CNO · Read the filing

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

CNO and its businesses are subject to a number of risks including general business and financial risk. Any or all of such risks could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition or results of operations of CNO. In addition, please refer to the "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" section of this Form 10-K.

Economic Conditions, Market Conditions and Investments:

There are risks to our business associated with broad economic conditions.

General factors such as the availability of credit, consumer spending, business investment, capital market conditions and inflation affect our business. One threat facing the U.S. economy is the continued disagreement over the federal debt limit and other budget questions. Failure to resolve these issues in a timely manner could result in a government shutdown, an erratic reduction in government spending or a default on government debt, which could impact market liquidity, result in increased market volatility and reduced economic activity. In an economic downturn, higher unemployment, lower family income, lower corporate earnings, lower business investment and lower consumer spending may depress the demand for life insurance, annuities and other insurance products. In addition, this type of economic environment may result in higher lapses or surrenders of policies.

Our business is exposed to the performance of the debt and equity markets. Adverse market conditions can affect the liquidity and value of our investments. The manner in which debt and equity market performance and changes in interest rates have affected, and will continue to affect, our business, financial condition, growth and profitability include, but are not limited to, the following:

•The value of our investment portfolio has been materially affected in the past by changes in market conditions which resulted in substantial changes in realized and/or unrealized losses. Future adverse capital market conditions could result in additional realized and/or unrealized losses.

•Changes in interest rates also affect our investment portfolio. In periods of increasing interest rates, life insurance policy loans, surrenders and withdrawals could increase as policyholders seek higher returns. This could require us to sell invested assets at a time when their prices may be depressed by the increase in interest rates, which could cause us to realize investment losses. Conversely, during periods of declining interest rates, we could experience increased premium payments on products with flexible premium features, repayment of policy loans and increased percentages of policies remaining inforce. We could obtain lower returns on investments made with these cash flows. In addition, prepayment rates on investments may increase so that we might have to reinvest those proceeds in lower-yielding investments. As a consequence of these factors, we could experience a decrease in the spread between the returns on our investment portfolio and amounts to be credited to policyholders and contractholders, which could adversely affect our profitability.

•The attractiveness of certain of our insurance products may decrease because they are linked to the equity markets and/or assessments of our financial strength, resulting in lower profits. Increasing consumer concerns about the returns and features of our insurance products or our financial strength may cause existing customers to surrender policies or withdraw assets, and diminish our ability to sell policies and attract assets from new and existing customers, which would result in lower sales and fee revenues.

Inflation levels could have adverse consequences for us, the insurance industry and the U.S. economy

generally.

The U.S. economy has been experiencing the persistence of inflation, which creates a heightened level of risk for us, the insurance industry and the U.S. economy generally. Rising inflation may impact the sales and persistency of our insurance products, the reliability of our loss reserve estimates and our ability to accurately price insurance products, and may create additional volatility in the fair value of our investments. A portion of our insurance policy benefits may be affected by increased medical coverage costs and various operating expenses including payroll have already been affected. Additionally, regulatory agencies, such as various state departments of insurance, the U.S. government and Federal Reserve may be slow to approve rate changes or adopt measures to attempt to control inflation, which could affect our ability to generate profits and cash flow. There can be no assurance that inflation rates will not continue to escalate in the future or that measures adopted or that may be adopted by the U.S. government or the Federal Reserve to control inflation will be effective or successful. Continuing significant inflation could have a prolonged effect on the insurance industry and U.S. economy and could in turn negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Table of Contents

A return to a prolonged low interest rate environment may negatively impact our results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Some of our products, principally traditional whole life, universal life, fixed rate and fixed indexed annuity contracts, expose us to the risk that low interest rates will reduce our spread (the difference between the amounts that we are required to pay under the contracts and the investment income we are able to earn on the investments supporting our obligations under the contracts). Our spread, which is a component of product margin, provides a key contribution to our net income. Investment income is also an important component of the profitability of our health products, especially long-term care and supplemental health policies. In addition, interest rates impact the liability for the benefits we provide under our agent deferred compensation plan (as it is our policy to immediately recognize changes in assumptions used to determine this liability).

Interest rates in 2023 and 2022 were higher than the historically low interest rates experienced prior to 2022. If interest rates were to return to low levels for an extended period of time, we may have to invest new cash flows or reinvest proceeds from investments that have matured or have been prepaid or sold at yields that have the effect of reducing our net investment income as well as the spread between interest earned on investments and interest credited to some of our products below present or planned levels. To the extent prepayment rates on fixed maturity investments or mortgage loans in our investment portfolio exceed our assumptions, this could increase the impact of this risk. We can lower crediting rates on certain products to offset the decrease in investment yield. However, our ability to lower these rates may be limited by: (i) contractually guaranteed minimum rates; or (ii) competition. In addition, a decrease in crediting rates may not match the timing or magnitude of changes in investment yields. Currently, approximately 64 percent of our fixed interest annuities and 36 percent of our universal life products with contractually guaranteed minimum rates have crediting rates set at the minimum rate. As a result, in a low interest rate environment, reinvestment risk can place pressure on insurance product margins resulting in lower earnings.

Our fixed indexed annuity products provide a guaranteed minimum rate of return and a higher potential return that is based on a percentage (the "participation rate") of the amount of increase in the value of a particular index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, over a specified period. We are generally able to change the participation rate at the beginning of each index period (typically on each policy anniversary date), subject to contractual minimums. At December 31, 2023, $0.7 billion of the indexed account values of the fixed indexed annuities were at contractual minimum participation rates and $0.4 billion of the fixed fund values of the fixed indexed annuities were at contractual minimum guaranteed crediting rates.

During periods of declining or low interest rates, life and annuity products may be relatively more attractive to consumers, resulting in increased premium payments on products with flexible premium features, repayment of policy loans and increased persistency (a higher percentage of insurance policies remaining in force from year-to-year).

Our expectation of future investment income is an important consideration in determining the adequacy of our liabilities for insurance products. Expectations of lower future investment earnings may require us to establish additional liabilities for insurance products, thereby reducing net income in future periods.

Major public health issues could have an adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, cash flows and other aspects of our business.

Our operations are exposed to the risk of major health pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the U.S. and global economy, created significant volatility and periods of disruption in the capital markets and resulted in some unfavorable impacts to our business, as well as the overall industry. The extent to which major health issues impact our business, results of operations or financial condition depends on future developments which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including but not limited to: (i) new viruses or virus mutations; (ii) the efficacy of vaccines and other medical inventions; (iii) premature mortality impacts on our claim experience; (iv) responses by government authorities, including potential changes in monetary policy enacted by the Federal Reserve and potential fiscal stimulus measures implemented by the federal government; and (v) responses in behavior by policyholders, businesses and the population more generally.

Our investment portfolio may be adversely affected as a result of any delays or failures of borrowers to make payments of principal and interest when due or delays or moratoriums on foreclosures, enforcement actions with respect to delinquent or defaulted mortgages imposed by governmental authorities or the failure of tenants to pay rent or tenants' demands for lease modifications. Further, severe market volatility may leave us unable to react to market events in a prudent manner consistent with our historical investment practices. Market dislocations, decreases in observable market activity or unavailability of information, in each case, arising from major public health issues may impact the key inputs used to derive certain estimates and assumptions made in connection with financial reporting or otherwise.

Table of Contents

Any uncertainty as a result of any of these events may require us to change our estimates, assumptions, models or reserves. Refer to "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Results of Operations - Comprehensive Annual Actuarial Review" for further information related to changes in certain actuarial assumptions and their impact on our operating results in 2023.

Our investment portfolio is subject to several risks that may diminish the value of our invested assets and negatively impact our profitability, our financial condition and our liquidity.

The performance of our investment portfolio depends in part upon the level of and changes in interest rates, risk spreads, real estate values, equity market values, market volatility, the performance of the economy in general, the policies adopted by the Federal Reserve, the performance of the specific obligors included in our portfolio and other factors that are beyond our control. Changes in these factors can affect our net investment income in any period, and such changes can be substantial. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) changes in interest rates and credit spreads, which can reduce the value of our investments; (ii) changes in patterns of relative liquidity in the capital markets for various asset classes; (iii) changes in the perceived or actual ability of issuers to make timely repayments, which can reduce the value of our investments; (iv) changes in the estimated timing of receipt of cash flows; and (v) changes in mortgage delinquency or recovery rates, declining real estate prices, challenges to the validity of foreclosures and the quality of service provided by service providers on securities in our portfolios. These risks are significantly greater with respect to below-investment grade securities and alternative investments, which comprised 4.7 percent and 2.5 percent of our total investments as of December 31, 2023. Our structured securities (as defined below), which comprised 31.7 percent of our available for sale fixed maturity investments at December 31, 2023, are generally subject to variable prepayment on the assets underlying such securities, such as mortgage loans. When asset-backed securities, agency residential mortgage-backed securities, non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, CLOs and commercial mortgage-backed securities, (collectively referred to as "structured securities") prepay faster than expected, investment income may be adversely affected due to the acceleration of the amortization of purchase premiums or the inability to reinvest at comparable yields in lower interest rate environments.

We use derivatives in an effort to hedge higher potential returns to our fixed indexed annuity policyholders based on the increase in the value of a particular index. For derivative positions we hold that are in-the-money, we are exposed to credit risk in the event of default of our counterparty.

In addition, our investment borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") are secured by collateral, the fair value of which can be significantly impacted by general market conditions. If the fair value of pledged collateral falls below specific levels, we would be required to pledge additional eligible collateral or repay all or a portion of the investment borrowings.

The concentration of our investment portfolio in any particular industry, group of related industries, asset classes (such as residential mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities), or geographic area could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position. While we seek to mitigate this risk by having a broadly diversified portfolio, events or developments that have a correlated negative impact on any particular industry, group of related industries or geographic area may have an adverse effect on the investment portfolio.

Because a substantial portion of our operating results are derived from returns on our investment portfolio, significant losses in the portfolio may have a direct and materially adverse impact on our results of operations. In addition, losses on our investment portfolio could reduce the investment returns that we are able to credit to our customers of certain products, thereby impacting our sales and eroding our financial performance. Investment losses may also reduce the capital of our insurance subsidiaries, which may cause us to make additional capital contributions to those subsidiaries or may limit the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to make dividend payments to CNO.

On December 13, 2023, the SEC adopted rules to require covered clearing agencies to adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to require every direct participant of the agency to submit for clearing eligible secondary market transactions in U.S. Treasury securities, which will effectively require those participants to clear eligible cash transactions in U.S. Treasury securities by December 31, 2025, and eligible repurchase transactions in U.S. Treasury securities by June 30, 2026. Uncertainty remains regarding potential impact of the rule. However, the rule could increase costs of trading in U.S. Treasuries or potentially negatively affect market liquidity.

Table of Contents

The determination of the allowance for credit losses related to our investments is highly subjective and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments varies by investment type and is based upon our periodic evaluation and assessment of known and inherent risks associated with the respective asset class. Such evaluations and assessments require significant judgment and are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. Additional impairments may need to be taken or allowances provided for in the future, and the ultimate loss may exceed our current loss estimates.

The determination of fair value of our fixed maturity securities results in unrealized investment gains and losses and is, in some cases, highly subjective and could materially impact our operating results and financial condition.

In determining fair value, we generally utilize market transaction data for the same or similar instruments. The degree of management judgment involved in determining fair values is inversely related to the availability of market observable information. Since significant observable market inputs are not available for certain securities, it may be difficult to value them. The fair value of financial assets and financial liabilities may differ from the amount actually received to sell an asset or the amount paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Moreover, the use of different valuation assumptions may have a material effect on the fair values of the financial assets and financial liabilities. During periods of market disruption, it may be difficult to value certain securities if trading becomes less frequent and/or market data becomes less observable. There may be certain asset classes that were in active markets with significant observable data that become illiquid due to the current financial environment. In such cases, the valuation process may require more subjectivity and management judgment. Rapidly changing market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly.

Insurance Risk:

The results of operations of our insurance business will decline if our premium rates are not adequate or if we are unable to increase rates.

We set the premium rates on our policies based on facts and circumstances known at the time we issue the policies and on assumptions about numerous variables, including but not limited to, the actuarial probability of a policyholder incurring a claim, the probable size of the claim, maintenance costs to administer the policies and the interest rate earned on our investment of premiums. In setting premium rates, we consider historical claims information, industry statistics, the rates of our competitors and other factors, but we cannot predict with certainty the future actual claims on our products. If our actual claims experience proves to be less favorable than we assumed and we are unable to raise our premium rates to the extent necessary to offset the unfavorable claims experience, our financial results will be adversely affected.

We review the adequacy of our premium rates regularly and file proposed rate increases on our health insurance products when we believe existing premium rates are too low. It is possible that we will not be able to obtain approval for premium rate increases from currently pending or future requests. If we are unable to raise our premium rates because we fail to obtain approval in one or more states, our financial results will be adversely affected. Moreover, in some instances, our ability to exit unprofitable lines of business is limited by the guaranteed renewal feature of most of our insurance policies. Due to this feature, we cannot exit such lines of business without regulatory approval, and accordingly, we may be required to continue to service those products at a loss for an extended period of time.

If we are successful in obtaining regulatory approval to raise premium rates, the increased premium rates may reduce the volume of our new sales and cause existing policyholders to allow their policies to lapse. This could result in a significantly higher ratio of claim costs to premiums if healthier policyholders allow their policies to lapse, while policies of less healthy policyholders continue inforce. This would reduce our premium income and profitability in future periods.

Our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows depend on the accuracy of our models and assumptions, and we could experience significant gains or losses if the models and assumptions differ significantly from actual results.

We make and rely on numerous assumptions related to our business which are used to make decisions crucial to our operations. Differences between actual experience and the assumptions in our models could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows. In addition, there is a greater risk related to our

Table of Contents

modeling due to accounting changes, such as the new guidance related to targeted improvements to the accounting for long-duration insurance contracts which became effective on January 1, 2023.

Our reserves for future insurance policy benefits and claims may prove to be inadequate, requiring us to increase liabilities which results in reduced net income and shareholders' equity.

Liabilities for insurance products are calculated based on numerous assumptions including, but not limited to, investment yields, mortality, morbidity, withdrawals, lapses, cash flow assumptions and discount rates. Such assumptions are based on our experience, and in cases of limited experience, industry experience. Such assumptions also consider future expectations in policyholder behavior that may vary from past experience.

Many factors can affect these reserves and liabilities, such as economic and social conditions, inflation, hospital and pharmaceutical costs, changes in life expectancy, regulatory actions, changes in doctrines of legal liability and extra-contractual damage awards. Therefore, the reserves and liabilities we establish are necessarily based on estimates, assumptions, industry data and prior years' statistics. Our financial performance depends significantly upon the extent to which our actual claims experience and future expenses are consistent with the assumptions we used in setting our reserves. If our future claims are higher than our assumptions, and our reserves prove to be insufficient to cover our actual losses and expenses, we would be required to increase our liabilities, and this could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our operating results may suffer if policyholder surrender levels differ significantly from our assumptions.

Surrenders of our annuities and life insurance products can result in losses and decreased revenues if surrender levels differ significantly from assumed levels. At December 31, 2023, approximately $4.4 billion of our total insurance liabilities could be surrendered by the policyholder without penalty. The surrender charges that are imposed on our fixed rate annuities typically decline during a penalty period, which ranges from five to twelve years after the date the policy is issued. Surrender charges are eliminated after the penalty period. Surrenders and other policy withdrawals could require us to dispose of assets earlier than we had planned, possibly at a loss. Moreover, surrenders and other policy withdrawals require faster amortization of deferred acquisition costs associated with the original sale of a product, thus reducing our net income. We believe policyholders are generally more likely to surrender their policies if they believe the issuer is having financial difficulties, or if they are able to reinvest the policy's value at a higher rate of return in an alternative insurance or investment product.

We face risk with respect to our reinsurance agreements.

We transfer exposure to certain risks to third parties through reinsurance arrangements. Under these arrangements, other insurers assume a portion of our losses and expenses associated with reported and unreported claims in exchange for a portion of policy premiums. The availability, amount and cost of reinsurance depend on general market conditions and may vary significantly. As of December 31, 2023, our reinsurance receivables and ceded life insurance inforce totaled $4.0 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively. Our seven largest reinsurers (which are currently rated "A-" or higher by AM Best) accounted for 97 percent of our ceded life insurance inforce and 98 percent of our reinsurance receivables. Such reinsurance receivables also include long-term care and annuity blocks of business that have been ceded. We face credit risk with respect to reinsurance. When we obtain reinsurance, we are still liable for those transferred risks even if the reinsurer defaults on its obligations. The failure, insolvency, inability or unwillingness of one or more of the Company's reinsurers to perform in accordance with the terms of its reinsurance agreement could negatively impact our earnings or financial position. In addition, it is possible that reinsurance may not be available or affordable in the future, or may not be adequate to protect us against losses.

Liquidity Risk:

We have substantial indebtedness which may restrict our ability to take advantage of business, strategic or financing opportunities.

As of December 31, 2023, we had an aggregate principal amount of indebtedness of $1,150.0 million (comprised of $500.0 million of 5.250% Senior Notes due 2025, $500.0 million of 5.250% Senior Notes due 2029 (collectively, the "Notes")) and $150.0 million of 5.125% Subordinated Debentures due 2060 (the "Debentures"). Our indebtedness will require approximately $60.8 million in cash to service in 2024 (based on the principal amounts outstanding and applicable interest rates as of December 31, 2023). In addition, the Company has entered into a $250.0 million unsecured revolving credit agreement which matures on July 16, 2026 (the "Revolving Credit Agreement"). There were no amounts drawn under the Revolving

Table of Contents

Credit Agreement at December 31, 2023. See the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Notes Payable - Direct Corporate Obligations" for more information.

If we fail to pay interest or principal on our other indebtedness, including the Notes, we will be in default under the indentures governing such indebtedness, which could also lead to a default under agreements governing our existing and future indebtedness, including under the Revolving Credit Agreement. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we likely may not have sufficient funds at the holding company level to repay our indebtedness. Absent sufficient liquidity to repay our indebtedness, our management or our independent registered public accounting firm may conclude that there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

The Revolving Credit Agreement and the Indentures for the Notes and Debentures contain various restrictive covenants and required financial ratios that could limit our operating flexibility. The violation of one or more loan covenant requirements will entitle our lenders to declare all outstanding amounts under the Revolving Credit Agreement, the Notes and the Debentures to be due and payable.

Certain of the agreements governing our indebtedness contain a number of restrictive covenants and require financial ratios that impose operating and financial restrictions on us and may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest, including restrictions on our ability to: incur additional indebtedness and guarantee indebtedness; pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem our capital stock; prepay, redeem or repurchase subordinated debt; sell assets; incur liens; enter into transactions with affiliates; and consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of our assets.

The Revolving Credit Agreement requires the Company to maintain (each as calculated in accordance with the Revolving Credit Agreement): (i) a debt to total capitalization ratio (excluding hybrid securities, except to the extent that the aggregate amount outstanding of all such hybrid securities exceeds an amount equal to 15% of total capitalization) of not more than 35.0 percent (such ratio was 21.5 percent at December 31, 2023); and (ii) a minimum consolidated net worth of not less than the sum of $2,674.0 million plus 25.0% of the net equity proceeds received by the Company from the issuance and sale of equity interests in the Company (the Company's consolidated net worth was $3,792.4 million at December 31, 2023 compared to the minimum requirement of $2,697.0 million).

These covenants place restrictions on the manner in which we may operate our business and our ability to meet these financial covenants may be affected by events beyond our control. If we default under any of these covenants, the lenders could declare the outstanding principal amount of the loan, accrued and unpaid interest and all other amounts owing and payable thereunder to be immediately due and payable, which would have material adverse consequences to us. In addition, an event of default under the Revolving Credit Agreement would permit our lenders to terminate commitments to extend further credit. See the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Notes Payable - Direct Corporate Obligations" for more information.

CNO is a holding company and its liquidity and ability to meet its obligations may be constrained by the ability of CNO's insurance subsidiaries to distribute cash to it.

CNO and CDOC, Inc. ("CDOC") are holding companies with no business operations of their own. CNO and CDOC depend on their operating subsidiaries for cash to make principal and interest payments on debt and to pay administrative expenses and income taxes. CNO and CDOC receive cash from our insurance subsidiaries, consisting of dividends and distributions, principal and interest payments on surplus debentures and tax-sharing payments, as well as cash from their non-insurance subsidiaries consisting of dividends, distributions, loans and advances. Deterioration in the financial condition, earnings or cash flow of these significant subsidiaries for any reason could hinder the ability of such subsidiaries to pay cash dividends or other disbursements to CNO and/or CDOC, which would limit our ability to meet our debt service requirements and satisfy other financial obligations. In addition, CNO may elect to contribute additional capital to certain insurance subsidiaries to strengthen their surplus for covenant compliance or regulatory purposes (including, for example, maintaining adequate RBC level) or to provide the capital necessary for growth, in which case it is less likely that its insurance subsidiaries would pay dividends to the holding company. Accordingly, this could limit CNO's ability to meet debt service requirements and satisfy other holding company financial obligations. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources-Liquidity of the Holding Companies" for more information.

Insurance regulations generally permit our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends from statutory earned surplus without regulatory approval if the amount of the dividend, together with other dividends made within the preceding 12-month period, does not exceed the greater of (or in some states, the lesser of): (i) statutory net gain from operations of such

Table of Contents

insurer for the prior calendar year; or (ii) 10 percent of such insurer's surplus as regards to policyholders at the end of the preceding calendar year. CNO receives dividends and other payments from CDOC and from certain non-insurance subsidiaries. CDOC receives dividends and surplus debenture interest payments from our insurance subsidiaries and payments from certain of our non-insurance subsidiaries. Payments from our non-insurance subsidiaries to CNO or CDOC, and payments from CDOC to CNO, do not require approval by any regulatory authority or other third party. However, the payment of dividends or surplus debenture interest by our insurance subsidiaries to CDOC is subject to state insurance department regulations and may be prohibited by insurance regulators if they determine that such dividends or other payments could be adverse to our policyholders or contract holders.

However, as each of the U.S. based insurance subsidiaries of CDOC has negative earned surplus, any dividend payments from such insurance subsidiaries to CNO would require the prior approval of the director or commissioner of the applicable state insurance department. In 2023, our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries paid dividends of $526.5 million to CDOC. CNO expects to seek regulatory approval for future dividends from our insurance subsidiaries, but there can be no assurance that such payments will be approved or that the financial condition of our insurance subsidiaries will not deteriorate, making future approvals less likely.

CDOC holds surplus debentures from Conseco Life Insurance Company of Texas ("CLTX") with an aggregate principal amount of $749.6 million. Interest payments on those surplus debentures do not require additional approval provided the RBC ratio of CLTX exceeds 100 percent (but do require prior written notice to the Texas Department of Insurance). The estimated RBC ratio of CLTX was 345 percent at December 31, 2023. CDOC also holds a surplus debenture from Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company ("Colonial Penn") with a principal balance of $160.0 million. Interest payments on that surplus debenture require prior approval by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

In addition, although we are under no obligation to do so, we may elect to contribute additional capital to strengthen the surplus of certain insurance subsidiaries for covenant compliance or regulatory purposes or to provide the capital necessary for growth. Any election regarding the contribution of additional capital to our insurance subsidiaries could affect the ability of our top tier insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends. The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends is also impacted by various criteria established by rating agencies to maintain or receive higher financial strength ratings and by the capital levels that we target for our insurance subsidiaries, as well as regulatory and other financial covenant compliance requirements under the Revolving Credit Agreement.

In addition, Washington National may not distribute funds to any affiliate or shareholder, except pursuant to agreements with affiliates that have been approved, without prior notice to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, in accordance with an order from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

A decline in our current credit ratings may adversely affect our ability to access capital and the cost of such capital, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our senior unsecured debt ratings are currently "BBB+", "BBB-", "Baa3" and "bbb" from Fitch, S&P, Moody's and AM Best, respectively. If we were to require additional capital, either to refinance our existing indebtedness or for any other reason, our current senior unsecured debt ratings, as well as conditions in the credit markets generally, could restrict our access to such capital and adversely affect its cost. Disruptions, volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets, and our credit ratings could limit our ability to access external capital markets at times and on terms which allow us to meet our capital and liquidity needs. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources-Liquidity of the Holding Companies" for more information.

Taxation, Laws and Regulation:

Our ability to use our existing NOLs may be limited by certain transactions, and an impairment of existing NOLs could result in a significant writedown in the value of our deferred tax assets.

As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $367.2 million of federal tax NOLs resulting in deferred tax assets of approximately $77.1 million (which expire in years 2026 through 2035). Section 382 of the Code imposes limitations on a corporation's ability to use its NOLs when it undergoes a 50 percent "ownership change" over a three-year period. Although we underwent an ownership change in 2003 as the result of our reorganization, the timing and manner in which we will be able to utilize our NOLs is not currently limited by Section 382.

We regularly monitor ownership changes (as calculated for purposes of Section 382) based on available information and, as of December 31, 2023, our analysis indicated that we were below the 50 percent ownership change threshold that could limit

Table of Contents

our ability to utilize our NOLs. A future transaction or transactions and the timing of such transaction or transactions could trigger an ownership change under Section 382. Such transactions may include, but are not limited to, additional repurchases or issuances of common stock, acquisitions or sales of shares of CNO's stock by certain holders of its shares, including persons who have held, currently hold or may accumulate in the future five percent or more of CNO's outstanding common stock for their own account. CNO's Board of Directors adopted a Section 382 Rights Agreement designed to protect shareholder value by preserving the value of our NOLs. To further protect against the possibility of triggering an ownership change under Section 382, CNO's shareholders approved amendments included in CNO's certificate of incorporation designed to prevent certain transfers of common stock which could limit our ability to use our NOLs. See the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Income Taxes" for more information about the Section 382 Rights Agreement and the amendments included in CNO's certificate of incorporation.

If an ownership change were to occur for purposes of Section 382, we would be required to calculate an annual limitation on the use of our NOLs to offset future taxable income. The annual restriction would be calculated based upon the value of CNO's equity at the time of such ownership change, multiplied by a federal long-term tax exempt rate (3.81 percent at December 31, 2023), and the annual restriction could limit our ability to use a substantial portion of our NOLs to offset future taxable income. Additionally, the writedown of our deferred tax assets that would occur in the event of an ownership change for purposes of Section 382 could cause us to breach the debt to total capitalization covenant and the consolidated net worth covenant in the Revolving Credit Agreement.

The value of our deferred tax assets may be reduced to the extent our future profits are less than we have projected or the current corporate income tax rate is reduced, and such reductions in value may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our financial condition.

As of December 31, 2023, we had net deferred tax assets of $937.1 million. Our income tax expense includes deferred income taxes arising from temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, capital loss carryforwards and NOLs. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets and assess the need for a valuation allowance on an ongoing basis. In evaluating our deferred tax assets, we consider whether it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be realized. The ultimate realization of our deferred tax assets depends upon generating sufficient future taxable income during the periods in which our temporary differences become deductible and before our capital loss carry-forwards and NOLs expire. In addition, we expect to recognize significant non-life NOLs in 2024 as a result of changes related to the tax accounting method for allocating indirect costs (pursuant to the Code) to self-constructed real estate assets. Such NOLs will not be subject to expiration. Our assessment of the realizability of our deferred tax assets requires significant judgment. Failure to achieve our projections may result in the recognition of a valuation allowance in a future period. Any future increase in the valuation allowance would result in additional income tax expense which could have a material adverse effect upon our earnings in the future, and reduce shareholders' equity.

The value of our net deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2023 reflects the current Federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent. Changes in tax laws, including changes regarding the utilization of NOLs, could cause a writedown of our net deferred tax assets, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in tax laws could increase our tax costs and reduce sales of our insurance and annuity products.

The insurance and annuity products we issue receive favorable tax treatment under current U.S. federal income tax laws. Changes in U.S. Federal income tax laws could reduce or eliminate the tax advantages of certain of our products, making these products less attractive to our customers. This may lead to a reduction in sales which may adversely impact our profitability. In addition, we benefit from certain tax items, including but not limited to, dividends received deductions, tax credits, tax-exempt bond interest and insurance reserve deductions. From time to time, the U.S. Congress, as well as state and local governments, consider legislative changes that could reduce or eliminate the benefits associated with these and other tax items. We continue to evaluate the impact potential tax reform proposals may have on our future results of operations and financial condition.

From time to time we may become subject to tax audits, tax litigation or similar proceedings, and as a result we may owe additional taxes, interest and penalties, or our NOLs may be reduced, in amounts that may be material.

In determining our provisions for income taxes and our accounting for tax-related matters in general, we are required to exercise judgment. We regularly make estimates where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. The final determination of any tax audit, appeal of the decision of a taxing authority, tax litigation or similar proceedings may be materially different from

Table of Contents

that reflected in our financial statements. The assessment of additional taxes, interest and penalties could be materially adverse to our current and future results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is subject to extensive regulation, which limits our operating flexibility and could result in our insurance subsidiaries being placed under regulatory control or otherwise negatively impact our financial results.

Our insurance business is subject to extensive regulation and supervision in the jurisdictions in which we operate. See "Business of CNO - Governmental Regulation." Our insurance subsidiaries are subject to state insurance laws that establish supervisory agencies. The regulations issued by state insurance agencies can be complex and subject to differing interpretations. If a state insurance regulatory agency determines that one of our insurance subsidiaries is not in compliance with applicable regulations, the subsidiary is subject to various potential administrative remedies including, without limitation, monetary penalties, restrictions on the subsidiary's ability to do business in that state and a return of a portion of policyholder premiums. In addition, regulatory action or investigations could cause us to suffer significant reputational harm, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries are required to comply with statutory accounting principles. Such statutory accounting principles (including principles that impact the calculation of RBC and our insurance liabilities) are subject to continued review by the NAIC in an effort to address emerging issues and improve financial reporting. Proposals being considered by the NAIC could negatively impact our insurance subsidiaries, if enacted.

Our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries are also subject to RBC requirements. These requirements were designed to evaluate the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus in relation to investment and insurance risks associated with asset quality, mortality and morbidity, asset and liability matching, and other business factors. The requirements are used by states as an early warning tool to discover companies that may be weakly-capitalized for the purpose of initiating regulatory action. Generally, if an insurer's RBC ratio falls below specified levels, the insurer is subject to different degrees of regulatory action depending upon the magnitude of the deficiency. The 2023 statutory annual statements of each of our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries reflect RBC ratios in excess of the levels that would subject our insurance subsidiaries to any regulatory action.

In addition to the RBC requirements, states have established minimum capital requirements for insurance companies licensed to do business in their state. These regulators have the discretionary authority, in connection with the continual licensing of the Company's insurance subsidiaries, to limit or prohibit writing new business within its jurisdiction when, in the regulator's judgment, the insurance subsidiary is not maintaining adequate statutory surplus or capital or the insurance subsidiary's further transaction of business would be hazardous to policyholders.

Our Bermuda based insurance subsidiary is subject to regulation in Bermuda where the BMA has broad supervisory and administrative powers relating to granting and revoking licenses to transact reinsurance business, the approval of specific reinsurance transactions, capital requirements and solvency standards, limitations on dividends or distributions to shareholders, the nature of and limitations on investments, and the filing of financial statements in accordance with prescribed or permitted accounting practices. Future regulatory changes made by the BMA may impact the capital efficiency of the reinsurance structure between CNO Bermuda Re and Bankers Life and could require the holding company to contribute additional capital to CNO Bermuda Re or Bankers Life to recapture the ceded business.

Our broker/dealer and investment advisor subsidiaries are subject to regulation and supervision by the SEC, FINRA and certain state regulatory bodies. The SEC, FINRA and other governmental agencies, as well as state securities commissions, may examine or investigate the activities of broker/dealers and investment advisors. These examinations or investigations often focus on the activities of the registered representatives and registered investment advisors doing business through such entities and the entities' supervision of those persons. It is possible that any examination or investigation could lead to enforcement action by the regulator and/or may result in payments of fines and penalties, payments to customers, or both, as well as changes in systems or procedures of such entities, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition or results of operations.

Furthermore, as described above under "Business of CNO-Governmental Regulation," the SEC has adopted new regulations relating to the standard of conduct applicable to broker/dealers when making certain recommendations involving securities to retail customers and requiring registered investment advisors and broker/dealers to provide new disclosures to retail investors. In addition, the NAIC and several states have proposed and/or enacted regulations related to required disclosures and/or standards of conduct when insurance producers provide recommendations to clients regarding sales of annuity products. These regulations and similar regulatory initiatives could have an impact on Company operations and the manner in which broker/dealers and investment advisors distribute the Company's products.

Table of Contents

Litigation and regulatory investigations are inherent in our business, may harm our financial condition and reputation, and may negatively impact our financial results.

Insurance companies historically have been subject to substantial litigation. In addition to the traditional policy claims associated with their businesses, insurance companies like ours face class action suits and derivative suits from policyholders and/or shareholders. We also face significant risks related to regulatory investigations and proceedings. The litigation and regulatory matters we are, have been, or may become, subject to include matters related to the classification of our exclusive agents as independent contractors, sales, marketing and underwriting practices, payment of contingent or other sales commissions, claim payments and procedures, product design, product disclosure, administration, additional premium charges for premiums paid on a periodic basis, calculation of cost of insurance charges, changes to certain non-guaranteed policy features, denial or delay of benefits, charging excessive or impermissible fees on products, procedures related to canceling policies and recommending unsuitable products to customers. Certain of our insurance policies allow or require us to make changes based on experience to certain non-guaranteed elements ("NGEs") such as cost of insurance charges, expense loads, credited interest rates and policyholder bonuses. We intend to make changes to certain NGEs in the future. In some instances in the past, such action has resulted in litigation and similar litigation may arise in the future. Our exposure (including the potential adverse financial consequences of delays or decisions not to pursue changes to certain NGEs), if any, arising from any such action cannot presently be determined. Our pending legal and regulatory proceedings include matters that are specific to us, as well as matters faced by other insurance companies. State insurance departments have focused and continue to focus on sales, marketing and claims payment practices and product issues in their market conduct examinations. Negotiated settlements of class action and other lawsuits have had a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations of CNO and our insurance subsidiaries.

We are, in the ordinary course of our business, a plaintiff or defendant in actions arising out of our insurance business, including class actions and reinsurance disputes, and, from time to time, we are also involved in various governmental and administrative proceedings and investigations and inquiries such as information requests, subpoenas and books and record examinations, from state, federal and other authorities. See the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Litigation and Other Legal Proceedings." The ultimate outcome of these lawsuits, regulatory proceedings and investigations cannot be predicted with certainty. In the event of an unfavorable outcome in one or more of these matters, the ultimate liability may be in excess of liabilities we have established and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We could also suffer significant reputational harm as a result of such litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations, including harm flowing from actual or threatened revocation of licenses to do business, regulator actions to assert supervision or control over our business, and other sanctions which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Federal and state legislation could adversely affect the financial performance of our insurance operations.

During recent years, the health insurance industry has experienced substantial changes, including those caused by healthcare legislation. Recent federal and state legislation and pending legislative proposals concerning healthcare reform contain features that could severely limit, or eliminate, our ability to vary pricing terms or apply medical underwriting standards to individuals, thereby potentially increasing our benefit ratios and adversely impacting our financial results. In particular, Medicare reform could affect our ability to price or sell our products or profitably maintain our blocks inforce. For example, the Medicare Advantage program provides incentives for health plans to offer managed care plans to seniors. The growth of managed care plans under this program has decreased sales of the traditional Medicare supplement products we sell.

Proposals that have been made in Congress and some state legislatures may also affect our financial results. These proposals include the implementation of minimum consumer protection standards in all long-term care policies, including: guaranteed premium rates; protection against inflation; limitations on waiting periods for pre-existing conditions; setting standards for sales practices for long-term care insurance; and guaranteed consumer access to information about insurers, including information regarding lapse and replacement rates for policies and the percentage of claims denied. Enactment of any proposal that would limit the amount we can charge for our products, such as guaranteed premium rates, or that would increase the benefits we must pay, such as limitations on waiting periods, or that would otherwise increase the costs of our business, could adversely affect our financial results.

The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 made extensive changes to the laws regulating financial services firms and required various federal agencies to adopt a broad range of implementation rules and regulations, including those pertaining to the use of derivatives. Certain of these regulations have imposed additional requirements that may affect both the Company and its derivatives counterparties, including in the areas of reporting, recordkeeping, the mandatory exchange execution and clearing of certain derivatives, position limits with respect to certain derivatives, regulatory initial margin and variation margin

Table of Contents

requirements, and limitations on the ability to close out certain derivative transactions with certain counterparties upon the bankruptcy of such counterparties. These and other regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act could pose limitations and burdens on the Company and its derivatives counterparties, which could result in increased costs to the Company in connection with its derivatives transactions. Uncertainty remains regarding potential amendments to the Dodd-Frank Act and whether any such changes to the Dodd-Frank Act would result in a material effect on our business operations.

State insurance regulators, federal regulators and the NAIC continually reexamine existing laws and regulations and may impose changes in the future. The passage of new legislation or new interpretations of existing laws may impact our sales, profitability or financial strength. The NAIC regularly reviews and updates its U.S. statutory reserve and RBC requirements. Changes to these requirements have resulted in an increase to the amount of reserves and capital we are required to hold and may adversely impact the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends to the holding company.

We cannot predict the requirements of the regulations ultimately adopted, the effect such regulations will have on financial markets generally, or on our businesses specifically, the additional costs associated with compliance with such regulations, or any changes to our operations that may be necessary to comply with new regulations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Our insurance subsidiaries may be required to pay assessments to fund other companies' policyholder losses or liabilities and this may negatively impact our financial results.

The guaranty fund laws of all states in which an insurance company does business require that company to pay assessments up to certain prescribed limits to fund policyholder losses or liabilities of other insurance companies that become insolvent. Insolvencies of insurance companies increase the possibility that assessments may be required. These assessments may be deferred or forgiven under most guaranty laws if they would threaten an insurer's financial strength and, in certain instances, may be offset against future premium taxes. We cannot estimate the likelihood and amount of future assessments. Although past assessments have not been material, if there were a number of large insolvencies, future assessments could be material and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial position.

General Business Risk:

Managing operational risks may not be effective in mitigating risk and loss to us.

We are subject to operational risks including, among other things, fraud, errors, failure to document transactions properly or to obtain proper internal authorization, failure to comply with regulatory requirements or obligations under our agreements, information technology failures including cybersecurity attacks and failure of our service providers (such as investment custodians and information technology and policyholder service providers) to comply with our services agreements. The associates and agents who conduct our business, including executive officers and other members of management, sales managers, investment professionals, product managers, sales agents and other associates, do so in part by making decisions and choices that involve exposing us to risk. These include decisions involving numerous business activities such as setting underwriting guidelines, product design and pricing, investment purchases and sales, reserve setting, claim processing, policy administration and servicing, financial and tax reporting and other activities, many of which are very complex.

We seek to monitor and control our exposure to risks arising out of these activities through a risk control framework encompassing a variety of reporting systems, internal controls, management review processes and other mechanisms. However, these processes and procedures may not effectively control all known risks or effectively identify unforeseen risks. Management of operational risks can fail for a number of reasons including design failure, systems failure, cybersecurity attacks, human error or unlawful activities. If our controls are not effective or properly implemented, we could suffer financial or other loss, disruption of our business, regulatory sanctions or damage to our reputation. Losses resulting from these failures may have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.

The occurrence of natural or man-made disasters or climate change could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We are exposed to various risks arising out of natural and man-made disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, acts of terrorism and military actions and the impacts of climate change. For example, a natural or man-made disaster could lead to unexpected changes in persistency rates as policyholders and contractholders who are affected by the disaster may be unable to meet their contractual obligations, such as payment of premiums on our insurance policies and deposits into our investment products. In addition, such a disaster could also significantly increase our mortality and morbidity experience above the assumptions we used in pricing our products. The continued threat of terrorism and ongoing military

Table of Contents

actions may cause significant volatility in global financial markets, and a natural or man-made disaster could trigger an economic downturn in the areas directly or indirectly affected by the disaster. These consequences could, among other things, result in a decline in business and increased claims from those areas. Disasters also could disrupt public and private infrastructure, including communications and financial services, which could disrupt our normal business operations.

A natural or man-made disaster could also disrupt the operations of our counterparties or result in increased prices for the products and services they provide to us. For example, a natural or man-made disaster could lead to increased reinsurance prices and potentially cause us to retain more risk than we otherwise would retain if we were able to obtain reinsurance at lower prices. In addition, a disaster could adversely affect the value of the assets in our investment portfolio if it affects companies' ability to pay principal or interest on their securities.

Climate change regulation and market forces reacting to climate change may affect the values of certain invested assets, or the Company's willingness to continue to hold them. It may also impact other counterparties, including reinsurers, and affect the value of investments, including real estate investments the Company holds or manages for others. The Company cannot predict the long-term impacts from climate change regulation.

Interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems, could harm our business.

We depend heavily on our telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems and on the integrity and timeliness of data we use to run our businesses and service our customers. These systems may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events or circumstances which may be wholly or partly beyond our control including cyber-attack, denial of service, viruses or other malicious activities. Further, we face the risk of operational and technology failures by others, including financial intermediaries, vendors and parties that provide services to us. If these parties do not perform as anticipated, we may experience operational difficulties, increased costs and other adverse effects on our business. We have implemented, and we require our vendors to implement, a variety of security measures to protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our information systems and data. However, failure to maintain a reasonable and effective cybersecurity program, or any compromise of the security, confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our information systems and the sensitive, proprietary, and confidential data on such systems could lead to additional costs and liabilities, as well as damage our reputation or deter people from purchasing our products. We are periodically targeted by cybersecurity threat actors. In the past, we have experienced cybersecurity events resulting in the compromise of personal and confidential information of our customers. There can be no assurance that a future breach will not occur or, if any does occur, that it can be promptly detected and sufficiently remediated without materially impacting our business or our operations.

Interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of sensitive, confidential or proprietary data residing on such systems, whether due to actions by us, our vendors, or others, could delay or disrupt our ability to do business and service our customers, harm our reputation, subject us to litigation, regulatory sanctions and other claims, require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses, lead to a loss of customers, revenues and opportunities, or otherwise adversely affect our business. Depending on the nature of the information compromised, in the event of a data breach or other unauthorized access to or acquisition of our customer data, we may also have obligations to notify customers, other stakeholders, and federal and state government regulators about the incident and we may need to provide some form of remedy, such as a subscription to a credit monitoring service, for the individuals affected by the incident. All fifty states, as well as a growing number of regulatory bodies have adopted consumer notification requirements in the event of the actual or reasonably suspected unauthorized access to, or acquisition of, certain types of personal data. Such breach notification laws continue to evolve and may be inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another. Complying with these obligations could cause us to incur substantial costs (including fines) and could increase negative publicity surrounding any incident that compromises customer data. While we maintain insurance coverage that, subject to policy terms and conditions and a self-insured retention, is designed to address certain aspects of cyber risks, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses or all types of claims that may arise in the continually evolving area of cyber risk.

Our business could be interrupted or compromised if we experience difficulties arising from outsourcing relationships.

We outsource certain information technology and policy administration operations to third-party service providers (both domestic and international). If we fail to maintain an effective outsourcing strategy or if third-party providers do not perform as contracted, we may experience operational difficulties, increased costs and a loss of business that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, enhanced regulatory and other standards for the oversight of vendors and other service providers could result in higher costs and other potential exposures. In the event that one or more of our third-party

Table of Contents

service providers becomes unable to continue to provide services, we may suffer financial loss and other negative consequences.

A decline in the current financial strength rating of our insurance subsidiaries could cause us to experience decreased sales, increased agent attrition and increased policyholder lapses and other policy withdrawals.

An important competitive factor for our insurance subsidiaries is the financial strength ratings they receive from nationally recognized rating organizations. Agents, insurance brokers and marketing companies who market our products and prospective purchasers of our products use the financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries as an important factor in determining whether to market or purchase. Ratings have the most impact on our annuity, interest-sensitive life insurance and long-term care products. The current financial strength ratings of our primary insurance subsidiaries from Fitch, S&P, Moody's and AM Best are "A", "A-", "A3" and "A", respectively. For a description of these ratings, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Consolidated Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources-Financial Strength Ratings of our Insurance Subsidiaries".

If our ratings are downgraded, we may experience declining sales of certain of our insurance products, defections of our independent and exclusive sales force, and increased policies being redeemed or allowed to lapse. These events would adversely affect our financial results, which could then lead to additional ratings downgrades.

Competition from companies that have greater market share, higher ratings, greater financial resources and stronger brand recognition, may impair our ability to retain existing customers and sales representatives, attract new customers and sales representatives and maintain or improve our financial results.

The supplemental health insurance, annuity and individual life insurance markets are highly competitive. Competitors include other life and accident and health insurers, commercial banks, thrifts, mutual funds and broker/dealers.

Most of our major competitors have higher financial strength ratings than we do. Many of our competitors are larger companies that have greater capital, technological and marketing resources and have access to capital at a lower cost. Recent industry consolidation, including business combinations among insurance and other financial services companies, has resulted in larger competitors with even greater financial resources. In some of our product lines, such as life insurance and fixed annuities, we have a relatively small market share. Even in some of the lines in which we are one of the top writers, our market share is relatively small.

In addition, because the actual cost of products is unknown when they are sold, we are subject to competitors who may sell a product at a price that does not cover its actual cost. Accordingly, if we do not also lower our prices for similar products, we may lose market share to these competitors. If we lower our prices to maintain market share, our profitability would decline.

If we are unable to attract and retain agents and marketing organizations, sales of our products may be reduced.

Our products are marketed and distributed primarily through a dedicated field force of exclusive agents and sales managers and through our wholly owned marketing organization and other independent marketing organizations. We must attract and retain agents, sales managers and independent marketing organizations to sell our products through those distribution channels. We compete with other insurance companies, financial services companies and other entities for agents and sales managers and for business through marketing organizations. If we are unable to attract and retain these agents, sales managers and marketing organizations, our ability to grow our business and generate revenues from new sales would suffer.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and may be subject to infringement claims.

We rely on a combination of contractual rights and copyright, trademark and trade secret laws to establish and protect our intellectual property. Although we use a broad range of measures to protect our intellectual property rights, third parties may infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. We may have to litigate to enforce and protect our copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability, which represents a diversion of resources that may be significant in amount and may not prove successful. The loss of intellectual property protection or the inability to secure or enforce the protection of our intellectual property assets could adversely impact our business and its ability to compete effectively.

We also may be subject to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges our operations or activities infringe upon that party's intellectual property rights. We may also be subject to claims by third parties for breach of copyright,

Table of Contents

trademark, trade secret or license usage rights. Any such claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant expense and liability for damages or we could be enjoined from providing certain products or services to our customers or utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or licenses, or alternatively, we could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third parties, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in accounting standards may adversely affect our reported results of operation and financial condition.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with GAAP. From time to time, we are required to adopt new accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The required adoption of future accounting standards may adversely affect our reported results of operations and financial condition. In addition, the required adoption of new accounting standards may result in significant costs associated with the initial implementation and ongoing compliance.

Table of Contents

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.

Risk Management and Strategy

The Company’s cybersecurity approach comprises a holistic strategy that includes comprehensive security policies and standards, a robust security awareness and education program, and the implementation of advanced and layered defenses. Our cybersecurity program is aligned with generally accepted principles and practices for securing information systems and data. The program is designed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations and uses guidance from many best practices. Our cybersecurity program, policies and controls align to those of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework.

We have established and continue to enhance our procedures for identifying cybersecurity risks and implementing defenses to mitigate these risks. We devote significant resources to maintaining and regularly updating our systems and processes to protect the security of our computer systems, software, networks and other technology assets against unauthorized parties attempting to access confidential information, destroy data, disrupt or degrade service, sabotage systems, or cause other damage. Our cyber incident response plan provides procedures and controls for timely and accurate reporting of any material cybersecurity incident, and each associate is educated, trained and tested on cybersecurity to help be our first line of defense.

We have a dedicated Cybersecurity Services team ("CST") devoted to information security which is led by the chief information security officer ("CISO"). In addition, our Security Operations Center provides near-real-time monitoring of network traffic going in and out of the enterprise to identify any abnormalities or indications of malicious behavior. We use managed security services providers to provide monitoring, threat hunting and response services through network and security log monitoring and a hosted security information and event management solution.

We conduct regular enterprise-wide internal and external cyber risk assessments. These efforts include audits, internal and external regulatory compliance assessments, and periodic self-assessments. Vulnerability assessments are performed frequently for systems, and internal and external penetration tests are performed annually. We periodically engage vendors to review and benchmark our cybersecurity processes. In addition, members of the CST perform regular security control assurance testing.

Our internal audit department also reviews our cybersecurity program, processes, policies and controls at least annually. The program also is regularly reviewed in annual external audits and regulatory assessments. Lessons learned from those efforts are used to drive improvements to continually strengthen the cybersecurity program, including controls for data security.

The CST works closely with the sourcing and vendor management team when contracting for third-party information technology services. Our information technology architecture review board, which includes cybersecurity leadership, reviews all potential vendors. We have comprehensive cybersecurity assessment processes and procedures in place, including security risk questionnaires, standard documentation requests, and utilization of a third-party risk evaluation tool to provide insight on potential third-party vendors. We utilize private connections (including private VPN) and extensive use of virtual desktops to secure access to our data and systems. Our legal team ensures that specific protections are included in contracts, including confidentiality language, nondisclosure obligations and security provisions.

Critical vendors are monitored by our sourcing and vendor management team. Resources contracted through a third-party that will have access to corporate systems must complete CNO's associate training or their company’s security awareness training that has been approved by CNO. We also perform periodic risk assessments throughout the term of the engagements, including those third parties located outside the United States that have access to our Company and customer information.

To date, no cybersecurity threat, including from a cybersecurity incident, has materially affected our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition.

Table of Contents

Governance

We recognize that security is an enterprise concern and requires stakeholders from across the enterprise to understand and manage this risk. Our security management structure reflects a centralized security program that coordinates security functions across the enterprise. The CISO, who oversees the CST, reports directly to our chief information officer and is responsible for the overall strategy and function of the cybersecurity program. We also have a cybersecurity steering committee that takes an active role in setting strategic direction for cybersecurity initiatives and provides oversight and guidance for overall information security risk management. The CISO provides regular reports on our cybersecurity program and potential risks to the Audit and Enterprise Risk Committee ("AERC") of the Board of Directors. The AERC regularly briefs the full Board on these matters. One AERC member holds the CERT Certification in Cybersecurity Oversight from Carnegie Mellon University, and a second has significant work experience related to technology and data security.

Our CISO is well-qualified in the area of cybersecurity and data protection. These qualifications include: (i) 23 years of experience in cybersecurity, security risk management and IT auditing; (ii) the designation of Certified Information Systems Security Professional ("CISSP"); and (iii) a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems. Our CISO also previously held the Certified Information Systems Auditor ("CISA") and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Controls ("CRISC") certifications.

Failure to maintain a reasonable and effective cybersecurity program, or any compromise of the security, confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our information systems and the sensitive, proprietary, and confidential data on such systems could lead to additional costs and liabilities, as well as damage our reputation or deter people from purchasing our products.There can be no assurance that a future breach will not occur or, if any does occur, that it can be promptly detected and sufficiently remediated without materially impacting our business or our operations. While we maintain insurance coverage that, subject to policy terms and conditions, is designed to address certain aspects of cyber risks, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses or all types of claims that may arise in the event of a material cyber risk incident.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

Our headquarters and certain administrative operations of our subsidiaries and Worksite Division are located on a Company-owned corporate campus in Carmel, Indiana, immediately north of Indianapolis. We currently utilize four buildings for our operations, although not all of the space (approximately 400,000 square feet) is currently in use. The entire 78 acre campus with six buildings (approximately 630,000 square feet) was listed for sale in December 2023. In the first half of 2024, we will move into approximately 125,000 square feet of leased office space at a nearby location with terms through June 2034.

Our Consumer Division is primarily administered from downtown Chicago, Illinois, where we currently lease approximately 33,000 square feet with terms through August 2033. We also lease 232 sales offices in various states totaling approximately 785,000 square feet. These leases are generally short-term in length, with remaining lease terms expiring between 2024 and 2030.

Our direct to consumer products are primarily administered from a Company-owned office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with approximately 127,000 square feet. We occupy approximately 45 percent of this space, with unused space leased to tenants. As a result of our success with hybrid work arrangements and evolving business needs, we have an agreement to sell this building with the intent to close the sale in the first half of 2024.

Our Optavise business has three locations: Orlando, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Birmingham, Alabama. In Orlando, we moved to a smaller location in January 2023 where we lease approximately 22,000 square feet with terms through December 2028. In Milwaukee, we lease 7,000 square feet with terms through February 2030. In Birmingham, we lease 7,400 square feet with terms through 2026.

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

Information required for Item 3. is incorporated by reference to the discussion under the heading "Legal Proceedings" in the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Litigation and Other Legal Proceedings" included in Item 8. of this Form 10-K.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

Table of Contents

Executive Officers of the Registrant

Officer With CNO Positions with CNO

Name and Age (a) Since Principal Occupation and Business Experience (b)

___________________________

(a) The executive officers serve as such at the discretion of the Board of Directors and are elected annually.

(b) Business experience is given for at least the last five years.

Table of Contents

PART II

ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

MARKET INFORMATION AND DIVIDENDS

The Company's common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CNO".

As of February 7, 2024, there were approximately 51,000 holders of the outstanding shares of common stock, including individual participants in securities position listings.

We commenced the payment of a dividend on our common stock in the second quarter of 2012. The dividend on our common stock is declared each quarter by our Board of Directors. In determining dividends, our Board of Directors takes into consideration our financial condition, including current and expected earnings and projected cash flows.

PERFORMANCE GRAPH

The performance graph below compares CNO's cumulative total shareholder return on its common stock for the period from December 31, 2018 through December 31, 2023 with the cumulative total return of the Standard & Poor's Life and Health Insurance Index (the "S&P Life and Health Insurance Index") and the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index (the "S&P MidCap 400 Index"). The comparison for each of the periods assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2018 in each of CNO common stock, the stocks included in the S&P Life and Health Insurance Index and the stocks included in the S&P MidCap 400 Index and that all dividends were reinvested. The stock performance shown in this graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future performance of CNO's common stock.

Table of Contents

*$100 invested on 12/31/18 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends.

Table of Contents

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

(dollars in millions)

_________________

(a) In May 2011, the Company announced a securities repurchase program. Since that date, the Company's Board of Directors has authorized additional repurchases from time to time, most recently in May 2023 when it authorized the repurchase of an additional $500.0 million of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock.

EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION

The following table summarizes information, as of December 31, 2023, relating to our common stock that may be issued under the CNO Financial Group, Inc. Amended and Restated Long-Term Incentive Plan.

Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders — — —

ITEM 6.SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA.

Reserved.

Table of Contents

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, 2023, 2022 and 2021 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 management 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 and interest credited to policyholders; and (ii) amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits, non-deferred commissions and 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 balances for annuity 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 reinsurance 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 margins of the annuity, health and life product lines, less expenses allocated to the insurance 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 help provide a better 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 benefit life and health insurance products in the workplace for businesses, associations, and other membership groups, interacting with customers at their place of employment and virtually. With a separate Worksite Division, we are bringing a sharper focus to this high-growth business while further capitalizing on the strength of our wholly-owned subsidiary, Optavise, a national provider of year-round technology-driven employee benefits management services.

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 income less: (i) equity returns credited to policyholder account balances; (ii) the investment income allocated to our product lines; (iii) interest expense

Table of Contents

on notes payable and investment borrowings; (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, services provided by Optavise and the operations of our broker/dealer and registered investment advisor.

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

The following summarizes our earnings for the three years ended December 31, 2023 (dollars in millions, except per share data):

Insurance product margin

Investment income not allocated to product lines 120.2 143.9 188.9

Expenses not allocated to product lines (51.7) (40.8) (80.5)

Income tax expense on operating income (103.4) (106.3) (114.3)

Fair value changes related to agent deferred compensation plan (3.5) 48.9 8.9

Net non-operating income (loss) before taxes (102.7) 349.8 218.4

Income tax expense (benefit) on non-operating income (loss) (23.1) 79.6 48.5

Per diluted share:

Net non-operating income (loss) (.69) 2.30 1.30

Table of Contents

____________

(a)Management believes that an analysis of net income applicable to common stock before: (i) net realized investment gains or losses from sales, impairments and 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) loss related to 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; and (viii) other non-operating items consisting primarily of earnings attributable to VIEs, 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 uses this measure to evaluate performance because the items excluded from net operating income can be affected by events that are unrelated to the Company's underlying fundamentals. 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 cash flow from operating activities, as measures of liquidity, or as an alternative to net income as measures of our operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. In addition, net operating income should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Net operating income has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider such measure either in isolation or as a substitute for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP. Our definition and calculation of net operating income are not necessarily comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies due to different methods of calculation. Also, as we adopted the new accounting standard related to targeted improvements to the accounting for long-duration insurance contracts effective January 1, 2023, we updated our method of determining non-operating earnings for our fixed indexed annuities to better identify the volatile non-economic impacts of that line of business. This resulted in fixed indexed annuity margins that more closely reflect the economics of the business.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of various assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements as well as revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Management has made estimates in the past that we believed to be appropriate but were subsequently revised as actual experience developed differently than expected. If our future experience differs materially from these estimates and assumptions, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially affected.

We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. We continually evaluate the information used to make these estimates as our business and the economic environment change. The use of estimates is pervasive throughout our financial statements. The accounting policies and estimates we consider most critical are summarized below. Additional information on our accounting policies is included in the note to our consolidated financial statements entitled "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies".

Effective January 1, 2023, we adopted Accounting Standards Update 2018-12 ("ASU 2018-12"). The adoption of ASU 2018-12 impacted the accounting and presentation related to long-duration insurance contracts and certain related balances for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. Disclosures of the impacts of ASU 2018-12 as of January 1, 2021 (the transition date), are included within the tables in the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Recently Adopted Accounting Standards." For a discussion of our significant accounting policies impacted by the adoption of ASU 2018-12, see the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies".

Table of Contents

Investment Valuation

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date and, therefore, represents an exit price, not an entry price. We carry certain assets and liabilities at fair value on a recurring basis, including fixed maturities, equity securities, trading securities, investments held by VIEs, derivatives, separate account assets and embedded derivatives related to fixed indexed annuity products. We carry our COLI, which is invested in a series of mutual funds, at its cash surrender value which approximates fair value. In addition, we disclose fair value for certain financial instruments, including mortgage loans, policy loans, cash and cash equivalents, insurance liabilities for interest-sensitive products and funding agreements, investment borrowings, notes payable and borrowings related to VIEs.

The degree of judgment utilized in measuring the fair value of financial instruments is largely dependent on the level to which pricing is based on observable inputs. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect our view of market assumptions in the absence of observable market information. Financial instruments with readily available active quoted prices would be considered to have fair values based on the highest level of observable inputs, and little judgment would be utilized in measuring fair value. Financial instruments that rarely trade would often have fair value based on a lower level of observable inputs, and more judgment would be utilized in measuring fair value. We categorize our financial instruments carried at fair value into a three-level hierarchy based on the observability of inputs. The three-level hierarchy for fair value measurements is described in the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Fair Value Measurements."

The following summarizes investments on our consolidated balance sheet carried at fair value by pricing source and fair value hierarchy level as of December 31, 2023 (dollars in millions):

Priced by matrices — .4 — .4

_______________

(a) Represents primarily securities benchmarked to comparable securities to determine fair value.

When an available for sale fixed maturity security's fair value is below the amortized cost, the security is considered impaired. If a portion of the decline is due to credit-related factors, we separate the credit loss component of the impairment from the amount related to all other factors. The credit loss component is recorded as an allowance and reported in net investment gains (losses) (limited to the difference between estimated fair value and amortized cost). The impairment related to all other factors (non-credit factors) is reported in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) along with unrealized gains (losses) related to fixed maturity investments, available for sale, net of tax and related adjustments. The allowance is adjusted for any additional credit losses and subsequent recoveries. When recognizing an allowance associated with a credit loss, the cost basis is not adjusted. When we determine a security is uncollectable, the remaining amortized cost will be written off.

In determining the credit loss component, we discount the estimated cash flows on a security by security basis. We consider the impact of macroeconomic conditions on inputs used to measure the amount of credit loss. For most structured securities, cash flow estimates are based on bond-specific facts and circumstances that may include collateral characteristics, expectations of delinquency and default rates, loss severity, prepayment speeds and structural support, including overcollateralization, excess spread, subordination and guarantees. For corporate bonds, cash flow estimates are derived by considering asset type, rating, time to maturity, and applying an expected loss rate.

If we intend to sell an impaired fixed maturity security, available for sale, or identify an impaired fixed maturity security, available for sale, for which is it more likely than not we will be required to sell before anticipated recovery, the

Table of Contents

difference between the fair value and the amortized cost is included in net investment gains (losses) and the fair value becomes the new amortized cost. The new cost basis is not adjusted for any subsequent recoveries in fair value.

Future events may occur, or additional information may become available, which may necessitate future realized losses in our portfolio. Significant losses could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements in future periods.

For more information on our investment portfolio and our critical accounting estimates related to investments, see the note to our consolidated financial statements entitled "Investments".

Present Value of Future Profits and Deferred Acquisition Costs

Amortization of the present value of future profits and deferred acquisition costs is calculated using the same contract groupings (or cohorts), mortality, surrender and lapse assumptions that are used in calculating the liability for future policy benefits, and these assumptions are reviewed and updated at least annually.

As a result of the adoption of ASU 2018-12, the amortization methodology related to these account balances is no longer subject to the same degree of variability and does not require a high degree of judgment. However, these accounts remain sensitive to unexpected lapses, due to higher mortality and lapse experience than expected. Such changes are recognized in the current period as a reduction of the capitalized balances. The effect of changes in assumptions related to future mortality and lapses are recognized prospectively over the remaining contract term. The carrying values of deferred acquisition costs and the present value of future profits are no longer subject to recovery testing after the adoption of ASU 2018-12.

Income Taxes

Our income tax expense includes deferred income taxes arising from temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities and NOLs. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply in the years in which temporary differences are expected to be recovered or paid. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is recognized in earnings in the period when the changes are enacted.

A reduction of the net carrying amount of deferred tax assets by establishing a valuation allowance is required if, based on the available evidence, it is more likely than not that such assets will not be realized. In assessing the need for a valuation allowance, all available evidence, both positive and negative, shall be considered to determine whether, based on the weight of that evidence, a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets is needed. This assessment requires significant judgment and considers, among other matters, the nature, frequency and severity of current and cumulative losses, forecasts of future profitability, the duration of carryforward periods, our experience with operating loss and tax credit carryforwards expiring unused, and tax planning strategies.

We evaluate the need to establish a valuation allowance for our deferred income tax assets on an ongoing basis using a deferred tax valuation model. Our model is adjusted to reflect changes in our projections of future taxable income including changes resulting from the Tax Cuts and Job Act, investment strategies, the impact of the sale or reinsurance of business, the recapture of business previously ceded and tax planning strategies. Our estimates of future taxable income are based on evidence we consider to be objectively verifiable. At December 31, 2023, our projection of future taxable income for purposes of determining the valuation allowance is based on our estimates of such future taxable income through the date our NOLs expire. Such estimates are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties and the extent to which actual impacts differ from the assumptions used in our deferred tax valuation model. Based on our assessment, we have concluded that it is more likely than not that all our deferred tax assets of $937.1 million will be realized through future taxable earnings.

Recovery of our deferred tax asset is dependent on achieving the level of future taxable income projected in our deferred tax valuation model and failure to do so could result in the recognition of a valuation allowance in a future period. Any future increase in the valuation allowance may result in additional income tax expense and reduce shareholders' equity, and such an increase could have a significant impact upon our earnings in the future.

The Code limits the extent to which losses realized by a non-life entity (or entities) may offset income from a life insurance company (or companies) to the lesser of: (i) 35 percent of the income of the life insurance company; or (ii) 35 percent of the total loss of the non-life entities (including NOLs of the non-life entities). There is no similar limitation on the extent to which losses realized by a life insurance entity (or entities) may offset income from a non-life entity (or entities).

Table of Contents

We had $367.2 million of federal NOLs as of December 31, 2023, as summarized below (dollars in millions):

Net operating loss

Year of expiration carryforwards

Total federal non-life NOLs $ 367.2

Our non-life NOLs can be used to offset 35 percent of life insurance company taxable income and 100 percent of non-life company taxable income until all non-life NOLs are utilized or expire. In addition, we expect to recognize significant non-life NOLs in 2024 as a result of changes related to the tax accounting method for allocating indirect costs (pursuant to the Code) to self-constructed real estate assets. Such NOLs will not be subject to expiration.

Liabilities for Insurance Products

At December 31, 2023, the total balance of our liabilities for insurance products was $27.9 billion. These liabilities are generally payable over an extended period of time and the profitability of the related products is dependent on the pricing of the products and other factors. Liabilities for insurance products are calculated using management's best judgments, based on our past experience and standard actuarial tables, of mortality, morbidity, lapse rates, investment experience and expense levels. Differences between our expectations when we sold these products and our actual experience could positively or negatively impact future earnings.

The adoption of ASU 2018-12 significantly changes how we account for the liabilities for insurance products for long-duration contracts and amends existing recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure requirements. As part of this adoption, we measure all payments under an insurance contract including future expected claims and unpaid policy claims (with the exception of life insurance policy and contract claims, which are classified in the "liability for life insurance policy claims") and related expenses as an integrated reserve. This resulted in unpaid claims on long-duration health insurance contracts that were previously in the "liability for policy and contract claims" pre-adoption to be now presented as part of the liability for future policy benefits.

Our liabilities for future policy benefits are measured using the net premium ratio approach as described in the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies".

The liability for future policy benefits is determined based on numerous assumptions. The most significant assumptions for our life and annuity business are mortality and lapse/withdrawal rates which are based on our experience and, in cases of limited experience, industry experience. Mortality and lapse/withdrawal rates also take into consideration future expectations in policyholder behavior that may vary from past experience. For our health business, mortality rates, lapse rates, morbidity assumptions and future rate increases are based on our experience and, in cases of limited experience, industry experience. Such assumptions also consider future expectations in policyholder behavior that may vary from past experience. In addition, the liability for future policy benefits is measured using estimated discount rates. The assumptions and estimates that we use often depend on judgment regarding the likelihood of future events and are inherently uncertain.

Cash flow assumptions related to our insurance contracts are established when a policy is issued and are evaluated each quarter to determine if assumption updates are required. A more detailed review of assumptions is performed annually. Changes to our cash flow assumptions are recognized in the liability for future policy benefits remeasurement (gain) loss in the consolidated statement of operations. Actual experience is reflected in the calculation of future policy benefits each quarter, and changes in the liability due to actual experience are also recognized in the liability for future policy benefits remeasurement (gain) loss in the consolidated statement of operations.

Table of Contents

Discount rates used to calculate net premiums are locked in at policy inception and provide the basis to recognize interest expense in the consolidated statement of operations. Discount rates used to measure the carrying value of the liability for future policy benefits in the consolidated balance sheet are updated each reporting period, and differences between the liability balances calculated using the locked-in rate and the updated discount rates are recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). For additional discussion on the determination of discount rates, see the note to the consolidated financial statements entitled "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies".

The table presented below summarizes our estimates of the immediate impacts to pre-tax income resulting from hypothetical revisions to certain assumptions and is for illustrative purposes only as such hypothetical revisions are not currently required or anticipated. We have assumed that revisions to assumptions resulting in the adjustments summarized below would occur equally among policy types, ages and durations within each product classification. Any actual adjustment would be dependent on the specific policies affected and, therefore, may differ from the estimates summarized below. In addition, the impact of actual adjustments would reflect the net effect of all changes in assumptions during the period.

Table of Contents

(dollars in millions)

Annuities

Fixed indexed and fixed interest annuity products:

5% increase to assumed mortality $ 3

5% decrease to assumed mortality (4)

10% increase to assumed surrender rate (3)

10% decrease to assumed surrender rate 2

50 basis point increase in interest rates (a) 68

50 basis point decrease in interest rates (a) (75)

Other annuities:

5% increase to assumed mortality 5

5% decrease to assumed mortality (5)

Health

Medicare supplement:

5% increase to assumed mortality 2

5% decrease to assumed mortality (2)

10% increase to assumed lapse rate 3

10% decrease to assumed lapse rate (3)

10% increase to assumed morbidity (49)

10% decrease to assumed morbidity 48

Supplemental health:

5% increase to assumed mortality 8

5% decrease to assumed mortality (9)

10% increase to assumed lapse rate 20

10% decrease to assumed lapse rate (20)

10% increase to assumed morbidity (21)

10% decrease to assumed morbidity 21

Long-term care:

5% increase to assumed mortality 32

5% decrease to assumed mortality (34)

10% increase to assumed lapse rate 20

10% decrease to assumed lapse rate (20)

10% increase to assumed morbidity (75)

10% decrease to assumed morbidity 68

Life

Traditional life:

5% increase to assumed mortality (34)

5% decrease to assumed mortality 35

10% increase to assumed lapse rate 6

10% decrease to assumed lapse rate (6)

Interest-sensitive life products:

5% increase to assumed mortality (6)

5% decrease to assumed mortality 6

10% increase to assumed lapse rate 1

10% decrease to assumed lapse rate (1)

_____________________

(a) The estimated impact of the hypothetical 50 basis point increase or decrease in interest rates related to our fixed indexed and fixed interest annuity products would be reflected in our pre-tax non-operating earnings.

Table of Contents

The following summarizes the persistency of our major blocks of insurance business summarized by line of business:

Years ended December 31,

Annuity:

Health:

Life:

_____________________

(1) Based on the total amount of death benefits, surrenders values and partial withdrawals divided by the average account value.

(2) Based on total reserves released at death divided by average account value.

(3) Based on number of inforce policies.

Market Risk Benefits

MRBs are contracts or contract features that both provide protection to the contract holder from other-than-nominal capital market risk and expose the Company to other-than-nominal capital market risk. Many of our fixed indexed annuity products include a GLWB that is considered a MRB. MRBs are measured at fair value using an option-based valuation model based on amount of exposure, market data, Company experience and other factors. Changes in fair value are recognized in earnings each period with the exception of the portion of the change in fair value due to a change in the instrument-specific credit risk, which is recognized in other comprehensive income (loss). MRBs in an asset position are presented separately from those in a liability position as there is no legal right of offset between contracts.

The cost of MRBs may rise in volatile or declining equity markets or in a low interest rate environment. Market conditions including, but not limited to, changes in interest rates, equity indices, market volatility, variations in actuarial assumptions regarding policyholder behavior, mortality and risk margins related to non-capital market inputs, may result in significant fluctuations in the estimated fair value of the guarantees that could affect net income and changes in our nonperformance risk could materially affect other comprehensive income.

Table of Contents

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following tables and narratives summarize the operating results of our segments (dollars in millions):

Insurance product margin

Annuity:

Insurance policy benefits (29.0) (38.3) (28.4)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (a) (71.3) (62.4) (54.0)

Health:

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (a) (162.1) (168.7) (168.3)

Life:

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (a) (85.8) (77.5) (69.8)

Allocated expenses:

Investment income not allocated to product lines 120.2 143.9 188.9

Expenses not allocated to product lines (51.7) (40.8) (80.5)

Income tax expense on operating income (103.4) (106.3) (114.3)

____________

(a)Amortization and non-deferred commissions are comprised of: (i) the amortization of deferred acquisition costs and present value of future profits; and (ii) commission expenses that are not directly related to the successful acquisition of new or renewal insurance contracts and, therefore, are not eligible to be deferred. Such non-deferred commissions are included in other operating costs and expenses on the consolidated statement of operations.

Table of Contents

General: CNO is the top tier 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 view our operations by segments, which consist of insurance product lines. These products are distributed by our two divisions. 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. The Worksite Division focuses on the sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products in the workplace for businesses, associations, and other membership groups, interacting with customers at their place of employment and virtually.

Insurance product margin is management's measure of the profitability of its annuity, health and life product lines' performance and consists of insurance policy income plus allocated investment income less insurance policy benefits, interest credited, commissions, advertising expense and amortization of acquisition costs. Income from insurance products is the sum of the insurance margins of the annuity, health and life product lines, less expenses allocated to the insurance 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 this information helps provide a better understanding of the business and a more meaningful analysis of the results of our insurance product lines.

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 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 balances for annuity 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 reinsurance business; (iv) deferred acquisition costs; (v) the present value of future profits; and (vi) the value of unexpired options credited to insurance liabilities. Investment income not allocated to product lines represents net investment 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 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 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.

Comprehensive Annual Actuarial Review: We update the assumptions and experience underlying the expected gross margins for policies accounted for as investment contracts annually in the fourth quarter of each year. In addition, we also review and update our assumptions on a more frequent basis to the extent current conditions or circumstances warrant changes that could be significant to our operating results. The impacts of these unlocking exercises have had a significant impact on our earnings.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, we performed our comprehensive annual actuarial review, including, but not limited to, assumptions related to mortality rates, surrender rates, earned rates, credited rates and expenses. This review resulted in a net favorable impact to insurance product margins of $33.9 million. The impact to insurance product margins by product are summarized in the table below. The most significant impacts related to supplemental health and Medicare supplement products which were favorably (unfavorably) impacted by $41.9 million and $(10.6) million, respectively. The primary supplemental health changes related to lower morbidity and higher surrender assumptions. The primary Medicare supplement changes related to higher near-term morbidity and higher persistency assumptions.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, we performed our comprehensive annual actuarial review including, but not limited to, assumptions related to mortality rates, surrender rates, earned rates, credited rates and expenses. This review resulted in a net favorable impact to insurance product margins of $.7 million and is summarized by product in the table below. The most significant impacts related to long-term care and traditional life products which were favorably (unfavorably) impacted by $16.4 million and $(13.0) million, respectively. The primary long-term care assumption changes related to lower near-term morbidity. The primary traditional life assumption change was an increase in expected mortality.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, we performed our comprehensive annual actuarial review including, but not limited to, assumptions related to mortality rates, policyholder behavior, earned rates, credited rates and expenses. This review resulted in

Table of Contents

a net favorable impact to insurance product margins of $3.0 million and is summarized by product in the table below. The most significant impacts related to Medicare supplement and traditional life products which were favorably (unfavorably) impacted by $6.0 million and $(2.5) million, respectively. The primary Medicare supplement assumption changes related to lower persistency and lower morbidity. The primary traditional life assumption change was an increase in expected mortality.

The following tables summarize the impacts of our comprehensive annual actuarial reviews in 2023, 2022 and 2021 (dollars in millions):

Insurance

policy

Line of business benefits

Fixed indexed annuities $ 9.4

Other annuities 3.5

Supplemental health 41.9

Medicare supplement (10.6)

Long-term care (9.0)

Traditional life (5.2)

Interest-sensitive life 3.9

Favorable impact on pre-tax operating income $ 33.9

Fixed indexed annuities $ (3.2)

Supplemental health 1.9

Long-term care 16.4

Traditional life (13.0)

Interest-sensitive life (1.4)

Favorable impact on pre-tax operating income $ .7

Fixed indexed annuities $ (.7)

Supplemental health 1.5

Medicare supplement 6.0

Long-term care (.4)

Traditional life (2.5)

Interest-sensitive life (.9)

Favorable impact on pre-tax operating income $ 3.0

Summary of Operating Results: Net operating income was $356.1 million in 2023, compared to $360.4 million in 2022 and $400.4 million in 2021.

Insurance product margin was $959.0 million, $936.5 million and $953.4 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Insurance product margin, excluding the impacts summarized in the table above, were $925.1 million, $935.8 million and $950.4 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Fluctuations by product line are discussed in greater detail in the narratives that follow.

Table of Contents

Total allocated and unallocated expenses are summarized in the table below. Expenses not allocated to product lines include certain significant items listed in the table below. Total allocated and unallocated expenses as adjusted for the significant items are summarized below (dollars in millions):

Expenses not allocated to product lines 51.7 40.8 80.5

Experience refund related to a reinsurance agreement (a) — 22.5 —

Transaction expenses related to acquisition of Optavise — — (2.5)

_______________

(a) Under the terms of the reinsurance agreement to cede a substantial portion of our legacy long-term care block, we were entitled to receive an experience refund of up to $22.5 million if certain rate increases were approved and implemented. As of June 30, 2022, all requirements to earn the maximum experience refund had been met and the refund was recognized. The refund was received in the second quarter of 2023.

Our expense ratio in 2023 was 19.4 percent. Our projected expense ratio for 2024 is expected to be in the range of 18.8 percent to 19.2 percent. The expense ratio is defined as total allocated and unallocated expenses (excluding any significant items) divided by the sum of insurance policy income and net investment income allocated to products.

The fee income segment is summarized below (dollars in millions):

Net fee income increased in 2023 and 2022 is primarily due to growth in the sales of third party products by our Consumer Division in recent periods and changes to our revenue recognition assumptions reflecting favorable policy persistency; partially offset by lower earnings related to services provided by Optavise.

Investment income not allocated to product lines generally fluctuates from period to period based on the level of prepayment income (including call premiums) and trading account income; the performance of our alternative investments (which are typically reported a quarter in arrears); the earnings related to the investments underlying our COLI; and the spread we earn from our FHLB investment borrowing and FABN programs.

The effective tax rate for 2023, 2022 and 2021 was 22.5 percent, 22.8 percent and 22.2 percent, respectively.

Table of Contents

Margin from Annuity Products (dollars in millions):

Annuity margin:

Fixed indexed annuities

Insurance policy benefits (10.1) (20.0) (9.9)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (65.8) (57.4) (48.6)

Margin/average net insurance liabilities 2.06 % 2.09 % 2.46 %

Fixed interest annuities

Insurance policy income $ 1.0 $ .8 $ .8

Insurance policy benefits (.5) (1.1) (1.1)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (5.0) (4.6) (5.0)

Margin from fixed interest annuities $ 33.9 $ 32.4 $ 37.4

Margin/average net insurance liabilities 2.10 % 1.91 % 1.99 %

Other annuities

Insurance policy income $ 7.7 $ 7.8 $ 6.0

Insurance policy benefits (18.4) (17.2) (17.4)

Interest credited (2.3) (2.3) (2.5)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (.5) (.4) (.4)

Margin from other annuities $ 8.9 $ 11.1 $ 10.8

Margin/average net insurance liabilities 1.94 % 2.30 % 2.13 %

Margin/average net insurance liabilities 2.06 % 2.07 % 2.36 %

The favorable (unfavorable) impacts of our comprehensive annual actuarial review (reflected in insurance policy benefits) on annuity product margins are summarized below (dollars in millions):

Fixed indexed annuities $ 9.4 $ (3.2) $ (.7)

Fixed interest annuities — — —

Other annuities 3.5 — —

Margin, excluding impact of comprehensive annual actuarial review:

Table of Contents

Margin from fixed indexed annuities was $192.2 million in 2023 compared to $183.4 million in 2022 and $195.0 million in 2021. The margin excluding the favorable (unfavorable) impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed was $182.8 million, $186.6 million and $195.7 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The margins in 2023 are lower than 2022 and 2021 as growth in the block is primarily being offset by spread compression driven by increased surrenders of higher spread products. Average net insurance liabilities (policyholder account balances less: (i) amounts related to reinsured business; (ii) deferred acquisition costs; (iii) present value of future profits; and (iv) the value of unexpired options credited to insurance liabilities) were $9,337.3 million, $8,788.6 million and $7,915.7 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, driven by deposits and reinvested returns in excess of withdrawals. The increase in net insurance liabilities results in higher net investment income allocated. The earned yield was 4.39 percent in 2023, up from 4.25 percent in 2022, reflecting higher portfolio yields, and down slightly from 4.42 percent in 2021.

Net investment income and interest credited exclude the change in market values of the underlying options supporting the fixed indexed annuity products and corresponding offsetting amount credited to policyholder account balances. Such amounts were $118.3 million, $(181.3) million and $195.5 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Margin from fixed interest annuities was $33.9 million in 2023 compared to $32.4 million in 2022 and $37.4 million in 2021, driven primarily by higher spreads, partially offset by a reduction in the size of the block. Average net insurance liabilities were $1,612.0 million, $1,700.5 million and $1,879.3 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, driven by withdrawals in excess of deposits and reinvested returns. The decrease in net insurance liabilities results in lower net investment income allocated, however, the earned yield increased to 5.19 percent in 2023, reflecting higher portfolio yields compared to 4.88 percent in 2022 and 4.98 percent in 2021.

Margin from other annuities was $8.9 million in 2023 compared to $11.1 million in 2022 and $10.8 million in 2021. The margin excluding the favorable impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed was $5.4 million in 2023. The margin on this relatively small block of business is sensitive to annuitant mortality related to contracts with life contingencies. An increase in mortality in this block will result in a decrease in insurance liabilities and insurance policy benefits. Such mortality was lower in 2023 compared to 2022 and 2021.

Table of Contents

Margin from Health Products (dollars in millions):

Health margin:

Supplemental health

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (106.0) (105.5) (104.4)

Margin/insurance policy income 41 % 33 % 32 %

Medicare supplement

Net investment income 4.9 5.4 5.3

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (43.2) (50.3) (50.7)

Margin/insurance policy income 19 % 23 % 23 %

Long-term care

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (12.9) (12.9) (13.2)

Margin/insurance policy income 31 % 46 % 45 %

Margin/insurance policy income 31 % 31 % 30 %

The favorable (unfavorable) impacts of our comprehensive annual actuarial review (reflected in insurance policy benefits) on health product margins are summarized below (dollars in millions):

Supplemental health $ 41.9 $ 1.9 $ 1.5

Medicare supplement (10.6) — 6.0

Margin, excluding impact of comprehensive annual actuarial review:

Margin from supplemental health business was $294.4 million in 2023 compared to $230.9 million in 2022 and $216.9 million in 2021. The margin excluding the favorable impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed was $252.5 million, $229.0 million and $215.4 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in the supplemental health margin in 2023, compared to 2022 and 2021, reflects growth in the block and favorable claim experience. Claim experience will fluctuate from period to period.

Our supplemental health products (including specified disease, accident and hospital indemnity products) generally provide fixed or limited benefits. For example, payments under cancer insurance policies are generally made directly to, or at the direction of, the policyholder following diagnosis of, or treatment for, a covered type of cancer. Approximately two-thirds of our supplemental health policies inforce (based on policy count) are sold with return of premium or cash value riders. The return of premium rider generally provides that after a policy has been inforce for a specified number of years or upon the policyholder reaching a specified age, we will pay to the policyholder, or a beneficiary under the policy, the aggregate amount of all premiums paid under the policy, without interest, less the aggregate amount of all claims incurred under the policy. The

Table of Contents

cash value rider is similar to the return of premium rider, but also provides for payment of a graded portion of the return of premium benefit if the policy terminates before the return of premium benefit is earned. Accordingly, the net cash flows from these products generally result in the accumulation of amounts in the early years of a policy (reflected in our earnings as reserve increases which is a component of insurance policy benefits) which will be paid out as benefits in later policy years (reflected in our earnings as reserve decreases which offset the recording of benefit payments). As the policies age, insurance policy benefits will typically increase, but the increase in benefits will be partially offset by investment income earned on the accumulated assets.

Margin from Medicare supplement business was $116.9 million in 2023 compared to $151.0 million in 2022 and $162.5 million in 2021. The Medicare supplement margin excluding the impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed were $127.5 million, $151.0 million and $156.5 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The decrease in margin on the Medicare supplement business in 2023, as compared to 2022 and 2021, is primarily due to a reduction in the size of the block and unfavorable claims experience (although claim experience returned to expected levels in the second half of 2023 as compared to the first six months of 2023). Claim experience will fluctuate from period to period. Insurance policy income was $619.9 million in 2023 compared to $657.8 million in 2022 and $714.1 million in 2021, reflecting lower sales in recent periods partially offset by premium rate increases. Over the last several years, we have experienced a shift in the sale of Medicare supplement policies to the sale of Medicare Advantage policies. We receive fee income when Medicare Advantage policies of other providers are sold, which is recorded in our Fee income segment. We continue to invest in both our Medicare supplement products and Medicare Advantage distribution to meet our customers' needs and preferences. For example, we launched a new competitive Medicare supplement product in 2022.

Medicare supplement business consists of both individual and group policies. Government regulations generally require we attain and maintain a ratio of total benefits incurred to total premiums earned (excluding changes in policy benefits reserves which is a component of Insurance policy benefits) of not less than 65 percent on individual products and not less than 75 percent on group products. The ratio is determined after three years from the original issuance of the policy and over the lifetime of the policy and measured in accordance with U.S. statutory accounting principles. Since the insurance product liabilities we establish for Medicare supplement business are subject to significant estimates, the ultimate claim liability we incur for a particular period is likely to be different than our initial estimate. Changes to our estimates are reflected in insurance policy benefits in the period the change is determined.

Margin from Long-term care products was $83.0 million in 2023 compared to $122.5 million in 2022 and $118.2 million in 2021. The margin excluding the impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed was $92.0 million, $106.1 million and $118.6 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Claim experience was less favorable in 2023 (although claim experience returned to expected levels in the second half of 2023 as compared to the first six months of 2023) and 2022, as compared to 2021. Claim experience will fluctuate from period to period.

Table of Contents

Margin from Life Products (dollars in millions):

Life margin:

Interest-sensitive life

Insurance policy benefits (65.7) (75.2) (82.6)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (19.5) (23.2) (23.3)

Margin from interest-sensitive life $ 98.7 $ 79.5 $ 66.3

Interest margin $ 2.8 $ 3.3 $ 5.1

Interest margin/average net insurance liabilities .27 % .32 % .52 %

Underwriting margin/insurance policy income 53 % 44 % 37 %

Traditional life

Interest credited (.6) (.7) (.7)

Amortization and non-deferred commissions (66.3) (54.3) (46.5)

Margin/insurance policy income 19 % 18 % 22 %

Margin excluding advertising expense/insurance policy income 32 % 32 % 35 %

The favorable (unfavorable) impacts of our comprehensive annual actuarial review (reflected in insurance policy benefits) on life product margins are summarized below (dollars in millions):

Interest-sensitive life $ 3.9 $ (1.4) $ (.9)

Margin, excluding impact of comprehensive annual actuarial review:

Margin from interest-sensitive life business was $98.7 million in 2023 compared to $79.5 million in 2022 and $66.3 million in 2021. The interest-sensitive life margins excluding the impacts of the actuarial review changes previously discussed were $94.8 million, $80.9 million and $67.2 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in margin in 2023 and 2022 reflects more favorable mortality and growth in the block due to sales in recent periods.

The interest margin was $2.8 million in 2023 compared to $3.3 million in 2022 and $5.1 million in 2021. Net investment income in 2023 was comparable to 2022 and 2021. The increase in average net insurance liabilities results in higher net investment income allocated, which is offset by lower earned yields. The earned yield was 4.96 percent in 2023, down from 5.07 percent in 2022 and 5.14 percent in 2021. The decrease in earned yields is due to the sale or maturity of higher yielding investments. Interest credited to policyholders may be changed annually but is subject to minimum guaranteed rates and, as a result, any reduction in our earned rate may not be fully reflected in the rate credited to policyholders.

Table of Contents

Net investment income and interest credited excludes the change in market values of the underlying options supporting the fixed indexed life products and corresponding offsetting amount credited to policyholder account balances. Such amounts were $13.2 million, $(24.0) million and $24.3 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Margin from traditional life business was $131.0 million in 2023 compared to $125.7 million in 2022 and $146.3 million in 2021. The traditional life margins excluding the impacts of the actuarial assumption changes previously discussed were $136.2 million, $138.7 million and $148.8 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Insurance policy income was $701.4 million in 2023 compared to $684.8 million in 2022 and $675.2 million in 2021, reflecting new sales and persistency in the block. Insurance policy benefits were $504.3 million in 2023 compared to $500.1 million in 2022 and $484.9 million in 2021 reflecting growth in the block. In addition, amortization was higher in 2023 and 2022, as compared to 2021, primarily related to higher deferred acquisition costs in recent periods due to strong sales, including sales of our direct-to-consumer products through third party distributors.

Allocated net investment income reflects earned yields of 4.71 percent, 4.63 percent and 4.67 percent in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Advertising expense was $92.5 million in 2023 compared to $94.3 million in 2022 and $89.8 million in 2021. The demand and cost of television advertising can fluctuate from period to period. We are disciplined with our marketing expenditures and will increase or decrease our marketing spend depending on prices or other factors.

Investment Income Not Allocated to Product Lines (dollars in millions):

Allocated to product lines:

Equity returns credited to policyholder account balances (131.5) 205.3 (219.8)

Interest expense on financing arrangements (2.4) — —

Interest expense on investment borrowings from FHLB (104.7) (33.5) (9.8)

Expenses related to FABN program (30.4) (30.0) (2.3)

Investment income not allocated to product lines $ 120.2 $ 143.9 $ 188.9

The above table reconciles net investment income to investment income not allocated to product lines. Such amount will generally fluctuate from period to period based on the level of prepayment income (including call premiums) and trading account income; the performance of our alternative investments (which are typically reported a quarter in arrears); the earnings related to the investments underlying our COLI; and the spread we earn from our FHLB investment borrowing and FABN programs.

Table of Contents

Net Non-Operating Income (Loss):

The following summarizes our net non-operating income (loss) for the three years ended December 31, 2023 (dollars in millions):

Fair value changes related to agent deferred compensation plan (3.5) 48.9 8.9

Net non-operating income (loss) before taxes $ (102.7) $ 349.8 $ 218.4

Net realized investment losses were $62.7 million in 2023, including the favorable change in the allowance for credit losses of $8.1 million which were recorded in earnings. Net realized investment losses were $62.2 million in 2022, including the unfavorable change in the allowance for credit losses of $52.6 million which were recorded in earnings. Net realized investment gains were $36.5 million in 2021, including the favorable change in the allowance for credit losses of $12.2 million which were recorded in earnings.

During 2023, 2022 and 2021, we recognized a decrease in earnings of $6.3 million, $73.2 million and $17.4 million, respectively, due to the net change in market value of investments recognized in earnings. The change in value will fluctuate from period to period based on market conditions.

During 2023, 2022 and 2021, we recognized an increase (decrease) in earnings of $(3.5) million, $48.9 million and $8.9 million, respectively, for the mark-to-market change in the agent deferred compensation plan liability which was impacted by changes in the underlying actuarial assumptions used to value the liability. We recognize the mark-to-market change in the estimated value of this liability through earnings as assumptions change.

During 2023, 2022 and 2021, we recognized an increase (decrease) in earnings of $(29.9) million, $440.2 million and $186.8 million, respectively, resulting from changes in the fair value of embedded derivative liabilities and MRBs related to our fixed indexed annuities. Such amounts include the impacts of changes in market interest rates and equity impacts used to determine the estimated fair values of the embedded derivatives and MRBs.

In 2022, other non-operating items include a one-time restructuring charge of $7.1 million primarily related to an early retirement program. The program reduced our headcount by 2 percent and was expected to reduce run-rate expenses by approximately $10 million. Other non-operating items also include earnings attributable to VIEs that we are required to consolidate, net of affiliated amounts. Such earnings are not indicative of, and are unrelated to, the Company's underlying fundamentals.

Table of Contents

PREMIUM COLLECTIONS

In accordance with GAAP, insurance policy income in our consolidated statement of operations consists of premiums earned for traditional insurance policies that have life contingencies or morbidity features. For annuity and interest-sensitive life contracts, premiums collected are not reported as revenues, but as deposits to insurance liabilities. We recognize revenues for these products over time in the form of investment income and surrender or other charges.

Agents, insurance brokers and marketing organizations who market our products and prospective purchasers of our products use the financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries as an important factor in determining whether to market or purchase. Ratings have the most impact on our Worksite sales of supplemental health and life products since such ratings are often an important factor considered by employers. The current financial strength ratings of our primary insurance subsidiaries from Fitch, S&P, Moody's and AM Best are "A", "A-", "A3" and "A", respectively. For a description of these ratings and additional information on our ratings, see "Consolidated Financial Condition - Financial Strength Ratings of our Insurance Subsidiaries."

We set premium rates on our health insurance policies based on facts and circumstances known at the time we issue the policies using assumptions about numerous variables, including but not limited to, the actuarial probability of a policyholder incurring a claim, the probable size of the claim, and the interest rate earned on our investment of premiums. We also consider historical claims information, industry statistics, the rates of our competitors and other factors. If our actual claims experience is less favorable than we anticipated and we are unable to raise our premium rates, our financial results may be adversely affected. We generally cannot raise our health insurance premiums in any state until we obtain the approval of the state insurance regulator. We review the adequacy of our premium rates regularly and file for rate increases on our products when we believe such rates are too low. It is likely that we will not be able to obtain approval for all requested premium rate increases. If such requests are denied in one or more states, our net income may decrease. If such requests are approved, increased premium rates may reduce the volume of our new sales and may cause existing policyholders to lapse their policies. If the healthier policyholders allow their policies to lapse, this would reduce our premium income and profitability in the future.

Table of Contents

Total premium collections were as follows (dollars in millions):

Premiums collected by product:

Annuities:

Fixed indexed (renewal) .1 .3 .3

Fixed interest (renewal) 2.7 3.7 5.0

Subtotal - fixed interest annuities 199.7 87.4 45.4

Other annuities (first-year) 9.6 7.7 6.9

Health:

Supplemental health (first-year) 81.6 73.2 67.9

Medicare supplement (first-year) 39.0 34.2 40.3

Life insurance:

Interest-sensitive (first-year) 40.8 42.1 41.5

Collections on annuity, health and life products:

Annuities include fixed indexed, fixed interest and other annuities sold to the senior market. Annuity collections were $1,583.2 million in 2023, compared to $1,604.6 million in 2022 and $1,400.4 million in 2021. Premium collections from fixed indexed annuities decreased 9.0 percent to $1,373.9 million in 2023 compared to 2022. Premium collections from fixed interest annuities increased 128 percent to $199.7 million in 2023 compared to 2022, resulting from increased consumer preference for these products in the current interest rate environment. The increase in premium collections from our fixed indexed products in 2022, as compared to 2021, was primarily due to the general stock market performance which made these products attractive to certain customers.

Health products include supplemental health, Medicare supplement and long-term care products.

Table of Contents

Premiums collected on supplemental health products (including specified disease, accident and hospital indemnity insurance products) were $706.6 million in 2023, compared to $692.9 million in 2022 and $688.0 million in 2021. Such increases are primarily due to new sales and steady persistency.

Collected premiums on Medicare supplement policies were $609.4 million, $651.6 million and $707.5 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The decreases reflect lower sales in recent periods partially offset by premium rate increases. In recent years, we have experienced a shift in the sale of Medicare supplement policies to the sale of Medicare Advantage policies. We receive fee income when Medicare Advantage policies of other providers are sold, which is recorded in our Fee income segment. We continue to invest in both our Medicare supplement products and Medicare Advantage distribution to ensure we are well-positioned to meet our customers' needs and preferences. For example, we launched a new competitive Medicare supplement product in 2022.

Life products include interest-sensitive and traditional life products. Life premiums were $937.0 million, $911.8 million and $895.8 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Premiums collected reflect both recent sales activity and steady persistency.

INVESTMENTS

CNO US Equity

CNO · 10-K · period ended 2023-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

ITEM 6.SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA.

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

CNO US Equity☆

CNO · 10-K · period ended 2023-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

ITEM 6.SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA.

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

CNO US Equity