“As of now, we anticipate that VII in the third quarter will generally be in line with the second quarter result.”

In context

“growth across the region. MetLife holdings adjusted earnings were $211 million, down 31%. This decline was primarily driven by lower variable investment income. Corporate and other adjusted loss was $228 million, essentially flat versus an adjusted loss of $227 million in the prior year. The company's effective tax rate on adjusted earnings in the quarter was approximately 22%, and at the low end of our 2023 guidance of 22% to 24%. On Page five, this chart reflects our pre-tax variable investment income for the prior five quarters, including $221 million in Q2 of ‘23. Private equity portfolio, $14.6 billion, had a plus 1.5% return in the quarter. Real estate equity funds of $2.2 billion had a minus 1.9% return, while both PE and real estate equity funds are reported on a one quarter lag. As of now, we anticipate that VII in the third quarter will generally be in line with the second quarter result. On Page six, we provide VII post tax by segment for the prior five quarters. As you've noted previously, each of the businesses holds its own discrete investment portfolios, which have been built to match its liabilities. As reflected in the chart, Asia, RAS, and MetLife Holdings continue to hold the largest portion of VII assets given their long dated liability profile. For 2Q of ‘23, Asia's VII portfolio generated the highest returns at 2.2%, outperforming MetLife Holdings at 1.5% and RAS at 0.9%. Now turning to Page seven, the chart on the left of the Page shows the split of our net investment income between recurring and VII for the past three years in Q2 of ‘22 versus Q2 of ‘23. While VII has had the lower than trend returns over the last few quarters, recurring income, which account”