PRUCO LIFE INSURANCE OF NEW JERSEY – 10-Q – Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations ("MD&A") addresses the financial condition of
Company of New Jersey
condition and results of operations in conjunction with the MD&A, the "Risk
Factors" section, and the audited Financial Statements included in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
statements under "Forward-Looking Statements", and the Unaudited Interim
Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Overview
The Company is licensed to sell variable annuities, universal life insurance,
variable life insurance and term life insurance in
Company only sells such products in
unaffiliated distributors. As of
sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders.
Annually during the second quarter of each year, we perform a comprehensive
review of actuarial assumptions. As part of this review, we may update these
assumptions and make refinements to our models based upon emerging experience,
future expectations and other data, including any observable market data. For
additional information, see "Accounting Policies & Pronouncements-Application of
Critical Accounting Estimates" below as well as the Company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended
COVID-19
Since the first quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused extreme stress
and disruption in the global economy and financial markets and elevated
mortality and morbidity for the global population. The COVID-19 pandemic
impacted our results of operations in the current period and is expected to
impact our results of operations in future periods. The Company has taken
several measures to manage the impacts of this crisis. The actual and expected
impacts of these events and other items are included in the following update:
•Outlook. We expect COVID-19 to continue to contribute in the near term to
elevated levels of mortality, resulting in increased life insurance claims.
•Results of Operations. See "Results of Operations" for a discussion of results
for the first quarter of 2022.
•Risk Factors. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our results of
operations, financial position, investment portfolio, new business opportunities
and operations, and these impacts are expected to continue. For additional
information on the risks to our business posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, see
"Risk Factors" included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended
•Business Continuity. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been executing
Prudential Financial Inc.'s ("Prudential Financial") and our business continuity
protocols to ensure employees are safe and able to serve our customers. This
included effectively transitioning the vast majority of employees to remote work
arrangements. In
employees and we expect that most of the workforce will adopt a hybrid
arrangement for the foreseeable future.
We believe we can sustain long-term hybrid or fully remote work arrangements
while ensuring that critical business operations are sustained. In addition, we
are managing COVID-19 related impacts on third-party provided services, and do
not anticipate significant interruption in critical operations.
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Impact of a Low Interest Rate Environment
As a financial services company, market interest rates are a key driver of our
results of operations and financial condition. Changes in interest rates can
affect our results of operations and/or our financial condition in several ways,
including favorable or adverse impacts to:
•investment-related activity, including: investment income returns, net interest
margins, net investment spread results, new money rates, mortgage loan
prepayments and bond redemptions;
•hedging costs and other risk mitigation activities;
•insurance reserve levels, amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs
("DAC") and market experience true-ups;
•customer account values, including their impact on fee income;
•product offerings, design features, crediting rates and sales mix; and
•policyholder behavior, including surrender or withdrawal activity.
For more information on interest rate risks, see "Risk Factors-Market Risk"
included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
Revenues and Expenses
The Company earns revenues principally from insurance premiums, mortality and
expense fees, asset administration fees from insurance and investment products,
and from net investment income on the investment of general account and other
funds. The Company receives premiums primarily from the sale of individual life
insurance and annuity products. The Company earns mortality and expense fees,
and asset administration fees, primarily from the sale and servicing of
universal life insurance and separate account products including variable life
insurance and variable annuities. The Company's operating expenses principally
consist of insurance benefits provided and reserves established for anticipated
future insurance benefits, general business expenses, reinsurance premiums,
commissions and other costs of selling and servicing the various products sold
and interest credited on general account liabilities.
Accounting Policies & Pronouncements
Application of Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with
the application of accounting policies that often involve a significant degree
of judgment. Management, on an ongoing basis, reviews estimates and assumptions
used in the preparation of financial statements. If management determines that
modifications in assumptions and estimates are appropriate given current facts
and circumstances, the Company's results of operations and financial position as
reported in the Unaudited Interim Financial Statements could change
significantly.
Management believes the accounting policies relating to the following areas are
most dependent on the application of estimates and assumptions and require
management's most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments:
•DAC and other costs, including deferred sales inducements ("DSI");
•Policyholder liabilities;
•Valuation of investments, including derivatives, measurement of allowance for
credit losses, and recognition of other-than-temporary impairments;
•Reinsurance recoverables;
•Taxes on income; and
•Reserves for contingencies, including reserves for losses in connection with
unresolved legal matters.
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Market Performance - Equity and Interest Rate Assumptions
DAC and other costs associated with the variable and universal life policies and
the variable and fixed annuity contracts are generally amortized over the
expected lives of these policies in proportion to total gross profits. Total
gross profits include both actual gross profits and estimates of gross profits
for future periods. The quarterly adjustments for market performance reflect the
impact of changes to our estimate of total gross profits to reflect actual fund
performance and market conditions. A significant portion of gross profits for
our variable annuity contracts and, to a lesser degree, our variable life
contracts are dependent upon the total rate of return on assets held in separate
account investment options. This rate of return influences the fees we earn on
variable annuity and variable life contracts, costs we incur associated with the
guaranteed minimum death and guaranteed minimum income benefit features related
to our variable annuity contracts and expected claims to be paid on variable
life contracts, as well as other sources of profit. Returns that are higher than
our expectations for a given period produce higher than expected account
balances, which increase the future fees we expect to earn on variable annuity
and variable life contracts and decrease the future costs we expect to incur
associated with the guaranteed minimum death and guaranteed minimum income
benefit features related to our variable annuity contracts and expected claims
to be paid on variable life contracts. The opposite occurs when returns are
lower than our expectations. The changes in future expected gross profits are
used to recognize a cumulative adjustment to all prior periods' amortization.
Furthermore, the calculation of the estimated liability for future policy
benefits related to certain insurance products includes an estimate of
associated revenues and expenses that are dependent on both historical market
performance as well as estimates of market performance in the future. Similar to
DAC and other costs described above, these liabilities are subject to quarterly
adjustments for experience including market performance, in addition to annual
adjustments resulting from our annual reviews of assumptions.
The weighted average rate of return assumptions used in developing estimated
market returns consider many factors specific to each product type, including
asset durations, asset allocations and other factors. With regard to equity
market assumptions, the near-term future rate of return assumption used in
evaluating DAC, other costs and liabilities for future policy benefits for
certain of our products, primarily our domestic variable annuity and variable
life insurance products, is generally updated each quarter and is derived using
a reversion to the mean approach, a common industry practice. Under this
approach, we consider historical equity returns and adjust projected equity
returns over an initial future period of five years (the "near-term") so that
equity returns converge to the long-term expected rate of return. If the
near-term projected future rate of return is greater than our near-term maximum
future rate of return of 15.0%, we use our maximum future rate of return. If the
near-term projected future rate of return is lower than our near-term minimum
future rate of return of 0%, we use our minimum future rate of return. As of
assume an 8.0% long-term equity expected rate of return and a 0.9% near-term
mean reversion equity expected rate of return.
With regard to interest rate assumptions used in evaluating DAC, DSI and
liabilities for future policy benefits for certain of our products, we generally
update the long-term and near-term future rates used to project fixed income
returns annually and quarterly, respectively. As a result of our 2021 annual
reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, we kept our long-term
expectation of the 10-year
a rate of 3.25% over ten years. As part of our quarterly market experience
updates, we update our near-term projections of interest rates to reflect
changes in current rates.
In accordance with our established practice, we will update actuarial
assumptions during the second quarter of 2022. We have a comprehensive process
that will include, among other things, the review of long-term interest rates,
inflation, COVID-19 mortality experience, and industry studies, including
evaluating industry data as to its applicability to the Company's experience. We
have recently obtained industry data that reflects experience that is more
adverse than the assumptions we currently use in our individual life business.
We are evaluating the applicability of this information to our block of business
and the extent to which it would cause an increase in reserves and corresponding
decline in earnings within our individual life business. The overall process to
update assumptions is ongoing and the outcome across our businesses is
uncertain.
For further discussion of impacts that could result from changes in certain key
assumptions, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations-Accounting Policies and Pronouncements-Application of
Critical Accounting Estimates" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended
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Future Adoption of New Accounting Pronouncements
ASU 2018-12, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements
to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, was issued by the
Accounting Standards Board
2019-09, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Effective Date, issued in
Effective Date and Early Application, issued in
adopt ASU 2018-12 effective
transition method where permitted, and apply the guidance as of
(and record transition adjustments as of
statements.
ASU 2018-12 will impact, at least to some extent, the accounting and disclosure
requirements for all long-duration insurance and investment contracts issued by
the Company. The Company expects the standard to have a significant financial
impact on the Financial Statements and will significantly enhance disclosures.
In addition to the significant impacts to the balance sheet upon adoption, the
Company also expects an impact to the pattern of earnings emergence following
the transition date. See Note 2 to the Unaudited Interim Financial Statements
for a more detailed discussion of ASU 2018-12, as well as other accounting
pronouncements issued but not yet adopted and newly adopted accounting
pronouncements.
Changes in Financial Position
Total assets decreased
•Separate account assets decreased
equity market performance and net outflows; and
•Reinsurance recoverables decreased
variable annuity reinsured living benefit liabilities resulting from a decrease
in future expected benefit payments from rising interest rates.
Total liabilities decreased
to
•Separate account liabilities decreased
decrease in Separate account assets, as discussed above; and
•Future policy benefits decreased
reserves related to our variable annuity living benefit liabilities, as
discussed above.
Total equity decreased
million
maturity investments driven by rising interest rates reflected in Accumulated
other comprehensive income (loss), partially offset by
contributions and net income of
Results of Operations
Income (loss) from Operations before Income Taxes
Three Months Comparison
Income (loss) from operations before income taxes decreased
income of
million
•Lower Policy charges and fee income driven by an increase in unearned revenue
reserve capitalization due to growth from retained business;
partially offset by
•Higher Premiums from growth in term policies retained by the Company.
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Revenues, Benefits and Expenses
Three Months Comparison
Revenues decreased
31, 2021
driven by:
•Lower Policy charges and fee income driven by an increase in unearned revenue
reserve capitalization due to growth from retained business and a change in
presentation of ceded yearly renewable term ("YRT") premiums, offset in benefits
and expenses below;
partially offset by
•Higher Premiums from growth in term policies retained by the Company.
Benefits and expenses decreased
ended
•Lower Policyholders' benefits due to a change in presentation of ceded YRT
premiums, offsetting the impacts mentioned above to Revenues.
Risks and Risk Mitigants
Variable Annuity Risks and Risk Mitigants:
The primary risk exposures of our variable annuity contracts relate to actual
deviations from, or changes to, the assumptions used in the original pricing of
these products, including capital markets assumptions such as equity market
returns, interest rates and market volatility, along with actuarial assumptions
such as contractholder mortality, the timing and amount of annuitization and
withdrawals, and contract lapses. For these risk exposures, achievement of our
expected returns is subject to the risk that actual experience will differ from
the assumptions used in the original pricing of these products. Prudential
Financial manages our exposure to certain risks driven by fluctuations in
capital markets primarily through a combination of Product Design Features and
an Asset Liability Management Strategy ("ALM"), as discussed below. Sales of
traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders were
discontinued as of
Product Design Features:
A portion of the variable annuity contracts that we offered include an asset
transfer feature. This feature is implemented at the contract level, and
transfers assets between certain variable investment sub-accounts selected by
the annuity contractholder and, depending on the benefit feature, a fixed-rate
account in the general account or a bond fund sub-account within the separate
account. The objective of the asset transfer feature is to reduce our exposure
to equity market risk and market volatility. The asset transfer feature
associated with highest daily living benefit products uses a designated bond
fund sub-account within the separate account. The transfers are based on a
static mathematical formula used with the particular benefit which considers a
number of factors, including, but not limited to, the impact of investment
performance on the contractholder's total account value. Other product design
features we utilize include, among others, asset allocation restrictions,
minimum issuance age requirements and certain limitations on the amount of
contractholder purchase payments, as well as a required minimum allocation to
our general account for certain of our products.
We continue to introduce products that diversify our risk profile and have
incorporated provisions in product design allowing frequent revisions of key
pricing elements for certain of our products. In addition, there is diversity in
our fee arrangements, as certain fees are primarily based on the benefit
guarantee amount, the contractholder account value and/or premiums, which helps
preserve certain revenue streams when market fluctuations cause account values
to decline.
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Asset Liability Management Strategy (including fixed income instruments and
derivatives):
We employ an ALM strategy that utilizes a combination of both traditional fixed
income instruments and derivatives to meet expected liabilities associated with
our variable annuity living benefit guarantees. The economic liability we manage
with this ALM strategy consists of expected living benefit claims under less
severe market conditions, which are managed using fixed income instruments,
derivatives, or a combination thereof, and potential living benefit claims
resulting from more severe market conditions, which are hedged using derivative
instruments. For our Prudential Defined Income variable annuity, we utilize
fixed income instruments to meet expected liabilities. For the portion of our
ALM strategy executed with derivatives, we enter into a range of exchange-traded
and over-the-counter equity, interest rate and credit derivatives, including,
but not limited to: equity and treasury futures; total return, credit default
and interest rate swaps; and options including equity options, swaptions, and
floors and caps. The intent of this strategy is to more efficiently manage the
capital and liquidity associated with these products while continuing to
mitigate fluctuations in net income due to movements in capital markets. To
achieve this, we periodically review and recalibrate the ALM strategy by
optimizing the mix of derivatives and fixed income instruments to achieve
expected outcomes.
Income Taxes
For information regarding income taxes, see Note 7 to the Unaudited Interim
Financial Statements.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview
Liquidity refers to the ability to generate sufficient cash resources to meet
the payment obligations of the Company. Capital refers to the long-term
financial resources available to support the operations of our business, fund
business growth, and provide a cushion to withstand adverse circumstances. Our
ability to generate and maintain sufficient liquidity and capital depends on the
profitability of our business, general economic conditions, our ability to
borrow from affiliates and our access to the capital markets through affiliates
as described herein.
Effective and prudent liquidity and capital management is a priority across the
organization. Management monitors the liquidity of the Company on a daily basis
and projects borrowing and capital needs over a multi-year time horizon. We use
a Risk Appetite Framework ("RAF") to ensure that all risks taken by the Company
aligns with our capacity and willingness to take those risks. The RAF provides a
dynamic assessment of capital and liquidity stress impacts, including scenarios
similar to, and more severe than, those occurring due to COVID-19, and is
intended to ensure that sufficient resources are available to absorb those
impacts. We believe that our capital and liquidity resources are sufficient to
satisfy the capital and liquidity requirements of the Company.
Our businesses are subject to comprehensive regulation and supervision by
domestic and international regulators. These regulations currently include
requirements (many of which are the subject of ongoing rule-making) relating to
capital, leverage, liquidity, stress-testing, overall risk management, credit
exposure reporting and credit concentration. For information on these regulatory
initiatives and their potential impact on us, see "Business-Regulation" and
"Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report of Form 10-K for the year ended
Capital
We manage the Company to regulatory capital levels consistent with our "AA"
ratings targets. We utilize the risk-based capital ("RBC") ratio as a primary
measure of capital adequacy. RBC is calculated based on statutory financial
statements and risk formulas consistent with the practices of the
Association of Insurance Commissioners
things, risks related to the type and quality of the invested assets,
insurance-related risks associated with an insurer's products and liabilities,
interest rate risks and general business risks. RBC ratio calculations are
intended to assist insurance regulators in measuring an insurer's solvency and
ability to pay future claims. The reporting of RBC measures is not intended for
the purpose of ranking any insurance company or for use in connection with any
marketing, advertising or promotional activities, but is available to the
public. The Company's capital levels substantially exceed the minimum level
required by applicable insurance regulations. Our regulatory capital levels may
be affected in the future by changes to the applicable regulations, proposals
for which are currently under consideration by both domestic and international
insurance regulators.
The regulatory capital level of the Company can be materially impacted by
interest rate and equity market fluctuations, changes in the values of
derivatives, the level of impairments recorded, and credit quality migration of
the investment portfolio, among other items. In addition, the reinsurance of
business or the recapture of business subject to reinsurance arrangements due to
defaults by, or credit quality migration affecting, the reinsurers or for other
reasons could negatively impact regulatory capital levels. The Company's
regulatory capital level is also affected by statutory accounting rules, which
are subject to change by each applicable insurance regulator.
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Captive Reinsurance Companies:
See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources-Capital-Affiliated Captive
Reinsurance Companies" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended
companies.
Liquidity
Our liquidity is managed to ensure stable, reliable and cost-effective sources
of cash flows to meet all of our obligations. Liquidity is provided by a variety
of sources, as described more fully below, including portfolios of liquid
assets. Our investment portfolios are integral to the overall liquidity of the
Company. We use a projection process for cash flows from operations to ensure
sufficient liquidity to meet projected cash outflows, including claims. The
impact of
subsidiary of
considered in the internal liquidity measures of the Company.
Liquidity is measured against internally-developed benchmarks that take into
account the characteristics of both the asset portfolio and the liabilities that
they support. We consider attributes of the various categories of liquid assets
(for example, type of asset and credit quality) in calculating internal
liquidity measures to evaluate our liquidity under various stress scenarios,
including company-specific and market-wide events. We continue to believe that
cash generated by ongoing operations and the liquidity profile of our assets
provide sufficient liquidity under reasonably foreseeable stress scenarios.
The principal sources of the Company's liquidity are premiums and certain
annuity considerations, investment and fee income, investment maturities, sales
of investments and internal borrowings. The principal uses of that liquidity
include benefits, claims, and payments to policyholders and contractholders in
connection with surrenders, withdrawals and net policy loan activity. Other uses
of liquidity include commissions, general and administrative expenses, purchases
of investments, the payment of dividends and returns of capital to the parent
company, hedging and reinsurance activity and payments in connection with
financing activities.
In managing liquidity, we consider the risk of policyholder and contractholder
withdrawals of funds earlier than our assumptions when selecting assets to
support these contractual obligations. We use surrender charges and other
contract provisions to mitigate the extent, timing and profitability impact of
withdrawals of funds by customers.
Liquid Assets
Liquid assets include cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments,
held-to-maturity and public equity securities. As of
million
equivalents was
of the fixed maturity investments in the Company's general account portfolios,
were rated high or highest quality based on NAIC or equivalent rating.
Term and Universal Life Reserve Financing
The Company uses affiliated captive reinsurance subsidiaries to finance the
portion of the statutory reserves required to be held under Regulation XXX and
Guideline AXXX that is considered to be non-economic. The financing arrangements
involve the reinsurance of term and universal life business to our affiliated
captive reinsurers and the issuance of surplus notes by those affiliated
captives that are treated as capital for statutory purposes. These surplus notes
are subordinated to policyholder obligations, and the payment of principal and
interest on the surplus notes can only be made with prior insurance regulatory
approval.
As of
into agreements with external counterparties providing for the issuance of up to
an aggregate of
reinsurers in return for the receipt of credit-linked notes ("Credit-Linked Note
Structures"), of which
compared to an aggregate issuance capacity of
million
affiliated captive receives in exchange for the surplus notes one or more
credit-linked notes issued by a special-purpose affiliate of the Company with an
aggregate principal amount equal to the surplus notes outstanding. The
affiliated captive holds the credit-linked notes as assets supporting Regulation
XXX or Guideline AXXX non-economic reserves, as applicable. For more information
on our Credit-Linked Note Structures, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operation-Liquidity and Capital
Resources-Financing Activities" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended
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As of
outstanding an aggregate of
financing Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX non-economic reserves, of which
approximately
approximately
of
affiliated captives had approximately
outstanding that were issued to affiliates.
The Company has introduced updated versions of its individual life products in
conjunction with the requirement to adopt principle-based reserving by
1, 2020
principle-based statutory reserve level without the need for reserve financing.
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Notes to Unaudited Interim Financial Statements-(Continued)
PRUCO LIFE INSURANCE CO – 10-Q – Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
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