Corporate Responsibility 2020 Report

The health and safety of our employees, customers, and their families is our top priority. We have taken a number of steps throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to support our employees, including:

We remain steadfastly focused on serving our customers throughout this difficult period and know that some of them may be adversely impacted by the pandemic. We invite our customers to reach out to us to discuss possible financial accommodations during this time. Visit our Contact Us page for additional information.

As part of our continued support of the communities where we have office locations, we are providing relief to help address urgent needs during the pandemic. Learn more about our response to COVID-19.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Brighthouse Financial, we bring our passion to work, and our inclusive and collaborative environment is designed to fuel careers and drive business growth.

We are focused on fostering a culture where diverse backgrounds and experiences are celebrated, and different ideas are heard and respected. By creating an inclusive workplace, we are better able to attract and retain talent and provide valuable solutions that meet the needs of financial professionals and their clients.

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council includes representatives from across Brighthouse Financial who collaborate to create programs and development opportunities that impact the diverse makeup of the company and further enhance our inclusive culture. Some of the Council’s initiatives include:

Eric Steigerwalt, President and CEO of Brighthouse Financial, is a signatory of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge.

Training and Development

Our learning and development strategy is built on fostering knowledge and driving performance at the individual and company level.

Our program offerings include a large library of on-demand virtual courses taught by industry experts, allowing for self-guided educational experiences. We also conduct monthly Learning Hours designed to educate employees on business topics and practical skills, a series of required trainings to ensure that our employees operate in the most ethical and compliant manner, as well as executive and leadership development programs.

In addition to the available courses and trainings, we offer a mentoring program for employees to learn from leaders across the organization. This program seeks to encourage talent development within Brighthouse Financial and promote diversity across leadership levels. Mentors and mentees put our values as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion at the forefront of their relationship to help ensure a positive and inclusive experience.

Employee Well-Being

We regularly seek ways to provide resources that positively impact the physical, mental, and financial well-being of our employees and their families, such as our wellness incentive platform and financial counseling services.

Additionally, we are committed to a healthy work-life balance. We provide flexible work arrangements, paid parental leave for both birth and non-birth parents, a minimum of 20 days of paid time off, paid study time, volunteer time, and military leave. We also provide support to employees during their surrogacy and adoption journeys.

Human Capital Management Disclosures

We are focused on increasing representation of underrepresented groups across Brighthouse Financial. We seek diverse slates of candidates for open positions and are focused on developing a strong pipeline of internal talent.

Job categories shown reflect EEO-1 Job Classification Guide categories.

Some percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

Pay Equity

Our compensation programs are structured to attract, develop, and retain appropriate levels of talent by rewarding performance against stated goals.

We provide compensation opportunities that are competitive with our peers and represent individual and company performance. Aligning to our pay-for-performance approach, we place emphasis on all components of compensation, including short- and long-term incentives as well as a base salary.

Our strategy starts with the foundation of grades and scales for all Brighthouse Financial roles and locations as they align to the labor market, related internal roles, and business objectives.

We work with a third-party consultant to conduct an annual pay equity review to ensure that performance, job level, experience in role, and other neutral factors are consistent drivers of compensation, and that gender, race, ethnicity, age, and other dimensions of diversity are not determinants of any variations in pay.

We believe effective corporate governance policies and practices will help Brighthouse Financial deliver sustainable, long-term value to our stakeholders.

Our Board of Directors regularly reviews our governance profile to ensure it reflects the evolving governance landscape and appropriately supports and serves the best interests of the company and our stakeholders. Learn more about our governance practices.

Additional information can be found in our latest Proxy Statement.

Our Board of Directors

The fundamental duty of our Board is to oversee the management of Brighthouse Financial on behalf of its shareholders. Our Board is led by an independent Chairman of the Board and is composed of nine Directors, eight of whom are independent.

Learn more about our Board of Directors.

Board Diversity

We believe a diverse board is better able to effectively oversee our management and strategy, and position the company to deliver long-term value. The Board seeks directors who possess a broad range of skills, experience, and perspectives and can contribute to the gender and racial or ethnic diversity of our Board. We recognize that diversity adds to the overall mix of perspectives of the Board as a whole. The composition of the Board reflects our commitment to diversity of thought, experience, and background. The following presents our Board’s demographic information:

Directors who are diverse by gender and/or race or ethnicity serve in a majority of our Board leadership positions, including as:

Board Diversity Action Alliance

Brighthouse Financial is a signatory to the Board Diversity Action Alliance.

Nasdaq Proposal Regarding Board Diversity

Our Board of Directors submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in support of Nasdaq’s proposed listing requirement regarding board diversity.

Board and Committee Oversight

For information about how our Board and committees oversee Brighthouse Financial, view our latest Proxy Statement or visit our investor relations web page for our governance documents.

Board Oversight of Our Sustainability Program

The Board oversees and receives regular reports on our sustainability program. There are also Board committees dedicated to overseeing certain aspects our program.

We strive to adhere to the highest standards of business conduct at all times and put honesty, fairness, and trustworthiness at the center of all we do. We have adopted Codes of Conduct that reflect these values and embody them in our corporate culture. Our Chief Compliance Officer regularly reports to the Board and Audit Committee on matters relating to compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and annually presents the Codes of Conduct for Board review and approval.

The Code of Conduct for directors applies to members of the Brighthouse Financial, Inc. Board and all subsidiary boards. We also have Codes of Conduct for employees and for those in positions to make financial management decisions. Learn more about our Codes of Conduct.

Training and Certification

Every year, all employees are required to certify that they have read and are compliant with our Code of Conduct and complete training courses on a number of topics, including fraud prevention and data privacy and protection. Biannually, employees take a Code of Conduct training course and an anti-money laundering training course. All new employees are required to complete Code of Conduct training within 30 days of their start date.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

We understand the importance of maintaining a strong cybersecurity and privacy program, and we take our responsibility to protect the data we collect extremely seriously.

Cybersecurity

Our cybersecurity program is led by our Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. We continuously monitor and evaluate the cybersecurity risk landscape and take proactive measures to address emerging threats. We frequently conduct simulations and provide our employees with regular cybersecurity training and educational resources to help ensure they remain vigilant against threats.

Data Privacy

We are committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information, providing transparency into how we collect and use personal information, and honoring the privacy rights afforded to consumers by various laws.

View our Online Privacy Statement for information about our data use and collection practices via different channels.

Our Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Privacy Officer are responsible for maintaining the company’s privacy program. The privacy program is subject to periodic internal audits to verify compliance with company policies and applicable laws in addition to quarterly risk assessments to verify that privacy controls are functioning effectively.

Board and Committee Oversight

The Audit Committee provides oversight of the company’s information technology and cybersecurity risks. Our Board regularly engages in discussions on cybersecurity and data protection issues with the Chief Technology Officer.

We directly support charitable endeavors in our communities through corporate contributions and engagement in community nonprofit groups. Examples of nonprofits we support include Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, Habitat for Humanity, Heart Math Tutoring, and Thompson Child & Family Focus.

We also seek to enhance the quality of life in the communities in which we live and work through the Brighthouse Financial Foundation. The Foundation provides grants to high-impact, nonprofit organizations, with a specific focus on organizations supporting women, children, veterans, and the arts. These organizations include Johnson C. Smith University, ParentChild+, The Academy of Goal Achievers, and Rosie’s Place.

In 2020, we expanded our lens to include COVID-19 relief and increased support to organizations that advance social justice efforts. We also expanded our engagement with organizations that directly support Black members of our communities through advancing racial equity in youth development and mentoring, and support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Black-led nonprofits.

In 2020, the Foundation provided financial support to more than 40 nonprofits. In combination with corporate charitable contributions, we donated nearly $2 million to nonprofit organizations, making 2020 our most impactful year yet.

Environmental Commitments

Our commitment to environmental stewardship is embodied in our leasing decisions that incorporate environmentally sound design features into our office spaces whenever possible. Our headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a LEED Platinum-certified building. We also sourced local building materials to the extent possible and implemented recycling programs and a light-harvesting system.

Investment Considerations

Brighthouse Financial primarily utilizes an outsourced investment management model in which we engage external asset management firms to manage the investment of our assets, including those in our general account portfolio.

In recent years, the Brighthouse Financial investments team has continued to integrate ESG considerations into our investment process. While ESG considerations were always relevant in our external manager due diligence process, in 2019, we updated the Brighthouse Investment Manager Selection Policy to explicitly include ESG criteria, with consideration given to signatories of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). As of December 31, 2020, 100% of our general account investment managers were signatories of the UN PRI.

In 2020, we took additional steps to integrate ESG considerations into our investment process. This included updating the objective of our portfolio guidelines that govern all of our investment managers’ mandates to acknowledge the following: “Brighthouse Financial is focused on incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into its investment decision-making process and, all else being equal, Brighthouse Financial has a preference for higher-rated ESG investments.” For appropriate mandates, we have also requested that our managers include an ESG analysis in our periodic portfolio reviews. Finally, as part of our annual reviews with our external managers, we have included a section dedicated to an update on the managers’ ESG capabilities and integration.

As part of our ongoing commitment to ESG integration and sustainable investment, in March 2021 we formally adopted an ESG Investment Policy applicable to our general account assets. This policy memorializes the process for incorporating ESG considerations into the management of our general account assets, including our manager selection and oversight process, inclusion of an ESG objective in our guidelines, and reporting requirements by our managers of ESG metrics.

The ESG Investment Policy also introduced an exclusion list and an impact investment target. The exclusion list is designed to be dynamic and is focused on manufacturers of tobacco, civilian firearms, and cluster munitions products. From an impact investment standpoint, the policy confirms our intention to allocate $100 million toward women- and minority-focused alternative investment funds over the next three years.

As of December 31, 2020, our general account totaled over $100 billion and consisted primarily of fixed-income securities and mortgage loans. Our fixed maturity securities include government, corporate, municipal, and structured finance holdings. Our mortgage loan portfolio includes commercial, residential, and agricultural mortgage loans.

Below is a summary of our general account portfolio, including socially and environmentally responsible categories as of December 31, 2020.

ESG-Related Investments Data

This material contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Click here for additional information.