Unum Group

Overview

Investment activities are an integral part of our business, and profitability is significantly affected by investment results. We segment our invested assets into portfolios that support our various product lines. Generally, our investment strategy for our portfolios is to match the effective asset cash flows and durations with related expected liability cash flows and durations to consistently meet the liability funding requirements of our businesses and to manage interest rate risk. We seek to earn investment income while assuming credit risk in a prudent and selective manner, subject to constraints of quality, liquidity, diversification, and regulatory considerations. Our overall investment philosophy is to invest in a portfolio of high quality assets that provide investment returns consistent with that assumed in the pricing of our insurance products. Assets are invested predominantly in fixed maturity securities.

We may redistribute investments among our different lines of business or sell selected securities and reinvest the proceeds, when necessary, to adjust the cash flow and/or duration of the asset portfolios to better match the cash flow and duration of the liability portfolios. Asset and liability portfolio modeling is updated on a quarterly basis and is used as part of the overall interest rate risk management strategy. Cash flows from the in-force asset and liability portfolios are projected at current interest rate levels and at levels reflecting an increase and a decrease in interest rates to obtain a range of projected cash flows under the different interest rate scenarios. These results enable us to assess the impact of projected changes in cash flows and duration resulting from potential changes in interest rates. Testing the asset and liability portfolios under various interest rate scenarios enables us to choose what we believe to be the most appropriate investment strategy, as well as to limit the risk of disadvantageous outcomes. Although we test the asset and liability portfolios under various interest rate scenarios as part of our modeling, the majority of our liabilities related to insurance contracts are not interest rate sensitive, and we therefore have minimal exposure to policy withdrawal risk. Our determination of investment strategy relies on long-term measures such as asset adequacy analysis and the relationship between the portfolio yields supporting our various product lines and the aggregate discount rate assumptions embedded in the reserves. We also use this analysis in determining hedging strategies and utilizing derivative financial instruments for managing interest rate risk and the risk related to matching duration for our assets and liabilities. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes.

Our investment portfolio is well diversified by type of investment and industry sector. We have established an investment strategy that we believe will provide for adequate cash flows from operations and allow us to hold our securities through periods where significant decreases in fair value occur. We believe our emphasis on risk management in our investment portfolio has positioned us well and generally reduced the volatility in our results.

Fixed Maturity Securities

The fair values and associated unrealized gains and losses of our fixed maturity securities portfolio, by industry classification, are as follows:

Fixed Maturity Securities - By Industry Classification

As of June 30, 2024

The following two tables show the length of time our investment-grade and below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities portfolios had been in a gross unrealized loss position as of June 30, 2024 and at the end of the prior four quarters. The relationships of the current fair value to amortized cost are not necessarily indicative of the fair value to amortized cost relationships for the securities throughout the entire time that the securities have been in an unrealized loss position nor are they necessarily indicative of the relatio nships after June 30, 2024. The increase in the net unrealized loss on fixed maturity securities during the second quarter of 2024 was due primarily to an increase in U.S. Treasury rates.

Unrealized Loss on Investment-Grade Fixed Maturity Securities

Length of Time in Unrealized Loss Position

Unrealized Loss on Below-Investment-Grade Fixed Maturity Securities

Length of Time in Unrealized Loss Position

As of June 30, 2024, we held 57 investment-grade fixed maturity securities with a gross unrealized loss of $10.0 million or greater as shown in the chart below.

At June 30, 2024, we held one below investment-grade fixed maturity security with a gross unrealized loss greater than $10.0 million. The security is a utilities company and had a fair value of $29.3 million and a gross unrealized loss of $16.0 million.

Unrealized losses on investment-grade fixed maturity securities principally relate to changes in interest rates or changes in market or sector credit spreads which occurred subsequent to the acquisition of the securities. Below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities are generally more likely to develop credit concerns than investment-grade securities. At June 30, 2024, the unrealized losses in our below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities were generally due to higher interest rates, credit spreads in certain industries or sectors and, to a lesser extent, credit concerns related to specific securities. For each specific security in an unrealized loss position, we believe that there are positive factors which mitigate credit concerns and that the securities for which we have not recorded a credit loss will recover in value. We have the ability and intent to continue to hold these securities to recovery of amortized cost less allowance for credit losses.

We had no individual net investment losses of $10.0 million or greater from credit losses or sales of fixed maturity securities during the first six months of 2024 or 2023.

As of June 30, 2024, the amortized cost net of allowance for credit losses and fair value of our below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities was$1,516.8 million and$1,437.8 million, respectively, and our below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities as a percentage of our total investment portfolio decreased to 3.2 percent at June 30, 2024 from 3.3 percent at December 31, 2023 on a fair value basis. Below-investment-grade securities are inherently riskier than investment-grade securities since the risk of default by the issuer, by definition and as exhibited by bond rating, is higher. Also, the secondary market for certain below-investment-grade issues can be highly illiquid. Additional downgrades may occur, but we do not anticipate any liquidity problems resulting from our investments in below-investment-grade securities, nor do we expect these investments to adversely affect our ability to hold our other investments to maturity.

Fixed Maturity Securities - Foreign Exposure

Our investments in issuers in foreign countries are chosen for specific portfolio management purposes, including asset and liability management and portfolio diversification across geographic lines and sectors to minimize non-market risks. In our approach to investing in fixed maturity securities, specific investments within approved countries and industry sectors are evaluated for their market position and specific strengths and potential weaknesses. For each security, we consider the political, legal, and financial environment of the sovereign entity in which an issuer is domiciled and operates. The country of domicile is based on consideration of the issuer's headquarters, in addition to location of the assets and the country in which the majority of sales and earnings are derived. We do not have exposure to foreign currency risk, as the cash flows from these investments are either denominated in currencies or hedged into currencies to match the related liabilities. We continually evaluate our foreign investment risk exposure.

Mortgage Loans

The carrying value of our mortgage loan portfolio was $2,261.1 millionand$2,318.2 million at June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. Our investments in mortgage loans are carried at amortized cost less an allowance for expected credit losses which was $12.1 million and$10.2 millionat June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. Our mortgage loan portfolio is comprised entirely of commercial mortgage loans. Our mortgage loan portfolio is well diversified geographically and among property types.

Due to conservative underwriting, the incidence of non-performing mortgage loans and foreclosure activity continues to be low. Other than our allowance for expected credit losses, we held no specifically identified impaired mortgage loans at June 30, 2024 or December 31, 2023. See Note 4 in the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" contained herein in Item 1 for further discussion of our mortgage loan portfolio and the allowance for expected credit losses.

Private Equity Partnerships

The carrying value of our investments in private equity partnerships was $1,406.9 million and $1,326.2 million at June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. These partnerships are passive in nature and represent funds that are primarily invested in private credit, private equity, and real assets. The carrying value of the partnerships is based on our share of the partnership's NAV and changes in the carrying value are recorded as a component of net investment income. We receive financial information related to our investments in partnerships and generally record investment income on a one-quarter lag in accordance with our accounting policy. We recorded net investment income totaling $32.7 million and $53.0 million for the partnerships in the second quarter and first six months of 2024, respectively. The majority of our investments in partnerships are not redeemable. Distributions received from the funds arise from income generated by the underlying investments as well as the liquidation of the underlying investments. There is generally not a public market for these investments. We had $755.7 million of commitments for additional investments in the partnerships at June 30, 2024 which may or may not be funded. See Note 3 in the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" contained herein in Item 1 for further discussion of our private equity partnerships.

Derivative Financial Instruments

We use derivative financial instruments primarily to manage interest rate risk, risk related to matching duration for our assets and liabilities, foreign currency risk, and equity risk. Historically, we have utilized current and forward interest rate swaps, current and forward currency swaps, forward benchmark interest rate locks, currency forward contracts, forward contracts on specific fixed income securities, and total return swaps. During the first six months of 2024, we entered into $623.0 million of notional forward U.S. Treasury interest rate locks in our long-term care product line to manage our reinvestment risk. Credit exposure on derivatives is limited to the value of those contracts in a net gain position, including accrued interest receivable less collateral held. Our credit exposure was $0.1 million at June 30, 2024. At June 30, 2024, the carrying value of fixed maturity securities and cash collateral received from our counterparties was $17.0 million and $3.5 million, respectively. The carrying value of fixed maturity securities posted as collateral to our counterparties was $80.7 million at June 30, 2024. There was no cash posted as collateral to our counterparties at June 30, 2024. We believe that our credit risk is mitigated by our use of multiple counterparties, all of which have an investment-grade credit rating, and by our use of cross-collateralization agreements. See Note 5 in the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" contained herein in Item 1 for further discussion of our derivatives.

For further information see "Investments" in Part I, Item 1 and "Critical Accounting Estimates" and "Investments" in Part II, Item 7 of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and Notes 3, 4, and 5 of the "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" contained herein in Item 1.