XML 72 R11.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.1.9
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES  
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

2.SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

 

Significant Accounting Policies

 

For a full description of significant accounting policies, see Note 2 to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. Other than the accounting matters resulting from the application of pushdown accounting in connection with ASC Topic 805, the Company did not make significant changes to accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2015 except as noted below.

 

Intangible Assets

 

Intangible assets with definite lives are amortized over the estimated useful life of the asset. Amortizable intangible assets primarily consist of distribution relationships, trade names, and technology. Intangible assets with indefinite lives, primarily insurance licenses, are not amortized.

 

Value of Business Acquired

 

In conjunction with the Merger, a portion of the purchase price was allocated to the right to receive future gross profits from cash flows and earnings of the Company’s insurance policies and investment contracts as of the date of the Merger. This intangible asset, called VOBA, is based on the actuarially estimated present value of future cash flows from the Company’s insurance policies and investment contracts in-force on the date of the Merger. The estimated present value of future cash flows used in the calculation of the VOBA is based on certain assumptions, including mortality, persistency, expenses, and interest rates that the Company expects to experience in future years. The Company amortizes VOBA in proportion to gross premiums for traditional life products, or estimated gross margins (“EGMs”) for participating traditional life products within the MONY block. For interest sensitive products, the Company uses various amortization bases including expected gross profits (“EGPs”), revenues, or insurance in-force.

 

Goodwill

 

Goodwill of $735.7 million was recognized in conjunction with the Merger as the excess of the purchase considerations over the fair value of PLC’s identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. The entire balance of goodwill was allocated to the Company. The balance recognized as goodwill is not amortized, but is reviewed for impairment on an annual basis, or more frequently as events or circumstances may warrant, including those circumstances which would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the Company’s reporting units below its carrying amount.

 

Property and Equipment

 

In conjunction with the Merger, property and equipment was recorded at fair value and will be depreciated from this basis in future periods based on the respective estimated useful lives. Real estate assets were recorded at appraised values as of the acquisition date. The Company has estimated the remaining useful life of the home office building to be 25 years. Land is not depreciated.

 

The carrying amounts of the Company’s fixed assets are as follows:

 

 

 

Successor

 

Predecessor

 

 

 

Company

 

Company

 

 

 

As of

 

 

As of

 

 

 

March 31, 2015

 

 

December 31, 2014

 

 

 

(Dollars In Thousands)

 

 

(Dollars In Thousands)

 

Home office building

 

$

65,102 

 

 

$

75,109 

 

Land

 

24,920 

 

 

 

Data processing equipment

 

10,377 

 

 

40,568 

 

Other, principally furniture and equipment

 

3,045 

 

 

52,771 

 

 

 

103,444 

 

 

168,448 

 

Accumulated depreciation

 

1,382 

 

 

116,688 

 

Total property and equipment

 

$

102,062 

 

 

$

51,760 

 

 

Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefits

 

The Company also establishes reserves for guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits (“GMWB”) on its variable annuity (“VA”) products. The GMWB is valued in accordance with FASB guidance under the ASC Derivatives and Hedging Topic which utilizes the valuation technique prescribed by the ASC Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures Topic, which requires the liability to be recorded at fair value using current implied volatilities for the equity indices. The methods used to estimate the liabilities employ assumptions about mortality, lapses, policyholder behavior, equity market returns, interest rates, and market volatility. The Company assumes age-based mortality from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 1994 Variable Annuity MGDB Mortality Table for company experience.  Differences between the actual experience and the assumptions used result in variances in profit and could result in losses.  In conjunction with the merger the Company updated the fair value of the GMWB reserves to reflect current assumptions as of February 1, 2015 (Successor Company). As a result of the application of ASC Topic 805, the Company reset the hedge premium rates utilized in the valuation for all policies to be equal to the present value of future claims with the reset hedge premium rates being capped at the actual charges to the policyholder. This update resulted in a decrease in the net liability of approximately $69.4 million on the Merger date. The Company reinsures certain risks associated with the GMWB to Shades Creek Captive Insurance Company (“Shades Creek”), a direct wholly owned subsidiary of PLC. As of March 31, 2015 (Successor Company), the net GMWB asset held, including the impact of reinsurance was approximately $10.8 million.

 

Policyholder Liabilities

 

Insurance Liabilities and Reserves

 

In conjunction with the Merger and in accordance with ASC 805, insurance liabilities and reserves are recorded at fair value and the underlying contracts are considered to be new contracts, for measurement and reporting purposes as of the acquisition date.  Estimating liabilities for future policy benefits on life and health insurance products requires the use of assumptions relative to future investment yields, mortality, morbidity, persistency, and other assumptions based on the Company’s historical experience, modified as necessary to reflect anticipated trends and to include provisions for possible adverse deviation. Determining liabilities for the Company’s property and casualty insurance products also requires the use of assumptions, including the projected levels of used vehicle prices, the frequency and severity of claims, and the effectiveness of internal processes designed to reduce the level of claims. The Company’s results depend significantly upon the extent to which its actual claims experience is consistent with the assumptions the Company used in determining its reserves and pricing its products. The Company’s reserve assumptions and estimates require significant judgment and, therefore, are inherently uncertain. The Company cannot determine with precision the ultimate amounts that it will pay for actual claims or the timing of those payments. As such, at the acquisition date, the Company updated the assumptions described above to reflect current best estimates and reserves were calculated in accordance with the methodology described below. VOBA was recorded to reflect the difference between the fair value of the contractual insurance liability and the reserve established.

 

Traditional Life, Health, and Credit Insurance Products

 

Traditional life insurance products consist principally of those products with fixed and guaranteed premiums and benefits, and they include whole life insurance policies, term and term-like life insurance policies, limited payment life insurance policies, and certain annuities with life contingencies. In accordance with ASC 805, the liabilities for future policy benefits on traditional life insurance products, when combined with the associated VOBA, have been recorded at fair value. These values were computed using assumptions that includes interest rates, mortality, lapse rates, expenses estimates, and other assumptions based on the Company’s experience, modified as necessary to reflect anticipated trends and to include provisions for possible adverse deviation. The liability for future policy benefits and claims on traditional life, health, and credit insurance products includes estimated unpaid claims that have been reported to us and claims incurred but not yet reported.

 

Universal Life and Investment Products

 

Universal life and investment products include universal life insurance, guaranteed investment contracts, guaranteed funding agreements, deferred annuities, and annuities without life contingencies. Benefit reserves for universal life and investment products represent policy account balances before applicable surrender charges plus certain deferred policy initiation fees that are recognized in income over the term of the policies. Policy benefits and claims that are charged to expense include benefit claims incurred in the period in excess of related policy account balances and interest credited to policy account balances.

 

The Company establishes liabilities for fixed indexed annuity (“FIA”) products. These products are deferred fixed annuities with a guaranteed minimum interest rate plus a contingent return based on equity market performance. The FIA product is considered a hybrid financial instrument under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC” or “Codification”) Topic 815—Derivatives and Hedging which allows the Company to make the election to value the liabilities of these FIA products at fair value. This election was made for the FIA products issued prior to 2010 as the policies were issued. These products are no longer being marketed. The future changes in the fair value of the liability for these FIA products will be recorded in Benefit and settlement expenses with the liability being recorded in Annuity account balances. For more information regarding the determination of fair value of annuity account balances please refer to Note 14, Fair Value of Financial Instruments.  Premiums and policy fees for these FIA products consist of fees that have been assessed against the policy account balances for surrenders. Such fees are recognized when assessed and earned.

 

The Company currently markets a deferred fixed annuity with a guaranteed minimum interest rate plus a contingent return based on equity market performance and the products are considered hybrid financial instruments under the FASB’s ASC Topic 815—Derivatives and Hedging. The Company did not elect to value these FIA products at fair value prior to the merger date.  As a result the Company accounts for the provision that provides for a contingent return based on equity market performance as an embedded derivative. The embedded derivative is bifurcated from the host contract and recorded at fair value in Other liabilities. The host contract is accounted for as a debt instrument in accordance with ASC Topic 944—Financial Services—Insurance and is recorded in Annuity account balances with any discount to the minimum account value being accreted using the effective yield method. Benefits and settlement expenses include accreted interest and benefit claims incurred during the period.

 

The Company markets universal life products with a guaranteed minimum interest rate plus a contingent return based on equity market performance and are considered hybrid financial instruments under the FASB’s ASC Topic 815—Derivatives and Hedging. The Company did not elect to value these IUL products at fair value prior to the Merger date. As a result the Company accounts for the provision that provides for a contingent return based on equity market performance as an embedded derivative. The embedded derivative is bifurcated from the host contract and recorded at fair value in Other liabilities. Changes in the fair value of the embedded derivative are recorded in Realized investment gains (losses)—Derivative financial instruments. For more information regarding the determination of fair value of the IUL embedded derivative refer to Note 14, Fair Value of Financial Instruments. The host contract is accounted for as a debt instrument in accordance with ASC Topic 944—Financial Services—Insurance and is recorded in Future policy benefits and claims with any discount to the minimum account value being accreted using the effective yield method. Benefits and settlement expenses include accreted interest and benefit claims incurred during the period.

 

The Company’s accounting policies with respect to variable universal life (“VUL”) and VA are identical except that policy account balances (excluding account balances that earn a fixed rate) are valued at fair value and reported as components of assets and liabilities related to separate accounts.

 

The Company establishes liabilities for guaranteed minimum death benefits (“GMDB”) on its VA products. The methods used to estimate the liabilities employ assumptions about mortality and the performance of equity markets. The Company assumes age-based mortality from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 1994 Variable Annuity MGDB Mortality Table for company experience. Future declines in the equity market would increase the Company’s GMDB liability. Differences between the actual experience and the assumptions used result in variances in profit and could result in losses. Our GMDB as of March 31, 2015 (Successor Company), are subject to a dollar-for-dollar reduction upon withdrawal of related annuity deposits on contracts issued prior to January 1, 2003. The Company reinsures certain risks associated with the GMDB to Shades Creek. As of March 31, 2015 (Successor Company), the GMDB reserve, including the impact of reinsurance was $25.6 million.

 

Property and Casualty Insurance Products

 

Property and casualty insurance products include service contract business, surety bonds, and guaranteed asset protection (“GAP”). Unearned premium reserves are maintained for the portion of the premiums that is related to the unexpired period of the policy. Benefit reserves are recorded when insured events occur. Benefit reserves include case basis reserves for known but unpaid claims as of the balance sheet date as well as incurred but not reported (“IBNR”) reserves for claims where the insured event has occurred but has not been reported to the Company as of the balance sheet date. The case basis reserves and IBNR are calculated based on historical experience and on assumptions relating to claim severity and frequency, the level of used vehicle prices, and other factors. These assumptions are modified as necessary to reflect anticipated trends.

 

Reinsurance

 

The Company uses reinsurance extensively in certain of its segments and accounts for reinsurance and the recognition of the impact of reinsurance costs in accordance with the ASC Financial Services — Insurance Topic. The following summarizes some of the key aspects of the Company’s accounting policies for reinsurance.

 

Reinsurance Assets and Liabilities—Claim liabilities and policy benefits are calculated consistently for all policies in accordance with GAAP, regardless of whether or not the policy is reinsured. Once the claim liabilities and policy benefits for the underlying policies are estimated, the amounts recoverable from the reinsurers are estimated based on a number of factors including the terms of the reinsurance contracts, historical payment patterns of reinsurance partners, and the financial strength and credit worthiness of reinsurance partners and recorded as Reinsurance receivables on the balance sheet. The reinsurance receivables were recorded in the balance sheet using current accounting policies and the most current assumptions as of the merger date. As of the merger date, the Company also calculated the ceded VOBA associated with the reinsured policies. The reinsurance receivables combined with the associated ceded VOBA represent the fair value of the reinsurance assets. Liabilities for unpaid reinsurance claims are produced from claims and reinsurance system records, which contain the relevant terms of the individual reinsurance contracts. The Company monitors claims due from reinsurers to ensure that balances are settled on a timely basis. Incurred but not reported claims are reviewed by the Company’s actuarial staff to ensure that appropriate amounts are ceded.

 

The Company analyzes and monitors the credit worthiness of each of its reinsurance partners to minimize collection issues. For newly executed reinsurance contracts with reinsurance companies that do not meet predetermined standards, the Company requires collateral such as assets held in trusts or letters of credit.

 

Accounting Pronouncements Recently Adopted

 

Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-08—Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosure of Disposals of Components of an Entity.  This Update changes the requirements for reporting discontinued operations and related disclosures. The Update limits the definition of a discontinued operation to disposals that represent “strategic shifts” that will have a major effect on an entity’s operation and financial results. Additionally, the Update requires enhanced disclosures about the components of discontinued operations and the financial effects of the disposal. The amendments in this Update are effective for annual and interim periods beginning

 

after December 15, 2014. The Company has reviewed the additional disclosures required by the Update, and will apply the revised guidance to any disposals occurring after the effective date.

 

ASU No. 2014-11—Repurchase-to-Maturity Transactions, Repurchase Financings, and Disclosures.  This Update changes the requirements for classification of certain repurchase agreements, and will expand the use of secured borrowing accounting for repurchase-to-maturity transactions. In addition, the Update requires additional disclosures for repurchase agreements accounted for both as sales and as secured borrowings. The amendments in this Update are effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2014. The Update did not impact the Company’s financial position or results of operations. The Company has updated its policies and processes to ensure compliance with the additional disclosure requirements in this Update.

 

ASU No. 2014-17—Business Combinations (Topic 805).  This Update relates to “pushdown accounting”, which refers to pushing down the acquirer’s accounting and reporting basis (which is recognized in conjunction with its accounting for a business combination) to the acquiree’s standalone financial statements. The new guidance makes pushdown accounting optional for an acquiree that is a business or nonprofit activity when there is a change-in- control event (e.g., the acquirer in a business combination obtains control over the acquiree). In addition, the staff of the SEC released Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) No. 115, which rescinds SAB Topic 5J, “New Basis of Accounting Required in Certain Circumstances” (the SEC staff’s pre-existing guidance on pushdown accounting) and conforms SEC guidance on pushdown accounting to the FASB’s new guidance. The new pushdown accounting guidance became effective upon its issuance on November 18, 2014. Although now optional, the Company has applied pushdown accounting to its standalone financial statements effective with the Company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life on February 1, 2015. The presentation within this report for predecessor and successor periods is consistent with this Update.

 

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

 

ASU No. 2014-09—Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).  This Update provides for significant revisions to the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers across various industries. Under the new guidance, entities are required to apply a prescribed 5-step process to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The accounting for revenues associated with insurance products is not within the scope of this Update. The Update is effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Company is reviewing its policies and processes to ensure compliance with the requirements in this Update, upon adoption.

 

ASU No. 2014-15—Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern.  This Update will require management to assess an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern, and will require footnote disclosures in certain circumstances. Under the updated guidance, management should consider relevant conditions and evaluate whether it is probable that the entity will be unable to meet its obligations within one year after the issuance date of the financial statements. The Update is effective for annual periods ending December 31, 2016 and interim periods thereafter, with early adoption is permitted. The amendments in this Update will not impact the Company’s financial position or results of operations. However, the new guidance will require a formal assessment of going concern by management based on criteria prescribed in the new guidance. The Company is reviewing its policies and processes to ensure compliance with the new guidance.

 

ASU No. 2015-02—Consolidation—Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis.  This Update makes several targeted changes to generally accepted accounting principles, including a) eliminating the presumption that a general partner should consolidate a limited partnership and b) eliminating the consolidation model specific to limited partnerships. The amendments also clarify when fees and related party relationships should be considered in the consolidation of variable interest entities. The amendments in this Update are effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company is reviewing its policies and processes to ensure compliance with the requirements in this Update, upon adoption.

 

ASU No. 2015-03—Interest—Imputation of Interest. The objective of this Update is to eliminate diversity in practice related to the presentation of debt issuance costs. The amendments in this Update require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying

 

amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the amendments in this Update. The Update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and requires revised presentation of debt issuance costs in all periods presented in the financial statements. The Company is reviewing its processes to ensure compliance with the revised guidance.

 

ASU No. 2015-05 — Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software - The amendments in this Update provide guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, then the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The guidance will not change GAAP for a customer’s accounting for service contracts. The Update is effect for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company is reviewing its policies and processes to ensure compliance with the revised guidance.