The insurance deal between Athene Holding Ltd. and Aviva PLC was placed under review. This was part of the New York Department of Financial Services' recently-launched crackdown of private equity insurance deals.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the agency was in talks with Apollo Global Management LLC, which affiliate funds the insurer Athene. The talks concerned disclosure and capital requirements that were not applicable to traditional insurers.

The superintendent of the department, Benjamin Lawsky, expressed concerns of such ventures placing annuity holders at risk. The regulators were especially concerned with deals that involved insurance companies that have connections with investment firms such as private equity firms. As a result, non-traditional insurers were subjected to greater oversight as a way of protecting the funds of policy holders.

None of the parties involved were able to give a comment to Reuters. Similarly, Apollo and Aviva representatives declined to give a comment to WSJ. However, James Belardi, Athene's Chief Executive, told WSJ, "We are cooperating fully."