Brighthouse Financial Inc

To the stockholders and the Board of Directors of Brighthouse Financial, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes and the schedules listed in the Index to Consolidated Financial Statements, Notes and Schedules (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated February 28, 2025, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Certain Assumptions Used in the Valuation of Liability for Future Policy Benefits– Refer to Notes 1 and 3 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company has obligations under insurance contracts to pay benefits over an extended period of time. The Company establishes a liability for future policy benefits (“LFPB”) for nonparticipating traditional and limited-payment contracts and the additional insurance liabilities for universal life-type contracts with secondary guarantees.

Management regularly reviews its cash flow assumptions supporting the estimates of these actuarial liabilities and, if such assumptions change significantly, the associated liability is adjusted. The measurement of LFPBs can be significantly impacted by changes in economic assumptions related to market interest rates and the general account rate of return and changes in assumptions for policyholder behavior including premium persistency, mortality, lapses and withdrawals.

Given the future policy benefit obligation for certain contracts is sensitive to changes in these economic and policyholder behavior assumptions and the significant uncertainty inherent in estimating these actuarial liabilities, we identified management’s evaluation of these assumptions in the valuation of certain LFPBs as a critical audit matter. This required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort, including the involvement of our actuarial specialists.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to these assumptions in the valuation of certain LFPBs included the following, among others:

•We tested the effectiveness of management’s controls over the assumption review process, including those over the selection of the significant economic and policyholder behavior assumptions.

•With the assistance of our actuarial specialists, we evaluated the appropriateness of the significant assumptions used, developed an independent estimate of the LFPBs for a sample of policies and cohorts, and compared our estimates to management’s estimates.

•We tested the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data that served as the basis for the actuarial analysis to test that the inputs to the actuarial estimate were reasonable.

•We evaluated the methods and significant assumptions used by management to identify potential bias.

•We evaluated whether the significant assumptions used were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit.

Certain Assumptions Used in the Valuation of Market Risk Benefits – Refer to Notes 1, 4, and 10 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

Market risk benefits are measured at fair value and separately presented on the consolidated balance sheet. The Company estimates market risk benefit assets and liabilities using significant judgment including discount rate assumptions, nonperformance risk, and actuarially determined assumptions including policyholder behavior, mortality and risk margins.

Given the sensitivity of certain market risk benefits to changes in these assumptions and the significant uncertainty inherent in estimating the market risk benefits, we identified management’s evaluation of these assumptions in the valuation of certain market risk benefits as a critical audit matter. This required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort, including the involvement of our actuarial and fair value specialists.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to these assumptions in the valuation of certain market risk benefits included the following, among others:

•We tested the effectiveness of management’s controls over the assumption review process, including those over the selection of the significant assumptions related to policyholder behavior, mortality and risk margins, as well as changes in nonperformance risk.

•With the assistance of our actuarial specialists, we evaluated the appropriateness of the significant assumptions used, developed an independent estimate of the market risk benefits for a sample of policies, and compared our estimates to management’s estimates.

•We tested the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data that served as the basis for the actuarial analysis to test that the inputs to the actuarial estimate were reasonable.

•We evaluated the reasonableness of the Company’s assumptions by comparing those selected by management to those independently derived by our fair value and actuarial specialists, drawing upon standard actuarial and industry practice.

•We evaluated the methods and assumptions used by management to identify potential bias in the determination of the market risk benefits.

•We evaluated whether the assumptions used were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit.

/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

Charlotte, North Carolina

February 28, 2025

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2016.