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Contingent Liabilities
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Contingent Liabilities Contingent Liabilities
The Company is a party to various lawsuits arising in the ordinary course of its operations. The Company believes that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not materially impact its financial position, cash flows, or results of operations.
In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, many state and local governments in the United States and around the world have instituted emergency restrictions that have substantially limited the operation of non-essential businesses and the activities of individuals. Many states have extended the expiration date of restrictions and some states that eased restrictions subsequently re-imposed them as the spread of COVID-19 worsened. These restrictions could result in significant adverse effects on our policyholders and many different types of small and mid-sized businesses within the Company’s client base, particularly those in the retail, hospitality and food and beverage industries, among many others. The ultimate effect and severity of COVID-19 on the economy is not known nor is the ultimate length of the restrictions and any accompanying effects caused by it. Moreover, the Federal Reserve has taken action to lower the Federal Funds rate and the U.S. equity markets have experienced substantial volatility in reaction to COVID-19 since February 2020, both of which have, along with other factors, placed pressure on net investment income and resulted in material realized and unrealized losses in our investment portfolio in the first quarter of 2020. Investment markets recovered substantially in the second quarter, leading to unrealized gains in our investment portfolio for the quarter.
The effect of COVID-19 and related events could have a negative effect on the Company, including as a result of quarantines, market volatility, market downturns, actions of lawmakers and regulators, changes in consumer behavior, business closures, deterioration in the credit quality of policyholders or the inability of policyholders to pay their premium and deductible obligations to the Company, and deterioration in the credit quality of reinsurers or insurance entities with which we have a fronting arrangement or the inability of insurers or the insurance entities for which we are fronting to pay their obligations to the Company. At the federal and state level, there have been proposals by lawmakers to retroactively amend business interruption insurance policies to cover claims related to COVID-19 when such insurance policies otherwise would exclude such risks. In addition, a number of states have instituted, and other states are considering instituting, changes designed to effectively expand workers’ compensation coverage by creating presumptions of compensability of claims for certain types
of workers. The Company has received both business interruption and workers’ compensation claims related to COVID-19 and we expect that we will continue to receive claims related to COVID-19. If the efforts of lawmakers to effectively expand coverage under business interruption, workers’ compensation or other policies on a retroactive basis are successful and enforceable, the Company may be forced to pay claims under policies for which it received inadequate premiums to cover such risks, and therefore the Company’s reserves may be inadequate to pay such claims. At the state level, insurance departments throughout the country have issued bulletins and regulations urging or requiring insurers to extend grace periods for the payment of policy premiums and to refrain from canceling or non-renewing policies for the non-payment of policy premiums for policyholders adversely affected by COVID-19. While many of these requirements and recommendations have expired or are scheduled to expire in the near future, insurance departments could reinstate or extend them as conditions deteriorate and/or the negative impact of the pandemic on policyholders persists. It is uncertain what impact these government mandates may have on our ability to recover unpaid premiums on the affected policies or what our obligations may be for the payment of claims made under policies for which we have not received premium payments. Further, demand for the insurance policies that the Company offers is highly dependent upon the business environment in the markets in which the Company operates. Given the ongoing and dynamic nature of the circumstances, it is not possible to predict the ultimate impact of the coronavirus outbreak, but it could have a material adverse impact on the business prospects, financial condition or results of operations of the Company.
JRG Re has entered into three letter of credit facilities with banks as security to third-party reinsureds on reinsurance assumed by JRG Re. JRG Re has established custodial accounts to secure these letters of credit. Under a $75.0 million facility, $12.6 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2020 which were secured by deposits of $28.6 million. Under a $102.5 million facility, $74.7 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2020 which were secured by deposits of $94.8 million. Under a $100.0 million facility, $17.8 million of letters of credit were issued through June 30, 2020 which were secured by deposits of $28.3 million. JRG Re has also established trust accounts to secure its obligations to selected reinsureds. The total amount deposited in the trust accounts for the benefit of third-party reinsureds was $306.7 million at June 30, 2020.
The Company previously issued a set of insurance contracts to Rasier LLC and its affiliates (collectively, “Rasier”) under which the Company pays losses and loss adjustment expenses on the contracts. The Company has indemnity agreements with Rasier (non-insurance entities) and is contractually entitled to receive reimbursement for a significant portion of the losses and loss adjustment expenses paid on behalf of Rasier and other expenses incurred by the Company. Rasier is required to collateralize all amounts currently due to the Company and to provide additional collateral sufficient to cover the amounts that may be recoverable under the indemnity agreements, including, among other things, case loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, IBNR loss and loss adjustment expense reserves, extra contractual obligations and excess of policy limits liabilities. The collateral is provided through a collateral trust arrangement established in favor of the Company by a captive insurance company affiliate of Rasier.
As permitted under our indemnification agreements with Rasier and the associated trust agreement, we have withdrawn the collateral posted to the trust account. At June 30, 2020, the Company held collateral funds of $1,020.9 million. The funds withdrawn from the trust account, currently invested in short term securities and included in restricted cash equivalents on the Company's consolidated balance sheet, will be used to reimburse the Company for the losses and loss adjustment expenses paid on behalf of Rasier and other related expenses incurred by the Company to the extent not paid as required under the indemnity agreements.
The Company has ongoing exposure to estimated losses and expenses on these contracts growing at a faster pace than growth in our collateral balances. In addition, we have credit exposure if our estimates of future losses and loss adjustment expenses and other amounts recoverable, which are the basis for establishing collateral balances, are lower than actual amounts paid or payable. The amount of our credit exposure in any of these instances could be material. To mitigate these risks, we closely and frequently monitor our exposure compared to our collateral held, and we request additional collateral when our analysis indicates that we have uncollateralized exposure.