PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INC

Foreign currency exchange rate movements and related hedging strategies

As a U.S.-based company with significant business operations outside the U.S., particularly in Japan, we are subject to foreign currency exchange rate movements that could impact our U.S. dollar (“USD”)-equivalent shareholder return on equity. We seek to mitigate this impact through various hedging strategies, including holding USD-denominated assets in certain of our foreign subsidiaries.

In order to reduce equity volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements, we primarily utilize a yen hedging strategy that calibrates the hedge level to preserve the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity on a leverage neutral basis. We implement this hedging strategy utilizing a variety of instruments, including USD-denominated assets and dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments held locally in our Japanese insurance subsidiaries. The total hedge level may vary based on our periodic assessment of the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity.

The table below presents the aggregate amount of instruments that serve to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange movements on our USD-equivalent shareholder return on equity from our Japanese insurance subsidiaries as of the dates indicated.

(1)Includes USD-denominated fixed maturities at amortized cost plus any related accrued investment income, as well as USD notional amount of foreign currency derivative contracts outstanding. Note this amount represents only those USD assets serving to hedge the impact of foreign currency volatility on equity. Separate from this program, our Japanese operations also have $80.0 billion and $70.1 billion as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, of USD-denominated assets supporting USD-denominated liabilities related to USD-denominated products.

(2)Dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments are held by our yen-based entities in the form of fixed maturities and loans with a yen-denominated principal component and USD-denominated interest income. The amounts shown represent the present value of future USD-denominated cash flows.

The USD-denominated investments that hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements on USD-equivalent shareholder return on equity from our Japanese insurance operations are reported within yen-based entities and, as a result, foreign currency exchange rate movements will impact their value reported within our yen-based Japanese insurance entities. We seek to mitigate the risk that future unfavorable foreign currency exchange rate movements will decrease the value of these USD-denominated investments reported within our yen-based Japanese insurance entities, and therefore negatively impact their equity and regulatory solvency margins, by having our Japanese insurance operations enter into currency hedging transactions with a subsidiary of Prudential Financial. These hedging strategies have the economic effect of moving the change in value of these USD-denominated investments due to foreign currency exchange rate movements from our Japanese yen-based entities to our USD-based entities.

These USD-denominated investments also pay a coupon which is generally higher than what a similar yen-denominated investment would pay. The incremental impact of this higher yield on our USD-denominated investments, as well as our dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments, will vary over time, and is dependent on the duration of the underlying investments as well as interest rate environments in both the U.S. and Japan at the time of the investments.

Impact of intercompany foreign currency exchange rate arrangements on segment results of operations

The financial results of our International Businesses and PGIM reflect the impact of intercompany arrangements with our Corporate and Other operations pursuant to which these segments’ non-USD-denominated earnings are translated at fixed currency exchange rates that are predetermined during the third quarter of the prior year using forward currency exchange rates. Results of our Corporate and Other operations include differences between the translation adjustments recorded by the segments at the fixed currency exchange rate versus the actual average rate during the period.

In addition, specific to our International Businesses where we hedge certain currencies utilizing forward currency contracts with third-parties, the results of our Corporate and Other operations also include the impact of any gains or losses recorded from these contracts that settled during the period, which include the impact of any over or under hedging of actual earnings that differ from projected earnings.

The table below presents, for the periods indicated, the increase (decrease) to revenues and adjusted operating income for our International Businesses, PGIM and Corporate and Other operations, reflecting the impact of these intercompany arrangements.

(1)Represents the difference between non-USD-denominated earnings translated on the basis of weighted average monthly currency exchange rates versus fixed currency exchange rates determined in connection with the foreign currency income hedging program.

(2)As of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, the total notional amounts of these forward currency contracts within our Corporate and Other operations were $0.8 billion, $0.7 billion and $0.6 billion, respectively.

Impact of products denominated in non-local currencies on U.S. GAAP earnings

While our international insurance operations offer products denominated in local currency, several also offer products denominated in non-local currencies. This is most notable in our Japanese operations, which currently offer primarily USD-denominated products, but have also historically offered Australian dollar (“AUD”)-denominated products. The non-local currency-denominated insurance liabilities related to these products are supported by investments denominated in corresponding currencies, including a significant portion designated as available-for-sale. While the impact from foreign currency exchange rate movements on these non-local currency-denominated assets and liabilities is economically matched, differences in the accounting for changes in the value of these assets and liabilities due to changes in foreign currency exchange rate movements have historically resulted in volatility in U.S. GAAP earnings.

As a result, we implemented a structure in Gibraltar Life’s operations that disaggregated the USD- and AUD-denominated businesses into separate divisions, each with its own functional currency that aligns with the underlying products and investments. The result of this alignment was to reduce differences in the accounting for changes in the value of these assets and liabilities that arise due to changes in foreign currency exchange rate movements. For the USD- and AUD-denominated assets that were transferred under this structure, the net cumulative unrealized investment gains associated with foreign exchange remeasurement that were recorded in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” (“AOCI”) totaled $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and will be recognized in earnings within “Realized investment gains (losses), net” over time as these assets mature or are sold. Absent the sale of any of these assets prior to their stated maturity, approximately 9% of the $1.4 billion balance as of December 31, 2023 will be recognized in 2024, approximately 3% will be recognized in 2025, and the remaining balance will be recognized from 2026 through 2051.

Highly inflationary economies

Our insurance operations in Argentina, Prudential of Argentina (“POA”), have historically utilized the Argentine peso as the functional currency given it is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates. During 2018, Argentina experienced a cumulative inflation rate that exceeded 100% over a 3-year period. As a result, Argentina’s economy was deemed to be highly inflationary, resulting in reporting changes effective July 1, 2018. Under U.S. GAAP, the financial statements of a foreign entity in a highly inflationary economy are to be remeasured as if its functional currency (formerly the Argentine peso) is the reporting currency of its parent reporting entity (the USD) on a prospective basis. While this changed how the results of POA are remeasured and/or translated into USD, the impact to our financial statements was not material nor is it expected to be material in future periods given the relative size of our POA operations. It should also be noted that the majority of POA’s balance sheet consists of USD-denominated product liabilities supported by USD-denominated assets. As a result, this accounting change serves to reduce the remeasurement impact reflected in net income given that the functional currency and currency in which the assets and liabilities are denominated will be more closely aligned.

Our strategic joint venture investment in Ghana has historically utilized the Ghanaian cedi as its functional currency given it is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Ghana experienced a cumulative inflation rate that exceeded 100% over a 3-year period. As a result, Ghana’s economy was deemed to be highly inflationary, which will require the joint venture’s results to be remeasured in USD, effective January 1, 2024, as per the U.S. GAAP requirements described above. We do not expect this change to have a material impact to our financial statements given the relative size of the joint venture.