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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies
12. Commitments and Contingencies

Regulation and Compliance

The Company is subject to changing social, economic and regulatory conditions. From time to time, regulatory authorities or legislative bodies seek to impose additional regulations regarding agent and broker compensation, regulate the nature of and amount of investments, and otherwise expand overall regulation of insurance products and the insurance industry. The Company has established procedures and policies to facilitate compliance with laws and regulations, to foster prudent business operations, and to support financial reporting. The Company routinely reviews its practices to validate compliance with laws and regulations and with internal procedures and policies. As a result of these reviews, from time to time the Company may decide to modify some of its procedures and policies. Such modifications, and the reviews that led to them, may be accompanied by payments being made and costs being incurred. The ultimate changes and eventual effects of these actions on the Company’s business, if any, are uncertain.

The Company is currently being examined by certain states for compliance with unclaimed property laws. It is possible that this examination may result in additional payments of abandoned funds to states and to changes in the Company’s practices and procedures for the identification of escheatable funds, which could impact benefit payments and reserves, among other consequences; however, it is not likely to have a material effect on the financial statements of the Company.

 

The Company is assessed amounts by the state guaranty funds to cover losses to policyholders of insolvent or rehabilitated insurance companies. Those mandatory assessments may be partially recovered through a reduction in future premium taxes in certain states. At December 31, 2014, the Company accrued $6.7 million for guaranty fund assessments which is expected to be offset by estimated future premium tax deductions of $11.2 million.

Litigation

The Company is involved from time to time in judicial, regulatory and arbitration proceedings concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of its business. As part of the Acquisition, ALIC has agreed to indemnify the Company for certain matters. ALIC has also agreed to indemnify the Company for certain litigation, regulatory matters and other liabilities related to the pre-closing activities of the transferred business. Management believes, based on currently available information, that the results of such proceedings, in the aggregate, will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition. Given the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of the Company’s litigation and regulatory matters, particularly in cases or proceedings in which substantial or indeterminate damages or fines are sought, the Company cannot estimate losses or ranges of losses for cases or proceedings where there is only a reasonable possibility that a loss may be incurred. However, the Company believes that at the present time there are no pending or threatened lawsuits that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position or results of operations.

In the normal course of its business, the Company has entered into agreements that include indemnities in favor of third parties, such as contracts with advisors and consultants, outsourcing agreements, information technology agreements and service agreements. The Company has also agreed to indemnify its directors, officers and employees in accordance with the Company’s by-laws. The Company believes any potential liability under these agreements is neither probable nor estimable. Therefore, the Company has not recorded any associated liability.

Pledged or Restricted Assets

The Company had the following restricted assets:

 

    Certain bonds were on deposit with governmental authorities as required by law of $8.9 million and $9.4 million at December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively.

 

    Derivative cash collateral received was reported as cash equivalents of $6.4 million at December 31, 2014. The Company had no derivative cash collateral as of December 31, 2013.