit about the products that were impacted by the reinsurance repricing? Thank you.
Edward Spehar: Hey, good morning Wilma. Yes, so we had — it was UL and VUL, primarily ULSG to a lesser extent.
Wilma Burdis: Okay, thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ryan Krueger with KBW. Your line is now open.
Ryan Krueger: Hey, good morning. A couple of companies had COI litigation outcomes in the first quarter. I’m not sure if that was a coincidence or something broader is going on. So just curious if you have anything outstanding there?
Eric T. Steigerwalt: Hey Ryan, it’s Eric. If you look at the 10-K from 2023, you can see that we have two things in there on COIs. But our situation is a little different from what you’ve probably seen previously. We have not raised COI rates on any class of policyholders. And so the two Brighthouse COI litigations are not based on allegations that Brighthouse raised COI rates on a class of policyholders. So it’s a little different than what you’ve seen in at least some of the other cases. So the disclosures identify these two COI litigations, but they are not related to COI rate increases.
Ryan Krueger: Okay, that’s helpful, thank you. And then on the LifePath Paycheck, anything you can do to frame the potential size, I guess, when you think about the $27 billion of eligible AUM, I guess would you anticipate like a low single-digit allocation to annuities to start or anything you can do to frame that?
Eric T. Steigerwalt: Ryan, you can’t believe how much I would love to frame that. But I’m going to — we’re just going to take it step by step. We are extremely excited about this. As you see, we got the first money in here in April, and you’re going to see more coming through as companies adopt LifePath Paycheck in their 401(k) plan. And then we start to get the allocation from those folks who are 55 and older buying income units from the two carriers. So I think what we’ll do is over this year, we’re going to start to be able to give some sense of what it looks like and then hopefully be able to give a sense of what it might look like going forward. I’m going to wait until later in the year, but I will just say we are very excited. This has been a long time coming, and it’s an exciting development for all of us.
Ryan Krueger: Will you report those in the Annuity segment or where will that come through?
Eric T. Steigerwalt: Yes, we will.
Ryan Krueger: Okay, great. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you.
Edward Spehar: So just very quickly, if I could follow up on Wilma’s question because I want to clarify the breakdown that I was providing you was as a percentage or relative to our reinsurance in force for those various categories. So if you’re looking specifically at this contract, this was more ULSG than it was UL and VUL, but as a percentage of our total reinsured book, it’s the other way around.
Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Our next question will come from the line of Jimmy Bhullar from J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open.
Jamminder Bhullar: Hey, good morning. Hey Ed, can you talk about the DOL rule and if you expect any impact on your business from that to the extent you can give us any details or color?
Eric T. Steigerwalt: Good morning Jimmy, it’s Eric. Look, you’ve heard a lot about this now all the way back to the previous situation a number of years ago. I think companies are still trying to figure out exactly what it will mean. But we’re working with all of our distributors on what to do here, what we think might happen. We don’t really have any sense with respect to a sales hit. But, look we’ve got the NAIC suitability. It’s called Suitability and Annuities Transactions Model out there. It’s been adopted by 45 states. It is designed to protect consumers. You’ve heard this before. So generally, we share the concerns of many in the industry regarding the potential impact here even with respect to just regulation that is not necessary.
So it’s hard to quantify any sales potential sales hit. I would say that it would be fair to think that a number of companies are going to have higher compliance costs, etcetera, etcetera. But I can’t really quantify it. And I can tell you, for the time being, sales are strong. So we’ll have to see how this plays out in future months, but that’s about all I can really tell you.
Jamminder Bhullar: Okay, and then on the reinsurance, the price increase, should we assume a modestly negative impact on future GAAP and stat income and I’m not sure if you’re able to quantify what it would be?
Edward Spehar: Hi Jimmy, it’s Ed. So, we have said — I have said that normal run rate EPS for us is something around North of $4. $4 you saw this quarter if you adjusted for the notables, it was 4.25, which we said was in line with our expectations. This price increase does not change any of the outlook I’ve given in terms of what the normal run rate would be for GAAP earnings. It does have a negative impact because you’re paying more. But in terms of significance it’s not going to change my view on what the run rate earnings for the company are.
Jamminder Bhullar: Okay, thank you. Also there’s something in the division, but it gets absorbed sort of, I guess, not major enough to move the overall needle on overall EPS, right?
Edward Spehar: Correct.
Jamminder Bhullar: And then if I could just ask one more. On the SHIELD product, you’ve obviously grown pretty fast over time and many of your peers have as well. How is that market overall in terms of terms, conditions, attractiveness from your standpoint and the reason I’m asking is a lot of other companies have similar products, so are you seeing fairly rational and disciplined competition or are there some companies that have come in that are trying to sort of offer better terms and conditions just to gain share?
