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NEWS IN BRIEF
Fortitude Builds a Front Door — Legacy Life Buyer Acquires Dayforward Platform
Fortitude Re has bought nearly all of insurtech Dayforward’s assets to form Fortitude Life. It gains a way to originate annuities directly instead of waiting for blocks to come to market, and Dayforward’s insurance entities and legacy liabilities stay out of the deal.
12 October 2026 • Page 3 • Life & Legacy
The Transaction
Fortitude Re has acquired substantially all the assets of Dayforward, a digital insurance technology company founded in 2020, through a newly formed entity that will be renamed Fortitude Life. The deal brings across Dayforward’s technology platform, distribution agreements, intellectual property, licensed insurance agency and team. The platform handles the full annuity lifecycle, from agent onboarding and applications to issuance, commission payments and in-force servicing.
Dayforward’s insurance entities and their legacy policies and liabilities are excluded. Financial terms were not disclosed. Dayforward’s team will continue to lead the business as a Fortitude Re subsidiary. It is separate from Fortitude’s existing Fortitude Life Insurance & Annuity Company.
12 October 2026 • Page 3 • Life & Legacy
Market Context
From Blocks to Flow. Fortitude Re, spun out of AIG and majority-owned by Carlyle and T&D Insurance Group since 2020, has grown by acquiring blocks. It has done more than a dozen transactions and built over $100 billion of reserves, including a $31 billion variable annuity book from Prudential and the 2023 Lincoln transaction. Block deals, though, are episodic and fiercely contested. Fitch noted in 2024 that flow business offers more predictable volume.
Dayforward gives Fortitude a way to originate annuities itself. It adds to the administration capability Fortitude already holds, including the life and annuity TPA it bought from AIG in 2022.
Quote
“We founded Dayforward to modernise how annuities are issued, administered and delivered to consumers.”
— Aaron Shapiro, Chief Executive Officer, Dayforward
12 October 2026 • Page 3 • Life & Legacy
JDC VIEW
The detail that matters is what Fortitude left behind. It took the platform, the people and the distribution, and none of the legacy. A legacy buyer declining someone else’s legacy says a great deal about how it values a clean book. The wider move is a hedge against a crowded block market: with private capital chasing every sizeable in-force deal, owning a front door means Fortitude no longer has to wait for sellers. The test will be whether a run-off specialist can compete for new annuity business against established writers.
Sources: Fortitude Re / Dayforward announcement, 29 Sept 2026; Insurance Business; Reinsurance News.
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