SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Accounting Standards Adopted During 2020

Financial Instruments - Credit Losses

In June 2016, the FASB issued an accounting standard that changed how entities account for current expected credit losses (CECL) for most financial assets, premiums receivable, trade receivables, off-balance sheet exposures and reinsurance receivables (the Financial Instruments Credit Losses Standard). The standard requires an allowance for credit losses based on the expectation of lifetime credit losses related to such 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, is subject to the new guidance and is measured in a similar manner, except that losses are recognized as allowances rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard allows for reversals of credit impairments in the event that the credit of an issuer improves. The standard also requires additional disclosures.

We adopted the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2020 using a modified retrospective method, which requires a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings. As of January 1, 2020, the impact of the adoption of the standard was a reduction in opening retained earnings of $487 million (after-tax) primarily driven by commercial mortgage loans, and, to a lesser extent, reinsurance receivables and recoverables.

The following table provides a rollforward of our allowance, including credit losses, in connection with the adoption of the Financial Instruments Credit Losses Standard as well as cross references to the applicable notes herein for additional information:

Three Months Ended March 31, 2020		Balance,		Cumulative Effect		Purchased Credit				Balance,
		Beginning		Adjustment as of		Deteriorated Initial		Increase		End of
(in millions)		of Year		January 1, 2020		Allowance		(Decrease)		Period
Securities available for sale(a)	$	-	$	-	$	13	$	198	$	211
Mortgage and other loan receivables(b)		438		318		-		31		787
Reinsurance recoverables (inclusive of
deposit accounted assets)(c)		151		224		-		(13)		362
Premiums and other receivables(d)		178		34		-		(2)		210
Contractual deductible recoverables(e)		-		14		-		-		14
Commercial mortgage loan commitments(f)		-		51		-		7		58
Total	$	767	$	641	$	13	$	221	$	1,642
Secondary impacts to certain long-duration
insurance contracts(g)				(27)
Tax impact				(127)
Total cumulative effect adjustment			$	487

(a)The allowance for credit losses is reported in Bonds available for sale in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in Net realized capital gains (losses) in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 6 for additional information.

(b)The allowance for credit losses is reported in Mortgage and other loans receivable in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in Net realized capital gains (losses) in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 7 for additional information.

(c)The allowance for credit losses is reported for Reinsurance assets for reinsurance contracts that contain sufficient insurance risk, and reported in Other assets for insurance and reinsurance contracts that do not contain sufficient insurance risk in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in Policyholder benefits and losses incurred for reinsurance contracts that do contain sufficient insurance risk and Premiums for contracts that do not contain sufficient insurance risk in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 2 for additional information.

(d)The allowance for credit losses is reported in Premiums and other receivables in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in General operating and other expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 2 for additional information.

(e)The allowance for credit losses is reported in Liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in Policyholder benefits and losses incurred in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 10 for additional information.

(f)The allowance for credit losses is reported in Other liabilities in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the allowance for credit losses are reported in Net realized capital gains (losses) in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 7 for additional information.

(g)This reflects adjustments to the amortization of DAC, unearned revenue reserve and sales inducement assets as well as impacts on the future policy benefits for certain universal life and variable annuity contracts.

The following presents the impact of the adoption of the standard on reinsurance recoverables and premiums and other receivables.

Reinsurance — Credit Losses

The estimation of reinsurance recoverable involves a significant amount of judgment, particularly for latent exposures, such as asbestos, due to their long-tail nature. Reinsurance assets include reinsurance recoverable on unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses that are estimated as part of our loss reserving process and, consequently, are subject to similar judgments and uncertainties as the estimation of gross loss reserves. Similarly, Other assets include reinsurance recoverable for contracts which are accounted for as deposits.

We assess the collectability of reinsurance recoverable balances in each reporting period, through either historical trends of disputes and credit events or financial analysis of the credit quality of the reinsurer. We record adjustments to reflect the results of these assessments through an allowance for credit losses and disputes on uncollectable reinsurance that reduces the carrying amount of reinsurance and other assets on the consolidated balance sheets (collectively, the reinsurance recoverable balances). This estimate requires significant judgment for which key considerations include:

paid and unpaid amounts recoverable;

whether the balance is in dispute or subject to legal collection;

the relative financial health of the reinsurer as determined by the Obligor Risk Ratings (ORRs) we assign to each reinsurer based upon our financial reviews; insurers that are financially troubled (i.e., in run-off, have voluntarily or involuntarily been placed in receivership, are insolvent, are in the process of liquidation or otherwise subject to formal or informal regulatory restriction) are assigned ORRs that will generate significant allowance; and

whether collateral and collateral arrangements exist.

An estimate of the reinsurance recoverable’s lifetime expected credit losses is established utilizing a probability of default and loss given default method, which reflects the reinsurer’s ORR rating. The allowance for credit losses excludes disputed amounts. An allowance for disputes is established for a reinsurance recoverable using the losses incurred model for contingencies.

The total reinsurance recoverables as of March 31, 2020 were $42.2 billion. As of that date, utilizing AIG’s ORRs, (i) approximately 87 percent of the reinsurance recoverables are investment grade, of which 82 percent relate to General Insurance and 5 percent relate to Life and Retirement; (ii) approximately 12 percent of the reinsurance recoverables are non-investment grade, the majority of which relates to General Insurance; (iii) less than one percent of the non-investment grade reinsurance recoverables related to Life and Retirement and (iv) approximately one percent of the reinsurance recoverables relate to entities that are not rated by AIG.

As of March 31, 2020, approximately 76 percent of our non-investment grade reinsurance exposure relates to captive insurers. These arrangements are typically collateralized by letters of credit, funds held or trust agreements.

Reinsurance Recoverable Allowance

The following table presents a rollforward of the reinsurance recoverable allowance:

Three Months Ended March 31, 2020		General		Life and
(in millions)		Insurance		Retirement		Total
Balance, beginning of year	$	111	$	40	$	151
Initial allowance upon CECL adoption		202		22		224
Current period provision for expected credit losses and disputes		(4)		2		(2)
Write-offs charged against the allowance for credit losses and disputes		(3)		(4)		(7)
Other changes		(4)		-		(4)
Balance, end of period	$	302	$	60	$	362

There were no recoveries of credit losses previously written off for the three-month period ended March 31, 2020.

Past-Due Status

We consider a reinsurance asset to be past due when it is 90 days past due. Past due balances were not significant for any of the periods presented.

Premiums and other receivables — Credit Losses

Premiums and other receivables, net of allowance for credit losses include premium balances receivable, amounts due from agents and brokers and policyholders, trade receivables for the Direct Investment book and Global Capital Markets (GCM) and other receivables. Trade receivables for GCM include cash collateral posted to derivative counterparties that is not eligible to be netted against derivative liabilities. The allowance for credit losses and disputes for premiums and other receivables was $210 million at March 31, 2020. Our allowance for credit losses for premium receivables considers a combination of internal and external information relating to past events, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Our allowance contemplates our contractual provisions. Upon default or delinquency of the policyholder we may be able to cease coverage for the remaining period. In certain jurisdictions we are unable to cancel coverage even in the event of delinquency or default by the policyholder. We consider premium and other receivable balances to be past due if the payment is not received after 90 days from the contractual obligation due date and record an allowance for disputes when there is reasonable uncertainty of the collectability of a disputed amount during the reporting period.

For further information regarding the impacts of the adoption of this standard see Notes 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

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.

We adopted the standard on its effective date of January 1, 2020. The adoption of the standard did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Cloud Computing Arrangements

In August 2018, the FASB issued an accounting standard that aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a cloud computing (or hosting) arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software (and hosting arrangements that include an internal-use software license). Capitalized implementation costs must be amortized over the term of the hosting arrangement. The accounting for the service element is not affected by the amendments in this update.

We adopted the standard prospectively on its effective date of January 1, 2020. The adoption of the standard did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Financial Disclosures About Guarantors and Issuers of Guaranteed Securities and Affiliates

In March 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to simplify and streamline the disclosure requirements for guarantors and issuers of guaranteed securities registered or being registered, and issuers’ affiliates whose securities collateralize securities registered or being registered. Currently, the SEC permits the omission of separate financial statements of subsidiary issuers and guarantors when certain conditions are met and the parent company provides summarized financial information of the subsidiary issuers and guarantors. The amendments, among other things, allow companies to cease providing summarized financial information if the subsidiary issuer’s or guarantor’s reporting obligation has been suspended.

The amendments are effective January 4, 2021, with early adoption permitted. Effective March 31, 2020, AIG early adopted the amendment and ceased providing the summarized information for the subsidiary issuers and guarantors because the subsidiaries issuer’s reporting obligations have been suspended.

Future Application of Accounting Standards

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 policy 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.

In October 2019, the FASB affirmed its decision to defer the effective date of the standard to January 1, 2022. We plan to adopt the standard on its effective date. We have started our implementation efforts and 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.

Income Tax

On December 18, 2019, the FASB issued an accounting standard that simplifies the accounting for income taxes by eliminating certain exceptions to the approach for intraperiod tax allocation, the methodology for calculating income taxes in an interim period and the recognition of deferred tax liabilities for outside basis differences. The amendments also simplified other areas including the accounting for franchise taxes and enacted tax laws or rates, and clarified the accounting for transactions that result in the step-up in the tax basis of goodwill. The standard is effective on January 1, 2021, with early adoption permitted. We are assessing the impact of the standard on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Reference Rate Reform

On March 12, 2020, the FASB issued an accounting standard that provides temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. The standard allows us to account for certain contract modifications that result from the discontinuation of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) or another reference rate as a continuation of the existing contract without additional analysis.

This standard may be elected and applied prospectively over time from March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022 as reference rate reform activities occur. We have started our implementation efforts and 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.

Clarification of Accounting for Certain Equity Method Investments

On January 16, 2020, the FASB issued an accounting standard to clarify how a previously issued standard regarding a company’s ability to measure the fair value of certain equity securities without a readily determinable fair value should interact with equity method investments standards. The previously issued standard provides that such equity securities could be measured at cost, minus impairment, if any, unless an observable transaction for an identical or similar security occurs (measurement alternative). The new standard clarifies that a company should consider observable transactions that require the company to either apply or discontinue the equity method of accounting for the purposes of applying the measurement alternative in accordance with the equity method immediately before applying or upon discontinuing the equity method.

The standard further clarifies that, when determining the accounting for certain forward contracts and purchased options a company should not consider, whether upon settlement or exercise, if the underlying securities would be accounted for under the equity method or fair value option.

The standard is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2020. We are evaluating the impact adoption of this standard will have on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and required disclosures.