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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingent Liabilities COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
Commitments
The Company has made commitments to fund commercial mortgage loans. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the outstanding balances on these commitments were $48 million and $43 million, respectively. These amounts include unfunded commitments that are not unconditionally cancellable. For related credit exposure, there was an allowance for credit losses of $0.0 million as of December 31, 2020, which is a change of $0.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. The Company also made commitments to purchase or fund investments, mostly private fixed maturities. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, $305 million and $207 million, respectively, of these commitments were outstanding. These amounts include unfunded commitments that are not unconditionally cancellable. There were no related charges for credit losses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.
Contingent Liabilities
On an ongoing basis, the Company and its regulators review its operations including, but not limited to, sales and other customer interface procedures and practices, and procedures for meeting obligations to its customers and other parties. These reviews may result in the modification or enhancement of processes or the imposition of other action plans, including concerning management oversight, sales and other customer interface procedures and practices, and the timing or computation of payments to customers and other parties. In certain cases, if appropriate, the Company may offer customers or other parties remediation and may incur charges, including the cost of such remediation, administrative costs and regulatory fines.
The Company is subject to the laws and regulations of states and other jurisdictions concerning the identification, reporting and escheatment of unclaimed or abandoned funds, and is subject to audit and examination for compliance with these requirements. For additional discussion of these matters, see “Litigation and Regulatory Matters” below.
It is possible that the results of operations or the cash flows of the Company in a particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected as a result of payments in connection with the matters discussed above or other matters depending, in part, upon the results of operations or cash flows for such period. Management believes, however, that ultimate payments in connection with these matters, after consideration of applicable reserves and rights to indemnification, should not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position.
Litigation and Regulatory Matters
The Company is subject to legal and regulatory actions in the ordinary course of its business. Pending legal and regulatory actions include proceedings specific to the Company and proceedings generally applicable to business practices in the industry in which it operates. The Company is subject to class action lawsuits and other litigation involving a variety of issues and allegations involving sales practices, claims payments and procedures, premium charges, policy servicing and breach of fiduciary duty to customers. The Company is also subject to litigation arising out of its general business activities, such as its investments, contracts, leases and labor and employment relationships, including claims of discrimination and harassment, and could be exposed to claims or litigation concerning certain business or process patents. In addition, the Company, along with other participants in the businesses in which it engages, may be subject from time to time to investigations, examinations and inquiries, in some cases industry-wide, concerning issues or matters upon which such regulators have determined to focus. In some of the Company’s pending legal and regulatory actions, parties are seeking large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages. The outcome of litigation or a regulatory matter, and the amount or range of potential loss at any particular time, is often inherently uncertain.
The Company establishes accruals for litigation and regulatory matters when it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of that loss can be reasonably estimated. For litigation and regulatory matters where a loss may be reasonably possible, but not probable, or is probable but not reasonably estimable, no accrual is established, but the matter, if material, is disclosed. The Company estimates that as of December 31, 2020, the aggregate range of reasonably possible losses in excess of accruals established for those litigation and regulatory matters for which such an estimate currently can be made is less than $150 million. This estimate is not an indication of expected loss, if any, or the Company’s maximum possible loss exposure on such matters. The Company reviews relevant information with respect to its litigation and regulatory matters on a quarterly and annual basis and updates its accruals, disclosures and estimates of reasonably possible loss based on such reviews.
Summary
The Company’s litigation and regulatory matters are subject to many uncertainties, and given their complexity and scope, their outcome cannot be predicted. It is possible that the Company’s results of operations or cash flows in a particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected by an ultimate unfavorable resolution of pending litigation and regulatory matters depending, in part, upon the results of operations or cash flows for such period. In light of the unpredictability of the Company’s litigation and regulatory matters, it is also possible that in certain cases an ultimate unfavorable resolution of one or more pending litigation or regulatory matters could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position. Management believes, however, that, based on information currently known to it, the ultimate outcome of all pending litigation and regulatory matters, after consideration of applicable reserves and rights to indemnification, is not likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position.