Policyholders' Liabilities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
LiabilityForPolicyAndContractClaims[Abstract]  
Liability For Policy And Contract Claims Disclosure [Text Block]

5. POLICYHOLDERS' LIABILITIES

Future Policy Benefits

Future policy benefits at December 31, are as follows:

 

     2013  2012
           
     (in thousands)
Life insurance – domestic $ 5,768,262  $ 3,804,994
Life insurance – Taiwan   1,151,503    1,109,723
Individual and group annuities   320,451    338,505
Policy claims and other contract liabilities   (323,547)    1,443,591
Total future policy benefits $ 6,916,669  $ 6,696,813

Life insurance liabilities include reserves for death benefits and other policy benefits. Individual and Group annuity liabilities include reserves for annuities that are in payout status.

Future policy benefits for domestic and Taiwan individual non-participating traditional life insurance policies are generally equal to the aggregate of (1) the present value of future benefit payments and related expenses, less the present value of future net premiums, and (2) any premium deficiency reserves. Assumptions as to mortality and persistency are based on the Company's experience, and in certain instances, industry experience, when the basis of the reserve is established. Interest rates range from 2.50% to 8.25% for setting domestic insurance reserves and 6.18% to 7.43% for setting Taiwan reserves.

 

Future policy benefits for individual and group annuities and supplementary contracts are generally equal to the aggregate of (1) the present value of expected future payments, and (2) any premium deficiency reserves. 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 present values range from 0.00% to 14.75%, with approximately 1.78% of the reserves based on an interest rate in excess of 8.00%. The interest rate used in the determination of group annuities reserves is 14.75%.

Future policy benefits for other contract liabilities are generally equal to the present value of expected future payments based on the Company's experience. The interest rates used in the determination of the present values range from 0.39% to 5.01%.

The Company's liability for future policy benefits is also inclusive of liabilities for guaranteed benefits related to certain nontraditional long-duration life and annuity contracts. Liabilities for guaranteed benefits accounted for as embedded derivatives are primarily in other contract liabilities. The remaining liabilities for guaranteed benefits are primarily reflected with the underlying contract. See Note 7 for additional information regarding liabilities for guaranteed benefits related to certain nontraditional long-duration contracts.

 

Policyholders' Account Balances

Policyholders' account balances at December 31, are as follows:

 

     2013 2012
          
  (in thousands)
Interest-sensitive life contracts $ 11,456,129 $ 5,327,169
Individual annuities   1,624,523   1,736,810
Guaranteed interest accounts   450,738   820,502
Other   771,941   672,596
Total policyholders’ account balances $ 14,303,330 $ 8,557,077

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 0.42% to 4.60% for interest-sensitive contracts. Interest crediting rates for individual annuities may range from 0.00% to 9.00% with 0.00% of policyholders' account balances with interest crediting rates in excess of 8.00%. Interest crediting rates for guaranteed interest accounts range from 1.00% to 6.00%. Interest crediting rates range from 0.50% to 8.00% for other. Included in interest-sensitive life contracts at December 31, 2013, are $4.7 billion GUL business assumed from Prudential Insurance in connection with the acquisition of the Hartford life business.