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Statutory Financial Information
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Statutory Financial Information [Abstract]  
Statutory Financial Information
Statutory Financial Information

Statutory Net Income, Capital and Surplus, and Dividends

Statutory net income for U.S. life insurance companies is reported in conformity with statutory accounting principles prescribed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and adopted by applicable domiciliary state laws. The commissioners of the states of domicile have the right to permit other specific practices that may deviate from prescribed practices. Our traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiaries have no prescribed or permitted statutory accounting practices that differ materially from statutory accounting principles prescribed by the NAIC.

Certain of our traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiaries cede blocks of business to Northwind Re and Fairwind Insurance Company (Fairwind), both of which are affiliated captive reinsurance subsidiaries (captive reinsurers) domiciled in the United States, with Unum Group as the ultimate parent. These captive reinsurers were established for the limited purpose of reinsuring risks attributable to specified policies issued or reinsured by our life insurance subsidiaries. During 2015, Tailwind Reinsurance Company (Tailwind Re), also an affiliated captive reinsurance subsidiary domiciled in the United States, merged with one of our traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiaries, with the traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiary remaining as the surviving company. Following the merger, the majority of the block of business previously ceded to Tailwind Re was ceded to an unaffiliated reinsurer. These two transactions did not materially impact the statutory results of operations, capital adequacy, or ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends to Unum Group.

Fairwind, which is domiciled in the State of Vermont, is required to follow GAAP in accordance with Vermont reporting requirements for pure captive insurance companies, unless the commissioner permits the use of some other basis of accounting. Fairwind has permission from Vermont to follow accounting practices that are generally consistent with current NAIC statutory accounting principles for its insurance reserves and invested assets supporting reserves. All other assets and liabilities are accounted for in accordance with GAAP, as prescribed by Vermont, which allows for the full recognition of deferred tax assets which are more likely than not to be realized. Statutory accounting principles have a stricter limitation for the recognition of deferred tax assets. The impact of following the prescribed and permitted practices of Vermont rather than statutory accounting principles prescribed by the NAIC resulted in higher capital and surplus for Fairwind of approximately $213 million and $208 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Northwind Re has no material state prescribed accounting practices that differ from statutory accounting principles prescribed by the NAIC.

The operating results and capital and surplus of our traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiaries and our captive reinsurers, prepared in accordance with prescribed or permitted accounting practices of the NAIC or states of domicile, are presented separately below.
 
Year Ended December 31
 
2016
 
2015
 
2014
 
(in millions of dollars)
Combined Net Income (Loss)
 
 
 
 
 
Traditional U.S. Life Insurance Subsidiaries
$
855.1

 
$
653.7

 
$
628.9

Captive Reinsurers
$
48.4

 
$
(56.3
)
 
$
(129.3
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Combined Net Gain (Loss) from Operations
 
 
 
 
 
Traditional U.S. Life Insurance Subsidiaries
$
884.6

 
$
689.2

 
$
623.9

Captive Reinsurers
$
50.6

 
$
(54.3
)
 
$
(130.2
)


 
December 31
 
2016
 
2015
 
(in millions of dollars)
Combined Capital and Surplus
 
 
 
Traditional U.S. Life Insurance Subsidiaries
$
3,626.9

 
$
3,470.3

Captive Reinsurers
$
1,726.7

 
$
1,672.3



As derived from the most recent annual statutory basis financial statements filed with insurance regulators, the statutory net income and statutory capital and surplus of our United Kingdom insurance subsidiary, Unum Limited, were £60.6 million and £441.5 million, respectively.

Risk‑based capital (RBC) standards for U.S. life insurance companies are prescribed by the NAIC. The domiciliary states of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries have all adopted a version of the RBC model formula of the NAIC, which prescribes a system for assessing the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus for all life and health insurers. The basis of the system is a risk-based formula that applies prescribed factors to the various risk elements in a life and health insurer's business to report a minimum capital requirement proportional to the amount of risk assumed by the insurer. The life and health RBC formula is designed to measure annually (i) the risk of loss from asset defaults and asset value fluctuations, (ii) the risk of loss from adverse mortality and morbidity experience, (iii) the risk of loss from mismatching of asset and liability cash flow due to changing interest rates, and (iv) business risks. The formula is used as an early warning tool to identify companies that are potentially inadequately capitalized. State insurance laws grant insurance regulators the authority to require various actions by, or take various actions against, insurers whose total adjusted capital does not meet or exceed certain RBC levels. The total adjusted capital of each of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries at December 31, 2016 is in excess of those RBC levels.

Restrictions under applicable state insurance laws limit the amount of dividends that can be paid to a parent company from its insurance subsidiaries in any 12-month period without prior approval by regulatory authorities. For life insurance companies domiciled in the U.S., that limitation generally equals, depending on the state of domicile, either ten percent of an insurer's statutory surplus with respect to policyholders as of the preceding year end or the statutory net gain from operations, excluding realized investment gains and losses, of the preceding year. The payment of dividends to a parent company from a life insurance subsidiary is generally further limited to the amount of unassigned funds.

Based on the restrictions under current law, $859.3 million is available, without prior approval by regulatory authorities, during 2017 for the payment of dividends to Unum Group from its traditional U.S. life insurance subsidiaries. The ability of our captive insurers to pay dividends to their respective parent companies will depend on their satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements and on the performance of the business reinsured.

We also have the ability to receive dividends from Unum Limited, subject to applicable insurance company regulations and capital guidance in the United Kingdom. As of January 1, 2016, Solvency II, a European Union directive that prescribes new capital requirements and risk management standards for the European insurance industry, replaced the previous capital requirements for Unum Limited.  There was no material change to capital requirements or to solvency ratios.  We have £271.0 million available for the payment of dividends from Unum Limited during 2017, subject to regulatory approval.

Deposits

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, our U.S. insurance subsidiaries had on deposit with U.S. regulatory authorities securities with a book value of $194.9 million and $284.1 million, respectively, held for the protection of policyholders.