Policyholders' Liabilities

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

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:

	2021		2020
	(in thousands)
Life insurance – domestic	$	18,095,368	$	17,167,209
Life insurance – Taiwan	0		1,642,747
Individual annuities and supplementary contracts	740,941		810,989
Other contract liabilities	9,090,720		13,268,236
Total future policy benefits	$	27,927,029	$	32,889,181

Life insurance liabilities include reserves for death benefits. Individual annuities and supplementary contract liabilities include reserves for life contingent immediate annuities and guaranteed minimum death benefits. Other contract liabilities include liabilities for variable annuity living benefit guarantees and certain other reserves for annuities and individual life products.

Future policy benefits for 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 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%.

Future policy benefits for individual 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 range from 1.7% to 14.8%; less than 0.3% of the reserves based on an interest rate in excess of 8%.

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 interest rates used in the determination of the present values range from 0.6% to 2.9%. The remaining liabilities for guaranteed benefits are primarily reflected with the underlying contract. 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: 

	2021		2020
	(in thousands)
Interest-sensitive life contracts	$	19,729,444	$	18,638,033
Individual annuities(1)	14,150,233		3,637,196
Guaranteed interest accounts	125,249		154,284
Other	1,356,869		1,428,061
Total policyholders’ account balances	$	35,361,795	$	23,857,574

(1) 2021 amount includes assumed business from PALAC.

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 and certain unearned revenues. Policyholders' account balances also include amounts representing the fair value of embedded derivative instruments associated with the index-linked features of certain universal life and annuity products. See Note 5 for additional information on the fair value of these embedded derivative instruments. Interest crediting rates for interest-sensitive life contracts range from 0.8% to 4.6%. 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 10.0%. Interest crediting rates for other range from 0.5% to 5.4%.