STATUTORY REPORTING PRACTICES AND OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

STATUTORY REPORTING PRACTICES AND OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS

STATUTORY REPORTING PRACTICES AND OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS

The Company and its insurance subsidiaries prepare statutory financial statements for regulatory purposes in accordance with accounting practices prescribed by the NAIC and the applicable state insurance department laws and regulations. These financial statements vary materially from GAAP. Statutory accounting practices include publications of the NAIC, state laws, regulations, general administrative rules as well as certain permitted accounting practices granted by the respective state insurance department. Generally, the most significant differences are that statutory financial statements do not reflect 1) deferred acquisition costs and VOBA, 2) benefit liabilities that are calculated using Company estimates of expected mortality, interest, and withdrawals, 3) deferred income taxes that are not subject to statutory limits, 4) recognition of realized gains and losses on the sale of securities in the period they are sold, and 5) fixed maturities recorded at fair values, but instead at amortized cost.

Statutory net income (loss) for the Company was $(619.9) million, $321.1 million, and $731.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively. Statutory capital and surplus for the Company was $4.9 billion and $4.3 billion as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The Company and its insurance subsidiaries are subject to various state statutory and regulatory restrictions on the insurance subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends to Protective Life Corporation. In general, dividends up to specified levels are considered ordinary and may be paid without prior approval of the insurance commissioner of the state of domicile. Dividends in larger amounts are considered extraordinary and are subject to affirmative prior approval by such commissioner. The maximum amount that would qualify as ordinary dividends to the Company from our insurance subsidiaries in 2020 is approximately $138.4 million. Additionally, as of December 31, 2019, approximately $1.0 billion of consolidated shareowner’s equity, excluding net unrealized gains on investments, represented restricted net assets of the Company’s insurance subsidiaries needed to maintain the minimum capital required by the insurance subsidiaries’ respective state insurance departments.

State insurance regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) have adopted risk-based capital (“RBC”) requirements for life insurance companies to evaluate the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus in relation to investment and insurance risks. The requirements provide a means of measuring the minimum amount of statutory surplus appropriate for an insurance company to support its overall business operations based on its size and risk profile. A company’s risk-based statutory surplus is calculated by applying factors and performing calculations relating to various asset, premium, claim, expense, and reserve items. Regulators can then measure the adequacy of a company’s statutory surplus by comparing it to RBC. The Company manages its capital consumption by using the ratio of its total adjusted capital, as defined by the insurance regulators, to the Company’s action level RBC (known as the RBC ratio), also defined by insurance regulators. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company’s insurance subsidiaries all exceeded the minimum RBC requirements.

Additionally, the Company has certain assets that are on deposit with state regulatory authorities and restricted from use. As of December 31, 2019, the Company and its insurance subsidiaries had on deposit with regulatory authorities, fixed maturity and short-term investments with a fair value of approximately $42.9 million.

The states of domicile of the Company and its insurance subsidiaries have adopted prescribed accounting practices that differ from the required accounting outlined in NAIC Statutory Accounting Principles (“SAP”). The insurance subsidiaries also have certain accounting practices permitted by the states of domicile that differ from those found in NAIC SAP.

Certain prescribed and permitted practices impact the statutory surplus of the Company. These practices include the non-admission of goodwill as an asset for statutory reporting.

The favorable (unfavorable) effects of the Company and its statutory surplus, compared to NAIC statutory surplus, from the use of these prescribed and permitted practices were as follows:


	As of December 31,
	2019		2018
	(Dollars In Millions)
Non-admission of goodwill	$	(143)	$	(181)
Total (net)	$	(143)	$	(181)

The Company also has certain prescribed and permitted practices which are applied at the subsidiary level and do not have a direct impact on the statutory surplus of the Company. These practices include permission to follow the actuarial guidelines of the domiciliary state of the ceding insurer for certain captive reinsurers, accounting for the face amount of all issued and outstanding letters of credit, and notes issued by affiliates as an asset in the statutory financial statements of certain wholly owned subsidiaries that are considered “Special Purpose Financial Captives,” and a reserve difference related to a captive insurance company.

The favorable (unfavorable) effects on the statutory surplus of the Company’s insurance subsidiaries, compared to NAIC statutory surplus, from the use of these prescribed and permitted practices were as follows:


	As of December 31,
	2019		2018
	(Dollars In Millions)
Accounting for Letters of Credit as admitted assets	$	1,555	$	1,630
Accounting for certain notes as admitted assets	2,748		2,553
Reserving based on state specific actuarial practices	116		121
Reserving difference related to a captive insurance company	(71)		(50)
Total (net)	$	4,348	$	4,254