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Bankers Life & Casualty Company
Bankers Life & Casualty began in 1879 and today operates as the flagship insurance brand of publicly traded CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO). Gary Bhojwani leads...
Bankers Life & Casualty Company
Bankers Life & Casualty began in 1879 and today operates as the flagship insurance brand of publicly traded CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO). Gary Bhojwani leads the parent holding company, while Scott Goldberg manages the consumer division from Chicago. The firm's heritage is built on selling life and health insurance products directly to middle-income and senior Americans — a model that today generates more than one million customer interactions annually. Goldberg's team deploys the general account across a portfolio oriented toward fixed-income holdings, with a real-asset book that includes the company's Chicago headquarters at 303 East Wacker Drive and exposure to commercial properties managed by Rialto Capital in Miami. Although the firm does not disclose sector allocations, the investment strategy spans credit, direct real estate, and opportunistic co-investments. Goldberg's personal participation in Hyde Park Angels connects the insurance platform to early-stage and growth-company deal flow, positioning the firm to evaluate venture allocations alongside its traditional income-generating mandates in Carmel, Indiana and elsewhere. Bankers Life maintains more than 5,000 exclusive financial representatives, distributing annuities, Medicare Supplement plans, long-term care insurance, and life insurance coast to coast. The field force is supported by corporate offices in Chicago and Des Moines. CNO's three-brand architecture pairs Bankers Life with Washington National (supplemental health products) and Colonial Penn (direct-to-consumer life insurance), creating a combined insurance group that reported over $21 billion in invested assets as of the most recent Altss estimate. May 2024: CNO Financial, through Bankers Life, sustained its multi-year partnership with the Alzheimer's Association, channeling charitable contributions tied to its consumer-education programs. What separates Bankers Life structurally from a generic insurance asset manager is its captive distribution network and the tight coupling of product design with investment allocation. The 5,000-agent channel generates proprietary customer-flow data that informs risk selection and product pricing, while the inside investment office — co-located in Chicago and Indianapolis — integrates liability-matching with external manager selection. This vertically integrated architecture, combined with public-company transparency via CNO, gives institutional counterparties a clear view into both the asset base and the product liabilities it supports.
General information
Firm type
Insurance
Year founded
1879
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Herndon
Corporate office
303 East Wacker Drive Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
Principals
Gary C. Bhojwani
CEO of CNO Financial Group
Scott L. Goldberg
President of Consumer Division
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions for Bankers Life's general account?
The investments are managed by CNO Financial's internal investment office, which oversees more than $21 billion in assets (Altss estimate) primarily from Carmel, Indiana. Scott Goldberg, president of the consumer division, interfaces with the investment team on product-liability matching, but the finance organization under CEO Gary Bhojwani retains final authority over asset allocation and manager selection. The firm does not publicly name its chief investment officer.
How does Bankers Life's captive agent network influence its investment strategy?
The 5,000-agent field force distributes annuity, life insurance, and Medicare Supplement products directly to policyholders, generating predictable liability cash flows. This captive distribution model provides the investment office with proprietary data on customer demographics, surrender patterns, and longevity trends — inputs that help calibrate fixed-income duration, credit exposure, and liquidity management more precisely than a wholesale-funded asset manager could.
Is Bankers Life a separate investment entity from CNO Financial Group?
No. Bankers Life & Casualty is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO). The holding company manages the combined general account for all three insurance brands — Bankers Life, Colonial Penn, and Washington National — under a single investment office in Indiana, with real estate administration in Miami through Rialto Capital.
Does Bankers Life co-invest alongside external private equity or venture firms?
While Bankers Life does not publicly disclose a private equity allocation, Consumer Division President Scott Goldberg is an active member of Hyde Park Angels, a Chicago-based early-stage investment group. This affiliation creates potential co-investment visibility for the insurance platform, but no direct deal participation has been confirmed through public filings.
Which regulatory entity oversees Bankers Life's insurance operations?
Bankers Life is domiciled in Illinois and regulated primarily by the Illinois Department of Insurance. As part of a publicly traded holding company, it also files with the SEC (10-K, 10-Q) and is subject to risk-based capital requirements enforced by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
How does the CNO structure separate Bankers Life from its sister brands?
CNO Financial Group operates three distinct go-to-market channels. Bankers Life sells through 5,000 exclusive agents, Colonial Penn markets directly to consumers via television and digital advertising, and Washington National distributes supplemental health products through worksite brokers and affinity groups. Each brand draws from the same general account but targets different customer segments.
What is Bankers Life's posture on direct real estate investments?
The firm owns commercial real estate in Chicago (its headquarters at 303 East Wacker Drive) and holds a portfolio managed by Rialto Capital in Miami. These properties are held for both investment income and operational use, typical of an insurance general-account strategy that blends core real estate with fixed-income securities.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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