Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Business Segments

Global Indemnity Group, LLC is a holding company that is classified as a publicly traded partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and meets the qualifying income exception to maintain partnership status.

Global Indemnity Group, LLC owns all shares of its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including those of its insurance companies: United National Insurance Company, Diamond State Insurance Company, Penn-America Insurance Company, Penn-Star Insurance Company, Penn-Patriot Insurance Company, and American Reliable Insurance Company.        

The insurance companies’ primary activity is providing insurance products across a distribution network that includes binding authority, program, brokerage and reinsurance.  The insurance companies are managed through four business segments:  Commercial Specialty, Specialty Property, Farm, Ranch & Stable, and Reinsurance Operations.  The Company’s Commercial Specialty segment offers specialty property and casualty insurance products in the excess and surplus lines marketplace.  The Company manages Commercial Specialty by differentiating them into four product classifications: 1) Penn-America, which markets property and general liability products to small commercial businesses through a select network of wholesale general agents with specific binding authority; 2) United National, which markets insurance products for targeted insured segments, including specialty products, such as property, general liability, and professional lines through program administrators with specific binding authority; 3) Diamond State, which markets property, casualty, and professional lines products, which are developed by the Company’s underwriting department by individuals with expertise in those lines of business, through wholesale brokers and also markets through program administrators having specific binding authority; and 4) Vacant Express, which primarily insures dwellings which are currently vacant, undergoing renovation, or are under construction and is marketed through aggregators, brokers, and retail agents. These product classifications comprise the Company’s Commercial Specialty business segment and are not considered individual business segments because each product has similar economic characteristics, distribution, and coverage. The Company’s Specialty Property segment offers specialty personal lines property and casualty insurance products through general and specialty agents with specific binding authority.  The Company’s Farm, Ranch & Stable segment provides specialized property and casualty coverage including Commercial Farm Auto and Excess/Umbrella Coverage for the agriculture industry as well as specialized insurance products for the equine mortality and equine major medical industry.  These insurance products are sold through wholesalers and retail agents, with a selected number having specific binding authority. Collectively, the Company’s insurance subsidiaries are licensed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Company’s Reinsurance Operations segment provides reinsurance solutions through brokers and primary writers including insurance and reinsurance companies. Prior to the redomestication transactions, the Company’s Reinsurance Operations consisted solely of the operations of its Bermuda-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Global Indemnity Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“Global Indemnity Reinsurance”).  As part of the redomestication transactions, Global Indemnity Reinsurance was merged with and into Penn-Patriot Insurance Company ("Penn-Patriot"), with Penn-Patriot surviving, resulting in the assumption of Global Indemnity Reinsurance's business by the Global Indemnity group of companies’ existing U.S. insurance company subsidiaries.  The Commercial Specialty, Specialty Property, Farm, Ranch & Stable, and Reinsurance Operations segments comprise the Company’s insurance operations.     

The interim consolidated financial statements are unaudited, but have been prepared in conformity with United States of America generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), which differs in certain respects from those principles followed in reports to insurance regulatory authorities.  The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Intercompany Balances and Transactions

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include all adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, of a normal recurring nature and are necessary for a fair statement of results for the interim periods.  Results of operations for the quarters and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results of a full year.  The accompanying notes to the unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the notes to the consolidated financial statements contained in the Company’s 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Global Indemnity Group, LLC and its wholly owned subsidiaries.  All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified for consistency with the current year presentation. These reclassifications had no effect on the reported results of operations. An adjustment has been made to the Consolidated Balance Sheets for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 to present the lease right of use assets and lease liabilities separately from other assets and other liabilities, respectively. This change in classification does not affect previously reported Assets or Liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Investments

The Company regularly performs various analytical valuation procedures with respect to its investments, including reviewing each available for sale debt security in an unrealized loss position to assess whether the decline in fair value below amortized cost basis has resulted from a credit loss or other factors.  In assessing whether a credit loss exists, the Company compares the present value of the cash flows expected to be collected from the security to the amortized cost basis of the security.  If the present value of the cash flows expected to be collected is less than the amortized cost basis of the security, a credit loss exists and an allowance for expected credit losses is recorded.  Subsequent changes in the allowances are recorded in the period of change as either credit loss expense or reversal of credit loss expense.  Any impairments related to factors other than credit losses and the intent to sell are recorded through other comprehensive income, net of taxes.  

For fixed maturities, the factors considered in reaching the conclusion that a credit loss exists include, among others, whether:

(1) the extent to which the fair value is less than the amortized cost basis;

(2) the issuer is in financial distress;

(3) the investment is secured;

(4) a significant credit rating action occurred;

(5) scheduled interest payments were delayed or missed;

(6) changes in laws or regulations have affected an issuer or industry;

(7) the investment has an unrealized loss and was identified by the Company’s investment manager as an investment to be sold before recovery or maturity;

(8) the investment failed cash flow projection testing to determine if anticipated principal and interest payments will be realized; and

(9) changes in US Treasury rates and/or credit spreads since original purchase to identify whether the unrealized loss is simply due to interest rate movement.

According to accounting guidance for debt securities in an unrealized loss position, the Company is required to assess whether it has the intent to sell the debt security or more likely than not will be required to sell the debt security before the anticipated recovery.  If either of these conditions is met, any allowance for expected credit losses is written off and the amortized cost basis is written down to the fair value of the fixed maturity security with any incremental impairment reported in earnings.  That new amortized cost basis shall not be adjusted for subsequent recoveries in fair value.

The Company elected the practical expedient to exclude accrued interest from both the fair value and the amortized cost basis of the available for sale debt securities for the purposes of identifying and measuring an impairment and to not measure an allowance for expected credit losses for accrued interest receivables.  Accrued interest receivable is written off through net realized investment gains (losses) at the time the issuer of the bond defaults or is expected to default on payment.  The Company made an accounting policy election to present the accrued interest receivable balance with other assets on the Company’s consolidated statements of financial position.  Accrued interest receivable was $5.5 million and $5.7 million as of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

Derivative Instruments

The Company accounts for the interest rate swaps and futures as non-hedge instruments and recognizes the fair value of the interest rate swaps in other assets or other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets with the changes in fair value recognized as net realized investment gains or losses in the consolidated statements of operations.  The Company is ultimately responsible for the valuation of the interest rate swaps.  To aid in determining the estimated fair value of the interest rate swaps, the Company relies on the forward interest rate curve and information obtained from a third party financial institution.

Fair Value Measurement

The Company’s invested assets and derivative instruments are carried at their fair value and are categorized based upon a fair value hierarchy:

• Level 1 – inputs utilize quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets that the Company has the ability to access at the measurement date.  

• Level 2 – inputs utilize other than quoted prices included in Level 1 that are observable for similar assets, either directly or indirectly.  

• Level 3 – inputs are unobservable for the asset, and include situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the asset.

In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy.  In such cases, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement falls has been determined based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety.  The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, and considers factors specific to the asset.

The following is a description of the valuation methodologies used by the Company’s pricing vendors for investment securities carried at fair value:

• Equity security prices are received from primary and secondary exchanges.

• Corporate and agency bonds are evaluated by utilizing a spread to a benchmark curve.  Bonds with similar characteristics are grouped into specific sectors.  Inputs for both asset classes consist of trade prices, broker quotes, the new issue market, and prices on comparable securities.

• Data from commercial vendors is aggregated with market information, then converted into an option adjusted spread (“OAS”) matrix and prepayment model used for collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMO”). CMOs are categorized with mortgage-backed securities in the tables listed above.  For asset-backed securities, spread data is derived from trade prices, dealer quotations, and research reports.  For both asset classes, evaluations utilize standard inputs plus new issue data, and collateral performance.  The evaluated pricing models incorporate cash flows, broker quotes, market trades, historical prepayment speeds, and dealer projected speeds.

• For obligations of state and political subdivisions, an attribute-based modeling system is used.  The pricing model incorporates trades, market clearing yields, market color, and fundamental credit research.

• U.S. treasuries are evaluated by obtaining feeds from a number of live data sources including primary and secondary dealers as well as inter-dealer brokers.

• For mortgage-backed securities, various external analytical products are utilized and purchased from commercial vendors.

Statutory Income Tax Rates

The statutory income tax rate of each country is applied against the expected annual taxable income of the Company in each country to estimate the annual income tax expense.

Loss Reserves and Prior Year Development

When analyzing loss reserves and prior year development, the Company considers many factors, including the frequency and severity of claims, loss trends, case reserve settlements that may have resulted in significant development, and any other additional or pertinent factors that may impact reserve estimates.

Earnings Per Share

Earnings per share have been computed using the weighted average number of common shares and common share equivalents outstanding during the period.