9. Reinsurance

The following summarizes reinsurance amounts (in millions) recorded on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss), excluding amounts attributable to the indemnity reinsurance transaction with Swiss Re:



	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Direct insurance premiums and fee income	$	9,529		$	9,064		$	8,023
Reinsurance assumed		73			7			8
Reinsurance ceded		(1,311	)		(1,410	)		(1,275	)
Total insurance premiums and fee income	$	8,291		$	7,661		$	6,756

Direct insurance benefits	$	6,420		$	6,127		$	5,487
Reinsurance recoveries netted against benefits		(1,376	)		(1,448	)		(1,625	)
Total benefits	$	5,044		$	4,679		$	3,862

Our insurance companies cede insurance to other companies. The portion of our life insurance and annuity risks exceeding each of our insurance companies’ retention limit is reinsured with other insurers. We seek reinsurance coverage to limit our exposure to mortality losses and to enhance our capital management.

As of December 31, 2015, our policy for our reinsurance program was to retain no more than $20 million on a single insured life. We reinsure approximately 25% of the mortality risk on newly issued life insurance contracts. As of December 31, 2015, approximately 43% of our total individual life in-force amount is reinsured. Portions of our deferred annuity business have been reinsured on a Modco basis with other companies to limit our exposure to interest rate risks. As of December 31, 2015, the reserves associated with these reinsurance arrangements totaled $617 million.

We focus on obtaining reinsurance from a diverse group of reinsurers, and we monitor concentration as well as financial strength ratings of our reinsurers. Our amounts recoverable from reinsurers represent receivables from and reserves ceded to reinsurers. The amounts recoverable from reinsurers were $5.6 billion and $5.7 billion as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Our reinsurance operations were acquired by Swiss Re in December 2001 through a series of indemnity reinsurance transactions. As such, Swiss Re reinsured certain of our liabilities and obligations under the indemnity reinsurance agreements and thereby represents our largest reinsurance exposure. As we are not relieved of our liability to the ceding companies for this business, the liabilities and obligations associated with the reinsured policies remain on our Consolidated Balance Sheets with a corresponding reinsurance receivable from Swiss Re, which totaled $2.4 billion and $2.5 billion as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Swiss Re has funded a trust, with a balance of $2.6 billion as of December 31, 2015, to support this business. In addition to various remedies that we would have in the event of a default by Swiss Re, we continue to hold assets in support of certain of the transferred reserves. These assets consist of those reported as trading securities and certain mortgage loans. Our liabilities for funds withheld and embedded derivatives as of December 31, 2015, included $634 million and $79 million, respectively, related to the business sold to Swiss Re.

We recorded the gain related to the indemnity reinsurance transactions with Swiss Re as a deferred gain on business sold through reinsurance on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The deferred gain is being amortized into income at the rate that earnings on the reinsured business are expected to emerge, over a period of 15 years from the date of sale. We amortized $48 million, after-tax, of deferred gain on business sold through reinsurance during each of 2015, 2014 and 2013.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, we entered into an agreement to recapture certain traditional and interest sensitive business under several yearly renewable term reinsurance treaties that were originally ceded to a reinsurer. As part of this agreement, we received cash consideration of $500 million, of which $78 million represented reimbursement for prepaid reinsurance premiums related to the recaptured treaties. We recognized a one-time gain of $57 million, after-tax, related to this recapture with the remaining difference between the proceeds and the gain being driven primarily by increases in reserves of $226 million and a reduction of DAC of $123 million.