Commitments, Guarantees and Contingencies

Commitments

The Company is committed to pay aggregate minimum rentals under noncancelable operating leases for office facilities and equipment in future years as follows:



	(in millions)
2016	$	56
2017	54
2018	45
2019	33
2020	26
Thereafter	63
Total ⁽¹⁾	$	277

⁽¹⁾ Minimum payments have not been reduced by minimum sublease rentals due in the future under noncancelable subleases.

For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, operating lease expense was $67 million, $85 million and $85 million, respectively.

The following table presents the Company’s funding commitments as of December 31:



	2015		2014
	(in millions)
Commercial mortgage loans	$	73	$	55
Consumer mortgage loans	447		491
Consumer lines of credit	3		3
Affordable housing partnerships	117		124
Total funding commitments	$	640	$	673

Since the Company expects many of the commitments related to consumer mortgage loans to expire without being drawn, total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent the Company’s future liquidity requirements. In addition, the commitments include consumer credit lines that are cancelable upon notification to the consumer.

Guarantees

The Company’s life and annuity products all have minimum interest rate guarantees in their fixed accounts. As of December 31, 2015, these guarantees range up to 5%.

The Company is required by law to be a member of the guaranty fund association in every state where it is licensed to do business. In the event of insolvency of one or more unaffiliated insurance companies, the Company could be adversely affected by the requirement to pay assessments to the guaranty fund associations.

The Company projects its cost of future guaranty fund assessments based on estimates of insurance company insolvencies provided by the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (“NOLHGA”) and the amount of its premiums written relative to the industry-wide premium in each state. The Company accrues the estimated cost of future guaranty fund assessments when it is considered probable that an assessment will be imposed, the event obligating the Company to pay the assessment has occurred and the amount of the assessment can be reasonably estimated.

The Company has a liability for estimated guaranty fund assessments and a related premium tax asset. At December 31, 2015 and 2014, the estimated liability was $13 million and $14 million, respectively. The related premium tax asset at both December 31, 2015 and 2014 was $12 million. The expected period over which guaranty fund assessments will be made and the related tax credits recovered is not known.

Contingencies

The Company and its subsidiaries are involved in the normal course of business in legal, regulatory and arbitration proceedings, including class actions, concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of its activities as a diversified financial services firm. These include proceedings specific to the Company as well as proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industries in which it operates. The Company can also be subject to litigation arising out of its general business activities, such as its investments, contracts, leases and employment relationships. Uncertain economic conditions, heightened and sustained volatility in the financial markets and significant financial reform legislation may increase the likelihood that clients and other persons or regulators may present or threaten legal claims or that regulators increase the scope or frequency of examinations of the Company or the financial services industry generally.

As with other financial services firms, the level of regulatory activity and inquiry concerning the Company’s businesses remains elevated. From time to time, the Company receives requests for information from, and/or has been subject to examination or claims by, the SEC, FINRA, the OCC, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, state insurance and securities regulators, state attorneys general and various other domestic or foreign governmental and quasi-governmental authorities on behalf of themselves or clients concerning the Company’s business activities and practices, and the practices of the Company’s financial advisors. The Company has numerous pending matters which include information requests, exams or inquiries that the Company has received during recent periods regarding certain matters, including: sales and distribution of mutual funds, annuities, equity and fixed income securities, real estate investment trusts, insurance products, and financial advice offerings; supervision of the Company’s financial advisors; administration of insurance and annuity claims; security of client information; trading activity; and front office systems and controls at the Company’s UK subsidiary. The Company is also responding to regulatory audits, market conduct examinations and other state inquiries relating to an industry-wide investigation of unclaimed property and escheatment practices and procedures. The number of reviews and investigations has increased in recent years with regard to many firms in the financial services industry, including Ameriprise Financial. The Company has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the applicable regulators.

These legal and regulatory proceedings and disputes are subject to uncertainties and, as such, it is inherently difficult to determine whether any loss is probable or even possible, or to reasonably estimate the amount of any loss. The Company cannot predict with certainty if, how or when any such proceedings will be initiated or resolved or what the eventual settlement, fine, penalty or other relief, if any, may be, particularly for proceedings that are in their early stages of development or where plaintiffs seek indeterminate damages. Numerous issues may need to be resolved, including through potentially lengthy discovery and determination of important factual matters, and by addressing unsettled legal questions relevant to the proceedings in question, before a loss or range of loss can be reasonably estimated for any proceeding. An adverse outcome in one or more proceeding could eventually result in adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other sanctions, in addition to further claims, examinations or adverse publicity that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

In accordance with applicable accounting standards, the Company establishes an accrued liability for contingent litigation and regulatory matters when those matters present loss contingencies that are both probable and can be reasonably estimated. In such cases, there still may be an exposure to loss in excess of any amounts reasonably estimated and accrued. When a loss contingency is not both probable and estimable, the Company does not establish an accrued liability, but continues to monitor, in conjunction with any outside counsel handling a matter, further developments that would make such loss contingency both probable and reasonably estimable. Once the Company establishes an accrued liability with respect to a loss contingency, the Company continues to monitor the matter for further developments that could affect the amount of the accrued liability that has been previously established, and any appropriate adjustments are made each quarter.

Certain legal and regulatory proceedings are described below.

In November 2014, a lawsuit was filed against the Company’s London-based asset management affiliate in England’s High Court of Justice Commercial Court, entitled Otkritie Capital International Ltd and JSC Otkritie Holding v. Threadneedle Asset Management Ltd. and Threadneedle Management Services Ltd. (“Threadneedle Defendants”). Claimants allege that the Threadneedle Defendants should be held liable for the wrongful acts of one of its former employees, who in February 2014 was held jointly and severally liable with several other parties for conspiracy and dishonest assistance in connection with a fraud perpetrated against Claimants in 2011. Claimants allege they were harmed by that fraud in the amount of $120 million. The Threadneedle Defendants applied to the Court for an Order dismissing the proceedings as an abuse of process of the Court. This application was declined in August 2015. The Threadneedle Defendants applied to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal, which application was granted in November 2015. A hearing on the appeal is expected in January 2017 and the case is stayed pending the outcome of the appeal. The Company cannot reasonably estimate the range of loss, if any, that may result from this matter due to the early procedural status of the case, the number of parties involved, and the failure to allege any specific, evidence based damages.