Policyholders' Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Liability for Future Policy Benefit, before Reinsurance [Abstract]

Policyholders' Liabilities

POLICYHOLDERS’ LIABILITIES

Future Policy Benefits

Future policy benefits at December 31 for the years indicated are as follows:

	2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Life insurance – domestic	$	14,522,350	$	11,831,419
Life insurance – Taiwan	1,493,716		1,408,598
Individual and group annuities and supplementary contracts	677,266		609,457
Other contract liabilities	8,565,341		5,626,920
Total future policy benefits	$	25,258,673	$	19,476,394

Life insurance liabilities include reserves for death benefits. Individual and group annuities and supplementary contract liabilities include reserves for life contingent immediate annuities and life contingent group annuities. Other contract liabilities include unearned premiums and certain other reserves for annuities and individual life products.

Future policy benefits for domestic and Taiwanese individual non-participating traditional life insurance policies are generally equal to the present value of future benefit payments and related expenses, less the present value of future net premiums. Assumptions as to mortality, morbidity and persistency are based on the Company’s experience, industry data, and/or other factors, when the basis of the reserve is established. Interest rates used in the determination of the present values range from 1.7% to 7.8% for setting domestic insurance reserves and 6.2% to 7.4% for setting Taiwanese reserves.

Future policy benefits for individual and group annuities and supplementary contracts with life contingencies are generally equal to the present value of expected future payments. Assumptions as to mortality are based on the Company’s experience, industry data, and/or other factors, when the basis of the reserve is established. The interest rates used in the determination of the present values generally range from 0.0% to 14.8%, with less than 0.4% of the reserves based on an interest rate in excess of 8.0%.

The Company’s liability for future policy benefits are primarily liabilities for guaranteed benefits related to certain long-duration life and annuity contracts. Liabilities for guaranteed benefits with embedded derivative features are primarily in "Other contract liabilities" in the table above. The remaining liabilities for guaranteed benefits are primarily reflected with the underlying contract. The interest rates used in the determination of the present values range from 1.9% to 3.3%. See Note 8 for additional information regarding liabilities for guaranteed benefits related to certain long-duration life and annuity contracts.

Policyholders’ Account Balances

Policyholders’ account balances at December 31 for the years indicated are as follows: 

	2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Interest-sensitive life contracts	$	17,793,669	$	17,167,713
Individual annuities	3,613,971		3,444,327
Guaranteed interest accounts	207,038		240,886
Other	1,264,145		1,206,766
Total policyholders’ account balances	$	22,878,823	$	22,059,692

Policyholders’ account balances represent an accumulation of account deposits plus credited interest less withdrawals, expenses and mortality charges, if applicable. These policyholders’ account balances also include provisions for benefits under non-life contingent payout annuities. Interest crediting rates range from 1.9% to 4.6% for interest-sensitive life contracts. Interest crediting rates for individual annuities range from 0.0% to 6.3%. Interest crediting rates for guaranteed interest accounts range from 1.0% to 4.1%. Interest crediting rates range from 0.5% to 8.0% for other.