The New York State Department of Financial Services filed a consent order April 13 with Athene Holding and Athene Annuity and Life Co. of Iowa. The Pearl River affiliate is licensed in New York, but Athene used unlicensed entities to sell complex pension contracts worth billions of dollars that covered New Yorkers. The pension risk transfer contracts are typically negotiated with large businesses and institutions, whereby businesses offload retirement plan risks by buying insurance annuities. Athene negotiated 14 such contracts from 2017 to 2019 that covered nearly 6,400 New Yorkers.