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Future Policy Benefits and Claims and Separate Account Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Future Policy Benefits and Claims and Separate Account Liabilities  
Future Policy Benefits and Claims and Separate Account Liabilities

10. Future Policy Benefits and Claims and Separate Account Liabilities

The Company retrospectively adopted a new accounting standard for DAC in the first quarter of 2012. See Note 1 for the effect of the change on affected financial statement line items for prior periods retrospectively adjusted.

Future policy benefits and claims (subsequent to the adjustment for the new accounting standard) consisted of the following:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2012   2011  
 
  (in millions)
 

Fixed annuities

  $ 16,075   $ 16,401  

EIA accumulated host values

    31     58  

EIA embedded derivatives

    2     2  

Variable annuity fixed sub-accounts

    4,843     4,852  

Variable annuity GMWB

    799     1,377  

Variable annuity GMAB

    103     237  

Other variable annuity guarantees

    13     14  
           

Total annuities

    21,866     22,941  
           

VUL/UL insurance

    2,760     2,662  

IUL accumulated host values

    59     4  

IUL embedded derivatives

    45     3  

VUL/UL insurance additional liabilities

    294     220  

Other life, DI and LTC insurance

    5,646     5,339  

Auto, home and other insurance

    415     420  

Policy claims and other policyholders' funds

    132     121  
           

Total

  $ 31,217   $ 31,710  
           

Separate account liabilities consisted of the following:

 
  December 31,  
 
  2012   2011  
 
  (in millions)
 

Variable annuity variable sub-accounts

  $ 63,302   $ 57,556  

VUL insurance variable sub-accounts

    6,051     5,575  

Other insurance variable sub-accounts

    42     43  

Threadneedle investment liabilities

    3,002     3,606  
           

Total

  $ 72,397   $ 66,780  
           

Fixed Annuities

Fixed annuities include both deferred and payout contracts. Deferred contracts offer a guaranteed minimum rate of interest and security of the principal invested. Payout contracts guarantee a fixed income payment for life or the term of the contract. The Company generally invests the proceeds from the annuity payments in fixed rate securities. The Company may hedge the interest rate risks related to fixed annuities with derivative instruments. As of December 31, 2012 and 2011, there were no outstanding derivatives to hedge these risks.

Equity Indexed Annuities

The Index 500 Annuity, the Company's EIA product, is a single premium deferred fixed annuity. The contract is issued with an initial term of seven years and interest earnings are linked to the S&P 500 Index. This annuity has a minimum interest rate guarantee of 3% on 90% of the initial premium, adjusted for any surrenders. The Company generally invests the proceeds from the annuity deposits in fixed rate securities and hedges the equity risk with derivative instruments. See Note 15 for additional information regarding the Company's derivative instruments. In 2007, the Company discontinued new sales of equity indexed annuities.

Variable Annuities

Purchasers of variable annuities can select from a variety of investment options and can elect to allocate a portion to a fixed account. A vast majority of the premiums received for variable annuity contracts are held in separate accounts where the assets are held for the exclusive benefit of those contractholders.

Most of the variable annuity contracts issued by the Company contain one or more guaranteed benefits, including GMWB, GMAB, GMDB and GGU provisions. The Company previously offered contracts with GMIB provisions. See Note 2 and Note 11 for additional information regarding the Company's variable annuity guarantees. The Company does not currently hedge its risk under the GMDB, GGU and GMIB provisions. See Note 15 for additional information regarding derivative instruments used to hedge risks related to GMWB and GMAB provisions.

Insurance Liabilities

VUL/UL is the largest group of insurance policies written by the Company. Purchasers of VUL can select from a variety of investment options and can elect to allocate a portion to a fixed account or a separate account. A vast majority of the premiums received for VUL policies are held in separate accounts where the assets are held for the exclusive benefit of those policyholders. In 2011, the Company began offering IUL insurance. IUL is similar to UL in that it provides life insurance coverage and cash value that increases as a result of credited interest. Also, like UL, there is a minimum guaranteed credited rate of interest. Unlike UL the rate of credited interest above the minimum guarantee for funds allocated to the indexed account is linked to the S&P 500 Index (subject to a cap). The policyholder may allocate all or a portion of the policy value to a fixed or indexed account. The Company also offers term and whole life insurance as well as disability products. The Company no longer offers standalone LTC products but has in force policies from prior years. Insurance liabilities include accumulation values, unpaid reported claims, incurred but not reported claims and obligations for anticipated future claims.

Portions of the Company's fixed and variable universal life policies have product features that result in profits followed by losses from the insurance component of the policy. These profits followed by losses can be generated by the cost structure of the product or secondary guarantees in the policy. The secondary guarantee ensures that, subject to specified conditions, the policy will not terminate and will continue to provide a death benefit even if there is insufficient policy value to cover the monthly deductions and charges.

Threadneedle Investment Liabilities

Threadneedle provides a range of unitized pooled pension funds, which invest in property, stocks, bonds and cash. The investments are selected by the clients and are based on the level of risk they are willing to assume. All investment performance, net of fees, is passed through to the investors. The value of the liabilities represents the value of the units in issue of the pooled pension funds.