The issuer behind the guarantee.
An annuity guarantee is a promise from one company, sometimes lasting forty years. The product matters less than the balance sheet standing behind it.
| AM Best rating | A (Excellent), affirmed 21 November 2025 |
|---|---|
| Long-Term ICR | “a” (Excellent) |
| Balance sheet assessment | Very strong (AM Best) |
| Owner | Brookfield — acquired 2022 for roughly $5.1 billion |
| Sister company | American Equity (AEL), same holding company |
| Founded | 1905, Galveston, Texas |
Ratings checked against AM Best press releases on 26 August 2026. Ratings change without notice — a rating without a date is not a rating.
This carrier left the life insurance business — and absorbed its biggest FIA rival
Two structural changes matter more here than the letter grade. First: American National stopped writing new life insurance in 2025, and AM Best's November 2025 affirmation notes much of the existing life block was reinsured to external counterparties. If you hold an ANICO life policy, the company administering it is not the company planning to grow that business — and if someone recommended ANICO to you for life insurance, that option no longer exists. It is now an annuity writer, expanding into pension risk transfer, funding agreements, and structured settlements.
Second: American Equity is now a sister company. The AEL acquisition placed one of the largest fixed indexed annuity writers under the same American National Group holding company. If an agent presents ANICO and American Equity as two independent options to compare, they share a parent — worth knowing before you treat that comparison as diversification.
One item to weigh rather than fear: AM Best's affirmation explicitly describes the group repositioning its balance sheet with increased use of captives and offshore reinsurance arrangements to compete in annuities. That structure is now common among private-capital-backed insurers, and the agency affirmed the A rating alongside it. The rating already accounts for it; most reviews omit it entirely.
Our American National reviews.
Three things to understand about American National.
An A is not an A+, and the gap is worth understanding
American National's A sits in AM Best's Excellent tier, one step below the Superior tier that houses Allianz, Athene, and Nationwide. That is a meaningful distinction on a forty-year guarantee, though it is a very different conversation from a B-tier carrier. Our AM Best guide walks the full scale.
Multi-agency coverage is a genuine positive
Being rated by several agencies rather than one means more independent eyes on the balance sheet. Carriers that carry a single rating, or none, give you less to work with.
Ownership changed, so rating history matters more than the current letter
When a carrier is acquired, the relevant question is what the agencies have done with the rating since. Look at the outlook and the date the current rating was affirmed, not just the letter.
How to read any carrier.
Palm Wealth Capital publishes independent annuity research and education. No carrier pays for placement on this site. Nothing here is individualized investment, tax, or legal advice.
Holding an American National contract — or being shown one?
Send the illustration or statement. We will check American National’s current AM Best rating and outlook against the date on this page, read the surrender schedule and any market value adjustment, price the riders, and tell you what the guaranteed terms are rather than the illustrated ones. If the answer is that you don’t need it, that is the answer you get — there is nothing here for us to sell you.
Carriers buyers weigh against this one.
Evaluating an indexed contract from this carrier? Start with how participation rates, caps, and spreads work — the three numbers that decide what any index year actually credits.