AFL, §1A diff (2018 → 2019)

Item 1A. Risk Factors ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS The Company faces a wide range of risks, and its continued success depends on its ability to identify, prioritize and appropriately manage enterprise risk exposures. Readers should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the other information set forth in this Form 10-K. These risks and other factors may affect forward-looking statements, including those in this document or made by the Company elsewhere, such as in earnings release webcasts, investor conference presentations or press releases. The risks and uncertainties described herein may not be the only ones facing the Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company or that the Company currently believes to be immaterial may also adversely affect its business. If any of the following risks and uncertainties develops into actual events, there could be a material impact on the Company. Difficult conditions in global capital markets and the economy could have a material adverse effect on the Company's investments, capital position, revenue, profitability, and liquidity and harm the Company's business. The Company's results of operations are materially affected by conditions in the global capital markets and the global economy generally, including in its two primary operating markets of the United States and Japan. Weak global financial markets impact the value of the Company's existing investment portfolio, influence opportunities for new investments, and may contribute to generally weak economic fundamentals, which can have a negative impact on its operating activities. In recent years, global capital markets have been severely impacted by several major events. The financial crisis that began in the latter part of 2008 saw dramatic declines in investment values and weak economic conditions as the global financial system came under extreme pressure. Although U.S. markets began recovering in late 2009 and 2010, Europe continued to struggle under a severely weakened banking system and investor concerns with sovereign debt levels. Following a period of unprecedented intervention by governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (ECB), financial conditions improved from the dire conditions of the global financial crisis, global recession, and European debt crisis. More recently, global markets have experienced bouts of volatility due to uncertainty surrounding a British exit from the European Union, Japan’s continued recovery amidst assorted policy changes, volatility in global commodity prices including oil, divergent monetary policies in the United States versus many other developed economies, heightened concerns surrounding the Chinese economy and increasing protectionism in U.S. foreign trade policy. While capital and market conditions have been generally favorable in the last year, volatility increased in the fourth quarter and the prospect for increased volatility remains. A recent shift in the global trading policies by the U.S. and subsequent trade conflict with China has raised concerns about a slowdown of the Chinese economy. In addition, the U.S. and Japan are engaged in discussions regarding changes to tariffs and trade agreements. While it is not expected that the Company's products would be directly impacted by tariff, any resulting economic downturn could adversely affect the Company. Activity by the government of North Korea in 2018 was the subject of increasing focus for a number of other governments, including those of the United States and Japan. Although hostile rhetoric has decreased, such North Korean activity and related geopolitical risk could have a significant impact on financial market conditions across the world. Under certain circumstances, government actions taken in response to the North Korean situation could have a material impact on the Company's Japan and U.S. operations and financial performance, including the indirect impact of potentially severe and prolonged capital market volatility and disruption. As the Company holds a significant amount of fixed maturity securities issued by borrowers located in many different parts of the world, including a large portion issued by banks and financial institutions, sovereigns, and other corporate borrowers in the United States and Europe, its financial results are directly influenced by global financial markets. A retrenchment of the recent strength of the capital markets could adversely affect the Company's financial condition, including its capital position and overall profitability. Market volatility and recessionary pressures could result in significant realized or unrealized losses due to severe price declines driven by increases in interest rates or credit spreads, defaults in payment of principal or interest, or credit rating downgrades. Following the election of Shinzo Abe as Prime Minister of Japan in December 2012, the new administration adopted a new set of financial measures to stimulate the Japanese economy, including imposing negative interest rates on excess bank reserves. In December 2014 and October 2017 snap-elections, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won decisive victories further strengthening Mr. Abe's ability to continue with economic reforms and address key policy challenges. In September 2018, Mr. Abe won reelection to another three-year term as president of the LDP. Most recently, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) signaled to hold its policy rate at zero and to continue yield curve control to maintain a targeted Item 1A. Risk Factors yield on the 10-year Japan Government Bond (JGB). Prime Minister Abe’s election victories may result in the continuation of current monetary policy, but there can be no guarantee that this is the case. Japan is the largest market for the Company's products, and the Company owns substantial holdings in JGBs. Government actions to stimulate the economy affect the value of the Company's existing holdings, its reinvestment rate on new investments in JGBs or other yen-denominated assets, and consumer behavior relative to the Company's suite of products. The additional government debt from fiscal stimulus actions could adversely impact the Japan sovereign credit profile, which could in turn lead to volatility in Japanese capital and currency markets. The Company's investment portfolio has sizeable credit positions in many other geographic areas of the world including the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and other emerging markets. Deterioration in their underlying economies, sovereign credit worthiness, or financial market conditions could negatively impact the Company's financial position. While the Company has continued to add floating rate investments to its investment portfolio, most of its investment portfolio holdings are income-producing bonds that provide a fixed level of income. Many of the Company's investments were made at the relatively low level of interest rates prevailing over the last decade. Any increase in the market yields of the Company's holdings due to an increase in interest rates could create substantial unrealized losses in the Company's portfolio, as discussed further in a separate risk factor in this section of the Form 10-K. The Company needs liquidity to pay its operating expenses, dividends on its common stock, interest on its debt, and liabilities. For a further description of the Company's liquidity needs, including maturing indebtedness, see the Capital Resources and Liquidity section of MD&A in this report. In the event the Company's current resources do not meet its needs, the Company may need to seek additional financing. The Company's access to additional funding will depend on a variety of factors such as market conditions, the general availability of credit to the financial services industry and its credit rating. Should investors become concerned with any of the Company's investment holdings, including the concentration in JGBs, its access to market sources of funding could be negatively impacted. There is a possibility that lenders or debt investors may also become concerned if the Company incurs large investment losses or if the level of the Company's business activity decreases due to a market downturn or there are further adverse economic trends in the United States or Japan, specifically, or generally in developed markets. Similarly, the Company's access to funds may be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions. See more information on recent rating actions later in this Risk Factors section. Broad economic factors such as consumer spending, business investment, government spending, the volatility and strength of the capital markets, and inflation all affect the business and economic environment and, indirectly, the amount and profitability of the Company's business. In an economic downturn characterized by higher unemployment, lower family income, lower corporate earnings, lower business investment and lower consumer spending, the demand for financial and insurance products could be adversely affected. This adverse effect could be particularly significant for companies such as Aflac that distribute supplemental, discretionary insurance products primarily through the worksite in the event that economic conditions result in a decrease in the number of new hires and total employees. Adverse changes in the economy could potentially lead the Company's customers to be less inclined to purchase supplemental insurance coverage or to decide to cancel or modify existing insurance coverage, which could adversely affect the Company's premium revenue, results of operations and financial condition. The Company is unable to predict the course of the global financial markets or the recurrence, duration or severity of disruptions in such markets. The Company is exposed to significant interest rate risk, which may adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. The Company has substantial investment portfolios that support its policy liabilities. Low levels of interest rates on investments experienced in Japan and the United States over the last decade have reduced the level of investment income earned by the Company. The Company's overall level of investment income will be negatively impacted in a persistent low-interest-rate environment. While the Company generally seeks to maintain a diversified portfolio of fixed-income investments that reflects the cash flow and duration characteristics of the liabilities it supports, the Company may not be able to fully mitigate the interest rate risk of its assets relative to its liabilities. The Company's exposure to interest rate risk relates primarily to the ability to invest future cash flows to support the interest rate assumption made at the time the Company's products were priced and the related reserving assumptions were established. A sustained decline in interest rates could hinder the Company's ability to earn the returns assumed in the pricing and the reserving for its products at the time they were sold and issued. Due to low interest rates, the Company's ability to earn the returns it expects may also influence the Company's ability to develop and price attractive new products and could impact its overall Item 1A. Risk Factors sales levels. The Company's first sector products are more interest rate sensitive than third sector products. As discussed in Item 1. Business, beginning in 2013, Aflac Japan began to curtail sales of first sector savings-type products due to persistent low interest rates in Japan. The continuing negative interest rate imposed by the BoJ on excess bank reserves could continue to have a negative impact on the distribution and pricing of these products. A rise in interest rates could improve the Company's ability to earn higher rates of return on future investments, as well as floating rate investments held in its investment portfolio. However, an increase in the differential of short-term U.S. and Japan interest rates would increase the cost of hedging a portion of the U.S. dollar-denominated assets in the Aflac Japan segment into yen, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, results of operations or financial condition. The Company’s floating rate investments typically bear interest based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Regulatory and industry initiatives to eliminate LIBOR as an interest rate benchmark may create uncertainty in the valuation of LIBOR-based loans, as well as for other LIBOR-based derivatives and assets. This may adversely impact both pricing and liquidity in such instruments. The Company is unable to predict with certainty how LIBOR elimination may impact markets, pricing, liquidity and other factors or the Company's activities. Changes in interest rates impact unrealized gains and losses of fixed income securities in the Company's investment portfolio; however, they do not have a direct impact on the related valuation of the corresponding liabilities. Prolonged periods of low interest rates, as have been experienced in recent years, heighten the risk of future increases in interest rates because an increasing proportion of the Company's investment portfolio includes investments that bear lower rates of return than the embedded book yield of the investment portfolio. A rise in interest rates could decrease the fair value of the Company's debt securities. Some of the insurance products that Aflac sells in the United States and Japan provide cash surrender values. A rise in interest rates could trigger significant policy surrenders, which might require the Company to sell investment assets and recognize unrealized losses. This situation is commonly referred to as disintermediation risk. The Company generally invests its assets to match the duration and cash flow characteristics of its policy liabilities, and therefore would not expect to realize most of these gains or losses, however, the Company's risk is that unforeseen events or economic conditions, such as changes in interest rates resulting from governmental monetary policies, domestic and international economic and political conditions, and other factors beyond the Company's control will reduce the effectiveness of this strategy. These events or economic conditions could either cause the Company to dispose of some or all of these investments prior to their maturity, or increase the risk that the issuers of these securities may default or may require impairment, which could result in the Company having to recognize such gains or losses. Rising interest rates also negatively impact the SMR since unrealized losses on the available-for-sale investment portfolio factor into the ratio. For regulatory accounting purposes for Aflac Japan, there are certain requirements for realizing impairments that could be triggered by rising interest rates, negatively impacting Aflac Japan's earnings and corresponding dividends and capital deployment. Further, interest rate risk is still an inherent portfolio, business and capital risk for the Company, and significant changes in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated results of operations, financial condition or cash flows through realized losses, impairments, changes in unrealized positions, and liquidity. For more information regarding interest rate risk, see the Interest Rate Risk subsection within the Market Risks of Financial Instruments section of MD&A in this report. The Company's concentration of business in Japan poses risks to its operations. The Company's operations in Japan, including realized gains and losses on Aflac Japan's investment portfolio, accounted for 70% of the Company's total revenues for both 2018 and 2017, compared with 71% in 2016. The Japanese operations accounted for 84% of the Company's total assets at December 31, 2018, compared with 83% at December 31, 2017. Further, because of the concentration of the Company's business in Japan and its need for long-dated yen-denominated assets, the Company has a substantial concentration of JGBs in its investment portfolio. As such the Company has material exposure to the Japanese economy, geo-political climate, political regime, and other factors that generally determine a country's creditworthiness. Specifically, the nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs, or "rating agencies"), credit rating agencies registered with the SEC, have placed increased scrutiny on JGBs, which are a significant component of the Company’s overall investment portfolio, resulting in downgrades as discussed later in this Risk Factors section. The Company seeks to match investment currency and interest rate risk to its yen liabilities. The low level of interest rates available on yen-denominated securities has a negative effect on overall net investment income. A large portion of Item 1A. Risk Factors the cash available for reinvestment each year is deployed in yen-denominated instruments and subject to the low level of yen interest rates. Any potential deterioration in Japan's credit quality, market access, the overall economy of Japan, or Japanese market volatility could adversely impact the business of Aflac in general and specifically Aflac Japan and its related results of operations and financial condition. The Company is exposed to foreign currency fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate. Due to the size of Aflac Japan, where functional currency is the Japanese yen, fluctuations in the rate of exchange between the yen and the U.S. dollar can have a significant effect on the Company's reported financial position and results of operations. Aflac Japan's premiums and approximately half of its investment income are received in yen, and its claims and most expenses are paid in yen. Aflac Japan purchases yen-denominated assets and U.S. dollar-denominated assets, which may be hedged to yen, to support yen-denominated policy liabilities. These and other yen-denominated financial statement items are, however, translated into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate can have a significant effect on the Company's reported financial position and results of operations. In periods when yen weakens, translating yen into U.S. dollars causes fewer U.S. dollars to be reported. When yen strengthens, translating yen into U.S. dollars causes more U.S. dollars to be reported. Any unrealized foreign currency translation adjustments are reported in accumulated other comprehensive income. As a result, yen weakening has the effect of suppressing current year results in relation to the prior year, while yen strengthening has the effect of magnifying current year results in relation to the prior year. In addition, the weakening of the yen relative to the U.S. dollar will generally adversely affect the value of the Company's yen-denominated investments in U.S. dollar terms. The Company engages in certain foreign currency hedging activities for the purpose of hedging the yen exposure to its net investment in operations in Japan. These hedging activities are limited in scope, and the Company cannot provide assurance that these activities will be effective. Unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated securities held by Aflac Japan are exposed to foreign exchange fluctuations, which impact SMR. In periods of yen strengthening, the unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated investments will experience unrealized foreign exchange losses, negatively impacting SMR. This impact increases when the size of the unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated portfolio increases, which can occur due to the purchase of additional unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated investments, or through termination or expiration of existing hedges. Unrealized currency gains and losses on unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated securities are monetized (or, in other words, are economically realized) only upon converting the proceeds from the sale, maturity or redemption of these securities to yen, which primarily occurs when yen are needed to satisfy policyholder obligations or other business expenses of Aflac Japan. To mitigate exposure to the foreign exchange risk from U.S. dollar-denominated investments and to reduce SMR volatility, the Company engages in certain currency hedging activities. However, these hedging activities are limited in scope and the Company cannot provide assurance that its hedging strategies will be effective. As a result, periods of unusually volatile currency exchange rates could result in limitations on dividends available to the Parent Company. As indicated in the Item 1, Business, the Company has determined that the unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated investment portfolio acts as a natural economic currency hedge of a portion of the Company’s investment in Aflac Japan against erosion of economic value. However, the unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated investment portfolio at the same time creates an unmatched foreign currency exposure and subjects Aflac Japan to volatility in regulatory capital and earnings, which may adversely impact Aflac Japan’s ability to pay dividends to the Parent Company. The overall investment strategy in Aflac Japan is guided primarily by the objective of securing the long-term financial strength of Aflac Japan and funding of yen liabilities. As a result, the Company has historically maintained and currently maintains the size of the unhedged portfolio at levels below the stressed economic surplus in Aflac Japan. However, there can be no assurance that this strategy will be successful. Furthermore, for regulatory accounting purposes, there are certain requirements for realizing impairments that could be triggered by changes in the rate of exchange between the yen and U.S. dollar and could negatively impact Aflac Japan's earnings and the corresponding dividends and capital deployment. Additionally, the Company is exposed to currency risk when yen cash flows are converted into U.S. dollars, resulting in an increase or decrease in the Company's U.S. dollar-denominated cash flows and earnings when exchange gains or losses, respectively, are realized. This primarily occurs when the Company dividends funds from Aflac Japan to the Parent Company, but it also has an impact when cash in the form of yen is converted to U.S. dollars for investment into U.S. dollar-denominated assets. The exchange rates prevailing at the time of dividend payment may differ from the exchange rates prevailing at the time the yen profits were earned. In 2018, the Parent Company entered into forward contracts to Item 1A. Risk Factors accomplish a dual objective of hedging foreign currency exchange rate risk related to dividend payments by Aflac Japan, and reducing enterprise-wide hedge costs. If the markets experience a significant strengthening of yen, this could cause cash strain at the Parent Company as a result of cash collateral and potentially cash settlement requirements. Based on the timing and severity of exchange rate fluctuations combined with the level of outstanding activity in this program, the cash strain at the Parent Company could be significant. For more information regarding unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated securities, see the risk factor below entitled, “Lack of availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations, financial position or liquidity”. For more information regarding foreign currency risk, see the Currency Risk subsection within the Market Risks of Financial Instruments section of MD&A. Lack of availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments could adversely affect the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity. The Company attempts to match both the duration and currency of its assets with its liabilities. This is very difficult for Aflac Japan due to the lack of available long-dated yen-denominated fixed income instruments beyond JGBs. Prior to the onset of the financial crisis of 2008, the Company was focused on investing cash flows in JGBs, which had relatively low yields, and utilizing private placement and perpetual securities to gain additional yield, extend the duration of the investment portfolio, and maintain yen exposure. Given call activity with respect to certain of the Company's legacy private placement investments, the Company has added a modest amount of yen-denominated private placements to its investment portfolio in recent periods. The investment in private placements carries risk associated with illiquidity, which is managed and monitored by the Company. Starting in 2012, Aflac Japan augmented its investment strategy to include U.S. dollar-denominated investments, some of which could then be hedged back to yen. Initially this program focused on public investment-grade bonds but has evolved over time to include U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade commercial mortgage loans, infrastructure debt, as well as other loan types, high yield bonds and U.S. equity securities. The Company plans to continue adding other instruments denominated in U.S. dollars, including floating rate investments, to improve the portfolio diversification and/or return profile. Some of the U.S. dollar-denominated asset classes that the Company has added, and anticipates continuing to add, have less liquidity than investment-grade corporate bonds. These strategies will continue to increase the Company's exposure to U.S. interest rates, credit spreads and other risks. The Company has increased foreign exchange risk exposure as the comprehensive hedging program may not always correlate to the underlying U.S. dollar-denominated assets, thereby increasing earnings volatility. These risks can significantly impact the Company's consolidated results of operations, financial position or liquidity. Investing in U.S. dollar-denominated investments in Aflac Japan also creates an unmatched foreign currency exposure and related SMR volatility, as Aflac Japan’s insurance liabilities are yen-denominated. Although the Company engages in certain foreign exchange hedging activities to partially mitigate this risk, and such hedged assets may be used to satisfy yen-denominated insurance liabilities and other business obligations, important risks remain. Foreign exchange derivatives used for hedging are periodically settled, which results in cash receipt or payment at maturity or early termination. The Company’s foreign exchange derivatives are typically shorter-dated than the underlying U.S. dollar-denominated investments being hedged, which creates roll-over risks within the hedging program that could increase the cost of such derivatives. If the Company reduces the notional amount of foreign exchange derivatives prior to the maturity of the hedged U.S. dollar-denominated investments, the foreign exchange gains or losses on the U.S. dollar-denominated investments remain economically unrealized. These gains or losses are only economically realized, or monetized, through sale, maturity or redemption of the investments and concurrent conversion to yen. However, the Company may not realize the benefit of offsetting adverse cash settlements on hedging derivatives with cash receipts on the U.S. dollar-denominated investments if the currency exchange rates move in an adverse direction before the investments are converted to yen, or if the investments are never converted to yen. As an example of the latter, if the Company’s actual insurance risk experience in Japan is as expected or more favorable than expected, the need for yen to pay expenses and claims would correspondingly remain at or below expected levels, thereby diminishing operational requirements to convert U.S. dollar-denominated investments to yen. Since 2012, the cumulative net cash settlements on derivatives hedging currency exposure of Aflac Japan’s U.S. dollar-denominated investments were an outflow of $3.9 billion as of December 31, 2018. These outflows or cumulative net negative settlements are associated with foreign exchange derivatives on existing U.S. dollar-denominated investments and hedged investments that have since been sold, matured or redeemed and may or may have not been converted to yen. Furthermore, the settlements include instances where the initial foreign exchange derivative notional amounts were reduced prior to the maturity of the hedged Item 1A. Risk Factors investments. The settlement of the foreign exchange derivatives is reported in the investing activities section of the Company’s consolidated statements of cash flows in the line item “Settlement of derivatives, net.” For more information regarding unhedged U.S. dollar-denominated securities, see the risk factor above entitled, “The Company is exposed to foreign currency fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate.” For more information regarding Aflac Japan's U.S. dollar-denominated investments and hedging activities, see the Hedging Activities subsection within the Item 7. MD&A section in this report, and for more information regarding foreign currency risk, see the Currency Risk subsection within the Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk section in this report. U.S. tax audit risk related to conversion of the Japan branch to a subsidiary could adversely impact the Company's financial position. The conversion of the Japan branch to a legal subsidiary, which the Company executed in the second quarter of 2018, was a complex, tax-free transaction that is conditioned on the continued validity of a private letter ruling the Company received from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Notwithstanding the receipt of the private letter ruling, the IRS could determine that the Japan branch conversion should be treated as a taxable transaction. For example, the IRS could conclude that the representations, assumptions and covenants on which the private letter ruling is based are untrue, not accurate, or have not been fulfilled. If the IRS made such a conclusion, the Company could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities or litigation costs to defend the tax-free treatment of the transaction outlined by the private letter ruling. Such liabilities or costs could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition. If future policy benefits, claims or expenses exceed those anticipated in establishing premiums and reserves, the Company's financial results would be adversely affected. The Company establishes premiums for many of its policies on assumptions for morbidity, mortality, longevity and persistency. The Company also establishes and carries, as a liability, reserves based on estimates of how much will be required to pay for future benefits and claims on its policies. The Company calculates these reserves using various assumptions and estimates, including premiums the Company will receive over the assumed life of the policy; the timing, frequency and severity of the events covered by the insurance policy; and the investment returns on the assets the Company purchases with a portion of its net cash flow from operations. The assumptions and estimates that the Company uses in establishing premiums and reserves depend on the Company's judgment regarding the likelihood of future events and are inherently uncertain. Many factors can cause actual outcomes to deviate from these assumptions and estimates, such as changes in economic conditions, changes in government healthcare policy, advances in medical technology, changes in treatment patterns, and changes in average lifespan. Accordingly, the Company cannot determine with precision the ultimate amounts that it will pay for, or the timing of payment of, actual benefits and claims or whether the assets supporting the policy liabilities will grow to the level the Company assumes prior to payment of benefits or claims. If the Company's actual experience is different from its assumptions or estimates, the Company's reserves may prove inadequate. As a result, the Company would incur a charge to earnings in the period in which it determines such a shortfall exists, which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, results of operations and financial condition. Generally, lower mortality decreases the profitability of third sector products in Japan, as more policyholders will survive into ages where they have a higher rate of claim incidence. This assumption can impact pricing and reserving. For instance, Japan FSA periodically requires updates to their Standard mortality tables for FSA reserves. An update to the Standard mortality tables was performed in April 2018 applicable to all business issued after that date. For business that is inforce prior to the update, the change in mortality table would not have an impact. For new issues, the updated mortality tables would be included in our reserve assumptions, and slow the emergence of FSA earnings for third sector products and therefore will have an impact on pricing returns. The Company adjusts pricing assumptions as new products are developed to adjust for these mortality assumptions. The success of the Company's business depends in part on effective information technology systems and on continuing to develop and implement improvements in technology. The Company's business depends in large part on its technology systems for interacting with employers, policyholders, sales associates, and brokers, and the Company's business strategy involves providing customers with easy-to-use products to meet their needs and ensuring employees have the technology in place to support those needs. Some of the Company's information technology systems and software are older, legacy-type systems that are less efficient and require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain or upgrade to current standards including Item 1A. Risk Factors adequate business continuity procedures. The Company is in a continual state of upgrading and enhancing its business systems; however, these changes tend to challenge the Company's complex integrated environment. The Company's success is dependent in large part on maintaining or improving the effectiveness of existing systems and continuing to develop and enhance information systems that support its business processes in a cost-efficient manner. If the Company does not maintain the effectiveness of its systems, the Company's operations and reputation could be adversely affected and it could be exposed to litigation as well as to regulatory proceedings and fines or penalties. Competition could adversely affect the Company's ability to increase or maintain its market share or profitability. The Company operates in a competitive environment and in an industry that is subject to ongoing changes from market pressures brought about by customer demands, legislative reform, marketing practices and changes to health care and health insurance delivery. These factors require the Company to anticipate market trends and make changes to differentiate the Company's products and services from those of its competitors. The Company also faces the potential of competition from existing or new companies in the United States and Japan that have not historically been active in the supplemental health insurance industry, but some of which have greater financial, marketing and management resources than the Company does. Failure to anticipate market trends and/or to differentiate the Company's products and services can affect the Company's ability to retain or grow profitable lines of business. Further, as employers and brokers are increasingly requesting a full-suite of products from one insurance provider, a failure to react and adapt to these demands could result in decreased sales or market share. Similarly, a failure to meet evolving customer demands through innovative product development, effective distribution channels, and continuous investment in the Company's technology could result in lower revenues and less favorable policy terms and conditions, which could adversely affect the Company's operating results. Events, including those external to the Company's operations, could damage the Company's reputation. The Company has made significant investments in the Aflac brand over a long period of time. Because insurance products are intangible, the Company's ability to compete for and maintain policyholders relies to a large extent on consumer trust in the Company's business. The perception of unfavorable business practices or financial weakness could create doubt regarding the Company's ability to honor the commitments it has made to its policyholders. Maintaining the Company's stature as a trustworthy insurer and responsible corporate citizen, which helps support the strength of the Company's brand, is critical to the Company's reputation and the failure or perceived failure to do so could adversely affect the Company's brand value, financial condition and results of operations. For example, negative publicity or allegations of unfavorable business practices or poor governance can be rapidly and widely shared over social or traditional media or other means, and could reduce demand for the Company's insurance products, reduce the Company's ability to recruit and retain employees, or lead to greater regulatory scrutiny of the Company's operations. Sales of the Company's products and services are dependent on its ability to attract, retain and support a network of qualified sales associates, brokers and employees in the United States and sales associates and other distribution partners in Japan. The Company's sales could be adversely affected if its sales networks deteriorate or if the Company does not adequately provide support, training and education for its existing network. In the United States, competition exists for sales associates and brokers with demonstrated ability. In Japan, the Company's sales results are dependent upon its relationship with sales associates and other distribution partners, including its alliance partner, Japan Post, which in recent periods has accounted for approximately 25% of Aflac Japan's third sector sales. The Company competes with other insurers and financial institutions primarily on the basis of its products, compensation, support services and financial rating. The Company's inability to attract and retain qualified sales associates, brokers and other distribution partners, including its alliance partners in Japan, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's sales, results of operations and financial condition. The Company's sales associates and brokers are independent contractors and may sell products of its competitors. If the Company's competitors offer products that are more attractive, or pay higher commissions than the Company does, any or all of these distribution partners may concentrate their efforts on selling the Company's competitors' products instead of the Company's. In addition to the Company's commissioned sales force in the United States, Aflac has expanded its sales leadership team to include a salaried sales force of over 200 market directors and broker sales professionals. The Company's ability to attract and retain top talent in these salaried roles has a material impact on its sales success. Item 1A. Risk Factors Additionally, as the Japan and U.S. employment markets continue to evolve, there is risk that the Company's practices regarding attracting, developing, and retaining employees may not be fully effective. Failure to successfully meet and maintain sufficient levels of employees may diminish the Company's ability to achieve its financial and compliance objectives, both of which are time consuming and personnel-intensive. Interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality, integrity or privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems, could harm the Company's business. The Company stores confidential policyholder, employee, agent, and other proprietary information on its information technology systems. In addition, the Company depends heavily on its telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems and on the integrity and timeliness of data it uses to run its businesses and service its customers. These systems may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events or circumstances wholly or partly beyond the Company's control. Additionally, design flaws may exist in certain systems, processes, software, or configurations that in turn may result in system failure, data corruption, or compromise. Despite the Company's implementation of a variety of security measures to defend against threats incurred on a daily basis, its information technology and other systems, as well as those of third party providers and participants in the Company’s distribution channels, have been and will likely continue to be subject to physical or electronic break-ins, unauthorized tampering, security breaches or other cyber-attacks, that may result in the failure to adequately maintain the security, confidentiality, integrity, or privacy of sensitive data, including personal information relating to customers and prospective customers, or in the misappropriation of the Company's intellectual property or proprietary information. From time to time, the Company, its third party providers and participants in the Company’s distribution channels have experienced and will likely continue to experience such events. Although the minor data leakage issues the Company has experienced to date have not had a material effect on its business, there is no assurance that the Company's security systems or processes will prevent or mitigate future break-ins, tampering, security breaches or other cyber-attacks. Interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems, whether due to actions by the Company or others, including third party providers and participants in the company’s distribution channels, could delay or disrupt the Company's ability to do business and service its customers, seriously harm the Company's brand and reputation as well as the Company's ability to compete effectively, subject it to regulatory sanctions and other claims, lead to a loss of customers and revenues and otherwise adversely affect the Company's business. In addition, the costs to address or remediate system interruptions or security threats and vulnerabilities, whether before or after an incident, could be significant. While the Company continues to invest in the infrastructure of its data security programs, the Company, as well as its third party providers and participants in the Company’s distribution channels, have been, and will likely continue to be, the target of unauthorized access, social engineering, phishing, cyber-attacks, web application attacks, computer viruses or other malicious codes, or other computer-related penetrations. Although the Company attempts to manage its exposure to such events through the purchase of cyber liability insurance, such events are inherently unpredictable and insurance may not be sufficient to protect the Company against all losses. As a result, events such as these could adversely affect the Company's financial condition or results of operation. If the Company fails to comply with restrictions on customer privacy and information security, including taking steps to ensure that its third-party service providers and business associates who access, store, process or transmit sensitive customer information maintain its security, integrity, confidentiality and availability, the Company's reputation and business operations could be materially adversely affected. The collection, maintenance, use, protection, disclosure and disposal of individually identifiable data by the Company's businesses are regulated at the international, federal and state levels. These laws and rules are subject to change by legislation or administrative or judicial interpretation. Various state laws address the unauthorized access and acquisition of personal information and the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health data to the extent they are more restrictive than those contained in the privacy and security provisions in the federal GLBA and in the HIPAA. HIPAA also requires that the Company imposes privacy and security requirements on its business associates (as such term is defined in the HIPAA regulations). With regard to personal information obtained from policyholders, the insured, or others, Aflac Japan is regulated in Japan by the APPI and guidelines issued by FSA and other governmental authorities. The Company relies on third parties, and in some cases subcontractors, to provide information technology and data services. It also relies on various parties in its distribution channels including agencies, banks and Japan Post in Japan, as well as sales associates and brokers in the United States, to provide services to prospective and existing customers. Item 1A. Risk Factors Although the Company provides for appropriate protections through its contracts and performs information security risk assessments of its third-party service providers and business associates, the Company still has limited control over their actions and practices. In addition, despite the security measures the Company has in place to ensure compliance with applicable laws and rules, the Company's facilities and systems, and those of the Company's third-party providers and participants in its distribution channels may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism or theft, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors or other similar events. From time to time, the Company, its third party providers and participants in the Company’s distribution channels have experienced and will likely continue to experience such events. In such cases, notification to affected individuals, state and federal regulators, state attorneys general and media may be required, depending upon the number of affected individuals and whether personal information including health or financial data was subject to unauthorized access. The U.S. Congress and many states are considering new privacy and security requirements that would apply to the Company's business. Compliance with new privacy and security laws, requirements, and new regulations may result in cost increases due to necessary systems changes, new limitations or constraints on the Company's business models, the development of new administrative processes, and the effects of potential noncompliance by the Company's business associates. They also may impose further restrictions on the Company's collection, disclosure and use of customer identifiable data that are housed in one or more of the Company's administrative databases. Noncompliance with any privacy laws or any security breach involving the misappropriation, loss, theft or other unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential customer information, whether by the Company or by one of its third parties, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, reputation, brand and results of operations, including: material fines and penalties; compensatory, special, punitive and statutory damages; consent orders regarding the Company's privacy and security practices; adverse actions against the Company's licenses to do business; and injunctive relief. In addition, under Japanese laws and regulations, including the APPI, if a leak or loss of personal information by Aflac Japan or its business associates should occur, depending on factors such as the volume of personal data involved and the likelihood of other secondary damage, Aflac Japan may be required to file reports to the FSA; issue public releases explaining such incident to the public; or become subject to an FSA business improvement order, which could pose a risk to the Company's reputation. Extensive regulation and changes in legislation can impact profitability and growth. Aflac's insurance subsidiaries are subject to complex laws and regulations that are administered and enforced by a number of governmental authorities, including the FSA and Ministry of Finance (MOF) in Japan, and state insurance regulators, the SEC, the NAIC, the FIO, the U.S. Department of Justice, state attorneys general, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the U.S. Treasury, including the IRS, in the United States, each of which exercises a degree of interpretive latitude. In addition, proposals regarding the global regulation of insurance are under discussion, and changes to corporate form that attend the conversion of Aflac Japan to a subsidiary may introduce new forms of regulation compared to those with which the Company has historically been subject. For example, AAMJ is licensed as a discretionary asset manager under the Japan Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and is subject to rules of the Japan Investment Advisors Association, a self-regulatory organization with mandatory membership for Japan investment managers. Consequently, the Company is subject to the risk that compliance with any particular regulator's or enforcement authority's interpretation of a legal or regulatory issue may not result in compliance with another regulator's or enforcement authority's interpretation of the same issue, particularly when compliance is judged in hindsight. There is also a risk that any particular regulator's or enforcement authority's interpretation of a legal or regulatory issue may change over time to the Company's detriment. In addition, changes in the overall legal or regulatory environment may, even absent any particular regulator's or enforcement authority's interpretation of an issue changing, cause us to change the Company's views regarding the actions the Company needs to take from a legal or regulatory risk management perspective, thus necessitating changes to the Company's practices that may, in some cases, limit its ability to grow or otherwise negatively impact the profitability of the Company's business. The primary purpose of insurance company regulatory supervision is the protection of insurance policyholders, rather than investors. The extent of regulation varies, but generally is governed by state statutes in the United States and by the FSA and the MOF in Japan. These systems of supervision and regulation cover, among other things: • standards of establishing and setting premium rates and the approval thereof • standards of minimum capital and reserve requirements and solvency margins, including RBC measures • restrictions on, limitations on and required approval of certain transactions between the Company's insurance subsidiaries and their affiliates, including management fee arrangements • restrictions on the nature, quality and concentration of investments Item 1A. Risk Factors • restrictions on the types of terms and conditions that the Company can include in the insurance policies offered by its primary insurance operations • limitations on the amount of dividends that insurance subsidiaries can pay • the existence and licensing status of a company under circumstances where it is not writing new or renewal business • certain required methods of accounting • reserves for unearned premiums, losses and other purposes • assignment of residual market business and potential assessments for the provision of funds necessary for the settlement of covered claims under certain policies provided by impaired, insolvent or failed insurance companies • administrative practices requirements • imposition of fines and other sanctions Regulatory authorities periodically re-examine existing laws and regulations applicable to insurance companies and their products. Changes in these laws and regulations, or in interpretations thereof, could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations. If the Company's subsidiaries fail to meet the minimum capital or operational requirements established by its respective regulators, they could be subject to examination or corrective action, or the Company's financial strength ratings could be downgraded, or both. Various forms of federal oversight and regulation of insurance were signed into law by the prior U.S. presidential administration. For example, the ACA gave the U.S. federal government direct regulatory authority over the business of health insurance and made significant changes to the U.S. health care insurance marketplace, including the imposition of an individual medical insurance coverage mandate (which has since been repealed effective 2019 by the Tax Act), penalties on certain employers for failing to provide adequate coverage, the creation of health insurance exchanges, and proscriptions regarding coverage and exclusions as well as medical loss ratios. The legislation also includes changes in government reimbursements and tax credits for individuals and employers and alters federal and state regulation of health insurers. The ACA, as enacted, does not require material changes in the design of the Company's insurance products. However, indirect consequences of the legislation and regulations could present challenges that could potentially have an impact on the Company's sales model, financial condition and results of operations. The United States Congress may continue to consider legislation that would repeal and replace key provisions of the ACA. There can be no assurance that any legislation affecting the ACA will be passed by Congress, nor as to the ultimate timing or provisions of any such legislation, nor as to the effect of any such legislation on the design or marketability of the Company's insurance products. In addition, Dodd-Frank intended to reduce risk of a financial crisis, contains multiple provisions that could impact the Company's business as rules are finalized and implemented. While it is difficult to isolate the impact of Dodd Frank from other government and central bank actions and general market conditions since the financial crisis, the Company believes that the Dodd-Frank Act, in particular bank capital requirements, limits on proprietary trading and derivatives regulation, has affected the value of its holdings in banks and other financial institutions, and impacted pricing, liquidity, and the Company's general ability to conduct financial and capital market transactions. Dodd Frank is expansive in scope and, among other things, requires the adoption of extensive regulations and numerous regulating decisions, many of which have been adopted. The presidential administration in the United States and Congress have stated proposals to reform or repeal certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, some of which have been implemented. The Company cannot predict with any degree of certainty the ultimate effects (if any) that Dodd Frank, or subsequent implementation of regulations and decisions, will have on its U.S. business, financial condition, or results of operations. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations is time consuming and personnel-intensive, and changes in these laws and regulations may materially increase the Company's direct and indirect compliance and other expenses of doing business, thus having a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations. Tax rates applicable to the Company may change. The Company is subject to taxation in Japan, and in the U.S. under federal and numerous state and local tax jurisdictions. In preparing the Company's financial statements, the Company estimates the amount of tax that will become payable, but the Company's effective tax rate may be different than estimates due to numerous factors including accounting for income taxes, the mix of earnings from Japan and the U.S., the results of tax audits, adjustments to the value of uncertain tax positions, changes to estimates and other factors. Further, changes in U.S. or Japan tax laws or interpretations of such laws could increase the Company's corporate taxes and reduce earnings. Item 1A. Risk Factors The Tax Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017. Among other things, effective January 1, 2018 the Tax Act reduced the U.S. federal statutory corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, eliminated or reduced certain deductions and credits, and limited the deductibility of interest expense and executive compensation. The Tax Act also transitions international corporate taxation from a worldwide system to a modified territorial system, which in light of the current tax treatment of Aflac Japan has the effect of subjecting the earnings of Aflac Japan to Japan taxation and subjecting the Company’s other earnings, including the consolidated earnings of the Parent Company, to U.S. taxation. These changes became effective on January 1, 2018. Because changes to tax rates are accounted for in the period of enactment, during the period ended December 31, 2017, the Company revalued its deferred tax assets and liabilities and recorded a net deferred tax liability reduction of $1.9 billion benefit in 2017. During the fourth quarter of 2018, the Company recorded an immaterial adjustment to the provisional amount of deferred tax liabilities (DTLs) related to the Japan tax computation and no valuation allowance adjustment related to anticipatory foreign tax credit asset, rendering final values for the Company's deferred tax liability. The impact of the Tax Act, including the preliminary estimate for the change in tax rate that was recorded during the fourth quarter of 2017, adjustments booked during the fourth quarter of 2018 which rendered final values related to the tax rate, and the Company's combined U.S. and Japanese effective income tax rate, may be adjusted in future periods, possibly materially, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations and assumptions the Company has made, tax guidance that may be issued and actions the Company make take as a result of the Tax Act. Without limiting the foregoing, additional forthcoming guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and/or the U.S. IRS related to the Tax Act could significantly impact the level of valuation allowance respecting the amount of foreign tax credits claimed by the Company with regard to the operations of Aflac Japan. In addition, it remains difficult to predict the timing and effect that future tax law changes could have on the Company's earnings both in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions. Any of these factors could cause the Company to experience an effective tax rate significantly different from previous periods or our current estimates. If the Company's effective tax rate were to increase, the Company's financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Defaults, downgrades, widening credit spreads or other events impairing the value of the fixed maturity securities and loan receivables in the Company's investment portfolio may reduce the Company's earnings and capital position. The Company is subject to the risk that the issuers and/or guarantors of fixed maturity securities and loan receivables the Company owns may default on principal or interest. A significant portion of the Company's portfolio represents an unsecured obligation of the issuer, including some that may be subordinated to other debt in the issuer’s capital structure. In these cases, many factors can influence the overall creditworthiness of the issuer and ultimately its ability to service and repay the Company's holdings. This can include changes in the global economy, the company's assets, strategy, or management, shifts in the dynamics of the industries in which they compete, their access to additional funding, and the overall health of the credit markets. Factors unique to the Company's securities including contractual protections such as financial covenants or relative position in the issuer's capital structure also influence the value of the Company's holdings. Most of the Company's investments carry a rating by one or more of the NRSROs. Any change in the rating agencies' approach to evaluating credit and assigning an opinion could negatively impact the fair value of the Company's portfolio. The Company employs a team of credit analysts to monitor the creditworthiness of the issuers in its portfolio. Any credit-related declines in the fair value of positions held in the Company's portfolio believed to be not temporary in nature will negatively impact the Company's net income and capital position through impairment and other credit related losses. These losses would also affect the Company's solvency ratios in the United States and Japan. Aflac Japan has certain regulatory accounting requirements for realizing impairments that could be triggered by credit-related losses, which may be different from U.S. GAAP and statutory requirements. These impairment losses could negatively impact Aflac Japan's earnings, and the corresponding dividends and capital deployment. The Company is also subject to the risk that any collateral providing credit enhancement to the Company's positions could deteriorate. These instruments may include senior secured first lien loans, such as commercial mortgage loans, bank loans, middle market loans, and loan-backed securities where the underlying loan or collateral notes may default on principal, interest, or other payments, causing an adverse change in cash flows to the positions held in the Company's investment portfolio. The Company is exposed to sovereign credit risk through instruments issued directly by governments and government entities as well as banks and other institutions that rely in part on the strength of the underlying government Item 1A. Risk Factors for their credit quality. In addition to the United States and Japan, many governments, especially in Europe, have been subject to rating downgrades due to the need for fiscal and budgetary remediation and structural reforms, reduced economic activity, and investment needed to support banks or other systemically important entities. Additional downgrades or default of the Company's sovereign issuers will have a negative impact on its portfolio and could reduce the Company's earnings and capital. In addition to the Company's exposure to the underlying fundamental credit strength of the issuers of its fixed maturity securities and the underlying risk of default, the Company is also exposed to the general movement in credit market spreads. A widening of credit spreads could reduce the value of the Company's existing portfolio, create unrealized losses on its investment portfolio, and reduce the Company's adjusted capital position which is used in determining the SMR in Japan. This widening of credit spreads could, however, increase the net investment income on new credit investments. Conversely, a tightening of credit spreads could increase the value of the Company's existing portfolio and create unrealized gains on its investment portfolio. This tightening of credit spreads could also reduce the net investment income available to the Company on new credit investments. Increased market volatility also makes it difficult to value certain of the Company's investment holdings (see the Critical Accounting Estimates section in Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis, of this Form 10-K). For more information regarding credit risk, see the Credit Risk subsection of Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk, of this Form 10-K. A decline in the creditworthiness of other financial institutions could adversely affect the Company. The Company has exposure to and routinely executes transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including broker dealers, derivative counterparties, commercial banks and other institutions. The Company uses derivative instruments to mitigate various risks associated with its investment portfolio, notes payable, and subsidiary dividends. The Company enters into a variety of agreements involving assorted instruments including foreign currency forward contracts; foreign currency options; foreign currency swaps; and interest rate swaptions. The Company's use of derivatives results in financial exposure to derivative counterparties. If the Company's counterparties fail or refuse to honor their obligations under derivative instruments, the Company's hedges of the risks will be ineffective, and the Company's financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. The Company engages in derivative transactions directly with unaffiliated third parties under International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) agreements and other documentation. Most of the ISDA agreements also include Credit Support Annexes (CSAs) provisions, which generally provide for two-way collateral postings at the first dollar of exposure. The Company mitigates the risk that counterparties to transactions might be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations by monitoring counterparty credit exposure and collateral value while generally requiring that collateral be posted at the outset of the transaction. In addition, a significant portion of the derivative transactions have provisions that give the counterparty the right to terminate the transaction upon a downgrade of Aflac’s financial strength rating. The actual amount of payments that the Company could be required to make, depends on market conditions, the fair value of outstanding affected transactions, and other factors prevailing at and after the time of the downgrade. If the Company is required to post collateral to support derivative contracts and/or pay cash to settle the contracts at maturity, the Company's liquidity could be strained. In addition, the Company's cleared swaps result in counterparty exposure to clearing brokers and central clearinghouses; while this exposure is mitigated in part by clearinghouse and clearing broker capital and regulation, no assurance can be provided that these counterparties will fulfill their obligations. The Company also has exposure to counterparties to securities lending transactions in the event they fail to return loaned securities. The Company is also exposed to the risk that there may be a decline in value of securities posted as collateral for securities lending programs or a decline in value of investments made with cash posted as collateral for such programs. Further, the Company has agreements with various financial institutions for the distribution of its insurance products. For example, at December 31, 2018, the Company had agreements with 371 banks to market Aflac's products in Japan. Sales through these banks represented 4.6% of Aflac Japan's new annualized premium sales in 2018. Any material adverse effect on these or other financial institutions could also have an adverse effect on the Company's sales. The Company has entered into significant reinsurance transactions with large, highly rated counterparties. Negative events or developments affecting any one of these counterparties could have an adverse effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations. All of these risks related to exposure to other financial institutions could adversely impact the Company's consolidated results of operations and financial condition. Item 1A. Risk Factors The determination of the amount of impairments taken on the Company's investments is based on significant valuation judgments and could materially impact its results of operations or financial position. An investment in a fixed maturity security is impaired if the fair value falls below book value. The Company regularly reviews its entire investment portfolio for declines in value. The majority of the Company's investments are evaluated for other-than-temporary impairment using the Company's debt impairment model. The Company's debt impairment model includes emphasis on the ultimate collection of the cash flows from its investments. The determination of the amount of impairments under this model is based upon the Company's periodic evaluation and assessment of known and inherent risks associated with the respective securities. Such evaluations and assessments are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. For the Company's fixed maturity securities reported in the available-for-sale portfolio, the Company reports the investments at fair value in the statement of financial condition and records any unrealized gain or loss in the value of the asset in accumulated other comprehensive income. For the Company's held-to-maturity securities portfolio, the Company reports the investments at amortized cost. Under the debt impairment model, the determination of whether an impairment in value is other than temporary is based largely on the Company's evaluation of the issuer's creditworthiness. The Company must apply considerable judgment in determining the likelihood of the security recovering in value while the Company owns it. Factors that may influence this include the Company's assessment of the issuer’s ability to continue making timely payments of interest and principal, the overall level of interest rates and credit spreads, and other factors. The Company also verifies whether it has the intent to sell or if it is more likely than not the Company would be required to sell the security prior to recovery of its amortized cost. If the Company determines it is unlikely to recover the book value of the instrument prior to disposal of the security, the Company will reduce the carrying value of the security to its fair value and recognize any associated impairment loss in the Company's consolidated statement of earnings or other comprehensive income, depending on the nature of the loss. For regulatory accounting purposes for Aflac Japan, there are certain requirements for realizing impairments that could be triggered by rising interest rates, credit-related losses, or changes in foreign exchange, negatively impacting Aflac Japan's earnings and corresponding dividend and capital deployment. The Company's management updates its evaluations regularly as conditions change and as new information becomes available and reflects impairment losses in the Company's income statement when considered necessary. Furthermore, additional impairments may need to be taken in the future. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments. As a holding company, the Parent Company depends on the ability of its subsidiaries to transfer funds to it to meet its debt service and other obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock. The Parent Company is a holding company and has no direct operations, and its most significant assets are the stock of its subsidiaries. Because the Parent Company conducts its operations through its operating subsidiaries, the Parent Company depends on those entities for dividends and other payments to generate the funds necessary to meet its debt service and other obligations, to pay dividends on and conduct repurchases of its common stock, and to make investments into its subsidiaries or external investment opportunities. Aflac is domiciled in Nebraska and is subject to insurance regulations that impose certain limitations and restrictions on payments of dividends, management fees, loans and advances by Aflac to the Parent Company. The Nebraska insurance statutes require prior approval for dividend distributions that exceed the greater of the net income from operations, which excludes net realized investment gains, for the previous year determined under statutory accounting principles, or 10% of statutory capital and surplus as of the previous year-end. In addition, the Nebraska insurance department must approve service arrangements and other transactions within the affiliated group of companies. After the Japan branch conversion, the Nebraska insurance department and the FSA approved their respective domiciled insurance company service arrangements and transactions. The FSA does not allow dividends or other payments from Aflac Japan unless it meets certain financial criteria as governed by Japanese corporate law. Under these criteria, dividend capacity at the Japan subsidiary will be defined as retained earnings plus other capital reserve less net after-tax net unrealized losses on available-for-sale securities. The ability of Aflac and Aflac Japan to pay dividends or make other payments to the Parent Company could also be constrained by the Company's dependency on financial strength ratings from independent rating agencies. The Company's ratings from these agencies depend to a large extent on Aflac's capitalization level. Any inability of Aflac to pay Item 1A. Risk Factors dividends or make other payments to the Parent Company could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations. For the foregoing reasons, there is no assurance that the earnings from, or other available assets of, the Parent Company's operating subsidiaries will be sufficient to make distributions to enable the Company to operate. Any decrease in the Company's financial strength or debt ratings may have an adverse effect on its competitive position and access to liquidity and capital. Financial strength ratings can play an important role in establishing the competitive position of insurance companies. On an ongoing basis, NRSROs review the financial performance and condition of many insurers, including Aflac and its competitors. They may assign multiple ratings including a financial strength rating, reflecting their view of the insurer’s ability to pay claims on a timely basis, and ratings on an insurer’s senior and subordinated debt obligations, indicating their view of an insurer’s ability to make timely payments on their debt obligations. NRSROs may change their ratings or outlook on an insurer's ratings due to a variety of factors including the NRSRO’s assessment of the insurer’s strength of operations and overall financial condition. Some factors that may influence ratings include competitive position; profitability; cash generation and other sources of liquidity; capital levels; quality of the investment portfolio; and perception of management capabilities. The ratings assigned to Aflac by the NRSROs are important factors in the Company's ability to access liquidity and capital from the bank market, debt capital markets or other available sources, such as reinsurance transactions. Downgrades to Aflac's credit ratings could give its derivative counterparties the right to require early termination of derivatives transactions or delivery of additional collateral, thereby adversely affecting the Company's liquidity. In view of the difficulties experienced after the financial crisis by many financial institutions, including those in the insurance industry, the NRSROs have heightened the level of scrutiny that they apply to such institutions. Steps taken by the NRSROs include an increase in the frequency and scope of their reviews, additional information requests from the companies that they rate, including additional information regarding the valuation of investment securities held, and, in certain cases, an increase in the capital and other requirements employed in their models for maintenance of certain rating levels. On September 16, 2015, S&P downgraded their credit rating of Japan’s sovereign debt. Following this action, they also downgraded several other foreign insurers, including Aflac. Although Aflac is a U.S.-based insurer, Aflac's significant operations in Japan and corresponding regulation by the Japanese FSA, combined with its significant exposure to JGBs as outlined above, resulted in S&P downgrading the financial strength rating of Aflac's core insurance operations to A+ and its senior debt rating to A-, both with a stable outlook. While S&P made no further downgrades to Aflac's ratings between 2016 and 2018, they have stated in the past that a downgrade of Japan's sovereign rating could lead to a downgrade of Aflac's financial strength rating. As a matter of policy, S&P rarely rates insurance companies above the sovereign long-term rating of the country of domicile because during times of stress, the sovereign’s regulatory and supervisory powers may restrict an insurer’s or financial system’s flexibility. In addition to the impact on Aflac's access to liquidity, as mentioned above, a downgrade of Aflac's ratings could have a material adverse effect on agent recruiting and retention, sales, competitiveness and the marketability of its products which could negatively impact Aflac's liquidity, operating results and financial condition. Additionally, sales through the bank channel in Japan could be adversely affected as a result of their reliance and sensitivity to ratings levels. The Company cannot predict what actions rating agencies may take, or what actions the Company may take in response to the actions of rating agencies, which could adversely affect Aflac's business. As with other companies in the financial services industry, Aflac's ratings could be downgraded at any time and without any notice by any NRSRO. Item 1A. Risk Factors The Company's risk management policies and procedures may prove to be ineffective and leave the Company exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risk, which could adversely affect the Company's businesses or result in losses. The Company has developed an enterprise-wide risk management and governance framework to mitigate risk and loss to the Company. The Company maintains policies, procedures and controls intended to identify, measure, monitor, report and analyze the risks to which the Company is exposed. However, there are inherent limitations to risk management strategies because risk may exist, or emerge in the future, that the Company has not appropriately anticipated or identified. If the Company's risk management framework proves ineffective, the Company may suffer unexpected losses and could be materially adversely affected. As the Company's businesses change and the markets in which it operates evolve, the Company's risk management framework may not evolve at the same pace as those changes. As a result, there is a risk that new products or new business strategies may present risks that are not appropriately identified, monitored or managed. In times of market stress, unanticipated market movements or unanticipated claims experience resulting from greater than expected morbidity, mortality, longevity, or persistency, the effectiveness of the Company's risk management strategies may be limited, resulting in losses to the Company. In addition, under difficult or less liquid market conditions, the Company's risk management strategies may not be effective because other market participants may be using the same or similar strategies to manage risk under the same challenging market conditions. In such circumstances, it may be difficult or more expensive for the Company to mitigate risk due to the activity of such other market participants. Many of the Company's risk management strategies or techniques are based upon historical customer and market behavior and all such strategies and techniques are based to some degree on management’s subjective judgment. The Company cannot provide assurance that its risk management framework, including the underlying assumptions or strategies, will be accurate and effective. Management of operational, legal and regulatory risks requires, among other things, policies, procedures and controls to record properly and verify a large number of transactions and events, and these policies, procedures and controls may not be fully effective. Models are utilized by the Company's businesses and corporate areas primarily to project future cash flows associated with pricing products, calculating reserves and valuing assets, as well as in evaluating risk and determining capital requirements, among other uses. These models are utilized under a risk management policy approved by the Company's executive risk management committees, however, the models may not operate properly and rely on assumptions and projections that are inherently uncertain. As the Company's businesses continue to grow and evolve, the number and complexity of models the Company utilizes expands, increasing the Company's exposure to error in the design, implementation or use of models, including the associated input data and assumptions. Past or future misconduct by the Company's employees or employees of the Company's third parties (suppliers which are cost-based relationships and alliance partners which are revenue-generating relationships) could result in violations of law by the Company, regulatory sanctions and/or serious reputational or financial harm and the precautions the Company takes to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Despite the Company's published Supplier Code of Conduct, due diligence of the Company's alliance partners, and rigorous contracting procedures (including financial, legal, IT security, and risk reviews), there can be no assurance that controls and procedures that the Company employs, which are designed to assess third party viability and prevent the Company from taking excessive or inappropriate risks, will be effective. Additionally, the use of third parties also poses operational risks that could result in financial loss, operational disruption, brand damage, or compliance issues. Inadequate oversight of Aflac’s third party suppliers due to the lack of policies, procedures, training and governance may lead to financial loss or damage to the Aflac brand. The concentration of the Company's investment portfolios in any particular single-issuer or sector of the economy may have an adverse effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations. Negative events or developments affecting any particular single issuer, industry, group of related industries, asset class or geographic sector may have an adverse impact on a particular holding or set of holdings, which may increase risk of loss from defaults due to non-payment of interest or principal. The Company seeks to minimize this risk by maintaining an appropriate level of diversification. To the extent the Company has concentrated positions, it could have an adverse effect on the Company's results of operations and financial position. The Company's global investment guidelines establish concentration limits for its investment portfolios. Item 1A. Risk Factors For details on the concentrations within the Company's investment portfolios, see the Analysis of Financial Condition section of Item 7, MD&A, and the Credit Risk section of Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk, of this Form 10-K. The valuation of the Company's investments and derivatives includes methodologies, estimations and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may adversely affect the Company's results of operations or financial condition. The Company reports a significant amount of its fixed maturity securities and other financial instruments at fair value. As such, valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable or require greater estimation as well as valuation methods which are more sophisticated, thereby resulting in values which may be greater or less than the value at which the investments may be ultimately sold. Rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported within the Company's consolidated financial statements and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly. Valuations of the Company's derivatives fluctuate with changes in underlying market variables, such as interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. During periods of market turbulence created by political instability, economic uncertainty, government interventions or other factors, the Company may experience significant changes in the volatility of its derivative valuations. Extreme market conditions can also affect the liquidity of such instruments creating marked differences in transaction levels and counterparty valuations. Depending on the severity and direction of the movements in its derivative valuations, the Company will face increases in the amount of collateral required to be posted with its counterparties. Liquidity stresses to the Company may also occur if the required collateral amounts increase significantly over a very short period of time. Conversely, the Company may be exposed to an increase in counterparty credit risk for short periods of time while calling collateral from its counterparties. Elimination of LIBOR as an interest rate benchmark may create uncertainty in valuation of loans, derivatives and other assets where valuation and interest rates are based on LIBOR, and may create uncertainty in the pricing of such assets in markets for their sale and disposition. For further discussion on investment and derivative valuations, see the Critical Accounting Estimates section in Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis, and Notes 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K. Managing key executive succession is critical to the Company's success. The Company would be adversely affected if it fails to adequately plan for succession of its senior management and other key executives. While the Company has succession plans and employment arrangements with certain key executives, these plans cannot guarantee that the services of these executives will be available to the Company, and its operations could be adversely affected if they are not. Catastrophic events could adversely affect the Company's financial condition and results of operations as well as the availability of the Company’s infrastructure and systems. The Company's insurance operations are exposed to the risk of catastrophic events including, but not necessarily limited to, epidemics, pandemics, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, war or other military action, and terrorism or other acts of violence. The extent of losses from a catastrophe is a function of both the total amount of insured exposure in the area affected by the event and the severity of the event. Certain events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and man-made catastrophes could cause substantial damage or loss of life in larger areas, especially those that are heavily populated. Claims resulting from natural or man−made catastrophic events could cause substantial volatility in the Company's financial results for any fiscal quarter or year and could materially reduce its profitability or harm the Company's financial condition, as well as affect its ability to write new business. Additionally, the Company's business operations may be adversely affected by such catastrophic events to the extent they disrupt the Company's physical infrastructure and systems that support its businesses and customers. Although the Company has a global crisis management framework to minimize the business disruption from a catastrophic event, such framework may not be effective to avoid an adverse impact to the Company from such an event. Item 1A. Risk Factors Changes in accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standard Boards (FASB) or other standard-setting bodies may adversely affect the Company's financial statements. The Company's financial statements are subject to the application of U.S. GAAP, which is periodically revised and/or expanded. Accordingly, from time to time the Company is required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the FASB. The impact of accounting pronouncements that have been issued but not yet implemented and are applicable to the Company is disclosed in Note 1 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The pronouncements expected to have the most significant impact on the Company's financial position or results of operations are outlined below. In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. The amendments in this update require a financial asset (or a group of financial assets) measured on an amortized cost basis to be presented net of an allowance for credit losses in order to reflect the amount expected to be collected on the financial asset(s). The Company currently expects loans and loan receivables and held-to-maturity fixed maturity securities to be the asset classes most significantly impacted upon adoption of the guidance. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Additionally, in August 2018 the FASB issued ASU 2018-12, Financial Services - Insurance, Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts. The amendments in this update will significantly change how insurers account for long-duration contracts. Among the issues addressed in the amendments is the requirement to review and, if there is a change, update assumptions for liability for future policy benefits at least annually, and to update the discount rate assumption quarterly. The frequency of the reviews and updates varies according to the assumptions but will be at least annually in all cases. The Company anticipates that the requirement to review and update assumptions for liability for future policy benefits will have a significant impact on its results of operations, systems, processes, and controls, while the requirement to update the discount rate will have a significant impact on the other comprehensive income component of its equity. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. The accounting treatment that the Company applies to its consolidated financial statements will change due to new standards and could have a material adverse effect on the Company's results of operations and financial condition. For information on new accounting pronouncements and the impact, if any, on the Company's financial position or results of operations, see Note 1 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this report. Changes in the Company's discount rate, expected rate of return, life expectancy, health care cost and expected compensation increase assumptions for its pension and other postretirement benefit plans may result in increased expenses and reduce the Company's profitability. The Company determines its pension and other postretirement benefit plan costs based on assumed discount rates, expected rates of return on plan assets, life expectancy of plan participants and expected increases in compensation levels and trends in health care costs. Changes in these assumptions, including from the impact of a sustained low interest rate environment, may result in increased expenses and reduce the Company's profitability. The Company faces risks related to litigation, regulatory investigations and inquiry and other matters. The Company is a defendant in various lawsuits considered to be in the normal course of business. The final results of any litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and plaintiffs may seek very large amounts in class actions or other litigation. Although some of this litigation is pending in states where large punitive damages, bearing little relation to the actual damages sustained by plaintiffs, have been awarded in recent years, the Company believes the outcome of pending litigation will not have a material adverse effect on its financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. However, a substantial legal liability or a significant federal, state or other regulatory action against us, as well as regulatory inquiries or investigations, could harm our reputation, result in changes in operations, result in material fines or penalties, result in significant costs due to legal fees, settlements or judgments against the Company, or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Without limiting the foregoing, the litigation and regulatory matters we are, have been, or may become, subject to include matters related to sales agent recruiting, policy sales practices, claim payments and procedures including denial or delay of benefits, material misstatements or omissions in our financial reports or other public statements, and/or corporate governance, corporate culture or business ethics matters. Further, the Company may be subject to claims of or litigation regarding sexual or other forms of harassment, or discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, or other bases, notwithstanding that our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics prohibits such harassment and discrimination by our employees, we have ongoing training programs and provide opportunities to report claims of noncompliant conduct, and Item 1A. Risk Factors we investigate and may take disciplinary action regarding alleged harassment or discrimination. Any violations of or deviation from laws, regulations, internal or external codes or standards of normative behavior, or perceptions of such violations or deviations, by our employees or by independent sales agents could adversely impact the Company's reputation and brand value, financial condition and results of operations. Allegations or determinations of agent misclassification could adversely affect the Company’s results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. A majority of our U.S. sales force is, and has historically been, comprised of independent agents. While we believe that we have properly classified such agents as independent contractors, we may be subject to claims, regulatory action by state or federal departments of labor or tax authorities or litigation asserting that such agents are employees. The laws and regulations governing the classification of workers in the United States may be changed or interpreted differently compared to past interpretations, including in states where the Company generates significant sales through independent agents. An allegation or determination that independent agents in the Company’s U.S. sales force have been misclassified as independent contractors could result in changes in the Company’s operations and U.S. business model, result in material fines or penalties, result in significant costs due to legal fees, settlements or judgments against the Company, or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation, financial condition and liquidity. ITEM 1B.