(Revised April 27, 2026)

We document that life insurers have expanded their provision of private credit over the past decade, totaling $849 billion, or 14%, on life insurers’ balance sheets in 2024. A substantial part of the growth stems from private credit extension to financial borrowers and to privately placed asset-backed securities. We document that private equity-owned (PE-owned) life insurers drive these trends. We also provide evidence the growth of these investments accounts for 61% of PE-owned insurers’ annuity market share increase and that PE-owned insurers have more access to these investments through affiliated issuers. The results are concentrated in the indexed annuity market for which the new forms of private credit investments facilitate a better maturity and cashflow match.