The Company’s accounting policy is to not offset fair value amounts recognized for derivatives and collateral arrangements executed with the same counterparty under the same master netting arrangement. Changes in fair value are recognized in current period earnings for derivative instruments that do not qualify for hedge accounting or are not designated as accounting hedges.
Dividends paid and received by RiverSource Life Insurance Company were as follows:
As mentioned above, most of the proceeds received from IUL insurance are invested in fixed income securities with the return on those investments intended to fund the purchase of call spreads. There are two risks relating to interest rates. First, the Company has the risk that investment returns are such that it does not have enough investment income to purchase the needed call spreads. Second, in the event the policy is surrendered, the Company pays out a book value surrender amount and there is a risk that it will incur a loss upon having to sell the fixed income securities backing the liability (if interest rates have risen).This risk is not currently hedged.
The Company cautions the reader that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. There may also be other risks that the Company is unable to predict at this time that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
The Company’s principal products are variable deferred annuities and variable and fixed universal life insurance, including indexed universal life (“IUL”), which are issued primarily to individuals. Waiver of premium and accidental death benefit riders are generally available with the universal life products in addition to other benefit riders. Variable annuity contract purchasers can choose to add optional benefit provisions to their contracts, such as guaranteed minimum death benefit (“GMDB”), guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit (“GMWB”) and guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit (“GMAB”) provisions.
The Company’s syndicated loan portfolio is diversified across industries and issuers. The primary credit indicator for syndicated loans is whether the loans are performing in accordance with the contractual terms of the syndication. Total nonperforming syndicated loans at both December 31, 2014 and 2013 were $3 million.
The Company’s adjustment for nonperformance risk resulted in a $311 million cumulative decrease to the embedded derivatives.
In addition, dividends or distributions, whose fair market value, together with that of other dividends or distributions made within the preceding 12 months, exceeds the greater of the previous year’s statutory net gain from operations or 10% of the previous year-end statutory capital and surplus are referred to as “extraordinary dividends.” Extraordinary dividends also require advance notice to the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and are subject to potential disapproval. Statutory capital and surplus was $3.3 billion and $2.7 billion at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.
The following table presents a rollforward of unrealized derivative losses related to cash flow hedges included in AOCI: