Built as a complement to US equities and offered in annuities exclusively through Athene, MAD5 has completed a decade of live history and is still raising assets.
The BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index (MAD5) went live over 10 years ago, on 25 January 2016, and is still growing, with more than $21 billion of linked assets according to the bank. That has earned MAD5 Index of the Decade at the SP Intelligence USA 2026 Awards for Excellence, for a custom index impressively still raising assets at scale after ten live years.
A complement, not a replacement
BNP Paribas designed MAD5 “not as a replacement for traditional benchmarks like the S&P 500, but as a strategic complement”. The index combines eight futures-based components across equities, government bonds and commodities in the US, Europe and Japan. Each day it tilts towards the components with the strongest one-year trends, within weighting limits, then scales its exposure to target 5% annualised volatility, holding the rest in uninvested cash. When US equities are trending down, BNP Paribas says, that pivots it towards other asset classes or regions.
“Rather than seeking extreme volatility and outsized returns, MAD5 focuses on reliable, steady growth,”* says Clara Bacheré, Vice President, EQD Insurance Solutions Sales at BNP Paribas.
Ten years of live data
The live record bears that out. Since its launch, the index has returned 3.4% a year*, with volatility close to its 5% target, between 4.4% and 5.8%, in every calendar year. Its worst live drawdown was 8.6%, during the Covid sell-off in early 2020, and it had recovered by January 2021. In 2022, when the S&P 500 fell 19.4% excluding dividends, MAD5 lost 5.8%*. As an excess return index, its returns exclude interest on cash.
Scale through Athene
MAD5 is offered in annuities exclusively through Athene, which also won Best Carrier at this year’s awards and ranked first in LIMRA’s 2025 US Retail Annuity Survey for the third year running. MAD5 was one of the first custom indices Athene launched, as it looked beyond traditional index options for diversification. Athene describes the partnership with BNP Paribas as “outstanding on all dimensions from day 1”, from hedging to supporting its sales team in the field. Athene credits its own success to combining a focus on customer value with “strong intellectual property in the realm of custom indices”, and BNP Paribas in turn credits Athene’s growth, distribution relationships and commitment to its policyholders with much of MAD5’s momentum.
MAD5 is available across Athene’s National FIA lineup and is particularly strong in the independent agent channel, where it started in 2016. It may not deliver as many outsized returns as pure equity or higher-volatility indices, Athene says, but it “fits perfectly into an FIA given the combination of its consistent historical performance and efficient option pricing”*.
BNP Paribas points to three milestones this year: a decade of live history, assets above $20 billion, and strong performance* amplified by Athene’s participation rates. Any one of these would make a good year, the bank says, but all three at once leave MAD5 “a decade in and still a top choice on the shelf”. Assets linked to MAD5 passed $20 billion this year and now exceed $21 billion, making it, to the bank’s knowledge, the largest non-traditional custom index still actively sold in annuities. Athene says there are currently no concerns about concentration or capacity, as MAD5’s growth has coincided with the scaling of its retail franchise and BNP Paribas’s investment in its trading capabilities.
The next decade
BNP Paribas expects to convert more buyers to its QIS-based strategies in 2027, building on the performance of indices such as MAD5*. The note market points the same way: QIS-linked US structured products more than doubled to $8.53 billion through September, from $4.08 billion a year earlier, according to SP Intelligence data. Athene sees the FIA market moving towards simplicity and familiarity as custom indices multiply, and notes that they can struggle to compete with traditional options when rates are higher. It still believes strongly in diversification, and expects MAD5 to “continue to play a central role” in making that case to its customers.
Ten years in, MAD5 is still on the shelf and still growing, as the largest non-traditional custom index in the annuity space, according to BNP Paribas. In custom indices, that is the rarest record of all.
More information on the index is available at https://madindex.bnpparibas.com/
*Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Source: SP Intelligence, part of WSD, BNP Paribas, Bloomberg. MAD5 statistics cover live data from 25 January 2016 to 26 October 2026. Index assets, returns and participation rates as reported by BNP Paribas. Athene views as provided by Athene.
BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index: The BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index (the “BNPP MAD 5 Index”) is the exclusive property of BNP Paribas or one of its affiliates (BNP Paribas and its affiliates are hereinafter called “BNPP”) and is determined, composed and calculated by BNPP. “BNP”, “BNPP”, “BNP Paribas”, “BNPP MAD 5 Index” and “BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index” (collectively, the “BNPP Marks”) are trademarks or service marks of BNPP and have been licensed by Athene Annuity and Life Company (the “Company”) for use in a fixed indexed annuity offered by the Company. The fixed indexed annuity is not, in whole or in part, sponsored, structured, priced, endorsed, offered, sold, issued or promoted by BNPP or any of its affiliates, or any third party licensor of information to BNPP. BNPP’s only relationship to the Company is the licensing of the BNPP MAD 5 Index and BNPP Marks for certain purposes. BNPP shall not have any liability with respect to a fixed indexed annuity in which an interest crediting option is based on the BNPP MAD 5 Index, and is not liable for any loss relating to the fixed indexed annuity, whether arising directly or indirectly from the use of the BNPP MAD 5 Index, its methodology, any BNPP Mark or otherwise.
In calculating the level of the BNPP MAD 5 Index, BNPP deducts a servicing cost of 0.50% per annum, calculated on a daily basis. In addition, the BNPP MAD 5 Index methodology embeds certain costs which cover among other things, rebalancing and replication costs. Such costs may vary over time with market conditions. These costs reduce the potential positive change in the BNPP MAD 5 Index and thus the amount of interest that will be credited to the fixed indexed annuity that includes the BNPP MAD 5 Index.
