Commitments Contingencies and Guarantees (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Fair Value, Off-balance Sheet Risks [Table Text Block]

The Company’s commitments to fund investments as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 are presented in the following table (dollars in thousands):

	2016		2015
Limited partnerships and real estate joint ventures	$	332,169	$	263,163
Commercial mortgage loans	126,248		86,325
Bank loans	58,318		48,686
Equity release mortgages	130,324		8,504

Schedule of Future Minimum Rental Payments for Operating Leases [Table Text Block]

Future minimum office space annual rentals under non-cancelable operating leases along with associated sublease income at December 31, 2016 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Operating Leases		Sublease Income
2017	$	11,297	$	119
2018	10,250		—
2019	6,389		—
2020	4,317		—
2021	2,473		—
Thereafter	11,008		—

Other Commitments [Table Text Block]

The following table presents the maximum potential obligation for these commitments as of December 31, 2016 (dollars in millions):

Commitment Period	Maximum Potential Obligation
2023	$	500.0
2033	950.0
2034	3,000.0
2035	1,314.2
2036	1,432.0

Schedule of Guarantor Obligations [Table Text Block]

RGA’s guarantees issued as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 are reflected in the following table (dollars in thousands):

	2016		2015
Treaty guarantees	$	902,216	$	765,505
Treaty guarantees, net of assets in trust	780,786		634,909
Borrowed securities	263,820		259,540
Financing arrangements	119,073		100,000
Lease obligations	2,428		5,217