“Regarding underwriting, we expect 2024 underwriting margins to be generally consistent with 2023.”

In context

“to be in the range of 5% to 7% over the near-term. We expect PE and real estate returns will remain pressured in the first quarter of 2024 before trending higher. Finally, as a reminder, we include prepayment fees on fixed maturities and mortgage loans in VII. So now, I will discuss our near-term outlook for our business segments. Let's start with the U.S. on Page 14. For group benefits, excluding the excess premium from participating group life contracts of approximately $300 million in 2023, adjusted PFOs are expected to grow at 4% to 6% annually over the near-term. And for 2024 we expect growth to be in the top half of that range. This reflects the strong momentum in the business, particularly in voluntary products, as well as exceptionally strong persistency in our national accounts. Regarding underwriting, we expect 2024 underwriting margins to be generally consistent with 2023. As such, we are reducing our near-term group life mortality ratio and non-medical health interest adjusted benefit ratio ranges by 1 percentage point to 84% to 89% and 69% to 74%, respectively. Finally, keep in mind these are annual ratios and both typically skew to the higher end of the ranges in the first quarter given the seasonality of the business. For RAS, we are maintaining our 2% to 4% expected annual growth for total liability exposures across our general account spread and fee-based businesses. Regarding investment spread, full year 2023 was 125 basis points and is expected to be relatively flat for the full year of 2024. This incorporates both the impact of the roll off of our interest rate caps with maturities throughout 2024 and the offsetting benefit of VII re-emerging over”