Reinsurance

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

The Company reinsures a portion of the insurance risks associated with its traditional life, DI and LTC insurance products through reinsurance agreements with unaffiliated reinsurance companies. RiverSource Life Insurance Company (“RiverSource Life”) reinsures 100% of its insurance risk associated with its life contingent payout annuity policies in force as of June 30, 2021 through a reinsurance agreement with Global Atlantic Financial Group’s subsidiary Commonwealth Annuity and Life Insurance Company. Policies issued on or after July 1, 2021 and policies issued by RiverSource Life Insurance Co. of New York (“RiverSource Life of NY”) are not subject to this reinsurance agreement.

Reinsurance contracts do not relieve the Company from its primary obligation to policyholders.

The Company generally reinsures 90% of the death benefit liability for new term life insurance policies beginning in 2001 and new individual UL and VUL insurance policies beginning in 2002. Policies issued prior to these dates are not subject to these same reinsurance levels.

However, for IUL policies issued after September 1, 2013 and VUL policies issued after January 1, 2014, the Company generally reinsures 50% of the death benefit liability. Similarly, the Company reinsures 50% of the death benefit and morbidity liabilities related to its UL product with LTC benefits.

The maximum amount of life insurance risk the Company will retain is $10 million on a single life and $10 million on any flexible premium survivorship life policy; however, reinsurance agreements are in place such that retaining more than $1.5 million of insurance risk on a single life or a flexible premium survivorship life policy is very unusual. Risk on UL and VUL policies is reinsured on a yearly renewable term basis. Risk on most term life policies starting in 2001 is reinsured on a coinsurance basis, a type of reinsurance in which the reinsurer participates proportionally in all material risks and premiums associated with a policy.

For existing LTC policies, the Company has continued ceding 50% of the risk on a coinsurance basis to subsidiaries of Genworth Financial, Inc. (“Genworth”) and retains the remaining risk. For RiverSource Life of NY, this reinsurance arrangement applies for 1996 and later issues only, which are 89% of the total RiverSource Life of NY in force policies. Under these agreements, the Company has the right, but never the obligation, to recapture some, or all, of the risk ceded to Genworth.

Generally, the Company retains at most $5,000 per month of risk per life on DI policies sold on policy forms introduced in most states starting in 2007 and reinsures the remainder of the risk on a coinsurance basis with unaffiliated reinsurance companies. The Company retains all risk for new claims on DI contracts sold on other policy forms introduced prior to 2007. The Company also retains all risk on accidental death benefit claims and substantially all risk associated with waiver of premium provisions.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, traditional life and UL insurance policies in force were $198.8 billion and $198.9 billion, respectively, of which $144.7 billion and $146.2 billion as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 were reinsured at the respective year ends.

The effect of reinsurance on premiums for traditional long-duration products was as follows:


	Years Ended December 31,
	2023		2022		2021
	(in millions)
Direct premiums	$	674	$	530	$	490
Reinsurance ceded	(226)		(224)		(1,361)
Net premiums	$	448	$	306	$	(871)

Cost of insurance and administrative charges for non-traditional long-duration products are reflected in Premiums, policy and contract charges and were net of reinsurance ceded of $180 million, $165 million and $152 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The amount of claims recovered through reinsurance on all contracts was $438 million, $435 million and $404 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Receivables included $4.3 billion and $4.2 billion of reinsurance recoverables as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, including $2.8 billion and $2.7 billion related to LTC risk ceded to Genworth, respectively.

Policyholder account balances, future policy benefits and claims include $376 million and $388 million related to previously assumed reinsurance arrangements as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.