AIG, §1A diff (2019 → 2020)

ITEM 1A | Risk Factors ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Risk Factor Summary The following is a summary of the material risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained below. Market Conditions  COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto.  Deterioration of economic conditions, geopolitical tensions or weakening in global capital markets may materially affect our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.  Sustained low, declining or negative interest rates, or rapidly increasing interest rates, have materially and adversely affected and may continue to materially and adversely affect our profitability. Reserves and Exposures  The amount and timing of insurance and reinsurance liability claims are difficult to predict and such claims may exceed the related liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses or future policy benefits, or the liabilities associated with certain guaranteed benefits and indexed features accounted for as embedded derivatives at fair value.  Reinsurance may not be available or affordable and may not be adequate to protect us against losses.  Our consolidated results of operations, liquidity, financial condition and ratings are subject to the effects of natural and man-made catastrophic events.  Concentration of our insurance, reinsurance and other risk exposures may have adverse effects.  Following the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, our largest reinsurance counterparty, Fortitude Re, is no longer affiliated with us, and a failure by Fortitude Re to perform its obligations could have a material effect on our business, results of operations or liquidity and the accounting treatment of our reinsurance agreements with Fortitude Re could also lead to volatility in our net income.  Interest rate fluctuations, increased lapses and surrenders, declining investment returns and other events may require our subsidiaries to accelerate the amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs (DAC) and record additional liabilities for future policy benefits.  Losses due to nonperformance or defaults by counterparties can materially and adversely affect the value of our investments, our profitability and sources of liquidity.  Climate change may adversely affect our business and financial condition. Investment Portfolio and Concentration of Investments  Our investment portfolio is concentrated in certain segments of the economy, and the performance and value of our investment portfolio are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in interest rates and credit spreads.  Our valuation of investments and derivatives may include methodologies, estimations and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity or lead to volatility in our net income. Liquidity, Capital and Credit  AIG Parent’s ability to access funds from our subsidiaries is limited.  Our internal sources of liquidity may be insufficient to meet our needs, including providing capital that may be required by our subsidiaries.  We may not be able to generate cash to meet our needs due to the illiquidity of some of our investments.  A downgrade in the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of our insurance or reinsurance companies could limit their retention of customers and in-force business and retaining customers and business, and a downgrade in our credit ratings could adversely affect our business, our results of operations or our liquidity. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 21 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors  Changes in the method for determining LIBOR and the upcoming phasing out of LIBOR and uncertainty related to LIBOR replacement rates may affect our business and results of operations. Business and Operations  No assurances can be given that the separation of our Life and Retirement business will occur or as to the specific terms or timing thereof. In addition, the separation could cause the emergence or exacerbate the effects of other risks to which AIG is exposed.  Failure to effectively execute on AIG 200 could result in costs that are greater than expected, savings that are less than expected and disruption to our businesses that could have a material effect on our operations or financial condition.  Pricing for our products is subject to our ability to adequately assess risks and estimate losses.  Guarantees within certain of our products may increase the volatility of our results.  Our foreign operations expose us to risks that may affect our operations.  Our restructuring initiatives may not yield our expected reductions in expenses and improvements in operational and organizational efficiency.  We may experience difficulty in marketing and distributing products through our current and future distribution channels and the use of third parties may result in additional liabilities.  We are exposed to certain risks if we are unable to maintain the availability of our critical technology systems and data and safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of our data, which could compromise our ability to conduct business and adversely affect our consolidated financial condition or results of operations.  Third parties we rely upon to provide certain business and administrative services on our behalf may not perform as anticipated, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.  Business or asset acquisitions and dispositions may expose us to certain risks.  Significant legal proceedings may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.  Our risk management policies and procedures may prove to be ineffective and leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risk, which could adversely affect our businesses or result in losses. Regulation  Our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in laws and regulations may affect our operations, increase our insurance subsidiary capital requirements or reduce our profitability.  Actions by foreign governments, regulators and international standard setters could result in substantial additional regulation to which we may be subject. Estimates and Assumptions  Estimates used in the preparation of financial statements and modeled results used in various areas of our business may differ materially from actual experience.  If our businesses do not perform well and/or their estimated fair values decline, we may be required to recognize an impairment of our goodwill or to establish a valuation allowance against the deferred income tax assets, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Competition and Employees  We face intense competition in each of our businesses.  Competition for employees in our industry is intense, and managing key employee succession is critical to our success. We may not be able to attract and retain the key employees and highly skilled people we need to support our business. 22 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Risk Factors Investing in AIG involves risk. In deciding whether to invest in AIG, you should carefully consider the following risk factors. Any of these risk factors could have a significant or material adverse effect on our businesses, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity. They could also cause significant fluctuations and volatility in the trading price of our securities. Readers should not consider any descriptions of these factors to be a complete set of all potential risks that could affect AIG. These factors should be considered carefully together with the other information contained in this report and the other reports and materials filed by us with the SEC. Further, many of these risks are interrelated and could occur under similar business and economic conditions, and the occurrence of certain of them may in turn cause the emergence or exacerbate the effect of others. Such a combination could materially increase the severity of the impact of these risks on our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity above and beyond a risk’s singular impact. MARKET CONDITIONS COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto. The COVID-19 crisis, and the governmental and regulatory responses thereto, are causing ongoing economic and societal disruption. We are continually assessing the impact and, due to the evolving and disruptive nature of the COVID-19 crisis, cannot estimate its ultimate impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also cannot, at this time, estimate the full extent to which the crisis has caused and will continue to cause certain risks to our global business, including those discussed herein, to be heightened or realized. Adverse changes and developments affecting the global economy, including the significant global economic downturn and increased volatility in financial and capital markets and credit spreads, individually and in the aggregate, have had and may continue to have negative effects on our overall investment portfolio. While, to date, the short-term economic impacts of COVID-19 have been largely offset by intervention taken by governments and monetary authorities, it remains difficult to quantify the potential long-term financial impacts on our investment portfolio. Further, as the COVID-19 crisis continues, there can be no assurance that governments and monetary authorities will continue to intervene and if they do, whether such intervention will be successful. Within our investment portfolio, there is concentrated exposure to certain segments of the economy, including real estate and real estate-related investments, which exposes us to negative impacts from the deferral of mortgage payments, renegotiated commercial mortgage loans or outright mortgage defaults, as well as significant exposure to certain industries negatively impacted by the economic downturn, such as energy. There is also the potential for permanent or longer term acceleration in macro trends such as work from home and online shopping that may negatively impact elements of our investment portfolio such as commercial real estate. Moreover, continued low interest rates and the slowdown in the U.S. or global economy, which may continue or increase in severity, have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect the values of, and the performance of and cash flows derived from, some of the investment assets we hold. These circumstances may also lead to increased defaults or distressed situations among the investments in our investment portfolio. In addition, actions taken by governments as well as monetary authorities such as the FRB have been implemented to curtail the impact of economic disruption in the capital markets. The discontinuation of such programs in advance of substantial economic recovery could adversely impact the performance of our investment portfolio. Finally, market volatility has created and may continue to create dislocations, decreases or variations in observable market activity or availability of information used in the valuation of our assets and liabilities, which could negatively impair the estimates and assumptions used to run our business or result in greater variability and subjectivity in our investment decisions. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 23 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Furthermore, market disruptions and uncertainty have negatively affected and may negatively affect our credit ratings or ratings outlook or our ability to generate or access liquidity we may need to operate our business and meet our obligations, including to pay interest on our debt, discharge or refinance our maturing debt obligations, meet capital needs of our subsidiaries, and to satisfy our regulatory capital and liquidity ratios. If the economic downturn persists or worsens, or economic recovery is prolonged, an increased number of clients and policyholders may face difficulty paying insurance premiums and global regulators may seek to implement new or renew existing premium relief measures to alleviate such difficulties, especially as certain industries, such as travel, are dislocated, which could impair our cash flows. As a holding company, AIG Parent depends on dividends, distributions and other payments from its subsidiaries for its liquidity needs; these subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends, make distributions or otherwise generate parent liquidity may, depending on the scope, severity and duration of the COVID-19 crisis, be reduced to the extent they are unable to generate sufficient distributable income or in the event regulators suspend or otherwise restrict dividends or other payments from subsidiaries to parent companies. We also depend on access to capital markets and other financing sources, including our $4.5 billion revolving syndicated credit facility, and access to these funding sources may become restricted or unavailable, and the terms on which additional financing is available may be adversely affected or limited, if the COVID-19 crisis continues to impair the global economy. Our insurance businesses have experienced and may continue to experience increased claim volume under our Life and Retirement Insurance products, which are offered primarily in the U.S., the jurisdiction that currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths worldwide, and our General Insurance policies, which are offered both in the U.S. and internationally, including commercial property (business interruption), travel, trade credit, accident and health, workers’ compensation, directors and officers, event cancellation and liability insurance. Beginning in March 2020, we experienced an increase in mortality claims, which we expect to continue until the COVID-19 crisis subsides, and decreased demand for certain of our insurance product lines, such as travel insurance, and it is unclear when such demand will return. In addition, COVID-19 adversely affected our premiums and deposits in some of our insurance lines, including our Life and Retirement products. If the economic contraction continues or increases in severity, or the economic recovery is prolonged, we expect these impacts will continue in 2021 and possibly beyond. Further, our policies with premium adjustment features tied to exposure levels, as is the case in certain specialty and casualty lines, may be triggered, resulting in premium reductions. In response to the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting ongoing adverse, economic, financial and market impacts, we have made and may continue to make changes to underwriting guidelines or product design. We may also incur higher expenses in our insurance businesses and higher legal costs as a result of coverage disputes, including class actions and other proceedings that have been or may in the future be filed against us, our insureds, or others in the United States, the UK or other jurisdictions seeking coverage for COVID 19-related losses or alleging bad-faith denials of coverage for such losses. The outcome of coverage decisions may in turn affect the perceived value of the products we offer and therefore the demand for them. While we seek to mitigate our exposure to loss through reinsurance, the availability of reinsurance relief will typically depend on several factors, including the timing and nature of how individual claims manifest, which may not be immediately known. Furthermore, due to the scope, severity and uncertain duration of the COVID-19 crisis, reinsurance may not be available or, if available, may be more difficult or costly to obtain in general or for certain types of coverage, such as natural catastrophes, going forward. In addition, reinsurance terms and conditions may change whereby, even if reinsurance is available, the coverage provided may not be the same or similar to the reinsurance terms and conditions currently available in the reinsurance market. Increased economic uncertainty or increased unemployment resulting from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis have resulted and may continue to result in policyholders cancelling or not renewing insurance policies or may result in policyholders seeking sources of liquidity such as policy loans and withdrawals at rates greater than expected. If policyholder behavior, including lapse and surrender rates, significantly exceed or vary from our expectations, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, requiring our subsidiaries to accelerate the amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs and record additional liabilities for future policy benefits. 24 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Government officials have recommended or mandated precautions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including prohibitions on congregating in heavily populated areas, social distancing requirements, stay-at-home orders and similar measures. As a result, we implemented work-from-home business continuity plans for non-essential staff globally. Our results may be adversely impacted by these and other actions taken to contain or reduce the impact of COVID-19, and the extent of such impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. Moreover, the extended remote work environment puts stress on our business continuity plans and may prove them to be less effective than expected. Our business operations may also be significantly disrupted if our critical workforce, key vendors, third-party providers or other counterparties we transact business with, are unable to work effectively, including because of illness, quarantines, government and regulatory actions in response to COVID-19 or other reasons, or if the technology on which our remote business operations rely, some of which is developed and maintained by third parties, is disrupted or impaired or becomes unavailable. Certain pre-existing operational risks have been and may continue to be exacerbated, notably with respect to potential phishing or other cybersecurity-related events and our increased reliance on technology, including technology of our employees and service providers. Other pre-existing operational risks, such as privacy incidents, fraud, operational resilience and risks related to the operations and resiliency of our vendors, third-party providers and other counterparties, may also be exacerbated. Further, significant disruption to our businesses could adversely affect the timing or terms of, or our ability to execute, key business strategies, transactions and initiatives, such as the separation of the Life and Retirement business and AIG 200, resulting in higher costs or reduced savings or lower profit than was expected. As noted herein, legislative and regulatory initiatives and court decisions following major catastrophes (such as pandemics) could require us to pay insureds beyond the provisions of their original insurance policies and may prohibit the application of a deductible, resulting in inflated and unanticipated catastrophe claims; or impose other restrictions after the occurrence thereof, which would reduce our ability to mitigate exposure. For example, COVID-19 has given rise to regulatory measures intended to encourage or require insurers to assist policyholders adversely impacted by COVID-19 (in some cases with retroactive effect), including lapse, payment or rate increase moratoriums, premium refunds, contributions to relief funds and similar measures. While some of these legislative and regulatory initiatives have expired, with the resurgence of the COVID-19 virus, legislative and regulatory authorities have extended certain of these initiatives and may seek to renew or impose more of them until the COVID-19 crisis subsides. These initiatives could impair our cash flows and, without regulatory relief, could reduce our subsidiaries’ capital ratios. In addition, in certain jurisdictions legislative initiatives have emerged requiring contribution to relief funds or threatening to require insurers to provide insurance coverage beyond the scope of the original contract by re-writing contracts on a retroactive basis, including with respect to the availability of business interruption coverage in commercial property policies, or creating insurance solutions prospectively. Such legislative and regulatory initiatives or court decisions could result in requirements or restrictions that negatively impact our business operations or require us to pay beyond the provisions of original insurance policies and assumed reinsurance contracts. Finally, the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on Federal and state tax revenues could lead to increased taxes and assessments on insurers in order to address budget shortfalls. Models utilizing historic information on correlations among macroeconomic factors, our insurance products and our investment portfolio may not reflect the relationship between macroeconomic factors, our insurance products and our investment portfolio in the current environment, as a result of the unique nature of the pandemic and the intervention by regulators monetary authorities to mitigate the impacts on policyholders and the broader economy. This could increase volatility in estimates. Due to the evolving and disruptive nature of the COVID-19 crisis, we cannot estimate its ultimate impact at this time. Depending on the scope, severity and duration of the COVID-19 crisis, the events described above have adversely affected and may continue to have an adverse effect, which could be material, on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, we could experience other potential impacts as a result of COVID-19, including, but not limited to, potential impairment charges to the carrying amounts of goodwill, deferred tax assets, and increased reserve builds to levels that are difficult to accurately estimate. Further, new and potentially unforeseen risks beyond those described above and in other Risk Factors herein may arise as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the actions taken by governmental and regulatory authorities to mitigate its impact. Even after the crisis subsides, it is possible that the U.S. and other major economies will experience a prolonged recession or a prolonged economic recovery, in which event our businesses, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. See also “Reinsurance may not be available or affordable and may not be adequate to protect us against losses” and “Our consolidated results of operations, liquidity, financial condition and ratings are subject to the effects of natural and man-made catastrophic events” below. Deterioration of economic conditions, geopolitical tensions or weakening in global capital markets may materially affect our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Our businesses are highly dependent on global economic and market conditions. Weaknesses in economic conditions and the capital markets or market volatility have in the past led, and may in the future lead to, among other consequences, a poor operating environment, erosion of consumer and investor confidence, reduced business volumes, deteriorating liquidity and declines in asset valuations. Adverse economic conditions may result from global economic and political developments, including plateauing business activity and inflationary pressures in developed AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 25 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors economies, civil unrest, uncertainty surrounding China’s ability to successfully maintain growth as well as ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and China, the effects of Brexit (as defined below) on business investment, hiring, migration and labor supply and intensifying trade protectionism including through tariffs, subsidies and other government actions. These and other market, economic, and political factors could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity in many ways, including (i) lower levels of consumer and commercial business activities that have decreased and may continue to decrease revenues and profitability and thus impair goodwill, deferred tax assets or other long-term assets, (ii) widening of credit spreads and higher than expected defaults that could reduce investment asset valuations, increase credit losses across numerous asset classes, and increase statutory capital requirements, (iii) increased market volatility and uncertainty that could decrease liquidity, increase borrowing costs and limit access to capital markets, (iv) the reduction of investment income generated by our investment portfolio, (v) disruption to our business operations in countries experiencing geopolitical tensions as well as increased costs associated with meeting customer needs in such regions, and (vi) impeding our ability to execute strategic transactions. Other ways in which we have in the past been, and could in the future be, negatively affected by economic conditions include, but are not limited to: increases in policy surrenders and cancellations; write-offs of deferred policy acquisition costs; increases in liability for future policy benefits due to loss recognition on certain long-duration insurance and reinsurance contracts; and increases in expenses associated with third-party reinsurance, or decreased ability to obtain reinsurance at acceptable terms. For a discussion regarding the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the global economy, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Sustained low, declining or negative interest rates, or rapidly increasing interest rates, have materially and adversely affected and may continue to materially and adversely affect our profitability. Interest rates have been declining globally, including in the United States, and in many cases, at or near historic lows. Changes in interest rates may be correlated with inflation trends, which would impact our loss trends. Sustained low interest rates have negatively affected and may continue to negatively affect the performance of our investments and reduce the level of investment income earned on our investment portfolios. We experience lower investment income as well as lower sales of new Life and Retirement insurance products and policies when a low or declining U.S. interest rate environment persists, and/or interest rates turn or, in certain circumstances remain negative across various global economies. For example, the low interest rate environment has negatively affected sales of interest rate sensitive products in our industry and negatively impacted the profitability of our existing business as we reinvest cash flows from investments, including due to increased calls and prepayments of fixed maturity securities and mortgage loans, at rates below the average yield of our existing portfolios. Due to practical and capital markets limitations, we have not been and may not be able to fully mitigate our interest rate risk by matching exposure of our assets relative to our liabilities. Continued low levels of interest rates have and could continue to impair our ability to earn the returns assumed in the pricing and the reserving for our products at the time they were sold and issued. On the other hand, in periods of rapidly increasing interest rates, we may not be able to replace, in a timely manner, the investments in our general account with higher yielding investments needed to fund the higher crediting rates necessary to keep interest rate sensitive products competitive. Therefore, we may have to accept a lower investment spread and, thus, lower profitability, or face a decline in sales and greater loss of existing contracts and related assets. In addition, policy loans, surrenders and withdrawals tend to increase as policyholders seek investments with higher perceived returns as interest rates rise. These impacts may result in significant cash outflows requiring that we sell investments at a time when the prices of those investments are adversely affected by the increase in interest rates, which could result in realized investment losses. An increase in interest rates could also have a material adverse effect on the value of our investment portfolio, for example, by decreasing the estimated fair values of the fixed income securities that constitute a substantial portion of our investment portfolio. This in turn could adversely affect our ability to realize our deferred tax assets. Reserves and Exposures The amount and timing of insurance and reinsurance liability claims are difficult to predict and such claims may exceed the related liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses or future policy benefits, or the liabilities associated with certain guaranteed benefits and indexed features accounted for as embedded derivatives at fair value. We regularly review the adequacy of the established liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses or future policy benefits, as well as liabilities associated with certain guaranteed benefits and indexed features accounted for as embedded derivatives at fair value. We also conduct extensive analyses of our reserves and embedded derivatives during the year. Our liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, future policy benefits and embedded derivatives, however, may develop adversely and materially impact our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. 26 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors For General Insurance, estimation of ultimate net losses, loss expenses and the liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses is a complex process, particularly for both long-tail and medium-tail liability lines of business. These lines include, but are not limited to, excess casualty, workers’ compensation, general liability, commercial automobile liability, environmental and crisis management coverages, Financial Lines, insurance and risk management programs for large corporate customers and other customized structured insurance products, as well as excess and umbrella liability, errors and omissions, products liability, programs and specialty. There is also greater uncertainty in establishing reserves with respect to new business, particularly new business that is generated with respect to more recently introduced product lines. In these cases, there is less historical experience or knowledge and less data upon which the actuaries can rely. Estimating reserves is further complicated by unexpected claims or unintended coverages that emerge due to changing conditions, such as unanticipated claims as a result of COVID-19. These emerging issues may increase the size or number of claims beyond our underwriting intent and may not become apparent for many years after a policy is issued. While we use a number of analytical reserve development techniques to project future loss development, the liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses has been and may continue to be significantly affected by changes in loss cost trends or loss development factors that were relied upon in setting the liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses. For example, in 2018, we recorded net adverse prior year development of $366 million, in adjusted pre-tax income (loss), to strengthen our General Insurance liability for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses, reflecting adverse development in classes of business with long reporting tails, primarily in Casualty and Financial Lines. Whereas, in 2020 and 2019, we recorded favorable net development of $76 million and $294 million, respectively, including $396 million and $442 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively, in U.S. Workers’ Compensation. These changes in loss cost trends or loss development factors could be due to changes in actual versus expected claims and losses, difficulties in predicting changes, such as changes in inflation, unemployment duration, or other social or economic factors affecting claims, including the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, judicial and legislative approaches, and changes in the tort environment. Any deviation in loss cost trends or in loss development factors might not be identified for an extended period of time after we record the initial loss reserve estimates for any accident year or number of years. For Life and Retirement, establishment and ongoing calculations of future policy benefits is a complex process, with significant judgmental inputs and assumptions. Experience may develop adversely such that additional reserves must be established or the value of embedded derivatives may increase. Adverse experience could arise out of a severe short-term event such as a pandemic or changes to policyholder behavior during stressed economic periods, or due to misestimation of long-term assumptions such as mortality, mortality improvement, interest rate, equity market and expense assumptions. Certain variables, such as policyholder behavior can be difficult to estimate and have a significant impact on reserves and embedded derivatives. Life and Retirement future policy benefits and embedded derivatives and related assumptions are reviewed regularly and we regularly carry out loss recognition and cash flow testing. For a further discussion of our loss reserves see Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates - Insurance Liabilities - Loss Reserves and Insurance Reserves - Loss Reserves and Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. For more information regarding these products see Notes 5 and 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, Item 1. Business - Regulation, and Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates - Guaranteed Benefit Features of Variable Annuity Products. Reinsurance may not be available or affordable and may not be adequate to protect us against losses. Our subsidiaries are major purchasers of third-party reinsurance and we use reinsurance as part of our overall risk management strategy. Our reinsurance business also purchases retrocessional reinsurance, which allows a reinsurer to cede to another company all or part of the reinsurance obligations originally assumed by the reinsurer. While reinsurance does not discharge our subsidiaries from their obligation to pay claims for losses insured or reinsured under our policies, it does make the reinsurer liable to the subsidiaries for the reinsured portion of the risk. For this reason, reinsurance is an important tool to manage transaction and insurance line risk retention and to mitigate losses, including as a result of catastrophes. Market conditions beyond our control may impact the availability and cost of reinsurance or retrocessional reinsurance and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, reinsurance may be more difficult or costly to obtain after a year with a large number of major catastrophes. We may, at certain times, be forced to incur additional costs for reinsurance or may be unable to obtain sufficient reinsurance on acceptable terms. In the latter case, we would have to accept an increase in exposure to risk, reduce the amount of business written by our subsidiaries or seek alternatives in line with our risk limits or a combination thereof. Additionally, we are exposed to credit risk with respect to our subsidiaries’ reinsurers to the extent the reinsurance receivable is not secured, or is inadequately secured, by collateral or does not benefit from other credit enhancements. We also bear the risk that a reinsurer is, or may be, unwilling to pay amounts we have recorded as reinsurance recoverables for any reason, including that (i) the terms of the reinsurance contract do not reflect the intent of the parties to the contract or there is a disagreement between the parties as to their intent, (ii) the terms of the contract cannot be legally enforced, (iii) the terms of the contract are interpreted by a court or arbitration panel differently than expected, (iv) the reinsurance transaction performs differently than we anticipated due to a flawed design of the reinsurance structure, terms or conditions, or (v) a change in laws and regulations, or in the interpretation of the laws AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 27 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors and regulations, materially impacts a reinsurance transaction. The insolvency of one or more of our reinsurers, or the inability or unwillingness of such reinsurers to make timely payments under the terms of our contracts or payments in an amount equal to our reinsurance recoverable, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and liquidity. Additionally, the use of reinsurance placed in the capital markets may not provide the same levels of protection as traditional reinsurance transactions. Any disruption, volatility and uncertainty in these markets, such as following a major catastrophic event, may limit our ability to access such markets on terms favorable to us or at all. Also, to the extent that we intend to use structures based on an industry loss index or other non-indemnity trigger rather than on actual losses incurred by us, we could be subject to residual risk. We currently have limited catastrophe reinsurance coverage for terrorist attacks. Further, the availability of private sector reinsurance for terrorism is limited. We benefit from the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (TRIPRA), which provides U.S. government risk assistance to the insurance industry to manage the exposure to terrorism incidents in the U.S. TRIPRA was reauthorized in December 2019 for a further seven years. Under TRIPRA, once our losses for certain acts of terrorism exceed a deductible equal to 20 percent of our direct commercial property and casualty insurance premiums for covered lines for the prior calendar year, the federal government will reimburse us for 80 percent of losses in excess of our deductible, up to a total industry program limit of $100 billion. TRIPRA does not cover losses in certain lines of business such as personal property and personal casualty. We also rely on the government sponsored and government arranged terrorism reinsurance programs, including pools, in force in applicable non-U.S. jurisdictions. For additional information on our reinsurance recoverable, see Item 7. MD&A - Enterprise Risk Management - Insurance Risks - Reinsurance Activities - Reinsurance Recoverable. For a discussion regarding the impact of the Majority Interest Fortitude sale on our reinsurance program, see “Following the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, our largest reinsurance counterparty, Fortitude Re, is no longer affiliated with us, and a failure by Fortitude Re to perform its obligations could have a material effect on our business, results of operations or liquidity and could also lead to volatility in our net income” below. For a discussion regarding the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on our reinsurance program, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Our consolidated results of operations, liquidity, financial condition and ratings are subject to the effects of natural and man-made catastrophic events. Events such as hurricanes, windstorms, hailstorms, flooding, earthquakes, wildfires, solar storms, war or other military action, acts of terrorism, explosions and fires, cyber-crimes, product defects, pandemics, such as COVID-19, and other highly contagious diseases, mass torts, civil unrest and other catastrophes have adversely affected our business in the past and could do so in the future. For example, we incurred pre-tax catastrophe losses of $2.4 billion in 2020, which included losses in our General Insurance business from the COVID-19 crisis, windstorms and hailstorms, hurricanes, wildfires and civil unrest, and pre-tax catastrophe losses of $1.3 billion in 2019, which included losses from typhoons in Japan, Hurricane Dorian, a tornado in Dallas and wildfires in California. Catastrophic events, and any relevant regulations, could result in losses in any business in which we operate, and could expose us to:  widespread claim costs associated with property, workers’ compensation, accident and health, travel, business interruption and mortality and morbidity claims;  loss resulting from a decline in the value of our invested assets;  limitations on our ability to recover deferred tax assets;  loss resulting from actual policy experience that is adverse compared to the assumptions made in product pricing;  revenue loss due to decline in customer base;  declines in value and/or losses with respect to companies and other entities whose securities we hold and counterparties we transact business with and have credit exposure to, including reinsurers; and  significant disruptions to our physical infrastructure, systems and operations. Natural and man-made catastrophic events are generally unpredictable. Our exposure to catastrophe-related loss depends on various factors, including the frequency and severity of the catastrophes, the availability of reinsurance, the rate of inflation and the value and geographic or other concentrations of insured companies and individuals. Vendor models and proprietary assumptions and processes that we use to manage catastrophe exposure may prove to be ineffective due to incorrect assumptions or estimates. For example, modeling for terrorism, cyber events and pandemics may be more difficult and less reliable. 28 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors In addition, legislative and regulatory initiatives and court decisions following major catastrophes (both natural and man-made) could require us to pay the insured beyond the provisions of the original insurance policy and may prohibit the application of a deductible, resulting in inflated and unanticipated claims; or impose other restrictions after the occurrence of a major catastrophe, which would reduce our ability to mitigate exposure. For further details on potential catastrophic events, including a sensitivity analysis of our exposure to certain catastrophes, see Item 7. MD&A - Enterprise Risk Management - Insurance Risks. For a discussion regarding the effects of climate change on our business, see “Climate change may adversely affect our business and financial condition” below. For a discussion regarding the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on our business, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Concentration of our insurance, reinsurance and other risk exposures may have adverse effects. We are exposed to risks as a result of concentrations in our insurance and reinsurance policies, investments, derivatives and other obligations that we undertake for customers and counterparties. We manage these concentration risks by monitoring the accumulation of our exposures to factors such as exposure type and size, industry, geographic region, counterparty and other factors. We also seek to use third-party reinsurance, hedging and other arrangements to limit or offset exposures that exceed the retention and risk appetite limits we define as part of our Risk Appetite Statement. In certain circumstances, however, these risk management arrangements may not be available on acceptable terms or may prove to be ineffective for certain exposures. Our risk exposures under insurance and reinsurance policies, derivatives and other obligations are, from time to time, compounded by risk exposure assumed in our investment business. Also, our exposure for certain single risk coverages and other coverages may be so large that adverse experience compared to our expectations may have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations or result in additional statutory capital requirements for our subsidiaries. In addition, the proposed separation of our Life and Retirement business, if consummated, could increase the materiality of these potential concentrations in the remaining portfolio. For further discussion of risks associated with the separation of the Life and Retirement business from AIG, see “No assurances can be given that the separation of our Life and Retirement business will occur or as to the specific terms or timing thereof. In addition, the separation could cause the emergence or exacerbate the effects of other risks to which AIG is exposed” below. Also see Item 7. MD&A - Business Segment Operations - General Insurance - Business Strategy and - Outlook - Industry and Economic Factors, and Item 7. MD&A - Business Segment Operations - Life and Retirement - Business Strategy and - Outlook - Industry and Economic Factors. Following the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, our largest reinsurance counterparty, Fortitude Re, is no longer affiliated with us, and a failure by Fortitude Re to perform its obligations could have a material effect on our business, results of operations or liquidity and the accounting treatment of our reinsurance agreements with Fortitude Re could also lead to volatility in our net income. As of June 2, 2020, we consummated the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, upon which Fortitude Holdings, the parent of Fortitude Re, became controlled 71.5% by affiliates of The Carlyle Group Inc. and 25% by affiliates of T&D Holdings, Inc., and our ownership interest in Fortitude Holdings was reduced to 3.5%. As of December 31, 2020, approximately $30.5 billion of reserves from AIG’s Life and Retirement Run-Off Lines and approximately $4.1 billion of reserves from AIG’s General Insurance Run-Off Lines, related to business written by multiple wholly-owned AIG subsidiaries, had been ceded to Fortitude Re under these reinsurance transactions. While we retained a seat on the board of managers of Fortitude Holdings, our ability to influence its operations going forward will be very limited. Our subsidiaries continue to remain primarily liable to policyholders under the business reinsured with Fortitude Re. As a result, and if Fortitude Re is unable to successfully operate independently, or other issues arise that affect its financial condition or ability to satisfy or perform its obligations to our subsidiaries under the various reinsurance arrangements in force between Fortitude Re and such subsidiaries, we could experience a material adverse effect on our results of operations and liquidity to the extent the amount of collateral posted in respect of our reinsurance receivable is inadequate. Further, upon the occurrence of certain triggers on the part of Fortitude Re under the applicable reinsurance agreements, our subsidiaries may elect or may be required, to recapture the business ceded under such reinsurance agreements, which would result in a substantial increase to our net insurance liabilities. In addition, pursuant to certain risk-sharing arrangements, AIG may be required to pay Fortitude Re for certain adverse development in property casualty related reserves, based on an agreed methodology, that may occur on or prior to December 31, 2023, up to a maximum payment of $500 million. Furthermore, the accounting treatment for the various reinsurance agreements can lead to volatility in our net income. These reinsurance transactions between AIG and Fortitude Re were structured as modified coinsurance (modco) for the Life and Retirement Run-Off Lines and loss portfolio transfer arrangements with funds withheld (funds withheld) for the General Insurance Run-Off Lines. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 29 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors In modco and funds withheld arrangements, the investments supporting the reinsurance agreements, and which reflect the majority of the consideration that would be paid to the reinsurer for entering into the transaction, are withheld by, and therefore continue to reside on the balance sheet of, the ceding company (i.e., AIG and its subsidiaries) thereby creating an obligation for the ceding company to pay the reinsurer (i.e., Fortitude Re) at a later date. Additionally, as AIG maintains ownership of these investments, AIG will maintain its existing accounting for these assets (e.g., the changes in fair value of available for sale securities will be recognized within other comprehensive income). As a result of the deconsolidation resulting from the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, AIG has established a funds withheld payable to Fortitude Re while simultaneously establishing a reinsurance asset representing reserves for the insurance coverage that Fortitude Re has assumed. The funds withheld payable contains an embedded derivative and changes in fair value of the embedded derivative related to the funds withheld payable are recognized in earnings through realized capital gains (losses). This embedded derivative is considered a total return swap with contractual returns that are attributable to various assets and liabilities associated with these reinsurance agreements. For further discussion on the sale of Fortitude Holdings see Item 7 MD&A - Consolidated Results of Operations. For further discussion of our exposure to credit risk of reinsurers, see “Reinsurance may not be available or affordable and may not be adequate to protect us against losses” above. Interest rate fluctuations, increased lapses and surrenders, declining investment returns and other events may require our subsidiaries to accelerate the amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs (DAC) and record additional liabilities for future policy benefits. We incur significant costs in connection with acquiring new and renewal insurance business. DAC represents deferred costs that are incremental and directly related to the successful acquisition of new business or renewal of existing business. The recovery of these costs is generally dependent upon the future profitability of the related business, but DAC amortization varies based on the type of contract. For long-duration traditional business, DAC is generally amortized in proportion to premium revenue and varies with lapse experience. Actual lapses in excess of expectations can result in an acceleration of DAC amortization, and therefore, adversely impact our pre-tax income. DAC for investment-oriented products is generally amortized in proportion to actual and estimated gross profits. Estimated gross profits are affected by a number of factors, including levels of current and expected interest rates, net investment income and spreads, net realized capital gains and losses, fees, surrender rates, mortality experience, policyholder behavior experience and equity market returns and volatility. If actual and/or future estimated gross profits are less than originally expected, then the amortization of these costs would be accelerated in the period this is determined and would result in a charge to income. For example, if interest rates rise rapidly and significantly, customers with policies that have interest crediting rates below the current market may seek competing products with higher returns and we may experience an increase in surrenders and withdrawals of life and annuity contracts, and thereby a strain on cash flow. Additionally, this would also result in a decrease in expected future profitability and an acceleration of the amortization of DAC, and therefore lower than expected pre-tax income earned during the then current period. We also periodically review products for potential loss recognition events, principally insurance-oriented products. This review involves estimating the future profitability of in-force business and requires significant management judgment about assumptions including, but not limited to, mortality, morbidity, persistency, maintenance expenses and investment returns, including net realized capital gains (losses). If actual experience or revised future expectations result in projected future losses, we may be required to amortize any remaining DAC and record additional liabilities through a charge to policyholder benefit expense in the then current period, which could negatively affect our results of operations. For further discussion of DAC and future policy benefits, see Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates and Notes 9 and 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Losses due to nonperformance or defaults by counterparties can materially and adversely affect the value of our investments, our profitability and sources of liquidity. We are exposed to credit risk arising from exposures to various counterparties related to investments, derivatives, premiums receivable, certain General Insurance businesses and reinsurance recoverables. These counterparties include, but are not limited to, issuers of fixed income and equity securities we hold, borrowers of loans we hold, customers, trading counterparties, counterparties under swaps and other derivatives contracts, reinsurers, corporate and governmental entities whose payments or performance we insure, joint venture partners, clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses and other third parties, financial intermediaries and guarantors. These counterparties may default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership, financial distress, lack of liquidity, adverse economic conditions, operational failure, fraud, government intervention and other reasons. In addition, for exchange-traded derivatives, such as futures, options as well as "cleared" over-the-counter derivatives, we are generally exposed to the credit risk of the relevant central counterparty clearing house and futures commission merchants through which we clear derivatives. Defaults by these counterparties on their obligations to us could have a material adverse effect on the value of our investments, business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. 30 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Additionally, if the underlying assets supporting the structured securities we invest in are expected to default or actually default on their payment obligations, our securities may incur losses. Climate change may adversely affect our business and financial condition. AIG supports the scientific consensus that climate change is a reality of increasing global concern. Climate change, indicated by higher concentrations of greenhouse gases, a warming atmosphere and ocean, wildfires, diminished snow and ice, and sea level rise, appears to have contributed to unpredictability, increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters and the creation of uncertainty as to future trends and exposures. As such, climate change potentially poses serious financial implications for the insurance industry in areas such as underwriting, claims and investments, as well as risk capacity, financial reserving and operations. Climate change exposes us to physical risks which may challenge our ability to effectively underwrite, model and price catastrophe risk particularly if the frequency and severity of catastrophic events such as pandemics, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires and windstorms and other natural disasters continue to increase. For example, losses resulting from actual policy experience may be adverse as compared to the assumptions made in product pricing as well as mortality assumptions and our ability to mitigate our exposure may be reduced. Climate change-related risks may also adversely impact the value of the securities that we hold or lead to increased credit risk of other counterparties we transact business with, including reinsurers. Our reputation or corporate brand could also be negatively impacted as a result of changing customer or societal perceptions of organizations that we either insure or invest in due to their actions (or lack thereof) with respect to climate change. In addition, regulators have imposed and may continue to impose new requirements or issue new guidance aimed at addressing or mitigating climate change-related risks. These emerging regulatory initiatives, or any policies adopted by investors to address changing societal perceptions on climate change, could result in increased compliance cost to our businesses and changes to our corporate governance and risk management practices, and may affect the type of assets we hold in our investment portfolio. We cannot predict the long-term impacts of climate change on our business and results of operations. For a discussion regarding risks associated with other catastrophic events, see “Our consolidated results of operations, liquidity, financial condition and ratings are subject to the effects of natural and man-made catastrophic events” above. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO AND CONCENTRATION OF INVESTMENTS Our investment portfolio is concentrated in certain segments of the economy, and the performance and value of our investment portfolio are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in interest rates and credit spreads. Our results of operations and financial condition have in the past been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by the degree of concentration in our investment portfolio. For example, we have significant exposure to real estate and real estate-related investments, including residential mortgage-backed, commercial mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities and residential and commercial mortgage loans. We also have significant exposures to financial institutions and, in particular, to money center banks and global banks, certain industries, such as energy and utilities, the U.S. federal, state and local government issuers and authorities, and global financial institutions, governments and corporations. Events or developments that have a negative effect on any particular industry, asset class, group of related industries or geographic region may adversely affect the valuation of our investments to the extent they are concentrated in such segments. Our ability to sell assets in such segments may be limited. In addition, the COVID-19 crisis may exacerbate the risks of a concentrated investment portfolio given market volatility. For a discussion regarding the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on our investment portfolio, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Our investments are also subject to market risks and uncertainties, including, in addition to interest rate risk, changes in the level of credit spreads, currency rates, and commodity and equity prices, each of which has affected and will continue to affect the value of investments in our investment portfolio as well as the performance of, and returns generated by, such investments. The discontinuation of actions taken by legislators and monetary authorities in advance of substantial economic recovery could adversely impact the performance of our investment portfolio. For a discussion regarding risks associated with interest rate volatility, see “Sustained low, declining or negative interest rates, or rapidly increasing interest rates, have materially and adversely affected and may continue to materially and adversely affect our profitability” above. Furthermore, our alternative investment portfolio, which is subject to increased volatility in equity markets, includes investments for which changes in fair value are reported through pre-tax income. An economic downturn or decline in the capital markets may have a material adverse effect on our investment income, including as a result of decreases in the fair value of alternative investments. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 31 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Our valuation of investments and derivatives may include methodologies, estimations and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity or lead to volatility in our net income. During periods of market disruption, it has been and may continue to be difficult to value certain of our investments or derivatives if trading becomes less frequent and/or market data becomes less observable. There may be cases where certain assets in normally active markets with significant observable data become inactive with insufficient observable data due to the financial environment or market conditions in effect at that time. As a result, valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable or require greater estimation and judgment as well as valuation methods that are more complex. These values may not be realized in a market transaction, may not reflect the value of the asset and may change very rapidly as market conditions change and valuation assumptions are modified. Decreases in value and/or an inability to realize that value in a market transaction or other disposition may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. For a discussion regarding volatility in accounting as it relates to Fortitude Re, see “Following the Majority Interest Fortitude Sale, our largest reinsurance counterparty, Fortitude Re, is no longer affiliated with us, and a failure by Fortitude Re to perform its obligations could have a material effect on our business, results of operations or liquidity and could also lead to volatility in our net income” above. LIQUIDITY, CAPITAL AND CREDIT AIG Parent’s ability to access funds from our subsidiaries is limited. As a holding company, AIG Parent depends on dividends, distributions and other payments from its subsidiaries to fund dividends on AIG Common Stock and Preferred Stock, to fund repurchases of AIG Common Stock and debt obligations and to make payments due on its obligations, including its outstanding debt. The majority of our investments are held by our regulated subsidiaries. Certain of our subsidiaries are limited in their ability to make dividend payments or other distributions to AIG Parent in the future because of the need to support their own capital levels or because of regulatory limits and restrictions or rating agency requirements. Our decision to pursue strategic changes or transactions in our business and operations may also subject our subsidiaries’ dividend plans to heightened regulatory scrutiny and could make obtaining regulatory approvals for extraordinary distributions by our subsidiaries, if any are sought, more difficult. We are also subject to certain other restrictions on our capital from time to time. For example, following the closing of the sale of our controlling interest in Fortitude Holdings in June 2020, we contributed approximately $835 million of the proceeds to certain of our insurance company subsidiaries. The inability of our subsidiaries to make payments, dividends or other distributions in an amount sufficient to enable AIG Parent to meet its cash requirements could have an adverse effect on our operations, and on our ability to pay dividends, repurchase AIG Common Stock and debt obligations or to meet our debt service obligations. Our internal sources of liquidity may be insufficient to meet our needs, including providing capital that may be required by our subsidiaries. We need liquidity to pay our operating expenses, interest on our debt, maturing debt obligations and to meet capital needs of our subsidiaries, including to maintain regulatory capital ratios, comply with rating agency requirements and meet unexpected cash flow obligations as well as pursuant to capital maintenance agreements we have in place with certain subsidiaries. If our liquidity is insufficient to meet our needs, at such time, we may need to have recourse to third-party financing, external capital markets or other sources of liquidity, which may not be available or could be prohibitively expensive. The availability and cost of any additional financing at any given time depends on a variety of factors, including general market conditions, the volume of trading activities, the overall availability of credit, regulatory actions and our credit ratings and credit capacity. It is also possible that, as a result of such recourse to external financing, customers, lenders or investors could develop a negative perception of our long- or short-term financial prospects. Disruptions, volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets, and downgrades in our financial strength or credit ratings, may limit our ability to access external capital markets at times and on terms favorable to us to meet our capital and liquidity needs or prevent our accessing the external capital markets or other financing sources. If AIG Parent is unable to satisfy a capital need of a subsidiary, the credit rating agencies could downgrade the subsidiary’s financial strength ratings or the subsidiary could become insolvent or, in certain cases, could be seized by its regulator. For a further discussion of our liquidity, see Item 7. MD&A - Liquidity and Capital Resources. For further discussion of rating agency requirements, see “A downgrade by one or more of the rating agencies in the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of our insurance or reinsurance companies could limit their ability to write or prevent them from writing new business and impair their retention of customers and in-force business, and a downgrade in our credit ratings could adversely affect our business, our results of operations or our liquidity” below. We may not be able to generate cash to meet our needs due to the illiquidity of some of our investments. Our subsidiaries have a diversified investment portfolio. However, economic conditions as well as adverse capital market conditions, including a lack of buyers, the inability of potential buyers to obtain financing on reasonable terms, volatility, credit spread changes, interest rate changes, foreign currency exchange rates and/or decline in collateral values have in the past impacted, and may in the future impact, the liquidity and value of our investments. 32 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors For example, we have made investments in certain securities that are generally considered illiquid, including certain fixed income securities and certain structured securities, privately placed securities, investments in private equity funds and hedge funds, mortgage loans, finance receivables and real estate. Collectively, investments in these assets had a fair value of $65 billion at December 31, 2020. Adverse changes in the valuation of real estate and real estate-linked assets, deterioration of capital markets and widening credit spreads have in the past, and may in the future, materially adversely affect the liquidity and the value of our investment portfolios, including our residential and commercial mortgage related securities portfolios. In the event additional liquidity is required by one or more of our companies, it may be difficult for us to generate additional liquidity by selling, pledging or otherwise monetizing these or other of our investments at reasonable prices and time frames. A downgrade by one or more of the rating agencies in the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of our insurance or reinsurance companies could limit their ability to write or prevent them from writing new business and impair their retention of customers and in-force business, and a downgrade in our credit ratings could adversely affect our business, our results of operations and our liquidity. Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings are an important factor in establishing the competitive position of insurance or reinsurance companies. IFS ratings measure an insurance or reinsurance company’s ability to meet its obligations to contract holders and policyholders. Credit rating agencies estimate a company’s ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations and high IFS and credit ratings help maintain public confidence in a company’s products, facilitate marketing of products and enhance its competitive position. Downgrades of the IFS ratings of our insurance or reinsurance companies could prevent these companies from selling, or make it more difficult for them to succeed in selling, products and services, or result in increased policy cancellations, lapses and surrenders, termination of, or increased collateral posting obligations under, assumed reinsurance contracts, or return of premiums. Under credit rating agency policies concerning the relationship between parent and subsidiary ratings, a downgrade in AIG Parent’s credit ratings could result in a downgrade of the IFS ratings of our insurance or reinsurance subsidiaries. Similarly, under credit rating agency policies, a downgrade of the IFS ratings of our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries could also result in a downgrade in AIG Parent’s credit ratings. In addition, a downgrade of our long-term debt ratings by one or more of the major rating agencies could potentially increase our financing costs and limit the availability of financing. A downgrade would also require us to post additional collateral payments related to derivative transactions to which we are a party, and could permit the termination of these derivative transactions. This could adversely affect our business, our consolidated results of operations in a reporting period and/or our liquidity. In response to the announcement by AIG in October 2020 of its intention to separate the Life and Retirement business from AIG, Fitch placed the credit ratings of AIG on “Rating Watch Negative,” Moody’s placed the debt ratings of AIG on review for downgrade and S&P placed the credit ratings of AIG and the financial strength ratings of most of the General Insurance subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications. Moody’s and Fitch affirmed the financial strength ratings and outlooks on AIG’s insurance subsidiaries. Rating agencies may take further actions, including as a result of any decisions relating to our intent to separate our Life and Retirement business, which could adversely affect our business. For a further discussion of rating agency actions in response to AIG’s announced intention to separate its Life and Retirement business from AIG, see Item 7. MD&A - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Recent Rating Agency Actions. Changes in the method for determining LIBOR and the upcoming phasing out of LIBOR and uncertainty related to LIBOR replacement rates may affect our business and results of operations. The UK Financial Conduct Authority announced in 2017 that it would no longer compel banks to submit London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) rates after 2021. On November 30, 2020, the ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (“IBA”), which is supervised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, announced a proposal to extend the publication of the most commonly used USD LIBOR settings until June 30, 2023. However, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency continue to strongly encourage banks to cease entering into new contracts that use USD LIBOR as a reference rate as soon as practicable and in any event by December 31, 2021. Since the initial announcement in 2017, we have been monitoring developments and determining how our hedging strategies, asset portfolio, liabilities, systems and operations may be affected in, and in the transition to, a post-LIBOR environment. Potential changes to LIBOR, as well as uncertainty related to such potential changes and the establishment of any alternative reference rates, may adversely affect the market for LIBOR-based securities and could adversely impact the substantial amount of derivatives contracts used to hedge our assets, insurance and other liabilities. In addition, the discontinuance of LIBOR or changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of LIBOR may result in a sudden or prolonged increase or decrease in reported LIBOR, which could have an adverse impact on the market for LIBOR-based securities or the value of our investment portfolio and the derivatives contracts used to hedge our assets, insurance and other liabilities. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 33 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors While markets are developing alternative reference rates, questions concerning liquidity and how to appropriately adjust these rates to eliminate any economic value transfer at the time of transition remain a significant concern for us and others in the marketplace. The effect of any changes or reforms to LIBOR or discontinuation of LIBOR on new or existing financial instruments to which we have exposure or on our businesses will vary depending on (i) existing fallback provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and widely adopt alternative reference rates and fallbacks for both legacy and new products or instruments. At this time, because the response of markets to these potential alternative reference rates is still evolving, we cannot predict the effect of any changes to or discontinuation of LIBOR on new or existing financial instruments to which we have exposure and our liability profile. Internal actions taken to address the transition from LIBOR and to mitigate potential risks include, among other things, ensuring new legal contracts and our asset and debt issuances reference appropriate LIBOR fallback provisions and identifying fallback provisions in existing contracts and investments which mature after the relevant LIBOR phase-out date, updating valuation and actuarial models which utilize LIBOR, determining the impact of new accounting and tax requirements, adjusting applicable technology applications to be able to support both LIBOR and new alternative rates and executing test trades for derivatives, assets and debt issuances utilizing the new alternative reference rates. We also participate in certain LIBOR replacement working groups under the auspices of ISDA and the U.S. based Alternative Reference Rate Committee (ARRC) and conduct periodic discussions with our industry peers, banking institutions and the relevant administrators of LIBOR and the ARRC in order to monitor, provide appropriate feedback and otherwise participate in discussions regarding the transition from LIBOR. We continue to actively monitor both market and regulatory changes in order to prepare for any discontinuation of the LIBOR benchmark. We may be required to post additional collateral because of changes in our reinsurance liabilities to regulated insurance companies, or because of regulatory changes that affect our businesses. In the ordinary course of our business, we are required to post collateral for our insurance company subsidiaries from time to time. If our reinsurance liabilities increase, we may be required to post additional collateral for insurance company clients that we reinsure. In addition, regulatory changes could require us to post additional collateral. The need to post this additional collateral, if significant enough, may require us to sell investments at a loss in order to provide securities of suitable credit quality or otherwise secure adequate capital at an unattractive cost. This could adversely impact our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. Business and operations No assurances can be given that the separation of our Life and Retirement business will occur or as to the specific terms or timing thereof. In addition, the separation could cause the emergence or exacerbate the effects of other risks to which AIG is exposed. On October 26, 2020, AIG announced its intention to separate its Life and Retirement business from AIG. Similar to other business dispositions, the separation involves a number of risks, including (i) unanticipated developments that may delay, prevent or otherwise adversely affect our ability to effect a separation; (ii) significant costs and disruption or distraction of management from AIG’s other business operations, whether or not a separation is completed; (iii) satisfaction of various conditions and approvals, including approval by the AIG Board of Directors, and receipt of insurance and other required regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of any applicable requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission; (iv) other regulatory requirements that could impact our operations or capital requirements or delay or impede completion of a separation; (v) rating agency actions; (vi) unforeseen losses, liabilities or asset impairment arising from the structure of any definitive separation transaction; and (vii) if we are successful in separating the business, increased concentration of our business operations. No assurance can be given regarding the structure of the initial disposition of up to a 19.9% interest in the Life and Retirement business or the specific terms or timing thereof, or that a separation will in fact occur. In addition, the separation of our Life and Retirement business, if consummated, could cause the emergence or exacerbate the effects of many of the other risks noted herein, including: (i) the risk of indemnity claims that could be made against us in connection with divested businesses; (ii) our ability to utilize certain tax loss and credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income; (iii) competition for employees and managing retention of key employees; (iv) maintaining relationships with certain key distributors; (v) concentration of our insurance and other risk exposures; and (vi) increased exposure to certain risks related to deriving revenue from non-U.S. sources. A significant delay in the consummation of the separation could also exacerbate these risks. For a discussion regarding risks associated with rating agency actions, see “A downgrade by one or more of the rating agencies in the Insurer Financial Strength ratings of our insurance or reinsurance companies could limit their ability to write or prevent them from writing new business and impair their retention of customers and in-force business, and a downgrade in our credit ratings could adversely affect our business, our results of operations and our liquidity” above. In addition, see Item 7. MD&A - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Recent Rating Agency Actions; see also “Business or asset acquisitions and dispositions may expose us to certain risks” below. 34 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Failure to effectively execute on AIG 200 could result in costs that are greater than expected, savings that are less than expected and disruption to our businesses that could have a material effect on our operations or financial condition. In 2019, we announced AIG 200, our global, multi-year and enterprise-wide program involving transformational change across the Company. AIG 200 is comprised of ten operational programs mapped against four core objectives that are complex and require significant investment and resource prioritization. We may not achieve some or all of the expected benefits from these operational programs, and the work we are undertaking could result in disruption to our businesses and loss of talent. Other risks associated with AIG 200 include delays in execution across the programs, particularly with respect to implementation of technology platforms, lack of sufficient resources to execute on a timely basis, inefficiencies stemming from changes that may be required to programs or sequencing, failure to meet operational and financial targets due to additional priorities or other factors, and the inability to secure regulatory approvals, if and when needed. These risks may impair our ability to achieve anticipated improvements in our businesses or may otherwise harm our operations which could materially and adversely affect our businesses, financial condition and cash flow. Pricing for our products is subject to our ability to adequately assess risks and estimate losses. We seek to price our insurance and reinsurance products such that premiums, policy fees and other charges and future net investment income earned on revenues received will result in an acceptable profit in excess of expected claims, assumed expense loads and the cost of capital. Our business is dependent on our ability to price our products effectively and charge appropriate premiums. Pricing adequacy depends on a number of factors and assumptions, including proper evaluation of insurance risks, our expense levels, net investment income realized, our response to rate actions taken by competitors, legal and regulatory developments and the ability to obtain regulatory approval for rate changes. For example, some of our life insurance policies and annuity contracts provide management the right to adjust certain nonguaranteed charges or benefits and interest crediting rates if necessary; however, this right is limited and may be subject to guaranteed minimums or maximums, and the exercise of these rights could result in reputational and/or litigation risk. Inadequate pricing could have a material adverse effect on the profitability of our operations and our financial condition. Guarantees within certain of our products may increase the volatility of our results. Certain of our annuity and life insurance products include features that guarantee a certain level of benefits, including guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDB), guaranteed living benefits (GLB), and products with guaranteed interest crediting rates, including crediting rate guarantees tied to the performance of various market indices. For a discussion of market risk management related to these product features see Item 7. MD&A - Enterprise Risk Management - Insurance Risks - Life and Retirement Companies’ Key Risks - Variable Annuity, Index Annuity and Universal Risk Management and Hedging Programs. For example, differences between the change in fair value of the embedded derivatives associated with GLBs and the value of the related hedging portfolio are caused by extreme and unanticipated movements in the level of equity markets, interest rates and market volatility, policyholder behavior that differs from our assumptions and our inability to purchase hedging instruments or reinsurance at prices consistent with the desired risk and return trade-off. The occurrence of one or more of these events has in the past resulted in, and could in the future result in, an increase in the fair value of liabilities associated with the guaranteed benefits or decline in the value of our hedges without an offsetting decline in our liabilities, thus reducing our pre-tax net income and shareholders’ equity. While we believe that our actions have reduced the risks related to guaranteed benefits and guaranteed interest crediting, our risk exposures are not fully, and may not be effectively, hedged. For more information regarding these products see Notes 5 and 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, Item 1. Business - Regulation and Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates - Guaranteed Benefit Features of Variable Annuity Products. Our foreign operations expose us to risks that may affect our operations. We provide insurance, reinsurance, investment and other financial products and services to both businesses and individuals in approximately 80 countries and jurisdictions. A substantial portion of our business is conducted outside the U.S., and we intend to continue to grow business in strategic markets. Operations outside the U.S. have in the past been, and may in the future be, affected by regional economic downturns, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, political events or upheaval, nationalization and other restrictive government or regulatory actions, which could also affect our other operations. The degree of regulation and supervision in foreign jurisdictions varies. AIG subsidiaries operating in foreign jurisdictions must satisfy local regulatory requirements and it is possible that local licenses may require AIG Parent to meet certain conditions. Licenses issued by foreign authorities to our subsidiaries are subject to modification and revocation. Consequently, our insurance subsidiaries could be prevented from conducting future business in some of the jurisdictions where they currently operate. Adverse actions from any single country could adversely affect our results of operations, depending on the magnitude of the event and our financial exposure at that time in that country. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 35 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors In addition, AIG Parent and its subsidiaries are subject to various extraterritorial laws and regulations, including such laws adopted by the U.S. that affect how we do business around the world. These laws and regulations may conflict and we may incur penalties and/or reputational harm if we fail to adhere to them. For example, increased international data localization and cross-border data transfer regulatory restrictions may affect how we do business around the world and may cause us to incur penalties and/or suffer reputational harm. On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) held a referendum in which a majority voted for the UK to withdraw its membership in the European Union (EU), commonly referred to as Brexit. The UK left the EU on January 31, 2020. Under the negotiated withdrawal agreement, there was an 11 month “transition period” during which EU rules continued to apply in the UK and negotiations continued to determine the future relationship between the UK and EU. On December 24, 2020, a Trade and Cooperation Agreement was reached between the UK and the EU, which applies provisionally from January 1, 2021 until February 28, 2021, and is expected to be extended until April 30, 2021. The full text of the agreement is yet to be approved by the EU member states and European parliaments. We have significant operations and employees in the UK and other EU member states, and, as a result of Brexit, we have completed a reorganization of our operations and legal entity structure in the UK and the EU through the establishment of a European subsidiary in Luxembourg with branches across the EEA and Switzerland, and a UK subsidiary. For additional information regarding the reorganization of our European operations in light of Brexit, see Item 1. Business - Regulation - International Regulation - Brexit. However, there still remains uncertainty around the post-Brexit regulatory environment as the provisions of the new agreement do not cover certain business areas, e.g., financial services. Brexit has also affected and could continue to affect the U.S. dollar/British pound exchange rate, increased the volatility of exchange rates among the euro, British pound and the Japanese yen, and created volatility in the financial markets. It is possible that the uncertainty around the effects of the end of the transition period will lead to further turbulence in the financial markets, which may affect the value of our investments and the capital invested in our UK and EU subsidiaries. Our restructuring initiatives may not yield our expected reductions in expenses and improvements in operational and organizational efficiency. Outside of our AIG 200 transformational program and announced plan to separate the Life and Retirement business, we continue to undertake certain restructuring initiatives in the ordinary course of business. We may not be able to fully realize the anticipated expense reductions and operational and organizational efficiency improvements we expect to result from our regional and operational restructuring initiatives. Actual costs to implement these initiatives may exceed our estimates or we may be unable to fully implement and execute these initiatives as planned. The implementation of these initiatives may harm our relationships with customers or employees or our competitive position. Our businesses and results of operations may be negatively impacted if we are unable to realize these anticipated expense reductions and efficiency improvements or if implementing these initiatives harms our relationships with customers or employees or our competitive position. The successful implementation of these initiatives may continue to require us to effect workforce reductions, business rationalizations, systems enhancements, business process outsourcing, business and asset dispositions and acquisitions and other actions, which depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. We may experience difficulty in marketing and distributing products through our current and future distribution channels and the use of third parties may result in additional liabilities. Although we distribute our products through a wide variety of distribution channels, we maintain relationships with certain key distributors. Distributors have in the past, and may in the future, elect to renegotiate the terms of existing relationships, limit the products they sell, including the types of products offered by us, or otherwise reduce or terminate their distribution relationships with us. This could be due to various reasons, such as industry consolidation of distributors or other industry changes that increase the competition for access to distributors, developments in laws or regulations that affect our business or industry, including the marketing and sale of our products and services, adverse developments in our business, strategic decisions that impact our business, adverse rating agency actions or concerns about market-related risks. An interruption or reduction in certain key relationships could materially affect our ability to market our products and could have a material adverse effect on our businesses, operating results and financial condition. In addition, we are responsible for the actions of our employees and can, in certain circumstances, be held responsible for the actions of our third-party distributors, including broker dealers, registered representatives, insurance agents and agencies and marketing organizations, in connection with the marketing and sale of our products by such parties in a manner that is deemed not compliant with applicable laws and regulations. This is particularly acute with respect to unaffiliated distributors. If our products are distributed to customers for whom they are unsuitable or distributed in a manner deemed inappropriate, we could suffer reputational and/or other financial harm to our business. For a discussion regarding suitability standards, Item 1. Business - Regulation - U.S. Regulation. We are exposed to certain risks if we are unable to maintain the availability of our critical technology systems and data and safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of our data, which could compromise our ability to conduct business and adversely affect our consolidated financial condition or results of operations. We use computer systems to store, retrieve, evaluate and use customer, employee, and company data and information. Some of these systems, in turn, rely upon third-party 36 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors systems, which themselves may rely on the systems of other third parties. Additionally, some of our systems are older, legacy-type systems that are less efficient and require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain or upgrade. Our business is highly dependent on our ability to access these systems to perform necessary business functions. These functions include providing insurance or reinsurance quotes, processing premium payments, making changes to existing policies, filing and paying claims, administering life and annuity products and mutual funds, providing customer support, executing transactions and managing our investment portfolios. Systems failures or outages could compromise our ability to perform these functions in a timely manner, which could harm our ability to conduct business, hurt our relationships with our business partners and customers and expose us to legal claims as well as regulatory investigations and sanctions. In the event of a natural disaster, a computer virus, unauthorized access, a terrorist attack, cyberattack or other disruption inside or outside the U.S., our systems may be inaccessible to our employees, customers or business partners for an extended period of time, and we may be unable to perform our duties for an extended period of time if our data or systems are disabled, manipulated, destroyed or otherwise compromised. Like other global companies, the systems we maintain and third party systems we use have in the past been, and will likely in the future be, subject to or targets of unauthorized or fraudulent access, including physical or electronic break-ins or unauthorized tampering, as well as attempted cyber and other security threats and other computer-related penetrations. Also, like other global companies, we have an increasing challenge of attracting and retaining highly qualified security personnel to assist us in combatting these security threats. The frequency and sophistication of such threats continue to increase and often become further heightened in connection with geopolitical tensions. We must continuously monitor and develop our information technology networks and infrastructure in an effort to prevent, detect, address and mitigate the risk of threats to our data and systems, including malware and computer virus attacks, ransomware, unauthorized access, business e-mail compromise, misuse, denial-of-service attacks, system failures and disruptions. There is no assurance that our security measures, including information security policies, administrative, technical and physical controls and other actions designed as preventative, will provide fully effective protection from such events. AIG maintains cyber risk insurance, but this insurance may not cover all costs associated with the consequences of personal, confidential or proprietary information being compromised. In some cases, such compromise may not be immediately detected. This may impede or interrupt our business operations and could adversely affect our consolidated financial condition or results of operations. In addition, we routinely transmit, receive and store personal, confidential and proprietary information by email and other electronic means. Although we attempt to keep such information confidential and secure, we may be unable to do so in all events, especially with clients, vendors, service providers, counterparties and other third parties who may not have or use appropriate controls to protect personal, confidential or proprietary information. Any problems caused by these third parties, including those resulting from breakdowns or other disruptions in information technology services provided by a vendor, failure of a vendor to handle current or higher volumes, cyber-attacks and security breaches at a vendor have in the past, and could in the future, adversely affect our ability to deliver products and services to our customers and otherwise conduct our business. Furthermore, certain of our businesses are subject to compliance with laws and regulations enacted by U.S. federal and state governments, the European Union or other jurisdictions or enacted by various regulatory organizations or exchanges relating to the privacy and security of the information of clients, employees or others. The variety of applicable privacy and information security laws and regulations exposes us to heightened regulatory scrutiny and requires us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses in an effort to ensure and maintain compliance. If we are found not to be in compliance with these laws and regulations, we could be subjected to significant civil and criminal liability and exposed to reputational harm. For additional information on data protection and cybersecurity regulations, see Item 1. Business - Regulation - U.S. Regulation - Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity and - International Regulation - Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity, and Item 7. MD&A - Enterprise Risk Management - Operational Risk Management - Cybersecurity Risk. Additionally, the compromise of personal, confidential or proprietary information could cause a loss of data, give rise to remediation or other expenses, expose us to liability under U.S. and international laws and regulations, and subject us to litigation, investigations, sanctions and regulatory and law enforcement action, and result in reputational harm and loss of business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. We are continuously evaluating and enhancing systems and creating new systems and processes, including to maintain or upgrade our business continuity plans (including, for example, use of cloud services), as our business depends on our ability to maintain and improve our technology systems for interacting with customers, brokers and employees. We have been required to further rely on our technology systems recently because as of March 2020, all non-essential staff were transitioned to a remote work environment in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Due to the complexity and interconnectedness of these systems and processes, these changes, as well as changes designed to update and enhance our protective measures to address new threats, increase the risk of a system or process failure or the creation of a gap in the associated security measures. Any such failure or gap could adversely affect our business operations and the advancement of our business or strategic initiatives. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 37 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors For a discussion regarding the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on our business, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Third parties we rely upon to provide certain business and administrative services on our behalf may not perform as anticipated, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. We rely on the use of third-party providers to deliver contracted services in a broad range of areas. For example, we have engaged with Accenture plc for the delivery of services related to the administration or servicing of certain policies and contracts and investment assets, investment accounting and operational functions, finance and actuarial services, human resources and information technology services related to infrastructure, application development and maintenance. Some of these providers are located outside the U.S., which exposes us to business disruptions and political risks inherent when conducting business outside of the U.S. We periodically negotiate provisions and renewals of these relationships, and there can be no assurance that such terms will remain acceptable to us, such third parties or regulators. If such third-party providers experience disruptions, fail to meet applicable licensure requirements, do not perform as anticipated or in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, or such third-party provider in turn relies on services from another third-party provider, who experiences such disruptions, licensure failures, nonperformance or noncompliance, we may experience operational difficulties, an inability to meet obligations (including, but not limited to, legal, regulatory or policyholder obligations), a loss of business, increased costs or reputational harm, compromises to our data integrity, or suffer other negative consequences, all of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. Third parties performing regulated activities on our behalf, such as sales and servicing of insurance products, pose a heightened risk as we may be held accountable for third party conduct that is not in compliance with applicable law. For a discussion regarding cyber risk arising from third-party providers, see “We are exposed to certain risks if we are unable to maintain the availability of our critical technology systems and data and safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of our data, which could compromise our ability to conduct business and adversely affect our consolidated financial condition or results of operations” above. For a discussion regarding increased risks arising from our reliance on third parties as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Business or asset acquisitions and dispositions may expose us to certain risks. The completion of any business or asset acquisition or disposition is subject to certain risks, including those relating to the receipt of required regulatory approvals, the terms and conditions of regulatory approvals including any financial accommodations required by regulators, our ability to satisfy such terms, conditions and accommodations, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of a transaction and the risk that parties may not be willing or able to satisfy the conditions to a transaction. As a result, there can be no assurance that any business or asset acquisition or disposition will be completed as contemplated, or at all, or regarding the expected timing of the completion of the acquisition or disposition. For example, on October 26, 2020, AIG announced its intention to separate its Life and Retirement business from AIG. No decisions have yet been made regarding the structure of the initial disposition of up to a 19.9% interest in the Life and Retirement business. In addition, any separation transaction will be subject to the satisfaction of various conditions and approvals, including approval by the AIG Board of Directors, receipt of insurance and other required regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of any applicable requirements of the SEC. No assurance can be given regarding the form that a separation transaction may take or the specific terms or timing thereof, or that a separation will in fact occur. There can be no guarantee that we will receive the required approvals or that closing conditions will be satisfied in order to consummate the separation of the Life and Retirement business and for any other disposition. Once we complete acquisitions or dispositions, there can be no assurance that we will realize the anticipated economic, strategic or other benefits of any transaction. For example, the integration of businesses we acquire may not be as successful as we anticipate or there may be undisclosed risks present in such businesses. Acquisitions involve a number of risks, including operational, strategic, financial, accounting, legal, compliance and tax risks. Difficulties integrating an acquired business may result in the acquired business performing differently than we expected (including through the loss of customers) or in our failure to realize anticipated expense-related efficiencies. Our existing businesses could also be negatively impacted by acquisitions. Risks resulting from future acquisitions may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In connection with a business or asset disposition, we may also hold a concentrated position in securities of the acquirer as part of the consideration, which subjects us to risks related to the price of equity securities and our ability to monetize such securities. In addition, with respect to certain dispositions, we are subject to regulatory and other restrictions on our use of proceeds. For example, following the closing of the sale of our controlling interest in Fortitude Holdings in June 2020, we contributed approximately $835 million of the proceeds of the sale of 38 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors Fortitude Holdings to certain of our insurance company subsidiaries. In addition, we have provided and may provide financial guarantees and indemnities in connection with the businesses we have sold or may sell, as described in greater detail in Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. While we do not currently believe that claims under these indemnities will be material, it is possible that significant indemnity claims could be made against us. If such a claim or claims were successful, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. For additional information regarding the risks associated with AIG’s separation of its Life and Retirement business, see “No assurances can be given that the separation of our Life and Retirement business will occur or as to the specific terms or timing thereof. In addition, the separation could exacerbate other risks to which AIG is exposed.” above. For additional information on these financial guarantees and indemnities see Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Significant legal proceedings may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. In the normal course of business, we face significant risk from regulatory and governmental investigations and civil actions, litigation and other forms of dispute resolution in various domestic and foreign jurisdictions. In our insurance and reinsurance operations, we frequently engage in litigation and arbitration concerning the scope of coverage under insurance and reinsurance contracts, and face litigation and arbitration in which our subsidiaries defend or indemnify their insureds under insurance and reinsurance contracts. Additionally, from time to time, various regulatory and governmental agencies review the transactions and practices of AIG and our subsidiaries in connection with industry-wide and other inquiries into, among other matters, the business practices of current and former operating insurance subsidiaries. Such investigations, inquiries or examinations have and could develop into administrative, civil or criminal proceedings or enforcement actions, in which remedies could include fines, penalties, restitution or alterations in our business practices, and could result in additional expenses, limitations on certain business activities and reputational damage. AIG, our subsidiaries and their respective officers and directors are also subject to a variety of additional types of legal disputes brought by holders of AIG securities, customers, employees and others, alleging, among other things, breach of contractual or fiduciary duties, bad faith, indemnification and violations of federal and state statutes and regulations. Certain of these matters involve potentially significant risk of loss due to the possibility of significant jury awards and settlements, punitive damages or other penalties. Many of these matters are also highly complex and seek recovery on behalf of a class or similarly large number of plaintiffs. It is therefore inherently difficult to predict the size or scope of potential future losses arising from them, and developments in these matters could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition or consolidated results of operations. For a discussion of certain legal proceedings, including certain tax controversies, see Notes 16 and 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. For a discussion regarding potential litigation exposure as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Our risk management policies and procedures may prove to be ineffective and leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risk, which could adversely affect our businesses or result in losses. We have developed and continue to develop enterprise-wide risk management policies and procedures to mitigate risk and loss to which we are exposed, which include hedging programs designed to manage market risk and reinsurance to manage geographic accumulations. There are, however, inherent limitations to risk management strategies because there may exist, or develop in the future, risks that we have not sufficiently or accurately anticipated or identified. For example, our hedging programs utilize various derivative instruments, including but not limited to equity options, futures contracts, interest rate swaps and swaptions, as well as other hedging instruments, which may not effectively or completely reduce our risk; and assumptions underlying models used to measure accumulations and support reinsurance purchases may be proven inaccurate and could leave us exposed to larger than expected catastrophe losses in a given year. In addition, our current business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not be sufficient to reduce the impact of pandemics and other natural or man-made catastrophic events that are beyond our anticipated thresholds or impact tolerances. If our risk management policies and procedures are ineffective, we may suffer unexpected losses and could be materially adversely affected. As our businesses change and the markets in which we operate evolve, our 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 financial market movements or unanticipated claims experience resulting from adverse mortality, morbidity or policyholder behavior, the effectiveness of our risk management strategies may be limited, resulting in losses to us. In addition, there can be no assurance that we can effectively review and monitor all risks or that all of our employees will follow our risk management policies and procedures. AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 39 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors REGULATION Our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in laws and regulations may affect our operations, increase our insurance subsidiary capital requirements or reduce our profitability. Our operations generally, and our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries in particular, are subject to extensive and potentially conflicting laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Our business and financial condition are also subject to supervision and regulation by authorities in the various jurisdictions in which we do business. Federal, state and foreign regulators also periodically review and investigate our insurance and reinsurance businesses, including AIG-specific and industry-wide practices. The primary purpose of insurance regulation is the protection of our insurance and reinsurance contract holders, and not our investors. The extent of domestic regulation on our insurance and reinsurance business varies, but generally is governed by state statutes that delegate regulatory, supervisory and administrative authority to state insurance departments. In addition, federal and state securities laws and regulations apply to certain of our insurance products that are considered ‘securities’ under such laws, including our variable annuity contracts, variable life insurance policies and the separate accounts that issue them, as well as our broker-dealer, investment advisor and mutual funds operations. The laws and regulations that apply to our business and operations generally grant regulatory agencies and/or self-regulatory organizations broad rulemaking and enforcement powers, including the power to regulate the issuance, sale and distribution of our products, the standard of care applicable to our producers and agents who sell our products and the manner in which certain conflicts of interest arising from or related to such sale are to be addressed, the delivery of our services, the nature or extent of disclosures required to be given to our customers, the compensation of our distribution partners, the manner in which we handle claims on our policies and the administration of our policies and contracts, as well as the power to limit or restrict the conduct of business for failure to comply with applicable securities laws and regulations. We strive to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our businesses, operations and legal entities. The application of and compliance with such laws and regulations may be subject to interpretation, evolving industry practices and regulatory expectations that could result in increased compliance costs. The relevant authorities may not agree with our interpretation of these laws and regulations, including, for example, our implementation of requirements related to new or changes in capital, accounting treatment or reserving such as those governing principle-based reserving (PBR), or with our policies and procedures adopted to address evolving industry practices or meet regulatory expectations. Such authorities’ interpretation and views may also change from time to time. If we are found not to have complied with applicable legal or regulatory requirements, these authorities could preclude or temporarily suspend us from carrying on some or all of our activities, impose substantial fines or require corrective actions to be taken, which individually or in the aggregate could adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition. Additionally, if such authorities’ interpretation of requirements related to new or changes in capital, accounting treatment and/or valuation manual or reserving (such as PBR) materially differs from ours, we may incur higher operating costs or sales of products subject to such requirement or treatment may be affected. We also strive to maintain all required licenses and approvals. Regulatory authorities have relatively broad discretion to grant, renew or revoke licenses and approvals. If we do not have the required licenses and approvals, these authorities could preclude or temporarily suspend us from carrying on some or all of our activities or impose substantial fines. Further, insurance regulatory authorities have relatively broad discretion to issue orders of supervision, which permit them to apply enhanced supervision to the business and operations of an insurance or reinsurance company. In the U.S., the RBC formula is designed to measure the adequacy of an insurer’s statutory surplus in relation to the risks inherent in its business. Regulators in other jurisdictions in which we do business have adopted capital and liquidity standards applicable to insurers and reinsurers operating in their jurisdiction. Failure to comply with such RBC capital, liquidity and similar requirements would generally permit the insurance regulator to take certain regulatory actions that could materially impact the affected company’s operations. Those actions range from requiring an insurer to submit a plan describing how it would regain a specified RBC ratio to a mandatory regulatory takeover of the company. The NAIC and the IAIS are also developing and testing methodologies for assessing group-wide regulatory capital, which might evolve into more formal group-wide capital requirements on certain insurance companies and/or their holding companies that may augment state-law RBC standards, and similar international standards, that apply at the legal entity level, and such capital calculations may be made, in whole or in part, on bases other than the statutory statements of our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries. We cannot predict the effect these initiatives may have on our business, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. See “Actions by foreign governments, regulators and international standard setters could result in substantial additional regulation to which we may be subject” below for additional information on increased capital and other requirements that may be imposed on us. The degree of regulation and supervision in foreign jurisdictions varies. AIG subsidiaries operating in foreign jurisdictions must satisfy local regulatory requirements and it is possible that local licenses may require AIG Parent to meet certain conditions. Licenses issued by foreign authorities to our subsidiaries are subject to modification and revocation. Accordingly, our insurance subsidiaries could be prevented from conducting future business in certain of the jurisdictions where they currently operate. Adverse actions from any single 40 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors country could adversely affect our business, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, depending on the magnitude of the event and our financial exposure at that time in that country. For further discussion of our regulatory environment see Item 1. Business - Regulation. For a discussion regarding the regulatory response to the COVID-19 crisis, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Actions by foreign governments, regulators and international standard setters could result in substantial additional regulation to which we may be subject. We cannot predict the impact laws and regulations adopted in foreign jurisdictions may have on the financial markets generally or our businesses, results of operations or cash flows. It is possible such laws and regulations, our satisfaction of the IAIG criteria and certain standard-setting initiatives by the FSB and the IAIS, including, but not limited to, the IAIS’ Common Framework for the Supervision of IAIGs, a holistic framework for the assessment and mitigation of systemic risk and the development and refinement of a risk-based global ICS, Solvency II and European Data Protection Board Cross Border Data Transfer in the European Union, may significantly alter our business practices. For example, regulators have imposed and may continue to impose new requirements or issue new guidance aimed at addressing or mitigating climate change-related risks. They may also limit our ability to engage in capital or liability management, require us to raise additional capital, and impose burdensome requirements and additional costs. It is also possible that the laws and regulations adopted in foreign jurisdictions will differ from one another, and that they could be inconsistent with the laws and regulations of other jurisdictions in which we operate, including the U.S. For a discussion of the effects of regulations related to climate change on our business, see “Climate change may adversely affect our business and financial condition” above. For further details on these international regulations and their potential impact on AIG and its businesses, see Item 1. Business - Regulation - International Regulation. Attempts to efficiently manage the impact of Regulation XXX, Actuarial Guideline AXXX and Principle-Based Reserving may not be successful in whole or in part resulting in an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Regulation XXX requires insurers to establish additional statutory reserves for term life insurance policies with long-term premium guarantees and universal life policies with secondary guarantees. In addition, NAIC Actuarial Guideline 38 (Guideline AXXX) clarifies the application of Regulation XXX as to certain universal life insurance policies with secondary guarantees. In December 2012, the NAIC approved a new Valuation Manual (VM) containing a principle-based approach to life insurance company reserves, which became effective on January 1, 2017, and replaced Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX for new life insurance business issued after January 1, 2017. As permitted by applicable regulations, we deferred implementing PBR until January 1, 2020, and have applied it as of such date for relevant life insurance business issued on or after January 1, 2020. For additional information regarding principle-based reserving, see Item 1. Business - Regulation - U.S. Regulation - Insurance Regulation. Our domestic Life and Retirement companies manage the capital impact of statutory reserve requirements under Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX through reinsurance transactions. We have also begun and may continue to pursue reinsurance transactions to manage the capital impact of statutory reserve requirements under PBR. The application of Regulation XXX, Guideline AXXX and PBR involve numerous interpretations. If state insurance departments do not agree with our interpretations or if regulations change with respect to our ability to manage the capital impact of certain statutory reserve requirements, our statutory reserve requirements could increase, or our ability to take reserve credit for reinsurance transactions could be reduced or eliminated. As a result, we could be required to raise capital to replace the reserve credit provided by the reinsurance transactions or incur higher costs to obtain reinsurance, each of which could adversely affect our sales of these products and our financial condition or results of operations. For additional information on statutory reserving requirements under Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX and our use of reinsurance see Note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. New laws and regulations may affect our businesses, results of operations, financial condition and ability to compete effectively. Legislators, regulators and self-regulatory organizations have in the past, and may in the future, periodically consider various proposals that may affect or restrict, among other things, our business practices, product designs and distribution relationships, how we market, sell or service certain products we offer, our capital, reserving and accounting requirements, or the profitability of certain of our businesses. New laws and regulations may even affect or significantly limit our ability to conduct certain businesses at all, including proposals relating to restrictions on the type of activities in which financial institutions are permitted to engage. These proposals could also impose additional taxes on a limited subset of financial institutions and insurance companies (either based on size, activities, geography or other criteria). It is uncertain whether and how these and other such proposals would AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 41 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors apply to us, those who sell or service our products, or our competitors or how they could impact our ability to compete effectively, as well as our business, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. For a discussion regarding the regulatory response to the COVID-19 crisis, see “COVID-19 is adversely affecting, and is expected to continue to adversely affect, our global business, financial condition and results of operations, and its ultimate impact will depend on future developments that are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including the scope, severity and duration of the crisis, and the governmental, legislative and regulatory actions taken and court decisions rendered in response thereto” above. Certain provisions of Dodd-Frank remain relevant to insurance groups generally, including AIG. The Financial Stability Oversight Council (Council) rescinded our designation as a nonbank SIFI on September 29, 2017, but the Council remains authorized under Dodd-Frank to determine, subject to certain statutory and regulatory standards and to the Council’s guidance, which was most recently changed to favor an activities-based approach to systemic risk identification and mitigation, that certain nonbank financial companies be designated as nonbank SIFIs subject to supervision by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and enhanced prudential standards. The Council may also recommend that state insurance regulators or other regulators apply new or heightened standards and safeguards for activities or practices that we and other insurers or other nonbank financial services companies, including insurers, engage in. Additionally, Dodd-Frank directs existing and newly created government agencies and bodies to promulgate regulations implementing the law, which is an ongoing process. There remains considerable uncertainty as to the potential adoption and timing of additional regulatory changes related to Dodd-Frank. We cannot predict the requirements of any additional regulations that may be ultimately adopted or the impact they may have on our businesses, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. See Item 1. Business - Regulation - U.S. Regulation - Dodd-Frank for further discussion of provisions of Dodd-Frank that remain relevant to insurance groups generally. An “ownership change” could limit our ability to utilize tax loss and credit carryforwards to offset future taxable income. As of December 31, 2020, on a U.S. GAAP basis, we had U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $31.6 billion and $1.4 billion in foreign tax credits. Our ability to use these tax attributes to offset future taxable income may be significantly limited if we experience an “ownership change” as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. In general, an ownership change will occur when the percentage of AIG Parent's ownership (measured by value) by one or more “5-percent shareholders” (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code) has increased by more than 50 percentage points over the lowest percentage owned by such shareholders at any time during the prior three years (calculated on a rolling basis). An entity that experiences an ownership change generally will be subject to an annual limitation on its utilization of pre-ownership change tax loss and credit carryforwards equal to the equity value of the corporation immediately before the ownership change, multiplied by the long-term, tax-exempt rate posted monthly by the IRS (AFR) (subject to certain adjustments). The annual limitation would be increased each year to the extent that there is an unused limitation in a prior year. The limitation on our ability to utilize tax loss and credit carryforwards arising from an ownership change under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code would be dependent on the value of our equity and the AFR at the time of any ownership change. If we were to experience an “ownership change”, it is possible that a significant portion of our tax loss and credit carryforwards could expire before we would be able to use them to offset future taxable income. On March 9, 2011, our Board adopted our Tax Asset Protection Plan (the Plan) to help protect these tax loss and credit carryforwards, and on December 14, 2016, our Board adopted an amendment to the Plan, extending its expiration date to December 14, 2019. Our shareholders ratified the amendment of the Plan at our 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Thereafter, on December 11, 2019, our Board adopted a further amendment to the Plan, extending its expiration date to December 11, 2022. Our shareholders ratified the amendment of the Plan at our 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. At our 2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders adopted a protective amendment to our Restated Certificate of Incorporation (Protective Amendment), which is designed to prevent certain transfers of AIG Common Stock that could result in an “ownership change”. At our 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders approved the amendment to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to adopt a successor to the Protective Amendment that contains substantially the same terms as the Protective Amendment. At our 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders adopted an amendment and restatement to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to adopt a successor to the Protective Amendment that contains substantially the same terms as the Protective Amendment but would expire on May 13, 2023. The Plan is designed to reduce the likelihood of an “ownership change” by (i) discouraging any person or group from becoming a 4.99 percent shareholder and (ii) discouraging any existing 4.99 percent shareholder from acquiring additional shares of AIG Common Stock. The Protective Amendment generally restricts any transfer of AIG Common Stock that would (i) increase the ownership by any person to 4.99 percent or more of AIG Common Stock then outstanding or (ii) increase the percentage of AIG Common Stock owned by a Five Percent Stockholder (as defined in the Plan). Despite the intentions of the Plan and the Protective Amendment to deter and prevent an “ownership change”, such an event may still occur. In addition, the Plan and the Protective Amendment may make it more difficult and more expensive to acquire us, and may discourage open market purchases of AIG Common Stock or a non-negotiated 42 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors tender or exchange offer for AIG Common Stock. Accordingly, the Plan and the Protective Amendment may limit a shareholder’s ability to realize a premium over the market price of AIG Common Stock in connection with any stock transaction. Changes to tax laws, including U.S. legislation enacted in late 2017, could increase our corporate taxes or make some of our products less attractive to consumers. The 2017 Tax Act, known informally as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, reduced the statutory rate of U.S. federal corporate income tax to 21 percent and enacted numerous other changes impacting AIG and the insurance industry. The reduction in the statutory U.S. federal corporate income tax rate has positively impacted AIG’s future U.S. after-tax earnings. Other changes in the Tax Act that broaden the tax base by reducing or eliminating deductions for certain items (e.g., reductions to separate account dividends received deductions, disallowance of entertainment expenses, and limitations on the deduction of certain executive compensation costs) will offset a portion of the benefits from the lower statutory rate. Other specific changes, including the calculation of insurance tax reserves and the amortization of deferred acquisition costs, will impact the timing of our tax expense items and could impact the pricing of certain insurance products. In addition to changing the taxation of corporations in general and insurance companies in particular, the Tax Act temporarily reduced certain tax rates for individuals and increased the exemption for the federal estate tax. These changes could reduce demand in the U.S. for life insurance and annuity contracts, which could reduce our income over time due to lower sales of these products or potential increased surrenders of in-force business. Furthermore, the overall impact of the Tax Act is subject to the effect of other complex provisions in the Tax Act (including the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT) and global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI)), which reduce a portion of the benefit from the lower statutory U.S. federal rate. While the U.S. tax authorities issued formal guidance and recently issued final regulations for BEAT and other provisions of the Tax Act, there are still certain aspects of the Tax Act that remain unclear. AIG will continue to review the impact of BEAT, GILTI and related provisions as further guidance is issued. Any further guidance may result in changes to the interpretations and assumptions we made and actions we may take, which as a result may impact the amounts recorded with respect to international provisions of the Tax Act, possibly materially. In addition, new tax laws outside the U.S. similar to BEAT or enacted in response to proposals by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development could make substantive changes to the global international tax regime. Such changes could impact cross border reinsurance transactions, which could increase our tax costs globally. Finally, it is possible that tax laws will be further changed either in a technical corrections bill or entirely new legislation. It remains difficult to predict whether or when there will be any tax law changes or further guidance by the authorities in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world having a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, as the impact of broad proposals on our business can vary substantially depending upon the specific changes or further guidance made and how the changes or guidance are implemented by the authorities. For additional information see Item 7. MD&A - Consolidated Results of Operations - U.S. Tax Law Changes. The USA PATRIOT Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations and similar laws and regulations that apply to us may expose us to significant penalties. As a company that operates in approximately 80 countries and jurisdictions, AIG is subject to myriad regulations which govern items such as sanctions, bribery and anti-money laundering, for which failure to comply exposes us to significant penalties. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 requires companies to know certain information about their clients and to monitor their transactions for suspicious activities. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. Also, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control administers regulations requiring U.S. persons to refrain from doing business, or allowing their clients to do business through them, with certain organizations or individuals on a prohibited list maintained by the U.S. government or with certain countries. The UK, the EU and other jurisdictions maintain similar laws and regulations. The laws and regulations of other jurisdictions may sometimes conflict with those of the U.S. Although we have instituted compliance programs to address these requirements, as well as potential conflicts of law, there are inherent risks in global transactions. ESTIMATES AND ASSUMPTIONS Estimates used in the preparation of financial statements and modeled results used in various areas of our business may differ materially from actual experience. Our financial statements are prepared in conformity with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP), which requires the application of accounting policies that often involve a significant degree of judgment. The accounting policies that we consider most dependent on the application of estimates and assumptions, and therefore may be viewed as critical accounting estimates, are described in Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates. These accounting estimates require the use of assumptions, some of which are highly uncertain at the time of estimation. These estimates are based on AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 43 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors judgment, current facts and circumstances, and, when applicable, internally developed models. Therefore, actual results could differ from these estimates, possibly in the near term, and could have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements. In addition, we employ models to price products, calculate reserves and value assets, as well as evaluate risk and determine capital requirements, among other uses. These models rely on estimates and projections that are inherently uncertain, may use incomplete, outdated or incorrect data or assumptions and may not operate properly. To the extent that any of our operating practices and procedures do not accurately produce, or reproduce, data that we use to conduct any or all aspects of our business, such errors may negatively impact our business, reputation, results of operations, and financial condition. For example, modeling for man-made catastrophes, such as terrorism and cyber events is especially difficult and less reliable given such models are in the early stages of development and therefore, not widely adopted or available. In addition, actions taken by governments and monetary authorities in response to the COVID-19 crisis have affected and may affect our models used to estimate volatility, among other items, which could adversely affect our business. As our businesses continue to expand and evolve, the number and complexity of models we employ has grown, increasing our inherent exposure to error in the design, implementation or use of models, including the associated input data, controls and assumptions, and the controls we have in place to mitigate their risk may not be effective in all cases. Changes in accounting principles and financial reporting requirements impact our consolidated results of operations and financial condition. Our financial statements are subject to the application of U.S. GAAP, which is periodically revised. Accordingly, from time to time, we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The FASB has revised the accounting standards for insurance contracts. The FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2018-12 - Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, which has an effective date of January 1, 2023 and will significantly change the accounting measurements and disclosures for long-duration insurance contracts, which primarily relates to our life and annuity products as well as certain accident and health products, among others. Changes to the manner in which we account for long-duration products could impact our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. The FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13 - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which took effect on January 1, 2020. This standard changes how we account for credit losses for most financial assets, premiums receivable and reinsurance receivables. The standard replaces the incurred loss impairment model with a “current expected credit loss model” that generally results in earlier recognition of credit losses. The standard applies to financial assets subject to credit losses, including loans measured at amortized cost, reinsurance receivables and certain off-balance sheet credit exposures. Additionally, the impairment of available-for-sale debt securities, including purchased credit deteriorated securities, are subject to the new guidance and are measured in a similar manner, except that losses are recognized as allowances rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard impacts our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition and requires additional information to be disclosed in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. The adoption of the newly issued standards as well as other future accounting standards could impact our reported consolidated results of operations, liquidity and reported financial condition. For a discussion of the impact of accounting pronouncements that have been issued but are not yet required to be implemented see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. If our businesses do not perform well and/or their estimated fair values decline, we may be required to recognize an impairment of our goodwill or to establish an additional valuation allowance against the deferred income tax assets, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Goodwill represents the excess of the amounts we paid to acquire subsidiaries and other businesses over the fair value of their net assets at the date of acquisition. We test goodwill at least annually for impairment and conduct interim qualitative assessments on a periodic basis. Impairment testing is performed based upon estimates of the fair value of the “reporting unit” to which the goodwill relates. In 2020, for substantially all of the reporting units we elected to bypass the qualitative assessment of whether goodwill impairment may exist and, therefore, performed quantitative assessments that supported a conclusion that the fair value of all of the reporting units tested exceeded their book value. The fair value of the reporting unit is impacted by the performance of the business and could be adversely impacted if new business, customer retention, profitability or other drivers of performance differ from expectations, or upon the occurrence of certain events, including a significant and adverse change in regulations, legal factors, accounting standards or business climate, or an adverse action or assessment by a regulator. Our goodwill balance was $4.1 billion at December 31, 2020. If it is determined that goodwill has been impaired, we must write down goodwill by the amount of the impairment, with a corresponding charge to net income (loss). These write-downs could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. For further discussion regarding goodwill impairment, see Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates - Allowance for Credit Losses and Goodwill Impairment - Goodwill Impairment and Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Deferred income tax represents the tax effect of the differences between the book and tax basis of assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are assessed periodically by management to determine if they are realizable. As of December 31, 2020, we had net deferred tax assets, after valuation allowance, of $12.4 billion, related to federal, foreign, and state and local jurisdictions. The performance of 44 AIG | 2020 Form 10-K ITEM 1A | Risk Factors the business, including the ability to generate future taxable income from a variety of sources and planning strategies, is factored into management’s determination. If, based on available evidence, it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized, then a valuation allowance must be established with a corresponding charge to net income, which such action we have taken from time to time. Such charges could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. For further discussion regarding deferred tax assets, see Item 7. MD&A - Critical Accounting Estimates - Income Taxes and Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Changes in our assumptions regarding the discount rate and expected rate of return for our pension and other postretirement benefit plans may result in increased expenses and reduce our profitability. We determine our pension and other postretirement benefit plan costs based on assumed discount rates, expected rates of return on plan assets and trends in health care costs. Changes in these assumptions, including from the impact of a sustained low or negative interest rate environment or rapidly rising interest rates, may result in increased expenses which could impact our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. For further details on our pension and postretirement benefit plans see Note 21 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. COMPETITION and employees We face intense competition in each of our businesses. Our businesses operate in highly competitive environments, both domestically and overseas. Our principal competitors are other large multinational insurance organizations, as well as banks, investment banks and other nonbank financial institutions. The insurance industry in particular is highly competitive. Within the U.S., our General Insurance companies compete with other stock companies, specialty insurance organizations, mutual insurance companies and other underwriting organizations. Our Life and Retirement companies compete in the U.S. with life insurance companies and other participants in related financial services fields. Overseas, our subsidiaries compete for business with the foreign insurance operations of large U.S. insurers and with global insurance groups and local companies. Technological advancements and innovation in the insurance industry, including those related to evolving customer preferences, the digitization of insurance products and services, acceleration of automated underwriting, and electronic processes present competitive risks. Technological advancements and innovation are occurring in distribution, underwriting, claims and operations at a rapid pace, and that pace may increase, particularly as companies increasingly use data analytics and technology as part of their business strategy. While we seek opportunities to leverage technological advancements and innovation for our customers’ benefit, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if external technological advancements or innovation, or the regulation of technological advancements or innovation, limit our ability to retain existing business, write new business at adequate rates or on appropriate terms, render our insurance products less suitable or impact our ability to adapt or deploy current products as quickly and effectively as our competitors. Reductions of our credit ratings or IFS ratings or negative publicity may make it more difficult to compete to retain existing customers and to maintain our historical levels of business with existing customers, counterparties and distribution relationships. General Insurance companies and Life and Retirement companies compete through a combination of risk acceptance criteria, product pricing, and terms and conditions. Retirement services companies compete through crediting rates and the issuance of guaranteed benefits. A decline in our position as to any one or more of these factors could adversely affect our profitability. Competition for employees in our industry is intense, and managing key employee succession is critical to our success. We may not be able to attract and retain the key employees and highly skilled people we need to support our business. Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to attract and retain key employees and highly skilled people. Due to the intense competition in our industry for key employees with demonstrated ability, we may be unable to hire or retain such employees. For example, there is heightened competition for actuarial talent in the U.S. In addition, we may experience higher than expected employee turnover and difficulty attracting new employees as a result of uncertainty from strategic actions and organizational and operational changes, including the proposed separation of the Life and Retirement business from AIG. Losing any of our key people also could have a material adverse effect on our operations given their skills, knowledge of our business, years of industry experience and the potential difficulty of promptly finding qualified replacement employees. Our business and consolidated results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we are unsuccessful in attracting and retaining key employees. In addition, we would be adversely affected if we fail to adequately plan for the succession of our senior management and other key employees. While we have succession plans and long-term compensation plans designed to retain our employees, our succession plans may not operate effectively and our compensation plans cannot guarantee that the services of these employees will continue to be available to us. Employee error and misconduct may be difficult to detect and prevent and may result in significant losses. There have been a number of cases involving fraud or other misconduct by employees in the financial services industry in recent years and we run the risk that employee misconduct could occur. Our human resources and compliance departments work collaboratively to monitor for fraud AIG | 2020 Form 10-K 45 ITEM 1A | Risk Factors and conduct extensive training for employees, however, employee misconduct may still occur. Instances of fraud, illegal acts, errors, failure to document transactions properly or to obtain proper internal authorization, misuse of customer or proprietary information, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements or our internal policies may result in losses and/or reputational damage. It is not always possible to deter or prevent employee misconduct, and the controls that we have in place to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and may be subject to infringement claims. We rely on a combination of contractual rights and copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws to establish and protect our intellectual property. Although we use a broad range of measures to protect our intellectual property rights, third parties may infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. We have, and may in the future, litigate to enforce and protect our intellectual property and to determine its scope, validity or enforceability, which could divert significant resources and may not prove successful. Litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights may not be successful and cost a significant amount of money. The inability to secure or enforce the protection of our intellectual property assets could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to compete. We also may be subject to costly litigation in the event that another party alleges our operations or activities infringe upon their intellectual property rights, including patent rights, or violate license usage rights. Any such intellectual property claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant expense and liability for damages, and in some circumstances we could be enjoined from providing certain products or services to our customers, or utilizing and benefiting from certain patent, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or licenses, or alternatively could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third parties, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and financial condition. ITEM 1B