CITIZENS, INC.
For the period ended Mar 31, 2025. Filed May 8, 2025.
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A company's report for each of its first three quarters. The financial statements are not audited. It shows how the business has moved since the last annual report, and what management says changed.
Mar 31, 2025 · Filed May 8, 2025
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Segment Operations
We operate in two business segments: Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance.
These segments are reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company evaluates profit and loss performance based on U.S. GAAP net income (loss) before federal income taxes for these segments. The Company's Other Non-Insurance Enterprises include non-insurance operations such as IT and corporate-support functions, which are included in the table presented below to properly reconcile the segment information with the consolidated financial statements of the Company.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 43
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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The following table sets forth income (loss) before federal income tax by segment during the periods indicated.
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Income (loss) before federal income tax: | ||
| Segments: | ||
| Life Insurance | $243 | 5,800 |
| Home Service Insurance | 120 | 623 |
| Total segments | 363 | 6,423 |
| Other Non-Insurance Enterprises | (2,150) | (1,498) |
| Total income (loss) before federal income tax | $(1,787) | 4,925 |
LIFE INSURANCE
Detailed results of operations in the Life Insurance segment for the periods indicated are as follows:
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Revenues: | ||
| Premiums: | ||
| Life insurance | $28,967 | 27,698 |
| Accident and health insurance | 187 | 163 |
| Net investment income | 13,512 | 13,686 |
| Investment related gains (losses), net | (2,747) | 1,086 |
| Other income | 1,372 | 506 |
| Total revenues | 41,291 | 43,139 |
| Benefits and expenses: | ||
| Insurance benefits paid or provided: | ||
| Claims and surrenders | 34,142 | 27,364 |
| Increase (decrease) in future policy benefit reserves | (5,326) | (1,193) |
| Policyholder liability remeasurement (gain) loss | 13 | 373 |
| Policyholders' dividends | 1,289 | 1,231 |
| Total insurance benefits paid or provided | 30,118 | 27,775 |
| Commissions | 8,163 | 6,960 |
| Other general expenses | 6,572 | 6,036 |
| Capitalization of deferred policy acquisition costs | (7,719) | (6,816) |
| Amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs | 3,893 | 3,358 |
| Amortization of cost of insurance acquired | 21 | 26 |
| Total benefits and expenses | 41,048 | 37,339 |
| Income before federal income tax | $243 | 5,800 |
In our Life Insurance segment, income before federal income tax was $0.2 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025, respectively, compared to $5.8 million during the same prior year period primarily from a $3.8
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 44
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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million decrease in investment related gains and losses related to our BlackRock investment. In addition, our higher premiums were offset by an increase in total insurance benefits paid or provided. Other general expenses were also higher tosupport our CICA Domestic growth.
Life Insurance segment premium breakout is detailed below.
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Premiums: | ||
| Direct premiums: | ||
| First year | $7,604 | 4,584 |
| Renewal | 24,091 | 23,650 |
| Total direct premiums | 31,695 | 28,234 |
| Reinsurance | (2,541) | (373) |
| Total premiums | $29,154 | 27,861 |
Premiums. Direct premiums increased by $3.5 million in the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024 driven by sales of our newer products and an increased number of producing agents. First year premium growth was primarily in our new domestic final expense business, but first year premiums in our international business also increased in the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to the same period in 2024 as we continue to work with our distribution partners to expand sales. Due to the coinsurance agreement with RGA entered into in the second quarter of 2024, ceded reinsurance premiums increased.
While our domestic life insurance business drove the significant increase in first year premiums, life insurance premiums are generated largely from our international policyholders living in almost 80 different countries across the globe. The following table sets forth our premiums by location for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024.
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| International premiums: | ||
| Colombia | $6,554 | 5,983 |
| Taiwan | 3,886 | 4,542 |
| Venezuela | 3,350 | 3,315 |
| Ecuador | 3,200 | 3,044 |
| Argentina | 2,096 | 2,098 |
| Other non-U.S. | 9,702 | 8,815 |
| Total international premiums | 28,788 | 27,797 |
| Domestic premiums | 5,791 | 2,322 |
| Reinsurance and change in premium accruals | (5,425) | (2,258) |
| Total premiums | $29,154 | 27,861 |
Investment Related Gains (Losses), Net. We recorded investment related losses of $2.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to investment related gains of $1.1 million during the same prior year period, resulting primarily from the change in estimated fair market value of the ESG Blackrock investment.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 45
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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Claims and Surrenders. The following table sets forth our primary claims and surrender benefits paid within our Life Insurance segment for the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Claims and surrenders: | ||
| Death claim benefits | $1,270 | 1,998 |
| Surrender benefits | 11,991 | 11,437 |
| Endowment benefits | 1,678 | 1,753 |
| Matured endowment benefits | 17,203 | 10,615 |
| A&H and other policy benefits | 2,000 | 1,561 |
| Total claims and surrenders | $34,142 | 27,364 |
The majority of our claims and surrender benefits in our Life Insurance segment were related to payment of surrender benefits and matured endowment benefits. Many of our endowment policies are reaching their contractual maturity dates and thus matured endowment benefits are increasing in 2025 as compared to 2024. We expect elevated trends to continue over the next few years but at a reduced level when compared to 2025. Death claim benefits decreased for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the prior year period due to a combination of lower volume and our coinsurance agreement with RGA alleviating some of our liability to pay these claims. Mortality experience is closely monitored by the Company as a key performance indicator and these amounts were within expected levels.
Increase (Decrease) in Future Policy Benefit Reserves. The change in future policy benefit reserves for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 was the result of reserves released due to surrenders and higher matured endowment benefits. These releases were partially offset by increases in reserves due to new insurance issued and the reserves that increase on our in force block of business nearing maturity.
Other General Expenses. General expenses increased due primarily to expenses related to costs associated with continued investment in the growth of CICA domestic.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 46
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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HOME SERVICE INSURANCE
Detailed results of operations for the Home Service Insurance segment for the periods indicated are as follows:
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Revenues: | ||
| Premiums: | ||
| Life insurance | $10,382 | 10,563 |
| Accident and health insurance | 261 | 251 |
| Property insurance | — | (2) |
| Net investment income | 3,678 | 3,537 |
| Investment related gains (losses), net | (148) | (91) |
| Total revenues | 14,173 | 14,258 |
| Benefits and expenses: | ||
| Insurance benefits paid or provided: | ||
| Claims and surrenders | 5,956 | 5,749 |
| Increase (decrease) in future policy benefit reserves | 1,680 | 1,644 |
| Policyholder liability remeasurement (gain) loss | (185) | (54) |
| Policyholders' dividends | 6 | 6 |
| Total insurance benefits paid or provided | 7,457 | 7,345 |
| Commissions | 3,112 | 3,490 |
| Other general expenses | 3,783 | 3,489 |
| Capitalization of deferred policy acquisition costs | (1,130) | (1,515) |
| Amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs | 754 | 680 |
| Amortization of cost of insurance acquired | 77 | 146 |
| Total benefits and expenses | 14,053 | 13,635 |
| Income before federal income tax | $120 | 623 |
In our Home Service Insurance segment, income before federal income tax was $0.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to $0.6 million in the prior year period. The decline is attributed to higher investment related losses and other general expenses.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 47
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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Premiums. Home Service Insurance segment life and A&H premium breakout is detailed below.
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Premiums: | ||
| Direct life and A&H premiums: | ||
| First year | $1,213 | 1,347 |
| Renewal | 9,442 | 9,479 |
| Total direct life and A&H premiums | 10,655 | 10,826 |
| Reinsurance | (12) | (12) |
| Total life and A&H premiums | $10,643 | 10,814 |
Our life and A&H premiums declined slightly in the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the same prior year period. The decrease is largely due to strategic actions intended to improve sales quality and persistency, which actions led to a decrease in our agent sales force as we focus on these improvements. Additionally, we believe external economic pressures, such as inflation, have impacted revenue in this segment disproportionately.
Claims and Surrenders. Payments of claims and surrender benefits, which are the largest portion of our expenses, are summarized as follows:
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Claims and surrenders: | ||
| Death claim benefits | $4,797 | 4,860 |
| Surrender benefits | 910 | 694 |
| Endowment benefits | 1 | 1 |
| Matured endowment benefits | 148 | 146 |
| A&H and other policy benefits | 100 | 48 |
| Total claims and surrenders | $5,956 | 5,749 |
The majority of claims and surrender benefits in our Home Service Insurance segment are death claim benefits. Death claim benefits decreased slightly in the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the same prior year period due to lower volume of reported claims. Mortality experience is closely monitored by the Company as a key performance indicator and fluctuates from quarter-to-quarter based on reported claims.
Surrender benefits increased in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. We believe the impact of inflation is negatively impacting persistency.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 48
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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OTHER NON-INSURANCE ENTERPRISES
| Three Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 31, | ||
| (In thousands) | 2025 | 2024 |
| Loss before federal income tax | $(2,150) | (1,498) |
This operating unit represents the administrative support functions for the insurance operations. Its revenues are primarily intercompany and have been eliminated in consolidation under U.S. GAAP, which typically results in a loss. Revenue in this operating unit consists primarily of net investment income and investment related gains or losses, while expenses consist of other general expenses related to corporate functions. The primary reason for the increased loss before federal income tax in the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 is higher other general expenses, including costs incurred related to our equity incentive compensation program due to additional participants as well as an increased stock price, which increases our expense taken upon vesting of prior year grants.
INVESTMENTS
Our investments are an integral part of our business success, as we invest the majority of premiums collected to pay for future benefits and rely on net investment income of our ongoing operations. Our cash and invested assets at March 31, 2025 were $1.4 billion, of which 87% was invested in fixed maturity securities, all of which are classified as available-for-sale. We closely monitor the duration of our fixed maturity investments, and investment purchases and sales are executed with the objective of having adequate funds available to satisfy our insurance obligations.
The following table sets forth the carrying value of our investments by investment category and cash, cash equivalents and the percentage of each to total cash, cash equivalents and invested assets.
| Carrying Value | March 31, 2025 | December 31, 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In thousands, except for %) | Amount | % | Amount | % |
| Cash, cash equivalents and invested assets: | ||||
| Fixed maturity securities: | ||||
| U.S. Treasury and U.S. Government-sponsored enterprises | $9,289 | 0.6% | $9,213 | 0.6% |
| Corporate | 816,553 | 56.9 | 794,989 | 56.0 |
| States and political subdivisions (1) | 270,436 | 18.8 | 268,302 | 18.9 |
| Mortgage-backed (2) | 96,717 | 6.7 | 93,953 | 6.6 |
| Asset-backed | 54,433 | 3.9 | 54,504 | 3.9 |
| Total fixed maturity securities | 1,247,428 | 86.9 | 1,220,961 | 86.0 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 18,355 | 1.3 | 29,271 | 2.0 |
| Other investments: | ||||
| Policy loans | 70,961 | 4.9 | 71,216 | 5.0 |
| Equity securities | 5,493 | 0.4 | 5,447 | 0.4 |
| Other long-term investments | 93,318 | 6.5 | 93,604 | 6.6 |
| Total cash, cash equivalents and invested assets | $1,435,555 | 100.0% | $1,420,499 | 100.0% |
(1)Includes $113.8 million and $113.4 million of securities guaranteed by third parties at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.
(2) Includes $95.6 million and $92.8 million of U.S. Government-sponsored enterprises at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 49
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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The carrying value of the Company’s fixed maturity securities investment portfolio at March 31, 2025 was $1.25 billion compared to $1.22 billion at December 31, 2024. This increase primarily reflects the impact of interest rate sensitivity on the fair value of our fixed maturity securities. The distribution of the credit ratings of our portfolio of fixed maturity securities by carrying value as of March 31, 2025 did not materially change from December 31, 2024 – the weighted average was “A” at both dates.
Cash and cash equivalents decreased as of March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024 and fluctuates from period-to-period primarily due to the timing of operating and investing activities.
Other long-term investments decreased by $0.3 million as of March 31, 2025 from December 31, 2024 due to additional funding and changes in the fair market value of our limited partnership investments.
Obligations of States and Political Subdivisions
The Company’s fixed maturity securities investment portfolio at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024 included $270.4 million and $268.3 million, respectively, of securities that are obligations of states and political subdivisions, including municipalities (collectively referred to as the municipal fixed maturity security portfolio).
The Company's municipal fixed maturity security portfolio includes third-party guarantees. Detailed below is a presentation by the Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO") rating of these holdings by funding type as of March 31, 2025.
| General Obligation · Special Revenue · Other · Total · % Based on AmortizedCost | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In thousands, except for %) · FairValue · AmortizedCost · FairValue · AmortizedCost · FairValue · AmortizedCost · FairValue · AmortizedCost | |||||||||
| State and political subdivision fixed maturity securities including third-party guarantees: | |||||||||
| AAA | $12,446 | 12,383 | 9,983 | 10,336 | — | — | 22,429 | 22,719 | 7.6% |
| AA | 45,090 | 45,318 | 113,475 | 130,412 | 6,342 | 6,548 | 164,907 | 182,278 | 61.1 |
| A | 2,943 | 3,264 | 67,241 | 76,389 | 2,139 | 2,123 | 72,323 | 81,776 | 27.4 |
| BBB | 443 | 455 | 7,289 | 7,932 | — | — | 7,732 | 8,387 | 2.8 |
| BB and other | 2,995 | 3,141 | 50 | 50 | — | — | 3,045 | 3,191 | 1.1 |
| Total | $63,917 | 64,561 | 198,038 | 225,119 | 8,481 | 8,671 | 270,436 | 298,351 | 100.0% |
| State and political subdivision fixed maturity securities excluding third-party guarantees: | |||||||||
| AA | $31,790 | 31,800 | 35,113 | 39,758 | 4,554 | 4,574 | 71,457 | 76,132 | 25.5% |
| A | 14,549 | 14,877 | 80,403 | 90,665 | 2,925 | 3,097 | 97,877 | 108,639 | 36.4 |
| BBB | 2,830 | 3,070 | 21,801 | 23,444 | — | — | 24,631 | 26,514 | 8.9 |
| BB and other | 14,748 | 14,814 | 60,721 | 71,252 | 1,002 | 1,000 | 76,471 | 87,066 | 29.2 |
| Total | $63,917 | 64,561 | 198,038 | 225,119 | 8,481 | 8,671 | 270,436 | 298,351 | 100.0% |
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 50
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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The table below shows the categories in which the Company held investments in special revenue fixed maturity securities that were greater than 10% of fair value based upon the Company's total municipal fixed maturity security portfolio at March 31, 2025.
| (In thousands, except for %) | FairValue | AmortizedCost | % of TotalFair Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | $45,409 | 51,241 | 16.8% |
| Utilities | 42,822 | 46,755 | 15.8 |
| Transportation | 33,214 | 40,237 | 12.3 |
The Company's municipal fixed maturity security portfolio is spread across many states, however, municipal fixed maturity securities from Texas and California comprise the most significant concentration of the total municipal fixed maturity security portfolio as of March 31, 2025. The Company holds 22% and 16% of its municipal fixed maturity security portfolio in Texas and California issuers, respectively, as of March 31, 2025. There were no other states or individual issuer holdings that represented or exceeded 10% of the total municipal fixed maturity security portfolio as of March 31, 2025.
The table below represents the Company's detailed exposure to municipal fixed maturity securities by credit rating in Texas at March 31, 2025.
| General Obligation | Special Revenue | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In thousands) | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost |
| Texas state and political subdivision fixed maturity securities including third-party guarantees: | ||||||||
| AAA | $11,941 | 11,881 | 2,575 | 2,632 | — | — | 14,516 | 14,513 |
| AA | 14,733 | 14,650 | 14,838 | 17,559 | — | — | 29,571 | 32,209 |
| A | — | — | 11,113 | 14,886 | — | — | 11,113 | 14,886 |
| BBB | — | — | 3,235 | 3,170 | — | — | 3,235 | 3,170 |
| Total | $26,674 | 26,531 | 31,761 | 38,247 | — | — | 58,435 | 64,778 |
| Texas state and political subdivision fixed maturity securities excluding third-party guarantees: | ||||||||
| AA | $22,082 | 21,941 | 3,129 | 3,694 | — | — | 25,211 | 25,635 |
| A | 3,091 | 3,090 | 12,849 | 14,892 | — | — | 15,940 | 17,982 |
| BBB | — | — | 6,482 | 6,586 | — | — | 6,482 | 6,586 |
| BB and other | 1,501 | 1,500 | 9,301 | 13,075 | — | — | 10,802 | 14,575 |
| Total | $26,674 | 26,531 | 31,761 | 38,247 | — | — | 58,435 | 64,778 |
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 51
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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The table below represents the Company's detailed exposure to municipal fixed maturity securities by credit rating in California at March 31, 2025.
| General Obligation | Special Revenue | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In thousands) | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost | FairValue | AmortizedCost |
| California state and political subdivision fixed maturity securities including third-party guarantees: | ||||||||
| AA | $2,073 | 2,087 | 32,980 | 39,629 | 2,496 | 2,734 | 37,549 | 44,450 |
| A | 1,299 | 1,650 | 5,538 | 6,456 | — | — | 6,837 | 8,106 |
| Total | $3,372 | 3,737 | 38,518 | 46,085 | 2,496 | 2,734 | 44,386 | 52,556 |
| California state and political subdivision fixed maturity securities excluding third-party guarantees: | ||||||||
| AA | $445 | 445 | 4,248 | 5,059 | 708 | 760 | 5,401 | 6,264 |
| A | 2,927 | 3,292 | 20,086 | 23,986 | 1,788 | 1,974 | 24,801 | 29,252 |
| BB and other | — | — | 14,184 | 17,040 | — | — | 14,184 | 17,040 |
| Total | $3,372 | 3,737 | 38,518 | 46,085 | 2,496 | 2,734 | 44,386 | 52,556 |
IMPAIRMENT CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO INVESTMENTS IN FIXED MATURITY AND EQUITY SECURITIES
The Company assesses available-for-sale ("AFS") fixed maturity securities in an unrealized loss position for expected credit losses. The Company did not record any credit valuation allowances on fixed maturity securities in either of the three months ended March 31, 2025 or 2024.
Gross unrealized losses on AFS fixed maturity securities amounted to $169.3 million as of March 31, 2025 and $185.7 million as of December 31, 2024. This decrease in gross unrealized losses during 2025 was a result of the increase in average market interest rates at the end of 2025 as compared to 2024.
Information on both unrealized and realized gains and losses by category is set forth in Part I, Item 1, Note 3. Investments of the notes to our consolidated financial statements herein.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Below are our primary capital resources (based on carrying value of each) as of the periods indicated.
| (In thousands) | March 31, 2025 | December 31, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed maturity securities | $1,247,428 | 1,220,961 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 18,355 | 29,271 |
Liquidity refers to a company's ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet the needs of its operations. We manage our insurance operations in order to ensure that we have stable and reliable sources of cash flows to meet our obligations. We currently anticipate meeting our short-term and long-term cash needs with cash generated by our insurance operations and from our invested assets. From time to time, we may raise capital by selling shares in our SIP (as defined below) and we may also access our Credit Facility if needed (also as described below). Citizens had no debt as of March 31, 2025.
Cash from Operating Activities. Cash provided by or used in operating activities is an important liquidity metric because it reflects, during a given period, the amount of cash generated that is available to pay our operating
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 52
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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expenses, invest in our business or make strategic acquisitions. Cash provided by operating activities was $0.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Cash used in Investing Activities. We have traditionally also had significant cash flows from both scheduled and unscheduled investment security maturities, redemptions, and prepayments. These cash flows, for the most part, are reinvested in new investments. Net cash outflows from investing activities totaled $11.4 million in the three months ended March 31, 2025. The investing activities fluctuate from period to period due to timing of securities activities such as calls and maturities and reinvestment of those funds. We purchased $17.5 million of fixed maturity securities and used $2.8 million to purchase other long-term investments during the three months ended March 31, 2025. 87% of our investments consist of marketable fixed maturity securities classified as available-for-sale that could be readily converted to cash for liquidity needs.
PARENT COMPANY LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Citizens is a holding company and has minimal operations of its own. Our assets consist of the capital stock of our subsidiaries, cash and investments. Our liquidity requirements are met primarily from two sources: cash generated from our operating subsidiaries and our invested assets. Our ability to obtain cash from our insurance subsidiaries depends primarily upon the availability of statutorily permissible payments, including payments we receive from service agreements with our insurance subsidiaries and dividends from the subsidiaries. The ability to make payments to the holding company is limited by applicable laws of the U.S. states of domicile and by the Puerto Rico Office of Commissioner of Insurance, which all subject insurance operations to significant regulatory restrictions. These laws and regulations require, among other things, that our insurance subsidiaries maintain minimum solvency or premium to surplus ratio requirements, which limit the amount of dividends that can be paid to the holding company. The regulations also require approval of our service agreements with the applicable regulatory authority in order to prevent insurance subsidiaries from moving large amounts of cash to the less regulated holding company.
In addition to the above-mentioned sources of cash, we offer a Stock Investment Plan ("SIP"), which allows investors, policyholders, independent contractors and agents, employees and directors to directly purchase our stock. At our option, purchases of stock under the SIP can be made from newly issued or treasury stock, rather than in the open market, in which case, we can raise capital by selling our shares.
We renewed our Credit Facility with Regions Bank on May 3, 2024 for an additional three years. See Part I, Item 1, Note 8. Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements, herein, for a description of the Credit Facility. The Credit Facility provides additional liquidity to the Company for short-term or longer-term needs. We have not borrowed any money under the Credit Facility.
INSURANCE COMPANY SUBSIDIARY LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
The liquidity requirements of our insurance operations are primarily met by premium revenues, investment income and proceeds from investment maturities, calls or sales. Primary cash needs are for payments of policyholder benefits, investment purchases, and operating expenses. We manage our insurance operations in order to ensure that we have stable and reliable sources of cash flow to meet our obligations. As we have discussed, we have been growing our domestic business by developing new products and expanding our distribution channels, which has led to an increase in first year direct premiums(i.e., new sales) of 71% from the year ended December 31, 2023 to the year ended December 31, 2024, and another 49% from the three months ended March 31, 2024 to the three months ended March 31, 2025. When selling new policies, we incur upfront policy acquisition costs, such as agent commission payments. While historically, cash flows from our operations have been sufficient to meet our cash needs, in the second quarter of 2024 we entered into a coinsurance reinsurance agreement with RGA to help with some of the costs, and the insurance subsidiaries also have the available-for-sale fixed maturity investment portfolio available to create additional cash flows if needed. Two of our insurance subsidiaries are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank ("FHLB") of Dallas. FHLB membership provides the insurance subsidiaries with access to various
March 31, 2025 | 10-Q 53
| CITIZENS, INC. | MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS |
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low-cost collateralized borrowings and funding agreements. While not the only source of additional liquidity, the FHLB could provide the insurance subsidiaries with an additional source of liquidity, if needed.
We believe that we have adequate capital resources and ability to obtain additional capital if needed to support the short-term and longer-term liquidity requirements of our insurance operations. See Contractual Obligations and Off-balance Sheet Arrangements in our 2024 Form 10-K and below for a discussion of known and estimated cash needs. Cash flow projections and cash flow tests under various market interest rate scenarios are performed annually to assist in evaluating liquidity needs and adequacy.
Trends, Demands and Restrictions on our Uses of Cash
Payment of benefits for claims and surrenders are our largest use of cash. There are three primary components of these payments: death claims, surrenders and matured endowments.
Matured Endowments. Our endowment products have contractual maturity dates and provide the policyholder with alternatives once the policy matures - they can choose to take a lump sum payout or leave the money on deposit at interest with the Company. Approximately 18% of the endowments in force will mature in the next five years, totaling approximately 6% of our in force business as of March 31, 2025. The highest level of maturities will occur this year. Policyholder election behavior is unknown, but if too many policyholders elect lump sum distributions, the Company could be exposed to liquidity risk in years of high maturities. Meeting these distributions could require the Company to sell its investments at inopportune times to pay policyholder withdrawals. Alternatively, if the policyholders were to leave the money on deposit with the Company at interest, our profitability could be impacted if the product guaranteed rate is higher than the market rate we are earning on our investments. We currently anticipate that our available operating cash flow and capital resources will be adequate to meet our needs for funds, but we are closely monitoring our policyholder behavior patterns, and in 2024, introduced a new product designed to allow policyholders with maturing endowments to purchase a new life insurance policy.
Surrenders. Surrender benefits, which have been higher than usual the last several years, slightly increased in the first three months of 2025. In order to mitigate the risk of early policyholder surrenders, we include provisions in our insurance policies, such as surrender charges, that help limit and discourage early withdrawals, but as many of our policies have reached the age where surrender charges have expired or significantly decreased, we have experienced high levels of surrenders. We believe that surrenders have been high due to other reasons, including the loss of one of our biggest distributors in Venezuela in 2018, increasing interest rates, which may encourage policyholders to seek higher rates of return in different investment products, post-pandemic beliefs that life insurance may not be as important as it was during the pandemic, and inflationary and tariff pressures, which may cause policyholders to want the cash values of their policies due to decreased purchasing power elsewhere. To the extent that early surrenders are higher than expected, our use of cash could be higher than expected. We continue to monitor surrenders and early withdrawals and focus on our retention initiatives and efforts to retain cash when policyholders surrender their policies.
Our cash flow from operations is also negatively impacted with high matured endowments and surrenders, as they lead to lower renewal premiums.
Death Claims. Our product pricing assumes a certain mortality rate and thus a primary liquidity concern is the risk of higher than expected mortality experience. Our death benefit payments decreased in the three ended March 31, 2025.
Another significant use of cash is payment of commissions. In our CICA Domestic business, we pay advance commissions on some of our insurance products, meaning we pay an agent a portion of their first year commission immediately upon sale of a policy, rather than "as earned", or when premiums are received by us. Because of this, another liquidity concern is that rapid growth in first year sales of these products creates a significant increase in commission payments. CICA Domestic sales have increased significantly since the third quarter of 2023. To offset some of this strain on our capital, we entered into the coinsurance agreement with RGA in the second quarter of
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2024 and elected to cede 50% of our final expense business to RGA, which alleviates some of the expense strain. We may also seek other options, such as loans at the holding company level (from the Credit Facility or otherwise) that would allow us to reduce the liquidity risk should CICA Domestic's required commission payments exceed current resources.
See Part I, Item 1, Note 8. Commitments and Contingencies, as well as Legal Proceedings - Trade Secret Lawsuit in our 2024 Form 10-K for a discussion of the trade secret lawsuit, which could negatively impact our cash if we do not succeed in our appeal.
Regulatory Restrictions on our Use of Cash
As discussed above, we are subject to regulatory capital requirements that could affect the Company’s ability to access capital from our insurance operations or cause the Company to have to put additional cash in our wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Our domestic companies are subject to minimum capital requirements set by the NAIC in the form of risk-based capital ("RBC"). RBC considers the type of business written by an insurance company, the quality of its assets, and various other aspects of an insurance company's business to develop a minimum level of capital called "Authorized Control Level Risk-Based Capital". This level of capital is then compared to an adjusted statutory capital that includes capital and surplus as reported under statutory accounting principles, plus certain investment reserves. Should the ratio of adjusted statutory capital to control level RBC fall below 200% for our domestic companies, a series of remedial actions by the affected company would be required. Additionally, we have a Capital Maintenance Agreement between Citizens and CICA Domestic, Citizens' wholly-owned subsidiary domiciled in Colorado, which would require Citizens to contribute capital to CICA Domestic in order to maintain a RBC level above 350%. At March 31, 2025, our domestic insurance subsidiaries were above the required minimum RBC levels and CICA Domestic was above 350%.
For CICA Domestic, commission advances are non-admitted assets, which means we need capital to "replace" these assets in order to maintain required regulatory capital levels. As discussed above, management is investigating various options in order to reduce both regulatory capital and liquidity risk should the capital required to support this pace of growth exceed current resources. Citizens may have to contribute capital to CICA Domestic to maintain the required RBC ratio.
CICA International is a Puerto Rico domiciled company. The Insurance Code of Puerto Rico does not specifically set forth minimum capital and surplus standards, but rather requires that an insurer submit a business plan for approval to the OIC that includes proposed minimum capital and surplus. CICA International is required to maintain a minimum of $750,000 in capital and maintain a premium to surplus ratio of 7 to 1. At March 31, 2025, CICA International exceeded the required minimum capital and related ratio.
Any capital that Citizens is required to contribute to its insurance subsidiaries would negatively impact the holding Company's capital resources and liquidity.
CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS
As of March 31, 2025, we have no additional contractual obligations or off-balance sheet arrangements other than those described in Part I, Item 1, Note 8. Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements herein and in Part II, Item 7, Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements in our 2024 Form 10-K. We do not utilize special purpose entities as investment vehicles, nor are there any such entities in which we have an investment that engage in speculative activities of any nature, and we do not use such investments to hedge our investment positions.
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CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES
We believe that the accounting policies set forth in Part I, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - "Critical Accounting Policies" and Part IV, Item 15, Note 1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of our consolidated financial statements in our 2024 Form 10-K continue to describe the significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.