Derivative Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments

DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

Types of Derivative Instruments and Derivative Strategies

Interest Rate Contracts

Interest rate swaps are used by the Company to reduce risks from changes in interest rates, manage interest rate exposures arising from mismatches between assets and liabilities (including duration mismatches) and to hedge against changes in the value of assets it owns or anticipates acquiring or selling. Swaps may be attributed to specific assets or liabilities or may be used on a portfolio basis. Under interest rate swaps, the Company agrees with counterparties to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between fixed-rate and floating-rate interest amounts calculated by reference to an agreed upon notional principal amount.

Equity Contracts

Equity index options are contracts which will settle in cash based on differentials in the underlying indices at the time of exercise and the strike price. The Company uses combinations of purchases and sales of equity index options to hedge the effects of adverse changes in equity indices within a predetermined range.

Total return swaps are contracts whereby the Company agrees with counterparties to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between the return on an asset (or market index) and LIBOR plus an associated funding spread based on a notional amount. The Company generally uses total return swaps to hedge the effect of adverse changes in equity indices.

Foreign Exchange Contracts

Currency derivatives, including currency swaps, are used by the Company to reduce risks from changes in currency exchange rates with respect to investments denominated in foreign currencies that the Company either holds or intends to acquire or sell.

Under currency swaps, the Company agrees with counterparties to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between one currency and another at an exchange rate and calculated by reference to an agreed principal amount. Generally, the principal amount of each currency is exchanged at the beginning and termination of the currency swap by each party. These transactions are entered into pursuant to master agreements that provide for a single net payment to be made by one counterparty for payments made in the same currency at each due date.

Credit Contracts

Credit derivatives are used by the Company to enhance the return on the Company’s investment portfolio by creating credit exposure similar to an investment in public fixed maturity cash instruments. With credit derivatives the Company sells credit protection on a single name reference, or certain index reference, and in return receives a quarterly premium. With credit default derivatives, this premium or credit spread generally corresponds to the difference between the yield on the referenced name’s public fixed maturity cash instruments and swap rates at the time the agreement is executed. If there is an event of default by the referenced name, as defined by the agreement, then the Company is obligated to pay the counterparty the referenced amount of the contract and receive in return the referenced defaulted security or similar security or pay the referenced amount less the auction recovery rate. See the credit derivatives section for a discussion of guarantees related to credit derivatives written. In addition to selling credit protection, the Company has purchased credit protection using credit derivatives in order to hedge specific credit exposures in the Company’s investment portfolio.

Embedded Derivatives

The Company sells variable annuity products, which may include guaranteed benefit features that are accounted for as embedded derivatives. The Company has reinsurance agreements to transfer the risk related to certain of these benefit features to affiliates, Pruco Re and Prudential Insurance. The embedded derivatives related to the living benefit features and the related reinsurance agreements are carried at fair value. These embedded derivatives are marked to market through “Realized investment gains (losses), net” based on the change in value of the underlying contractual guarantees, which are determined using valuation models, as described in Note 10.

The table below provides a summary of the gross notional amount and fair value of derivatives contracts by the primary underlying, excluding embedded derivatives which are recorded with the associated host. Many derivative instruments contain multiple underlyings. The fair value amounts below represent the gross fair value of derivative contracts prior to taking into account the netting effects of master netting agreements, cash collateral held with the same counterparty, and non-performance risk.

	December 31, 2015							December 31, 2014
			Gross Fair Value							Gross Fair Value
Primary Underlying	Notional		Assets		Liabilities			Notional		Assets		Liabilities
	(in thousands)
Derivatives Designated as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Currency/Interest Rate
Foreign Currency Swaps	$	115,358	$	15,910	$	(206	)	$	83,412	$	5,555	$	(654	)
Total Qualifying Hedges	$	115,358	$	15,910	$	(206	)	$	83,412	$	5,555	$	(654	)
Derivatives Not Qualifying as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Interest Rate
Interest Rate Swaps	$	1,872,750	$	84,817	$	(13,452	)	$	1,902,750	$	92,507	$	(18,480	)
Interest Rate Options	100,000		9,431		0			100,000		10,736		0
Foreign Currency
Foreign Currency Forwards	2,752		23		0			0		0		0
Currency/Interest Rate
Foreign Currency Swaps	77,729		11,220		0			57,011		4,363		(5		)
Credit
Credit Default Swaps	0		0		0			1,200		0		(43		)
Equity
Total Return Swaps	217,999		320		(3,626		)	220,986		1,937		0
Equity Options	18,286,800		15,054		(7,993		)	6,842,242		3,748		(2,067		)
Total Non-Qualifying Hedges	$	20,558,030	$	120,865	$	(25,071	)	$	9,124,189	$	113,291	$	(20,595	)
Total Derivatives (1)	$	20,673,388	$	136,775	$	(25,277	)	$	9,207,601	$	118,846	$	(21,249	)

(1) Excludes embedded derivatives which contain multiple underlyings. The fair value of these embedded derivatives was a net liability of $3,134 million and $3,112 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, included in “Future policy benefits.” The fair value of the embedded derivatives related to the reinsurance of certain of these benefits to Pruco Re and Prudential Insurance included in “Reinsurance recoverables” was an asset of $3,013 million and $2,996 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

The following table presents recognized derivative instruments (excluding embedded derivatives and associated reinsurance recoverables) that are offset in the Statements of Financial Position, and/or are subject to an enforceable master netting arrangement or similar agreement, irrespective of whether they are offset in the Statements of Financial Position.

	December 31, 2015
	Gross Amounts of Recognized Financial Instruments		Gross Amounts Offset in the Statement of Financial Position			Net Amounts Presented in the Statement of Financial Position		Financial Instruments/ Collateral(1)			Net Amount
	(in thousands)
Offsetting of Financial Assets:
Derivatives	$	135,210	$	(21,508	)	$	113,702	$	(101,288	)	$	12,414
Offsetting of Financial Liabilities:
Derivatives	$	25,277	$	(25,277	)	$	0	$	0		$	0
	December 31, 2014
	Gross Amounts of Recognized Financial Instruments		Gross Amounts Offset in the Statement of Financial Position			Net Amounts Presented in the Statement of Financial Position		Financial Instruments/ Collateral(1)			Net Amount
	(in thousands)
Offsetting of Financial Assets:
Derivatives	$	118,846	$	(24,288	)	$	94,558	$	(82,602	)	$	11,956
Offsetting of Financial Liabilities:
Derivatives	$	21,249	$	(21,249	)	$	0	$	0		$	0

(1) Amounts exclude the excess of collateral received/pledged from/to the counterparty.

For information regarding the rights of offset associated with the derivative assets and liabilities in the table above see “Credit Risk” below.

Cash Flow Hedges

The primary derivative instruments used by the Company in its cash flow hedge accounting relationships are currency swaps. These instruments are only designated for hedge accounting in instances where the appropriate criteria are met. The Company does not use futures, options, credit, equity or embedded derivatives in any of its cash flow hedge accounting relationships.

The following tables provide the financial statement classification and impact of derivatives used in qualifying and non-qualifying hedge relationships, excluding the offset of the hedged item in an effective hedge relationship:

	Year Ended December 31, 2015
	Realized Investment Gains (Losses)			Net Investment Income		Other Income		AOCI(1)
	(in thousands)
Derivatives Designated as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Cash flow hedges
Currency/Interest Rate	$	0		$	608	$	1,116	$	10,008
Total cash flow hedges	0			608		1,116		10,008
Derivatives Not Qualifying as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Interest Rate	20,536			0		0		0
Currency	115			0		0		0
Currency/Interest Rate	8,337			0		202		0
Credit	(3		)	0		0		0
Equity	(3,233		)	0		0		0
Embedded Derivatives	(24,371		)	0		0		0
Total non-qualifying hedges	1,381			0		202		0
Total	$	1,381		$	608	$	1,318	$	10,008
	Year Ended December 31, 2014
	Realized Investment Gains (Losses)			Net Investment Income		Other Income		AOCI(1)
	(in thousands)
Derivatives Designated as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Cash flow hedges
Currency/Interest Rate	$	0		$	14	$	134	$	8,492
Total cash flow hedges	0			14		134		8,492
Derivatives Not Qualifying as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Interest Rate	123,327			0		0		0
Currency	0			0		0		0
Currency/Interest Rate	5,934			0		143		0
Credit	(14		)	0		0		0
Equity	(23,811		)	0		0		0
Embedded Derivatives	(113,549		)	0		0		0
Total non-qualifying hedges	(8,113		)	0		143		0
Total	$	(8,113	)	$	14	$	277	$	8,492

	Year Ended December 31, 2013
	Realized Investment Gains (Losses)			Net Investment Income			Other Income			AOCI(1)
	(in thousands)
Derivatives Designated as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Cash flow hedges
Currency/Interest Rate	$	0		$	(89	)	$	(7	)	$	(585	)
Total cash flow hedges	0			(89		)	(7		)	(585		)
Derivatives Not Qualifying as Hedge Accounting Instruments:
Interest Rate	(116,025		)	0			0			0
Currency	0			0			0			0
Currency/Interest Rate	(204		)	0			24			0
Credit	(103		)	0			0			0
Equity	(79,498		)	0			0			0
Embedded Derivatives	1,775			0			0			0
Total non-qualifying hedges	(194,055		)	0			24			0
Total	$	(194,055	)	$	(89	)	$	17		$	(585	)

(1) Amounts deferred in AOCI.

For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, the ineffective portion of derivatives accounted for using hedge accounting was not material to the Company’s results of operations. Also, there were no material amounts reclassified into earnings relating to instances in which the Company discontinued cash flow hedge accounting because the forecasted transaction did not occur by the anticipated date or within the additional time period permitted by the authoritative guidance for the accounting for derivatives and hedging.

Presented below is a rollforward of current period cash flow hedges in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” before taxes:

	(in thousands)
Balance, December 31, 2012	$	(3,068	)
Net deferred gains (losses) on cash flow hedges from January 1 to December 31, 2013	(680		)
Amount reclassified into current period earnings	95
Balance, December 31, 2013	(3,653		)
Net deferred gains (losses) on cash flow hedges from January 1 to December 31, 2014	8,640
Amount reclassified into current period earnings	(148		)
Balance, December 31, 2014	4,839
Net deferred gains (losses) on cash flow hedges from January 1 to December 31, 2015	12,078
Amounts reclassified into current period earnings	(2,070		)
Balance, December 31, 2015	$	14,847

Using December 31, 2015 values, it is estimated that a pre-tax gain of approximately $1 million will be reclassified from AOCI to earnings during the subsequent twelve months ending December 31, 2016, offset by amounts pertaining to the hedged items. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, the Company did not have any qualifying cash flow hedges of forecasted transactions other than those related to the variability of the payment or receipt of interest or foreign currency amounts on existing financial instruments. The maximum length of time for which these variable cash flows are hedged is 18 years. Income amounts deferred in AOCI as a result of cash flow hedges are included in "Net unrealized investment gains (losses)" within OCI in the Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.

Credit Derivatives

The Company has no exposure from credit derivatives where it has written credit protection as of December 31, 2015 and 2014.

As of December 31, 2015, the Company had no open positions where it has purchased credit protection using credit derivatives in order to hedge specific credit in the Company’s investment portfolio. As of December 31, 2014, the Company had $1 million of outstanding notional amounts reported at fair value as a liability of less than $1 million.

Credit Risk

The Company is exposed to credit-related losses in the event of non-performance by its counterparty to financial derivative transactions.

The Company has credit risk exposure to an affiliate, Prudential Global Funding, LLC (“PGF”), related to its OTC derivative transactions. PGF manages credit risk with external counterparties by entering into derivative transactions with highly rated major international financial institutions and other creditworthy counterparties, and by obtaining collateral, such as cash and securities, when appropriate. Additionally, limits are set on single party credit exposures which are subject to periodic management review. 

Under fair value measurements, the Company incorporates the market’s perception of its own and the counterparty’s non-performance risk in determining the fair value of the portion of its OTC derivative assets and liabilities that are uncollateralized. Credit spreads are applied to the derivative fair values on a net basis by counterparty. To reflect the Company’s own credit spread a proxy based on relevant debt spreads is applied to OTC derivative net liability positions. Similarly, the Company’s counterparty’s credit spread is applied to OTC derivative net asset positions.