Derivatives

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Derivatives [Abstract]

Derivatives

6. DERIVATIVES

The Company sold seven equity index put option contracts, based on two indices, in 2001 and 2005. The Company sold these equity index put options as insurance products with the intent of achieving a profit. These equity index put option contracts meet the definition of a derivative under FASB guidance and the Company’s position in these equity index put option contracts is unhedged. Accordingly, these equity index put option contracts are carried at fair value in the consolidated balance sheets with changes in fair value recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). Five of these contracts had expired prior to June 30, 2020, and an additional contract expired on July 21, 2020, with no liabilities due under the terms of the expired contracts.

The Company had one remaining equity index put option contract at June 30, 2020, based on the Standard & Poor’s 500 (“S&P 500”) index. Based on historical index volatilities and trends and the June 30, 2020 S&P 500 index value, the Company estimates the probability that the equity index put option contract of the S&P 500 index falling below the strike price on the exercise date to be less than 0.8%. The theoretical maximum payout under this equity index put option contract would occur if on the exercise date the S&P 500 index value was zero. At June 30, 2020, the present value of the theoretical maximum payout using a 3% discount factor was $145,706 thousand. Conversely, if the contract had expired on June 30, 2020, with the S&P index at 3,100.29, there would have been no settlement amount.

The Company had one equity index put option contract at June 30, 2020 based on the FTSE 100 index. This contract since expired on July 21, 2020 with no liability due under the terms of the contract.

At June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the fair value for these equity put options was $9,088 thousand and $5,584 thousand, respectively.

The fair value of the equity index put options can be found in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as follows:

(Dollars in thousands)
Derivatives not designated as	Location of fair value	At		At
hedging instruments	in balance sheets	June 30, 2020		December 31, 2019
Equity index put option contracts	Equity index put option liability	$	9,088	$	5,584
Total		$	9,088	$	5,584

The change in fair value of the equity index put option contracts can be found in the Company’s statement of operations and comprehensive income (loss) as follows:

(Dollars in thousands)		For the Three Months Ended				For the, Six Months Ended
Derivatives not designated as	Location of gain (loss) in statements of	June 30,				June 30,
hedging instruments	operations and comprehensive income (loss)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Equity index put option contracts	Net derivative gain (loss)	$	11,869	$	353	$	(3,504)	$	3,584
Total		$	11,869	$	353	$	(3,504)	$	3,584