The Company is subject to legal and regulatory actions in the ordinary course of their businesses, which may include class action lawsuits. Pending legal and regulatory actions include proceedings relating to aspects of the businesses and operations that are specific to the Company and that are typical of the businesses in which the Company operates. Class action and individual lawsuits may involve a variety of issues and/or allegations, which include sales practices, underwriting practices, claims payment and procedures, premium charges, policy servicing and breach of fiduciary duties to customers. We may also be subject to litigation arising out of our general business activities, such as our investments and third party contracts. In certain of these matters, the plaintiffs may seek large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages.
The Company has received formal requests for information relating to its variable annuity business and unregistered separate accounts from regulators, including, among others, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the State of New York Attorney General’s office. The Company is cooperating with all such inquiries.
The Company’s litigation is subject to many uncertainties, and given the complexity and scope, the outcomes cannot be predicted. It is possible that the results of operations or the cash flow of the Company in a particular quarterly or annual period could be materially affected by an ultimate unfavorable resolution of litigation and regulatory matters. Management believes, however, that the ultimate outcome of all pending litigation and regulatory matters should not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position.
The Company has extensive transactions and relationships with Prudential Insurance and other affiliates. It is possible that the terms of these transactions are not the same as those that would result from transactions among wholly unrelated parties.
Many of the Company’s expenses are allocations or charges from Prudential Insurance or other affiliates. These expenses can be grouped into general and administrative expenses and agency distribution expenses.
The Company’s general and administrative expenses are charged to the Company using allocation methodologies based on business processes. Management believes that the methodology is reasonable and reflects costs incurred by Prudential Insurance to process transactions on behalf of the Company. The Company operates under service and lease agreements whereby services of officers and employees, supplies, use of equipment and office space are provided by Prudential Insurance. Beginning in 2003, general and administrative expenses also includes allocations of stock compensation expenses related to a stock option program and a deferred compensation program issued by Prudential Financial.
The Company is charged distribution expenses from Prudential Insurance’s agency network for both its domestic life and annuity products through a transfer pricing agreement, which is intended to reflect a market based pricing arrangement.
In accordance with a revenue sharing agreement with Prudential Investments LLC, which began on February 1, 2002, the Company receives fee income from policyholders’ account balances invested in the Prudential Series Funds (“PSF”). These revenues are recorded as “Asset management fees” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.
The Company has sold four Corporate Owned Life Insurance or, “COLI,” policies to Prudential Insurance. The cash surrender value included in separate accounts for the COLI policies was $1.101 billion and $1.018 billion at December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003, respectively. Fees related to the COLI policies were $13 million, $12 million and $21 million for the years ending December 31, 2004, 2003, and 2002.
Pruco Life Insurance Company and Subsidiaries |
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements |
|
13. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (continued)
Reinsurance with affiliates
Pruco Reinsurance Ltd reinsurance agreement
During September 2003, the Company implemented an agreement to reinsure its term life insurance policies with an affiliated company, Pruco Reinsurance Ltd. or, “Pruco Re.” The Company reinsured with Pruco Re a significant portion of the risks under such policies through an automatic and facultative coinsurance agreement. This Agreement covered all significant risks under the policies reinsured. The Company is not relieved of its primary obligation to the policyholder as a result of these reinsurance transactions. This coinsurance agreement replaced the yearly renewable term agreements with external reinsurers that were previously in effect on this block of business. The initial cost of this transaction of $8 million was deferred and would be amortized over the life of the underlying insurance policies; $1 million was amortized in 2003 less than $1 million in 2004 and was recorded in other income. Reinsurance recoverables related to this transaction were $29 million at December 31, 2003, including the unamortized portion of the initial cost of $7 million. Premiums and benefits ceded in 2003 were $31 million and $7 million, respectively.
During September 2004, this transaction was recaptured by the Company and replaced with a new coinsurance with PARCC, described in more detail below. Premiums ceded in 2004 were $58 million prior to the recapture.
PARCC
In September 2004, the Company entered into an agreement to reinsure its term life insurance policies with an affiliated company, PARCC. The Company reinsures with PARCC 90 percent of the risks under such policies through an automatic and facultative coinsurance agreement. The Company is not relieved of its primary obligation to the policyholder as a result of these reinsurance transactions.
Concurrent with implementing this new agreement, the Company recaptured the policies previously reinsured under a coinsurance treaty with an affiliated offshore captive company, Pruco Re Ltd. The agreement had covered all term policies written on or after October 1, 2002.
The coinsurance agreement with PARCC also replaces the yearly renewable term agreements with external reinsurers that were previously in effect on this block of business. There was no net cost associated with the initial transaction and initial transactions. Reinsurance recoverables related to this transaction were $226 million as of December 31, 2004. Premiums and benefits ceded in 2004 were $102 million and $52 million, respectively.
Prudential Insurance
In December 2004, the Company recaptured the excess of loss reinsurance agreement with Prudential Insurance and replaced it with a revised agreement to reinsure all risks, not otherwise reinsured. Reinsurance recoverables related to this agreement were $47 million as of December 31, 2004. The Company is not relieved of its primary obligation to the policyholder as a result of these reinsurance transactions.
Other affiliated reinsurance agreements
In addition, the Company currently has two other reinsurance agreements in place with Prudential Insurance and affiliates. Specifically, the Company has a reinsurance Group Annuity Contract, whereby the reinsurer, in consideration for a single premium payment by the Company, provides reinsurance equal to 100% of all payments due under the contract. In addition, there are two yearly renewable term agreements in which the Company may offer and the reinsurer may accept reinsurance on any life in excess of the Company’s maximum limit of retention. The Company is not relieved of its primary obligation to the policyholder as a result of these reinsurance transactions.
Affiliated premiums and policy charges ceded from domestic life reinsurance agreements for the periods ended December 31, 2004, 2003, and 2002 were $--13 million, $12 million, and $11 million respectively. Affiliated benefits ceded for the periods ended December 31, 2004, 2003, and 2002 from domestic life reinsurance agreements are $21 million, $38 million, and $33 million.
Group annuities affiliated benefits ceded were $2 million in 2004, $3 million in 2003, and $3 million in 2002.
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Pruco Life Insurance Company and Subsidiaries |
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements |
|
13. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (continued)
Taiwan branch reinsurance agreement
On January 31, 2001, the Company transferred all of its assets and liabilities associated with the Company’s Taiwan branch including Taiwan’s insurance book of business to an affiliated Company, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc. (“Prudential of Taiwan”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial.
The mechanism used to transfer this block of business in Taiwan is referred to as a “full acquisition and assumption” transaction. Under this mechanism, the Company is jointly liable with Prudential of Taiwan for two years from the giving of notice to all obligees for all matured obligations and for two years after the maturity date of not-yet-matured obligations. Prudential of Taiwan is also contractually liable, under indemnification provisions of the transaction, for any liabilities that may be asserted against the Company. The transfer of the insurance related assets and liabilities was accounted for as a long-duration coinsurance transaction under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Under this accounting treatment, the insurance related liabilities remain on the books of the Company and an offsetting reinsurance recoverable is established.
As part of this transaction, the Company made a capital contribution to Prudential of Taiwan in the amount of the net equity of the Company’s Taiwan branch as of the date of transfer. In July 2001, the Company dividended its interest in Prudential of Taiwan to Prudential Financial.
Affiliated premiums ceded for the periods ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 from the Taiwan coinsurance agreement were $85 million, $84 million and $80 million, respectively. Affiliated benefits ceded for the periods ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002; from the Taiwan coinsurance agreement were $12 million, $13 million and $14 million, respectively.
Included in the total reinsurance recoverable balances for both domestic (including PARCC and Pruco Re) and Taiwan agreements were affiliated reinsurance recoverables of $752 million and $455 million at December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003, respectively. Of these affiliated amounts, the reinsurance recoverable related to the Taiwan coinsurance agreement was $467 million and $376 million at December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003, respectively.
Purchase of fixed maturities from an affiliate
During 2003, the Company invested $112 million in the preferred stock of two Delaware corporations (the “DE Subs”), which were created to acquire municipal fixed maturity investments from an affiliate of the Company. The DE Subs are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Prudential Financial, Inc., the Company’s ultimate parent company, owns a nominal common stock investment in each of the DE Subs.
The DE Subs purchased municipal fixed maturity investments for $112 million, the acquisition-date fair value, but reflected the investments at historic amortized cost of the affiliate. The difference between the historic amortized cost and the fair value, net of taxes was reflected as a reduction to paid-in-capital. The fixed maturity investments are categorized in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet as available-for-sale debt securities, and are therefore carried at fair value, with the difference between amortized cost and fair value reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income.
In addition, the Company also purchased corporate fixed maturities with a fair value of $52 million from the same affiliate. These investments were reflected in the same manner as is described above, with the difference between the historic amortized cost and the fair value, net of taxes reflected as a reduction of paid-in-capital with an offsetting increase to accumulated other comprehensive income. The difference between the historic amortized cost and the fair value, net of taxes for both the municipal securities and the corporate securities was $8 million.
During 2004, the Company invested an additional $110 million in fixed maturities owned by Prudential Insurance, but reflected these investments at amortized cost of $99 million. The Company also sold $31 million of fixed maturities securities, recorded at an amortized cost of $29 million, to PARCC. The net difference between the historic amortized cost and the fair value, net of taxes for both of these transactions was $5 million and was recorded as a decrease to paid in capital as described above.
Debt Agreements
The Company has a revolving line of credit facility of up to $800 million with Prudential Funding, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Insurance. The total of asset-based financing and borrowing under this credit facility cannot be more than $800 million. As of December 31, 2004 and 2003, there was $456 million and $529 million, respectively, of asset-based financing. There was no debt outstanding to Prudential Funding, LLC as of December 31, 2004 or 2003.
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Pruco Life Insurance Company and Subsidiaries |
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements |
|
14. QUARTERLY RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)
The unaudited quarterly results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 are summarized in the table below:
| | Three months ended (in thousands) | |
| |
| |
| | March 31 | | June 30 | | September 30 | | December 31 | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | (restated) | |
2004 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Total revenues | | $ | 287,928 | | $ | 280,195 | | $ | 275,712 | | $ | 286,297 | |
Total benefits and expenses | | | 248,012 | | | 259,261 | | | 245,464 | | | 231,906 | |
Income from operations before income taxes before | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Cumulative effect of accounting change | | | 39,916 | | | 20,934 | | | 30,248 | | | 54,391 | |
Net income | | | 22,389 | | | 18,672 | | | 28,989 | | | 43,411 | |
2003 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Total revenues | | $ | 257,396 | | $ | 275,715 | | $ | 274,742 | | $ | 269,116 | |
Total benefits and expenses | | | 234,240 | | | 247,437 | | | 245,744 | | | 230,566 | |
Income from operations before income taxes before | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Cumulative effect of accounting change | | | 23,156 | | | 28,278 | | | 28,998 | | | 38,550 | |
Net income | | | 18,712 | | | 21,805 | | | 19,171 | | | 25,245 | |
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