AT&T’s 96,000 retirees are clearly better off with Athene, an A-rated and well-capitalized money manager that reports to financial regulators, than with AT&T, a BBB-rated telecom company that left its pension underfunded for 11 of the past 12 years.
The question is whether they would have been better off with MetLife than with Athene.
Insurers owned by alternative asset managers invest more of policyholders’ money in things like bundled car loans or aircraft financing payments, and less in safer government bonds. They split from traditional players last year in opposing a rule that would increase capital requirements for those riskier and more complex investments.
They also eat a lot of their owners’ cooking: Dig out Athene’s…
