Commitments Contingencies and Guarantees (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

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, 2017 and 2016 are presented in the following table (dollars in thousands):

	2017		2016
Limited partnership interests and joint ventures	$	485,197	$	332,169
Commercial mortgage loans	40,815		126,248
Bank loans and private placements	60,472		58,318
Equity release mortgages	153,937		130,324

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

Future minimum office space annual rentals under non-cancelable operating leases at December 31, 2017 are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Operating Leases
2018	$	11,157
2019	7,108
2020	4,879
2021	3,076
2022	2,421
Thereafter	9,466

Other Commitments [Table Text Block]

The following table presents the maximum potential obligation for these commitments as of December 31, 2017 (dollars in millions):

Commitment Period	Maximum Potential Obligation
2023	$	500.0
2033	450.0
2034	2,000.0
2035	1,314.2
2036	2,932.0
2037	5,750.0

Schedule of Guarantor Obligations [Table Text Block]

RGA’s guarantees issued as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 are reflected in the following table (dollars in thousands):

	2017		2016
Treaty guarantees	$	1,047,449	$	902,216
Treaty guarantees, net of assets in trust	926,393		780,786
Securities borrowing and repurchase arrangements	294,325		263,820
Financing arrangements	86,183		119,073
Lease obligations	1,662		2,428