Accounting Developments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Accounting Developments and New Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Accounting Developments

Accounting Updates Adopted in 2022:

Standard	Description	Date of Adoption	Effect on Financial Statements
Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity's Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity's Own Equity	The amendments in this update simplified the accounting for convertible instruments by removing certain separation models in the guidance related to convertible instruments and expanded related disclosure requirements. The amendments also revised the requirements for a contract or embedded derivative that is potentially settled in an entity's own stock to be classified as equity and also amended certain guidance related to the computations of earnings per share for convertible instruments and contracts in an entity's own stock. This guidance was applied in the period of adoption.	January 1, 2022	The adoption of this update did not have an effect on our financial position or results of operations, and did not expand our disclosures.

Accounting Updates Outstanding:

ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting and related amendment

The amendment in this update provide optional guidance, for a limited period of time, to ease the potential burden in accounting for and recognizing the effects of reference rate reform on financial reporting. The guidance allows for various practical expedients and exceptions when applying GAAP to contracts, hedging relationships, and other transactions affected either by discontinued rates as a direct result of reference rate reform or a market-wide change in interest rates used for discounting, margining or contract price alignment, if certain criteria are met. Specifically, the guidance provides certain practical expedients for contract modifications, fair value hedges, and cash flow hedges, and also provides certain exceptions related to changes in the critical terms of a hedging relationship. The guidance also allows for a one-time election to sell or transfer debt securities that were both classified as held-to-maturity prior to January 1, 2020 and reference a rate affected by the reform.

The adoption of this update is permitted as of the beginning of the interim period that includes March 12, 2020 (the issuance date of the update), or any date thereafter, through December 31, 2022, at which point the guidance will sunset. We do not anticipate needing to adopt this guidance, but we will continue to monitor our contracts and hedging relationships throughout the adoption period.

ASU 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts and related amendments

This update significantly amends the accounting and disclosure requirements for long-duration insurance contracts. These changes include a requirement to review, and if necessary, update cash flow assumptions used to measure the liability for future policy benefits for traditional and limited-payment contracts at least annually, with changes recognized in earnings. In addition, an entity will be required to update the discount rate assumption at each reporting date using a yield that is reflective of an upper-medium grade fixed-income instrument, with changes recognized in other comprehensive income (loss) (OCI). These changes result in the elimination of the provision for risk of adverse deviation and premium deficiency (or loss recognition) testing. The update also requires that an entity measure all market risk benefits associated with deposit contracts at fair value, with changes recognized in earnings except for the portion attributable to a change in the instrument-specific credit risk, which is to be recognized in OCI. This update also simplifies the amortization of deferred acquisition costs by requiring amortization on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts. Deferred acquisition costs are required to be written off for unexpected contract terminations but are no longer subject to an impairment test. Significant additional disclosures will also be required, which include disaggregated rollforwards of certain liability balances and the disclosure of qualitative and quantitative information about expected cash flows, estimates, and assumptions. The application of this guidance will vary based upon the specific requirements of the update but will generally result in either a modified retrospective or full retrospective approach with changes applied as of the beginning of the earliest period presented. Early adoption is permitted. The update is effective for periods beginning January 1, 2023.

We will adopt this update effective January 1, 2023 using the modified retrospective approach with changes applied as of the beginning of the earliest period presented or January 1, 2021, also referred to as the transition date. We are continuing to evaluate the effects of implementing this update. We expect that the most significant impact at the transition date will be the requirement to update the discount rate assumption to reflect an upper-medium grade fixed-income instrument, which will be generally equivalent to a single-A interest rate matched to the duration of our insurance liabilities and will result in a decrease to accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (AOCI) within our total stockholders’ equity balance of approximately $6.5 billion to $7 billion. After the transition date, we will be required to update the discount rate each subsequent reporting period with changes recorded in OCI and expect that this could have a material impact on OCI.

We expect that the recast of our net income for 2021 will result in a net favorable impact due primarily to the following changes:

•Updating the lifetime cohort net premium ratios (lifetime loss ratio) for actual experience each reporting period will generally cause earnings patterns to be more consistent from period to period, with variances in experience reflected in earnings over the cohort lifetime. We expect this to result in an unfavorable impact to income for 2021.

•Alignment of amortization of deferred acquisition costs to a constant level basis and modification of amortization periods to reflect the expected term of the related contracts could result in either higher or lower income for the affected product lines. We expect this to result in a net favorable impact to income for 2021.

•Accelerated recognition of the provision for adverse deviation or other differences from current best estimate values for policies issued prior to the transition date and due to not establishing the provision for policies issued on or after the transition date will generally result in higher income most notably in the initial years after the transition date. We expect this to result in a favorable impact to income for 2021.

•Establishing reserves for claims incurred on or after the transition date at interest rates prescribed by the update could result in either higher or lower income for the affected product lines depending on the policy issue date and the interest rate environment at that time. We expect this to result in an unfavorable impact to income for 2021.

•Updating cash flow assumptions. We expect this to result in a favorable impact to income for 2021.

•Applying non-contemporaneous reinsurance accounting to the second phase of our Closed Block individual disability reinsurance transaction which was completed in the first quarter of 2021. The primary impacts of this change are.

◦Reversing the increase in benefits and change in reserves for future benefits resulting from the realization of previously unrealized investment gains and losses previously recorded in AOCI that will be removed as of the transition date which will have a favorable impact on income for 2021.

◦Remeasuring the ceded reserves as a separate cohort of reserves at interest rates prescribed by the update and the resulting change to the cost of reinsurance. We expect the differential in the discount rate applied to the direct and ceded cohorts of business will result in an unfavorable impact to income for 2021 partially offset by a decrease in the amortization of the cost of reinsurance as a result of a lower cost of reinsurance.

This update will also significantly expand our disclosures. We do not have products with market risk benefits.

ASU 2022-02, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Troubled Debt Restructurings and Vintage Disclosures

The amendments in this update eliminate the troubled debt restructuring recognition and measurement guidance and instead require that an entity evaluate whether the modification represents a new loan or the continuation of an existing loan. The amendments also enhance the disclosure requirements related to certain modifications of receivables made to borrowers experiencing financial difficulty. In addition, the amendments in this update require that an entity disclose current-period gross write-offs by year of origination for financing receivables and net investment in leases. The amendments in this update should be applied prospectively, except for the transition method related to the recognition and measurement of troubled debt restructurings, for which an entity has the option to apply a modified retrospective transition method, resulting in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings in the period of adoption.

This update is effective for periods beginning January 1, 2023, and we do not anticipate that the adoption of this update will have an effect on our financial position or results of operations but will expand our disclosures.