Goodwill (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011		Sep. 30, 2012 Property & Casualty Commercial [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Property & Casualty Commercial [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Consumer Markets [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Consumer Markets [Member]		Jun. 30, 2012 Individual Life [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Individual Life [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Individual Life [Member] Wealth Management [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Individual Life [Member] Wealth Management [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Retirement Plans [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Retirement Plans [Member] Wealth Management [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Retirement Plans [Member] Wealth Management [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Mutual Funds [Member] Wealth Management [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Mutual Funds [Member] Wealth Management [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Wealth Management [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Wealth Management [Member]		Sep. 30, 2012 Corporate [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Corporate [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Goodwill, Impairment Loss	$ 342,000,000	$ (342,000,000)									$ 0
Annual Impairment test margin																less than 10%
Gross	1,391,000,000	1,391,000,000	1,406,000,000		30,000,000	30,000,000		119,000,000	119,000,000				224,000,000	224,000,000			87,000,000	87,000,000		159,000,000	159,000,000		470,000,000	470,000,000		772,000,000	787,000,000
Accumulated Impairments	(385,000,000)	(385,000,000)	(385,000,000)		(30,000,000)	(30,000,000)		0	0				0	0			0	0		0	0		0	0		(355,000,000)	(355,000,000)
Discontinued Operations			(15,000,000)	[1]	0	0	[1]	0	0	[1]			(224,000,000)	0	[1]		0	0	[1]	0	0	[1]	(224,000,000)	0	[1]	(118,000,000)	(15,000,000)	[1]
Goodwill	664,000,000	664,000,000	1,006,000,000		0	0		119,000,000	119,000,000				0	224,000,000			87,000,000	87,000,000		159,000,000	159,000,000		246,000,000	470,000,000		299,000,000	417,000,000
Goodwill and Intangible Asset Impairment												$ 342,000,000

[1] Represents goodwill written off related to Federal Trust Corporation which is recorded in discontinued operations.