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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES  
Accounting Standards Adopted

Accounting Standards Adopted During 2019

Leases

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an accounting standard that requires lessees with lease terms of more than 12 months to recognize a right of use asset and a corresponding lease liability on their balance sheets. For income statement purposes, the FASB retained a dual model, requiring leases to be classified as either operating leases or finance leases. Lessor accounting remained largely the same, with the exception of certain specified changes.

We adopted the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2019, using a modified retrospective approach and did not adjust prior comparative periods in accordance with the standard’s transition guidance. The majority of the Company’s lease obligations pertain to real estate utilized in the operation of our businesses. Consequently, the primary impact of adoption resulted in the recognition of discounted lease liabilities of $823 million and corresponding right-of-use assets of $724 million for operating leases pertaining to our real estate portfolio, which are reflected in Other Liabilities and Other Assets, respectively. The standard did not have a material effect on our reported consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or required disclosures.

Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities

In March 2017, the FASB issued an accounting standard that shortens the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium by requiring the premium to be amortized to the earliest call date. The standard does not require an accounting change for securities held at a discount, which continue to be amortized to maturity.

We adopted the standard using a modified retrospective approach on its effective date of January 1, 2019. The standard did not have a material impact on our reported consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or required disclosures.

Derivatives and Hedging

In August 2017, the FASB issued an accounting standard that improves and expands hedge accounting for both financial and commodity risks. The provisions of the standard are intended to better align the accounting with an entity’s risk management activities, enhance the transparency on how the economic results are presented in the financial statements and disclosures, and simplify the application of hedge accounting treatment.

We adopted the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2019. The standard did not have a material impact on our reported consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or required disclosures.

Future Application of Accounting Standards

Future Application of Accounting Standards

Financial Instruments - Credit Losses

In June 2016, the FASB issued an accounting standard that will change how entities account for credit losses for most financial assets, trade receivables and reinsurance receivables. The standard will replace the existing incurred loss impairment model with a new “current expected credit loss model” that generally will result in earlier recognition of credit losses. The standard will apply to financial assets subject to credit losses, including loans measured at amortized cost, reinsurance receivables and certain off-balance sheet credit exposures. Additionally, the impairment of available-for-sale debt securities, including purchased credit deteriorated securities, are subject to the new guidance and will be measured in a similar manner, except that losses will be recognized as allowances rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard will also require additional information to be disclosed in the footnotes.

We plan to adopt the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2020. We are continuing to develop our implementation plan to adopt the standard and are assessing the impact of the standard on our reported consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and required disclosures. While we expect an increase in our allowances for credit losses for the financial instruments within scope of the standard, given the objective of the new standard, the amount of any change will be dependent on our portfolios’ composition and quality at the adoption date as well as economic conditions and forecasts at that time.

Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment

In January 2017, the FASB issued an accounting standard that eliminates the requirement to calculate the implied fair value of goodwill, through a hypothetical purchase price allocation, to measure a goodwill impairment charge. Instead, entities will record an impairment charge based on the excess of a reporting unit’s carrying amount over its fair value not to exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. An entity should also consider income tax effects from tax deductible goodwill on the carrying amount of the reporting unit when measuring the goodwill impairment loss, if applicable.

The standard is effective on January 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are evaluating the timing of our adoption. Any impact of the standard will be dependent on the market conditions of the reporting units at the time of adoption.

Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts

In August 2018, the FASB issued an accounting standard update with the objective of making targeted improvements to the existing recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure requirements for long-duration contracts issued by an insurance entity. The standard prescribes significant and comprehensive changes to recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure as summarized below:

Requires the review and if necessary update of future policy benefit assumptions at least annually for traditional and limited pay long duration contracts, with the recognition and separate presentation of any resulting re-measurement gain or loss (except for discount rate changes as noted below) in the income statement.

Requires the discount rate assumption to be updated at the end of each reporting period using an upper medium grade (low-credit risk) fixed income instrument yield that maximizes the use of observable market inputs and recognizes the impact of changes to discount rates in other comprehensive income.

Simplifies the amortization of deferred acquisition costs (DAC) to a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts with adjustments for unexpected terminations, but no longer requires an impairment test.

Requires the measurement of all market risk benefits associated with deposit (or account balance) contracts at fair value through the income statement with the exception of instrument-specific credit risk changes, which will be recognized in other comprehensive income.

Increased disclosures of disaggregated roll-forwards of policy benefits, account balances, market risk benefits, separate account liabilities and information about significant inputs, judgments and methods used in measurement and changes thereto and impact of those changes.

We plan to adopt the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2021. We are evaluating the method of adoption and impact of the standard on our reported consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and required disclosures. The adoption of this standard is expected to have a significant impact on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and required disclosures, as well as systems, processes and controls.

RECLASSIFICATIONS

In the first quarter of 2019, we began reporting investment income from our non-insurance subsidiaries in Net investment income instead of Other income on a prospective basis to be consistent with how we report investment income from our General Insurance and Life and Retirement reporting segments. This reclassification has no impact to our consolidated statement of operations.