AMP, §1A diff (2019 → 2020)

Item 1A. Risk Factors Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline. We believe that the following information identifies the material factors affecting our company based on the information we currently know. However, the risks and uncertainties our company faces are not limited to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business. Risks Relating to Our Business and Operations Our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by market fluctuations and by economic, political and other factors. Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially affected by market fluctuations and by economic and other factors. Such factors, which can be global, regional, national or local in nature, include: (i) political, social, economic and market conditions; (ii) the availability and cost of capital; (iii) the level and volatility of equity prices, commodity prices and interest rates, currency values and other market indices; (iv) technological changes and events; (v) U.S. and foreign government fiscal and tax policies; (vi) U.S. and foreign government ability, real or perceived, to avoid defaulting on government securities; (vii) the availability and cost of credit; (viii) inflation; (ix) investor sentiment and confidence in the financial markets; (x) terrorism and armed conflicts; and (xi) natural disasters such as weather catastrophes and widespread health emergencies. Furthermore, changes in consumer economic variables, such as the number and size of personal bankruptcy filings, the rate of unemployment, decreases in property values, and the level of consumer confidence and consumer debt, may substantially affect consumer loan levels and credit quality, which, in turn, could impact client activity in all of our businesses. These factors also may have an impact on our ability to achieve our strategic objectives. Declines and volatility in U.S. and global market conditions have impacted our businesses in the past and may do so again. Our businesses have been, and in the future may be, adversely affected by U.S. and global capital market and credit crises, the repricing of credit risk, equity market volatility and decline and stress or recession in the U.S. and global economies generally. Each of our segments operates in these markets with exposure for us and our clients in securities, loans, derivatives, alternative investments, seed capital and other commitments. It is difficult to predict when, how long and to what extent the aforementioned adverse conditions may exist, which of our markets, products and businesses will be directly affected in terms of revenues, management fees and investment valuations and earnings, and to what extent our clients may seek to bring claims arising out of investment performance that is affected by these conditions. As a result, these factors could materially adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. Our revenues are largely dependent upon the level and mix of assets we have under management and administration, which are subject to fluctuations based on market conditions and client activity. Downturns and volatility in equity markets can have, and have had, an adverse effect on the revenues and returns from our asset management services, retail advisory accounts, variable annuity contracts and banking products. Because the profitability of these products and services depends on fees related primarily to the value of assets under management, declines in the equity markets will reduce our revenues because the value of the investment assets we manage will be reduced. In addition, market downturns and volatility (as well as general regulatory or economic uncertainty, such as Brexit) may cause, and have caused, potential new purchasers of our products to limit purchases of or to refrain from purchasing products such as mutual funds, OEICs, SICAVs, variable annuities and variable universal life insurance. Downturns and uncertainty may also cause current shareholders in our mutual funds, OEICs, SICAVs, unit trusts and investment trusts, contractholders in our annuity products and policyholders in our protection products to withdraw cash values from those products. Most of our variable annuity products contain guaranteed minimum death benefits and guaranteed minimum withdrawal and accumulation benefits. A significant equity market decline or volatility in equity markets could result in guaranteed minimum benefits being higher than what current account values would support, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Although we have hedged a portion of the guarantees for the variable annuity contracts to mitigate the financial loss of equity market declines or volatility, there can be no assurance that such a decline or volatility would not materially impact the profitability of certain products or product lines or our financial condition or results of operations. Further, the cost of hedging our liability for these guarantees has increased as a result of low interest rates and volatility in the equity markets and broad-based market and regulatory-driven changes in the collateral requirements of hedge trading counterparties. In addition, heightened volatility (and the transition away from LIBOR as a widely-accepted interest rate reference) creates greater uncertainty for future hedging effectiveness. We believe that investment performance is an important factor in the success of many of our businesses. Poor investment performance could impair our revenues and earnings, as well as our prospects for growth. Poor investment performance could also result in additional benefits paid under certain annuity products (such variable annuity living benefits and death benefits). A significant portion of our revenue is derived from investment management agreements with the Columbia Management family of mutual funds which are terminable on 60 days’ notice. In addition, although some contracts governing investment management services are subject to termination for failure to meet performance benchmarks, institutional and individual clients can terminate their relationships with us or our financial advisors at will or on relatively short notice. Our clients can also reduce the aggregate amount of managed assets or shift their funds to other types of accounts with different rate structures, for any number of reasons, including investment performance, changes in prevailing interest rates, changes in investment preferences or investment management strategy (for example, “active” or “passive” investing styles), changes in our (or our advisors’) reputation in the marketplace, changes in client management or ownership, loss of key investment management personnel and financial market performance. A reduction in managed assets, and the associated decrease in revenues and earnings, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, if our money market funds experience a decline in market value, we may choose to contribute capital to those funds without consideration, which would result in a loss. During periods of unfavorable or stagnating market or economic conditions, the level of individual investor participation in the global markets may also decrease, which would negatively impact the results of our retail businesses. Concerns about current market and economic conditions, declining real estate values and decreased consumer confidence have caused, and in the future may cause, some of our clients to reduce the amount of business they do with us. Fluctuations in global market activity could impact the flow of investment capital into or from assets under management and the way customers allocate capital among money market, equity, fixed maturity or other investment alternatives, which could negatively impact our Asset Management, Advice & Wealth Management and Annuities businesses. If we are unable to offer appropriate product alternatives which encourage customers to continue purchasing in the face of actual or perceived market volatility, our sales and management fee revenues could decline. Uncertain economic conditions and heightened market volatility may also increase the likelihood that clients or regulators present or threaten legal claims, that regulators may increase the frequency and scope of their examinations of us or the financial services industry generally, and that lawmakers may enact new requirements or taxation which can have a material impact on our revenues, expenses or statutory capital requirements. Changes in interest rates and prolonged periods of low interest rates may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Certain of our insurance, annuity, investment products and banking products are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations, and future impacts associated with such variations may differ from our historical costs. In addition, interest rate fluctuations could result in fluctuations in the valuation of certain minimum guaranteed benefits contained in some of our variable annuity products. Although we typically hedge to mitigate some of the effect of such fluctuations, significant changes in interest rates could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. During periods of increasing market interest rates, we may offer higher crediting rates on interest-sensitive products, such as universal life insurance, fixed annuities and face-amount certificates, and we may increase crediting rates on in force products to keep these products competitive. Because yields on invested assets may not increase as quickly as current interest rates, we may have to accept a lower spread and thus lower profitability or face a decline in sales and greater loss of existing contracts and related assets. In addition, increases in market interest rates may cause increased policy surrenders, withdrawals from life insurance policies and annuity contracts and requests for policy loans, as policyholders and contractholders seek to shift assets to products with perceived higher returns. This process may lead to an earlier than expected outflow of cash from our business. These withdrawals and surrenders may require investment assets to be sold at a time when the prices of those assets are lower because of the increase in market interest rates, which may result in realized investment losses. Also, increases in market interest rates may result in extension of certain cash flows from structured mortgage assets. Increases in crediting rates, as well as surrenders and withdrawals, could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. An increase in policy surrenders and withdrawals also may require us to accelerate amortization of deferred acquisition costs (“DAC”) or other intangibles or cause an impairment of goodwill, which would increase our expenses and reduce our net earnings. During periods of falling interest rates or stagnancy of low interest rates, our spread may be reduced or could become negative, primarily because some of our products have guaranteed minimum crediting rates. Due to the long-term nature of the liabilities associated with certain of our businesses, such as long term care and universal life with secondary guarantees as well as fixed annuities and guaranteed benefits on variable annuities, sustained declines in or stagnancy of low long-term interest rates may subject us to reinvestment risks and increased hedging costs. In addition, reduced or negative spreads may require us to accelerate amortization of DAC, which would increase our expenses and reduce our net earnings. Interest rate fluctuations also could have an adverse effect on the results of our investment portfolio. During periods of declining market interest rates or stagnancy of low interest rates, the interest we receive on variable interest rate investments decreases. In addition, during those periods, we are forced to reinvest the cash we receive as interest or return of principal on our investments in lower-yielding high-grade instruments or in lower-credit instruments to maintain comparable returns. Issuers of certain callable fixed income securities also may decide to prepay their obligations in order to borrow at lower market rates, which increases the risk that we may have to reinvest the cash proceeds of these securities in lower-yielding or lower-credit instruments. Adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect our ability to meet liquidity needs, our access to capital and our cost of capital. The capital and credit markets may experience, and have experienced, varying degrees of volatility and disruption. In some cases, the markets have exerted downward pressure on availability of liquidity and credit capacity for certain issuers. We need liquidity to pay our operating expenses, interest expenses and dividends on our capital stock. Without sufficient liquidity, we could be required to curtail our operations and our business would suffer. Our liquidity needs are satisfied primarily through our reserves and the cash generated by our operations. We believe the level of cash and securities we maintain, combined with expected cash inflows from investments and operations, is adequate to meet anticipated short-term and long-term payment obligations. In the event current resources are insufficient to satisfy our needs, we may access financing sources such as bank debt. The availability of additional financing would depend on a variety of factors such as market conditions, the general availability of credit, the volume of trading activities, the overall availability of credit to the financial services industry, our credit ratings and credit capacity, as well as the possibility that our shareholders, customers or lenders could develop a negative perception of our long- or short-term financial prospects if we incur large investment losses or if the level of our business activity decreases due to a market downturn. Similarly, our access to funds may be rendered more costly or impaired if regulatory authorities or rating organizations take actions against us. Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets may also limit our access to capital required to operate our business. Such market conditions may limit our ability to satisfy statutory capital requirements, generate fee income and market-related revenue to meet liquidity needs and access the capital necessary to grow our business. As such, we may be forced to delay raising capital, issue different types of capital than we would otherwise, less effectively deploy such capital, or bear an unattractive cost of capital which could decrease our profitability and significantly reduce our financial flexibility. A downgrade or a potential downgrade in our financial strength or credit ratings could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Financial strength ratings, which various rating organizations publish as a measure of an insurance company’s ability to meet contractholder and policyholder obligations, are important to maintain public confidence in our products, the ability to market our products and our competitive position. A downgrade in our financial strength ratings, or the announced potential for a downgrade, could have a significant adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations in many ways, including: (i) reducing new sales of insurance and annuity products and investment products; (ii) adversely affecting our relationships with our advisors and third-party distributors of our products; (iii) materially increasing the number or amount of policy surrenders and withdrawals by contractholders and policyholders; (iv) requiring us to reduce prices for many of our products and services to remain competitive; and (v) adversely affecting our ability to obtain reinsurance or obtain reasonable pricing on reinsurance. A downgrade in our credit ratings could also adversely impact our future cost and speed of borrowing and have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. In view of the difficulties experienced in recent years by many financial institutions, including our competitors in the insurance industry, the rating organizations have heightened the level of scrutiny that they apply to such institutions and have requested additional information from the companies that they rate. They may increase the frequency and scope of their credit reviews, adjust upward the capital and other requirements employed in the rating organizations’ models for maintenance of ratings levels, or downgrade ratings applied to particular classes of securities or types of institutions. Rating organizations may also become subject to tighter laws, regulations or scrutiny governing ratings, which may in turn impact ratings assigned to financial institutions. We cannot predict what actions rating organizations may take, or what actions we may take in response to the actions of rating organizations, which could adversely affect our business. As with other companies in the financial services industry, our ratings could be changed at any time and without any notice by the rating organizations. Intense competition and the economics of changes in our product revenue mix and distribution channels could negatively impact our ability to maintain or increase our market share and profitability. Our businesses operate in intensely competitive industry segments. We compete based on a number of factors, including name recognition, service, the quality of investment advice, investment performance, product offerings and features, price, perceived financial strength, claims-paying ability and credit ratings. Our competitors include broker-dealers, banks, asset managers, insurers and other financial institutions. Certain of our competitors offer web-based or mobile-based financial services or discount brokerage services to individual clients. Many of our businesses face competitors that have greater market share, offer a broader range of products, have greater financial resources, or have higher claims-paying ability or credit ratings than we do. Some of our competitors may possess or acquire intellectual property rights that could provide a competitive advantage to them in certain markets or for certain products, which could make it difficult for us to introduce new products and services. Some of our competitors’ proprietary products or technology could be similar to our own, and this could result in disputes that could impact our financial condition or results of operations. In addition, over time certain sectors of the financial services industry have become considerably more concentrated, as financial institutions involved in a broad range of financial services have been acquired by or merged into other firms, or distribution firms (including our own) are seeking to limit the breadth of product offerings in order to simplify their regulatory and risk management. This convergence could result in our competitors gaining greater resources, and we may experience downward pressures on our pricing and market share as a result of these factors and as some of our competitors seek to increase market share by reducing prices. Furthermore, the uncertain regulatory environment in the U.S. and around the world will cause various structural changes to the industry and other competitors may be better positioned to reap the benefits of that structural change and movement of assets around the industry depending on final regulations and trends among distributors and clients. The offerings available to our advisor network include not only products issued by our RiverSource Life and Columbia Threadneedle Investments companies, but also products issued by unaffiliated insurance companies and asset managers. As a result of this and further openings of our advisor network to the products of other companies, we could experience lower sales of our companies’ products, higher surrenders or redemptions, or other developments which might not be fully offset by higher distribution revenues or other benefits, possibly resulting in an adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, some of our products, are made available through alliances with unaffiliated third parties. We could experience lower sales or incur higher distribution costs or other developments which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations if alliance relationships are discontinued or if the terms of our alliances change. We face intense competition in attracting and retaining key talent. Our continued success depends to a substantial degree on our ability to attract and retain qualified people. We are dependent on our network of advisors to drive growth and results in our wealth management business and also for a significant portion of the sales of our mutual funds, annuities, face-amount certificates, banking and insurance products. In addition, the investment performance of our asset management products and services and the retention of our products and services by our clients are dependent upon the strategies and decisioning of our portfolio managers and analysts. The market for these financial advisors and portfolio managers is extremely competitive, as are the markets for qualified and skilled executives and marketing, finance, legal, compliance and other professionals. From time to time there are regulatory-driven or other trends and developments within the industry, such as changes around the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, that could potentially impact the current competitive dynamics between us and our competitors. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified individuals or our recruiting and retention costs increase significantly, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely impacted. The impairment or negative performance of other financial institutions could adversely affect us. We have exposure to many different industries and counterparties, and we routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including broker-dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds, insurers, reinsurers, investment funds and other institutions. The operations of U.S. and global financial services institutions are interconnected and a decline in the financial condition of one or more financial services institutions may expose us to credit losses or defaults, limit our access to liquidity or otherwise disrupt the operations of our businesses. While we regularly assess our exposure to different industries and counterparties, the performance and financial strength of specific institutions are subject to rapid change, the timing and extent of which cannot be known. Many transactions with and investments in the products and securities of other financial institutions expose us to credit risk in the event of default of our counterparty. With respect to secured transactions, our credit risk may be exacerbated when the collateral we hold cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices insufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to it. We also have exposure to financial institutions in the form of unsecured debt instruments, derivative transactions (including with respect to derivatives hedging our exposure on variable annuity contracts with guaranteed benefits), reinsurance, repurchase and underwriting arrangements and equity investments. There can be no assurance that any such losses or impairments to the carrying value of these assets would not materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations. Downgrades in the credit or financial strength ratings assigned to the counterparties with whom we transact or other adverse reputational impacts to such counterparties could create the perception that our financial condition will be adversely impacted as a result of potential future defaults by such counterparties. Additionally, we could be adversely affected by a general, negative perception of financial institutions caused by the downgrade or other adverse impact to the reputation of other financial institutions. Accordingly, ratings downgrades or other adverse reputational impacts for other financial institutions could affect our market capitalization and could limit access to or increase our cost of capital. A number of the products and services we make available to our clients are those offered by third parties, for which we may generate revenue based on the level of assets under management, the number of client transactions or otherwise. The poor performance of such products and services, or negative perceptions of the firms offering such products and services, may adversely impact our sales of such products and services and reduce our revenue. In addition, such failures or poor performance of products and services offered by other financial institutions could adversely impact consumer confidence in products and services that we offer. Negative perceptions of certain financial products and services, or the financial industry in general, may increase the number of withdrawals and redemptions or reduce purchases made by our clients, which would adversely impact the levels of our assets under management, revenues and liquidity position. A drop in our investment performance as compared to that of our competitors could negatively impact our revenues and profitability. Investment performance is a key competitive factor for our retail and institutional asset management products and services. Strong investment performance helps to ensure the retention of our products and services by our clients and creates new sales of products and services. It may also result in higher ratings by ratings services such as Morningstar or Lipper, which may compound the foregoing effects. Strong investment performance and its effects are important elements to our stated goals of growing assets under management and achieving economies of scale. There can be no assurance as to how future investment performance will compare to our competitors or that historical performance will be indicative of future returns. Any drop or perceived drop in investment performance as compared to our competitors could cause a decline in sales of our mutual funds and other investment products, an increase in redemptions and the termination of institutional asset management relationships. These impacts may reduce our aggregate amount of assets under management and reduce management fees. Poor investment performance could also adversely affect our ability to expand the distribution of our products through unaffiliated third parties. Further, any drop in market share of mutual funds sales by our advisors may further reduce profits as sales of other companies’ mutual funds are less profitable than sales of our proprietary funds. We may not be able to maintain our unaffiliated third-party distribution channels or the terms by which unaffiliated third parties sell our products. We distribute certain of our investment products through unaffiliated third-party advisors and financial institutions. Maintaining and deepening relationships with these unaffiliated distributors is an important part of our growth strategy, as strong third-party distribution arrangements enhance our ability to market our products and to increase our assets under management, revenues and profitability. There can be no assurance that the distribution relationships we have established will continue, as our distribution partners may cease to operate or otherwise terminate their relationship with us. Any such reduction in access to third-party distributors may have a material adverse effect on our ability to market our products and to generate revenue in our Asset Management and Annuities segments. Access to distribution channels is subject to intense competition due to the large number of competitors and products in the investment advisory and annuities industries as well as regulatory and consumer trends driving escalating compliance, disclosure and risk management requirements for distributors. Relationships with distributors are subject to periodic negotiation that may result in increased distribution costs and/or reductions in the amount of our products marketed, and the frequency or complexity of these negotiations is expected to increase in light of prevailing regulatory reforms and market volatility. Any increase in the costs to distribute our products or reduction in the type or amount of products made available for sale may have a material effect on our revenues and profitability. We face risks arising from acquisitions and divestitures. We have made acquisitions and divestitures in the past and may pursue similar strategic transactions in the future. Risks in acquisition transactions include difficulties in the integration of acquired businesses into our operations and control environment (including our risk management policies and procedures), difficulties in assimilating and retaining employees and intermediaries, difficulties in retaining the existing customers of the acquired entities, assumed or unforeseen liabilities that arise in connection with the acquired businesses, the failure of counterparties to satisfy any obligations to indemnify us against liabilities arising from the acquired businesses, and unfavorable market conditions that could negatively impact our growth expectations for the acquired businesses. Fully integrating an acquired company or business into our operations (such as our recent acquisitions of Lionstone Investments and IPI) may take a significant amount of time. Risks in divestiture transactions (such as our recent divestiture of our auto and home insurance business to American Family Insurance) include difficulties in the separation of the disposed business, retention or obligation to indemnify certain liabilities, the failure of counterparties to satisfy payment obligations, unfavorable market conditions that may impact any earnout or contingency payment due to us, if any, and unexpected difficulties in losing employees of the disposed business. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered with acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions. Execution of our business strategies also may require certain regulatory approvals or consents, which may include approvals of the FRB and other domestic and non-U.S. regulatory authorities. These regulatory authorities may impose conditions on the activities or transactions contemplated by our business strategies which may impact negatively our ability to realize fully the expected benefits of certain opportunities. These risks may prevent us from realizing the expected benefits from acquisitions or divestitures and could result in the failure to realize the full economic value of a strategic transaction or the impairment of goodwill and/or intangible assets recognized at the time of an acquisition. These risks could be heightened if we complete a large acquisition or multiple acquisitions within a short period of time. Third-party defaults, bankruptcy filings, legal actions and other events may limit the value of or restrict our access and our clients’ access to cash and investments. Capital and credit market volatility can exacerbate, and has exacerbated, the risk of third-party defaults, bankruptcy filings, foreclosures, legal actions and other events that may limit the value of or restrict our access and our clients’ access to cash and investments. Although we are not required to do so, we have elected in the past, and we may elect in the future, to compensate clients for losses incurred in response to such events, provide clients with temporary credit or liquidity or other support related to products that we manage, or provide credit liquidity or other support to the financial products we manage. Any such election to provide support may arise from factors specific to our clients, our products or industry-wide factors. If we elect to provide additional support, we could incur losses from the support we provide and incur additional costs, including financing costs, in connection with the support. These losses and additional costs could be material and could adversely impact our results of operations. If we were to take such actions we may also restrict or otherwise utilize our corporate assets, limiting our flexibility to use these assets for other purposes, and may be required to raise additional capital. Defaults in our fixed maturity securities portfolio or consumer credit holdings could adversely affect our earnings. Issuers of the fixed maturity securities that we own may default on principal and interest payments. As of December 31, 2019, 3.1% of our fixed maturity securities had ratings below investment-grade. Moreover, economic downturns and corporate malfeasance can increase the number of companies, including those with investment-grade ratings, which default on their debt obligations. Default-related declines in the value of our fixed maturity securities portfolio or consumer credit holdings could cause our net earnings to decline and could also cause us to contribute capital to some of our regulated subsidiaries, which may require us to obtain funding during periods of unfavorable market conditions. Our valuation of fixed maturity and equity securities may include methodologies, estimations and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition. Fixed maturity, equity, trading securities and short-term investments, which are reported at fair value on the Consolidated Balance Sheets, represent the majority of our total cash and invested assets. The determination of fair values by management in the absence of quoted market prices is based on valuation methodologies, securities we deem to be comparable, and assumptions deemed appropriate given the circumstances. The fair value estimates are made at a specific point in time, based on available market information and judgments about financial instruments, including estimates of the timing and amounts of expected future cash flows and the credit standing of the issuer or counterparty. Factors considered in estimating fair value include: coupon rate, maturity, estimated duration, call provisions, sinking fund requirements, credit rating, industry sector of the issuer, interest rates, credit spreads, and quoted market prices of comparable securities. The use of different methodologies and assumptions may have a material effect on the estimated fair value amounts. During periods of market disruption, including periods of significantly rising or high interest rates and rapidly widening credit spreads or illiquidity, it may be difficult to value certain of our securities. There may be certain asset classes that were in active markets with significant observable data that become illiquid due to the financial environment. In such cases, the valuation of certain securities may require additional subjectivity and management judgment. As such, valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable and may require greater estimation as well as valuation methods that are more sophisticated, which may result in values less than the value at which the investments may be ultimately sold. Further, rapidly changing and unexpected credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported within our consolidated financial statements and the period-to-period changes in value could vary significantly. Decreases in value may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. The elimination of LIBOR may adversely affect the interest rates on and value of certain derivatives and floating rate securities we hold, the activities we conduct, and any other assets or liabilities whose value is tied to LIBOR. The FCA, which regulates the LIBOR, has announced that it will not compel panel banks to contribute to LIBOR after 2021. It is likely that banks will not continue to provide submissions for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021 and possibly prior to then. It is expected that a transition away from the widespread use of LIBOR to alternative rates will occur over the next two years. Actions by regulators have resulted in the establishment of alternative reference rates to LIBOR in most major currencies. The U.S. Federal Reserve, based on the recommendations of the New York Federal Reserve’s Alternative Reference Rate Committee (constituted of major derivative market participants and their regulators), has begun publishing a Secured Overnight Funding Rate (“SOFR”) which is intended to replace U.S. dollar LIBOR, and SOFR-based investment products have been issued in the U.S. Proposals for alternative reference rates for other currencies have also been announced or have already begun publication. Markets are slowly developing in response to these new rates and questions around liquidity in these rates 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. Although the full impact of transition remains unclear, this change may have an adverse impact on the value of, return on and trading markets for a broad array of financial products, including any LIBOR-based securities, loans and derivatives that are included in our financial assets and liabilities. If LIBOR is discontinued after 2021 as expected, there will be uncertainty or differences in the calculation of the applicable interest rate or payment amount depending on the terms of the governing instruments. There will be significant work required to transition to the new benchmark rates and implement necessary changes to our systems, processes and models. This may impact our existing transaction data, products, systems, operations, valuation and financial risk management processes. In addition, LIBOR may perform differently during the phase-out period than in the past which could result in lower interest payments and a reduction in the value of certain assets. Accordingly, it is difficult to predict the full impact of the transition away from LIBOR on various derivatives, floating rate securities and other securities we hold, the activities we conduct in our various businesses, and any other assets or liabilities (as well as contractual rights and obligations) whose value is tied to LIBOR. The value or profitability of these products and instruments, and our costs of operations, may be adversely affected until new reference rates and fallbacks for both legacy and new products, instruments and contracts are commercially accepted. The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on certain investments is subject to management’s evaluation and judgment and could materially impact our results of operations or financial position. The determination of the amount of allowances and impairments vary by investment type and is based upon our periodic evaluation and assessment of inherent and known risks associated with the respective asset class. Such evaluations and assessments are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. Management updates its evaluations regularly and reflects changes in allowances and impairments in operations as such evaluations are revised. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments or allowances. The assessment of whether impairments have occurred is based on management’s case-by-case evaluation of the underlying reasons for the decline in fair value that considers a wide range of factors about the security issuer or borrower, and management uses its best judgment in evaluating the cause of the decline in the estimated fair value of the security or loan and in assessing the prospects for recovery. Inherent in management’s evaluation of the security or loan are assumptions and estimates about the operations of the issuer and its future earnings potential. Some of our investments are relatively illiquid. We invest a portion of our owned assets in certain privately placed fixed income securities, mortgage loans, policy loans and limited partnership interests, all of which are relatively illiquid. These asset classes represented 12.9% of the carrying value of our investment portfolio as of December 31, 2019. If we require significant amounts of cash on short notice in excess of our normal cash requirements, we may have difficulty selling these investments in a timely manner or be forced to sell them for an amount less than we would otherwise have been able to realize, or both, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The failure of other insurers could require us to pay higher assessments to state insurance guaranty funds. Our insurance companies are required by law to be members of the guaranty fund association in every state where they are licensed to do business. In the event of insolvency of one or more unaffiliated insurance companies, our insurance companies could be adversely affected by the requirement to pay assessments to the guaranty fund associations. Uncertainty and volatility in the U.S. economy and financial markets in recent years, plus the repercussions of a heightened regulatory environment, have weakened or may weaken the financial condition of numerous insurers, including insurers currently in receiverships, increasing the risk of triggering guaranty fund assessments. For more information regarding assessments from guaranty fund associations, see Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If the counterparties to our reinsurance arrangements or to the derivative instruments we use to hedge our business risks default or otherwise fail to fulfill their obligations, we may be exposed to risks we had sought to mitigate, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We use reinsurance to mitigate our risks in various circumstances as described in Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K - “Business - Our Segments - Protection - Reinsurance.” Reinsurance does not relieve us of our direct liability to our policyholders and contractholders, even when the reinsurer is liable to us. Accordingly, we bear credit and performance risk with respect to our reinsurers, including Commonwealth Annuity and Life Insurance Company as well as Genworth Life Insurance Company. In July 2016, we finalized various confidential enhancements with Genworth Life Insurance Company that have been shared, in the normal course of regular reviews, with our Domiciliary Regulators and rating agencies. A reinsurer’s insolvency or its inability or unwillingness to make payments under the terms of our reinsurance agreement could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. See Notes 2, 7 and 8 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding reinsurance. In addition, we use a variety of derivative instruments (including options, forwards, swaps and futures with a number of counterparties to hedge business risks. The amount and breadth of exposure to derivative counterparties, as well as the cost of derivative instruments, have increased significantly in connection with our strategies to hedge guaranteed benefit obligations under our variable annuity products. If our counterparties fail to honor their obligations under the derivative instruments in a timely manner, our hedges of the related risk will be ineffective. That failure could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. This risk of failure of our hedge transactions from counterparty default may be increased by capital market volatility. We provide investment securities as collateral to our derivative counterparties which they may sell, pledge, or rehypothecate. We have exposure, under the relevant arrangement, if the collateral is not returned to us to the extent that the fair value of the collateral exceeds our liability. Additionally, we may also accept investment securities as collateral from our derivative counterparties, which we may sell, pledge, or rehypothecate. If the counterparties that we pledge the collateral to are not able to return these investment securities under the terms of the relevant arrangements, we would be required to deliver alternative investments or cash to our derivative counterparty, which could impact our liquidity and could adversely impact our financial condition or results of operations. If our reserves for future policy benefits and claims or for our bank lending portfolio or for future certificate redemptions and maturities are inadequate, we may be required to increase our reserve liabilities, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. We establish reserves as estimates of our liabilities to provide for future obligations under our insurance policies, annuities and investment certificate contracts. We also establish reserves as estimates of the potential for loan losses in our consumer lending portfolios. Reserves do not represent an exact calculation of the liability but, rather, are estimates of contract benefits and related expenses we expect to incur over time. The assumptions and estimates we make in establishing reserves require certain judgments about future experience and, therefore, are inherently uncertain. We cannot determine with precision the actual amounts that we will pay for contract benefits, the timing of payments, or whether the assets supporting our stated reserves will increase to the levels we estimate before payment of benefits or claims. We monitor our reserve levels continually. If we were to conclude that our reserves are insufficient to cover actual or expected contract benefits, we would be required to increase our reserves and incur income statement charges for the period in which we make the determination, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For more information on how we set our reserves, see Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Morbidity rates, mortality rates or the severity or frequency of other insurance claims that differ significantly from our pricing expectations could negatively affect profitability. We have historically set, and continue to set, prices for RiverSource life disability insurance (and historically LTC insurance) as well as some annuity products based upon expected claim payment patterns, derived from assumptions we make about our policyholders and contractholders, including morbidity and mortality rates. The long-term profitability of these products depends upon how our actual experience compares with our pricing assumptions. For example, if morbidity rates are higher, or mortality rates are lower, than our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make greater payments under disability income insurance policies, chronic care riders and immediate annuity contracts than we had projected. The same holds true for LTC policies we previously underwrote to the extent of the risks that we retained. If mortality rates are higher than our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make greater payments under our life insurance policies and annuity contracts with guaranteed minimum death benefits than we have projected. The risk that our claims experience may differ significantly from our pricing assumptions is particularly significant for our LTC insurance products notwithstanding our ability to implement future price increases with regulatory approvals. As with life insurance, LTC insurance policies provide for long-duration coverage and, therefore, our actual claims experience will emerge over many years. However, as a relatively new product in the market, LTC insurance does not have the extensive claims experience history of life insurance and, as a result, our ability to forecast future claim rates for LTC insurance is more limited than for life insurance. We have sought to moderate these uncertainties to some extent by partially reinsuring LTC policies at the time the policies were underwritten and limiting our present stand-alone LTC insurance offerings to policies underwritten fully by unaffiliated third-party insurers, and we have also implemented rate increases on certain in force policies. Certain estimates and assumptions used in setting our LTC reserves (which is an inherently uncertain and complex process) are described in Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K - “Business - Our Segments - Corporate & Other - Closed Block Long Term Care Insurance.” We may be required to implement additional rate increases in the future and may or may not receive regulatory approval for the full extent and timing of any rate increases that we may seek. We may face losses if there are significant deviations from our assumptions regarding the future persistency of our insurance policies and annuity contracts. The prices and expected future profitability of our life insurance and deferred annuity products are based in part upon assumptions related to persistency, which is the probability that a policy or contract will remain in force from one period to the next. Economic and market dislocations may occur, and future consumer persistency behaviors could vary materially from the past. The effect of persistency on profitability varies for different products. For most of our life insurance and deferred annuity products, actual persistency that is lower than our persistency assumptions could have an adverse impact on profitability, especially in the early years of a policy or contract, primarily because we would be required to accelerate the amortization of expenses we deferred in connection with the acquisition of the policy or contract. For our LTC insurance and universal life insurance policies with secondary guarantees, as well as variable annuities with guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits, actual persistency that is higher than our persistency assumptions could have a negative impact on profitability. If these policies remain in force longer than we assumed, we could be required to make greater benefit payments than we had anticipated when we priced or partially reinsured these products. Some of our LTC insurance policies have experienced higher persistency and poorer morbidity experience than we had assumed, which led us to increase premium rates on certain policies. Because our assumptions regarding persistency experience are inherently uncertain, reserves for future policy benefits and claims may prove to be inadequate if actual persistency experience is different from those assumptions. Although some of our products permit us to increase premiums during the life of the policy or contract, we cannot guarantee that these increases would be sufficient to maintain profitability. Additionally, some of these pricing changes require regulatory approval, which may not be forthcoming. Moreover, many of our products do not permit us to increase premiums or limit those increases during the life of the policy or contract, while premiums on certain other products (primarily LTC insurance) may not be increased without prior regulatory approval. Significant deviations in experience from pricing expectations regarding persistency could have an adverse effect on the profitability of our products. We may be required to accelerate the amortization of DAC, which would increase our expenses. DAC represents the portion of costs which are incremental and direct to the acquisition of new or renewal business, principally direct sales commissions and other distribution and underwriting costs that have been deferred on the sale of annuity, life and disability income insurance and, to a lesser extent, distribution expenses for certain mutual fund products. For annuity and universal life products, DAC are amortized based on projections of estimated gross profits over amortization periods equal to the approximate life of the business. For other insurance products, DAC are generally amortized as a percentage of premiums over amortization periods equal to the premium-paying period. For certain mutual fund products, we generally amortize DAC over fixed periods on a straight-line basis, adjusted for redemptions. Our projections underlying the amortization of DAC for insurance and annuity products require the use of certain assumptions, including interest margins, mortality rates, persistency rates, maintenance expense levels and customer asset value growth rates for variable products. We periodically review and, where appropriate, adjust our assumptions. When we change our assumptions, we may be required to accelerate the amortization of DAC or to record a charge to increase benefit reserves. For more information regarding DAC, see Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Critical Accounting Estimates - Deferred Acquisition Costs.” Misconduct by our employees and advisors is difficult to detect and deter and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. Misconduct or errors by our employees and advisors could result in violations of law, regulatory sanctions and/or serious reputational or financial harm. Misconduct or errors can occur in each of our businesses and could include: (i) binding us to transactions that exceed authorized limits; (ii) hiding unauthorized or unsuccessful activities resulting in unknown and unmanaged risks or losses; (iii) improperly or inadvertently using, disclosing or otherwise compromising confidential information, including client confidential information; (iv) recommending transactions that are not suitable; (v) engaging in fraudulent or otherwise improper activity, including the misappropriation of funds; (vi) engaging in unauthorized or excessive trading to the detriment of customers; or (vii) otherwise not complying with laws, regulations or our control procedures. We cannot always deter misconduct by our employees and advisors, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. Preventing and detecting misconduct among our franchisee advisors who are not employees of our company presents additional challenges. We also cannot assure you that misconduct by our employees and advisors will not lead to a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. A failure to protect our reputation could adversely affect our businesses. Our reputation is one of our most important assets. Our ability to attract and retain customers, investors, employees and advisors is highly dependent upon external perceptions of our company. Damage to our reputation could cause significant harm to our business and prospects. Reputational damage may arise from numerous sources including litigation or regulatory actions, failing to deliver minimum standards of service and quality, compliance failures, any perceived or actual weakness in our financial strength or liquidity, technological, cybersecurity, or other security breaches (including attempted or inadvertent breaches) resulting in improper disclosure of client or employee personal information, unethical or improper behavior and the misconduct or error of our employees, advisors and counterparties. Negative perceptions or publicity regarding these matters could damage our reputation among existing and potential customers, investors, employees and advisors. Reputations may take decades to build, and any negative incidents can quickly erode trust and confidence, particularly if they result in adverse mainstream and social media publicity, governmental investigations or litigation. Adverse developments with respect to our industry may also, by association, negatively impact our reputation or result in greater regulatory or legislative scrutiny or litigation against us. Our reputation is also dependent on our continued identification of and mitigation against conflicts of interest. As we have expanded the scope of our businesses and our client base, we increasingly have to identify and address potential conflicts of interest, including those relating to our proprietary activities and those relating to our sales of non-proprietary products from manufacturers that have agreed to provide us marketing, sales and account maintenance support. For example, conflicts may arise between our position as a provider of financial planning services and as a manufacturer and/or distributor or broker of asset accumulation, income or insurance products that one of our advisors may recommend to a financial planning client. We have procedures and controls that are designed to identify, address and appropriately disclose perceived conflicts of interest. However, identifying and appropriately addressing conflicts of interest is complex, and our reputation could be damaged if we fail, or appear to fail, to address conflicts of interest appropriately. In addition, the SEC and other federal and state regulators have increased their scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest. It is possible that potential or perceived conflicts could give rise to litigation or enforcement actions. Also, it is possible that the regulatory scrutiny of, and litigation in connection with, conflicts of interest will make our clients less willing to enter into transactions in which such a conflict may occur, which would adversely affect our businesses. Our operational systems and networks have been, and will continue to be, subject to evolving cybersecurity or other technological risks, which could result in the disclosure of confidential client or employee information, loss of our proprietary information, damage to our reputation, additional costs to us, regulatory penalties and other adverse impacts. The same is true for systems, networks and operations that franchise advisors control locally. Our business is reliant upon internal and third-party technology systems and networks to process, transmit and store information, including sensitive client and proprietary information, and to conduct many of our business activities and transactions with our clients, advisors, vendors and other third parties. Maintaining the security and integrity of this information and these systems and networks, and appropriately responding to any cybersecurity and privacy incidents (including attempts), is critical to the success of our business operations, including our reputation, the retention of our advisors and clients, and to the protection of our proprietary information and our clients’ personal information. To date, we have not experienced any material breaches of or interference with our centrally controlled systems and networks, however, we routinely face and address such threats. For example, in past years we and other financial institutions experienced distributed denial of service attacks intended to disrupt the centrally controlled systems that provide clients with access to online systems and information. While we have been able to detect and respond to these incidents to date without loss of client assets or information, we enhanced our corporate security capabilities and cybersecurity incident response manual and will continue to assess our ability to monitor for, detect, prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from such threats. In addition to the foregoing, our (and our advisors’) experiences with cybersecurity and technology threats have included phishing and spear phishing scams, social engineering attacks, account takeovers, introductions of malware, attempts at electronic break-ins, and the submission of fraudulent payment requests. The number of attempted phishing attacks increased substantially in 2019, and we do not expect a reduction in the future. Any successful breaches or interference (as well as attempted breaches or interference) by third parties or by insiders that may occur in the future could have a material adverse impact on our business, reputation, financial condition or results of operations. On a corporate basis, we are subject to international, federal and state regulations, and in some cases contractual obligations, that require us to establish and maintain corporate policies and procedures designed to protect sensitive client, employee, contractor and vendor information and respond to cybersecurity incidents. We have implemented policies that require our franchisee advisors who control locally their own technology operations to do the same. We have implemented and maintain security measures designed to protect against breaches of corporate security and other interference with our corporate systems and networks resulting from attacks by third parties, including hackers, and from employee, advisor or service provider error or malfeasance. We also contractually require third-party vendors who, in the provision of services to us, are provided with access to our systems and information pertaining to our business or our clients, to meet certain physical and information security standards. We recommend through policies that franchise advisors do the same with their facilities, systems and third-party vendors. Changes in our client base, the mix of assets under management or administration and business model or technology platform changes, such as an evolution to accommodate mobile computing, virtual interface and multi-device functionality, may also require corresponding changes in our systems, networks and data security and response measures. While accessing our products and services, our customers may use computers and other devices that sit outside of our security control. We provide tips for clients regarding safe online practices, but cannot be sure clients will adopt some or all such advice. In addition, the ever-increasing reliance on technology systems and networks and the occurrence and potential adverse impact of attacks on such systems and networks (including in recent well-publicized security breaches at other companies), both generally and in the financial services industry, have enhanced government and regulatory scrutiny of the measures taken by companies to protect against cybersecurity threats. As these threats, and government and regulatory oversight of associated risks, continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to enhance or expand upon the security and response measures we currently maintain or that we allow franchise advisors to maintain and control locally. Despite the measures we have taken and may in the future take to address and mitigate cybersecurity, privacy and technology risks, we cannot assure you that our systems and networks will not be subject to successful attacks, breaches or interference. Nor can we always assure you that franchise advisors will comply with our policies and procedures in this regard, or that clients will engage in safe online practices. Any such event may result in operational disruptions (including for example, various delays or mistakes in materials provided to our clients and shareholders in the Columbia Threadneedle Investments funds, as well as impacts to pricing, calculation and trading operations for the Columbia Threadneedle Investments funds and various operations for our other businesses), as well as unauthorized access to or the disclosure or loss of, our proprietary information or client or employee personal information, which in turn may result in legal claims, regulatory scrutiny and liability, reputational damage, the incurrence of costs to eliminate or mitigate further exposure, the loss of clients or advisors or other damage to our business. While we maintain cyber liability insurance that provides both third-party liability and first-party liability coverages, this insurance may not be sufficient to protect us against all cybersecurity-related losses. Furthermore, we may be subject to indemnification costs and liability to third parties if we breach any confidentiality obligations regarding vendor data or for losses related to the data. In addition, the trend toward broad consumer and general-public notification of such incidents could exacerbate the harm to our business, reputation, financial condition or results of operations. Even if we successfully protect our technology infrastructure and the confidentiality of sensitive data and conduct appropriate incident response, we may incur significant expenses in connection with our responses to any such attacks, as well as the adoption, implementation and maintenance of appropriate security measures. In addition, our regulators may seek to hold our company responsible for the acts or omissions of our franchise advisors even where they procure and control much of the physical office space and technology infrastructure they use to operate their businesses locally. We could also suffer harm to our business and reputation if attempted security breaches are publicized regardless of whether or not harm was actually done to any client or client information or employee or employee information. We cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities, attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in our systems or third-party systems we or our franchise advisors use, data thefts, physical system or network break-ins or inappropriate access, or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology or other security measures protecting the networks and systems used in connection with our business. Protection from system interruptions and operating errors is important to our business. If we experience a sustained interruption to our telecommunications or data processing systems, or other failure in operational execution, it could harm our business. Operating errors and system or network interruptions could delay and disrupt our ability to develop, deliver or maintain our products and services, or to operate compliance or risk management functions, causing harm to our business and reputation and resulting in loss of our advisors, clients or revenue. Interruptions could be caused by operational failures arising from service provider, employee or advisor error or malfeasance, interference by third parties, including hackers, our implementation of new technology, as well as from our maintenance of existing technology. Our financial, accounting, data processing or other operating systems and facilities may fail to operate or report data properly, experience connectivity disruptions or otherwise become disabled as a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, adversely affecting our ability to process transactions or provide products and services to our clients. These interruptions can include fires, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters, power losses, equipment failures, attacks by third parties, failures of internal or vendor personnel, software, equipment or systems and other events beyond our control. Although we have developed, regularly test and maintain a comprehensive business continuity plan and cybersecurity incident response manual that covers potential disruptions to centrally controlled systems and platforms and require our key technology vendors and service providers to do the same, there are inherent limitations in such plans and they might not, despite testing and monitoring, operate as designed in the event of an actual event or crisis. Further, we cannot control the execution of any business continuity or incident response plans implemented by our service providers or our franchise advisors. We rely on third-party service providers and vendors for certain communications, technology and business functions and other services, and we face the risk of operational failure (including, without limitation, failure caused by an inaccuracy, untimeliness or other deficiency in data reporting), technical or security failures, termination or capacity constraints of any of the clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses or other third-party service providers that we use to facilitate or are component providers to our securities transactions and other product manufacturing and distribution activities. For example, many of our applications run on a technology infrastructure managed on an outsourced basis by IBM since 2002. Under this arrangement, IBM is responsible for most mainframe, mid-range, computing network and storage operations, which includes a portion of our web hosting operations, and we are subject to the risks of any operational failure, termination or other restraints in this arrangement. These risks are heightened by our deployment in response to both investor interest and evolution in the financial markets of increasingly sophisticated products, such as those which incorporate automatic asset re-allocation, long/short trading strategies or multiple portfolios or funds, and business-driven hedging, compliance and other risk management or investment or financial management strategies. Any such failure, termination or constraint or flawed response could adversely impact our ability to effect transactions, service our clients, manage our exposure to risk, or otherwise achieve desired outcomes. Risk management policies and procedures may not be fully effective in identifying or mitigating risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk, including employee and financial advisor misconduct. We have devoted significant resources to develop our risk management policies and procedures and will continue to do so. Nonetheless, our policies and procedures to identify, monitor and manage risks may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk. Many of our methods of managing risk and the associated exposures are based upon our use of observed historical market behavior or statistics based on historical models. During periods of market volatility, or due to unforeseen events, the historically-derived correlations upon which these methods are based may not be valid. As a result, these methods may not predict future exposures accurately, which could be significantly greater than what our models indicate. Further some controls are manual and are subject to inherent limitations. This could cause us to incur investment losses or cause our hedging and other risk management strategies to be ineffective. Other risk management methods depend upon the evaluation of information regarding markets, clients, catastrophe occurrence or other matters that are publicly available or otherwise accessible to us, which may not always be accurate, complete, up-to-date or properly evaluated. Moreover, we are subject to the risks of errors and misconduct by our employees and advisors, such as fraud, non-compliance with policies, recommending transactions that are not suitable, and improperly using or disclosing confidential information. These risks are difficult to detect in advance and deter, and could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. We are further subject to the risk of nonperformance or inadequate performance of contractual obligations by third-party vendors of products and services that are used in our businesses. Management of operational, legal and regulatory risks requires, among other things, policies and procedures to record properly and verify a large number of transactions and events, and these policies and procedures may not be fully effective in mitigating our risk exposure in all market environments or against all types of risk. Insurance and other traditional risk-shifting tools may be held by or available to us in order to manage certain exposures, but they are subject to terms such as deductibles, coinsurance, limits and policy exclusions, as well as risk of counterparty denial of coverage, default or insolvency. As a holding company, we depend on the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer funds to us to pay dividends and to meet our obligations. We act as a holding company for our subsidiaries, through which substantially all of our operations are conducted. Dividends from our subsidiaries and permitted payments to us under our intercompany arrangements with our subsidiaries are our principal sources of cash to pay shareholder dividends and to meet our other financial obligations. These obligations include our operating expenses and interest and principal on our borrowings. If the cash we receive from our subsidiaries pursuant to dividend payment and intercompany arrangements is insufficient for us to fund any of these obligations, we may be required to raise cash through the incurrence of additional debt, the issuance of additional equity or the sale of assets. If any of this happens, it could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. Insurance, banking and securities laws and regulations regulate the ability of many of our subsidiaries (such as our insurance, banking and brokerage subsidiaries and our face-amount certificate company) to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. Further, the FRB’s 2019 proposal for a new capital framework for ISLHCs, termed the “Building Block Approach”, would create new capital requirements (even if there are any refinements to the proposal) which could potentially impact the way we structure our capital or manage our business. See Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K - “Regulation” as well as the information contained in Part II, Item 7 under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In addition to the various regulatory restrictions and local law requirements that constrain our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments to our company, the rating organizations impose various capital requirements on our company and our insurance company subsidiaries in order for us to maintain our ratings and the ratings of our insurance subsidiaries. The value of assets on the company-level balance sheets of our subsidiaries is a significant factor in determining these restrictions and capital requirements. As asset values decline, our and our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments can be reduced. Additionally, the various asset classes held by our subsidiaries, and used in determining required capital levels, are weighted differently or are restricted as to the proportion in which they may be held depending upon their liquidity, credit risk and other factors. Volatility in relative asset values among different asset classes can alter the proportion of our subsidiaries’ holdings in those classes, which could increase required capital and constrain our and our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. The regulatory capital requirements and dividend-paying ability of our subsidiaries may also be affected by a change in the mix of products sold by such subsidiaries. For example, fixed annuities typically require more capital than variable annuities, and an increase in the proportion of fixed annuities sold in relation to variable annuities could increase the regulatory capital requirements of our life insurance subsidiaries. This may reduce the dividends or other permitted payments which could be made from those subsidiaries in the near term without the rating organizations viewing this negatively. Further, the capital requirements imposed upon our subsidiaries may be impacted by heightened regulatory scrutiny and intervention, which could negatively affect our and our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make other permitted payments. Additionally, in the past we have found it necessary and advisable to provide support to certain of our subsidiaries in order to maintain adequate capital for regulatory or other purposes and we may provide such support in the future. The provision of such support could adversely affect our excess capital, liquidity, and the dividends or other permitted payments received from our subsidiaries. The operation of our business in foreign markets and our investments in non-U.S. denominated securities and investment products subjects us to exchange rate and other risks in connection with international operations and earnings and income generated overseas. While we are a U.S.-based company, a significant portion of our business operations occurs outside of the U.S. and some of our investments are not denominated in U.S. dollars. As a result, we are exposed to certain foreign currency exchange risks that could reduce U.S. dollar equivalent earnings as well as negatively impact our general account and other proprietary investment portfolios. Appreciation of the U.S. dollar could unfavorably affect net income from foreign operations, the value of non-U.S. dollar denominated investments and investments in foreign subsidiaries. In comparison, depreciation of the U.S. dollar could positively affect our net income from foreign operations and the value of non-U.S. dollar denominated investments, though such depreciation could also diminish investor, creditor and rating organizations’ perceptions of our company compared to peer companies that have a relatively greater proportion of foreign operations or investments. We may seek to mitigate these risks by employing various hedging strategies including entering into derivative contracts. Currency fluctuations, including the effect of changes in the value of U.S. dollar denominated investments that vary from the amounts ultimately needed to hedge our exposure to changes in the U.S. dollar equivalent of earnings and equity of these operations, may adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. In addition, conducting and increasing our international operations subjects us to new risks that, generally, we have not faced in the U.S., including: (i) unexpected changes in foreign regulatory requirements; (ii) difficulties in managing and staffing international operations; (iii) potentially adverse tax consequences, including the complexities of foreign value added tax systems and restrictions on the repatriation of earning; (iii) the localization of our solutions and related costs; (iv) the burdens of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws and different legal standards, including laws and regulations; (v) increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities; and (vi) local, regional and global political, social and economic instability abroad. The occurrence of any one of these risks could negatively affect our international business and, consequently, our results of operations generally. Additionally, operating in international markets also requires significant management attention and financial resources. We cannot be certain that the investment and additional resources required in establishing, acquiring or integrating operations in other countries, or adjusting to changes in local or regional political environments (such as may result from Brexit) will produce desired levels of revenues or profitability. As an example, the full impact of Brexit and its related consequences remain uncertain, including with respect to ongoing negotiations between the UK and EU and new trade agreements with global trading partners. During this period and beyond, the impact of any partial or complete dissolution of the EU on the UK and European economies and the broader global economy could be significant, resulting in negative impacts on currency and financial markets generally, such as increased volatility and illiquidity, and potentially lower economic growth in markets in the UK, Europe and globally, which may adversely affect the value of the Columbia Threadneedle Investments funds’ portfolio investments. The UK has one of the largest economies in Europe, and member countries of the EU are substantial trading partners of the UK. The UK financial service sector continues to face uncertainty over the UK’s final relationship with the EU and globally as a result of Brexit. For example, certain financial services operations may have to move outside of the UK following the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020 (e.g., currency trading, international settlement operations). Additionally, depending on the final terms agreed with the EU during this transition period, certain financial services businesses may be forced to move staff and comply with two separate sets of rules, or lose business to firms in Europe. Furthermore, final terms may create the potential for decreased trade, the possibility of capital outflows, devaluation of the pound sterling, the cost of higher corporate bond spreads, and the risk that all the above could negatively impact business and consumer spending as well as foreign direct investment. As a result of Brexit, the British economy and its currency may be negatively impacted by changes to the UK’s economic and political relations with the EU and other countries. Any further exits from the EU, or the possibility of such exits, would likely cause additional market disruption globally and introduce new legal and regulatory uncertainties. The impact of Brexit in the near- and long-term is still unknown and could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets, currencies and asset valuations around the world. The occurrence of natural or man-made disasters and catastrophes could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. The occurrence of natural disasters and catastrophes, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires, blackouts, severe winter weather, explosions, pandemic disease and man-made disasters, including acts of terrorism, insurrections and military actions, could adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. Such disasters and catastrophes may damage our facilities, preventing our employees and financial advisors from performing their roles or otherwise disturbing our ordinary business operations and by impacting insurance claims, as described below. These impacts could be particularly severe to the extent they affect our computer-based data processing, transmission, storage and retrieval systems and destroy or release valuable data. Such disasters and catastrophes may also impact us indirectly by changing the condition and behaviors of our customers, business counterparties and regulators, as well as by causing declines or volatility in the economic and financial markets. The potential effects of natural and man-made disasters and catastrophes on certain of our businesses include but are not limited to the following: (i) a catastrophic loss of life may materially increase the amount of or accelerate the timing in which benefits are paid under our insurance policies; (ii) an increase in claims and any resulting increase in claims reserves caused by a disaster may harm the financial condition of our reinsurers, thereby impacting the cost and availability of reinsurance and the probability of default on reinsurance recoveries; and (iii) declines and volatility in the financial markets may decrease the value of our assets under management and administration, which could harm our financial condition and reduce our management fees. We cannot predict the impact that changing climate conditions may have on the frequency and severity of natural disasters or on overall economic stability and sustainability. As such, we cannot be sure that our actions to identify and mitigate the risks associated with such disasters and catastrophes, including predictive modeling, establishing liabilities for expected claims, acquiring insurance and reinsurance and developing business continuity plans, will be effective. Legal, Regulatory and Tax Risks Legal and regulatory actions are inherent in our businesses and could result in financial losses or harm our businesses. We are, and in the future may be, subject to legal and regulatory actions in the ordinary course of our operations, both domestically and internationally. Actions brought against us may result in awards, settlements, penalties, injunctions or other adverse results, including reputational damage. In addition, we may incur significant expenses in connection with our defense against such actions regardless of their outcome. Various regulatory and governmental bodies have the authority to review our products and business practices and those of our employees and independent financial advisors and to bring regulatory or other legal actions against us if, in their view, our practices, or those of our employees or advisors, are improper. Pending legal and regulatory actions include proceedings relating to aspects of our businesses and operations that are specific to us and proceedings that are typical of the industries and businesses in which we operate. Some of these proceedings have been brought on behalf of various alleged classes of complainants. In certain of these matters, the plaintiffs are seeking large and/or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or exemplary damages. See Item 3 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K - “Legal Proceedings.” In or as a result of turbulent times, the volume of claims and amount of damages sought in litigation and regulatory proceedings generally increase. Our businesses are regulated heavily, and changes to the laws and regulations applicable to our businesses may have an adverse effect on our operations, reputation and financial condition. Virtually all aspects of our business, including the activities of our parent company and our various subsidiaries, are subject to various federal, state and international laws and regulations. For a discussion of the regulatory framework in which we operate, see “Business - Regulation.” included in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Compliance with these applicable laws and regulations is time-consuming and personnel-intensive, and we have invested and will continue to invest substantial resources to ensure compliance by our parent company and our subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, registered representatives and agents. Any enforcement actions, investigations or other proceedings brought against us or our subsidiaries, directors, employees or advisors by our regulators may result in fines, injunctions or other disciplinary actions that could harm our reputation or impact our results of operations. Further, any changes to the laws and regulations applicable to our businesses, as well as changes to the interpretation and enforcement of such laws and regulations, may affect our operations and financial condition. Such changes may impact our operations and profitability and the practices of our advisors, including with respect to the scope of products and services provided, the manner in which products and services are marketed and sold and the incurrence of additional costs of doing business. Ongoing changes to regulation and oversight of the financial industry may produce results, the full impact of which cannot be immediately ascertained. In addition, we expect the worldwide demographic trend of population aging will cause policymakers to continue to focus on the framework of U.S. and non-U.S. retirement systems, which may drive additional changes regarding the manner in which individuals plan for and fund their retirement, the extent of government involvement in retirement savings and funding, the regulation of retirement products and services and the oversight of industry participants. For example, we continue to see enhanced legislative and regulatory interest regarding retirement investing, financial advisors and investment professionals, and we will continue to closely review and monitor any legislative or regulatory proposals and changes. Any incremental requirements, costs and risks imposed on us in connection with such current or future legislative or regulatory changes may constrain our ability to market our products and services to potential customers, and could negatively impact our profitability and make it more difficult for us to pursue our growth strategy. Certain examples of legislative and regulatory changes that may impact our businesses are described below. Some of the changes could present operational challenges and increase costs. Ultimately these complexities and increased costs could have an impact on our ability to offer cost-effective and innovative insurance products to our clients. In June 2019 the SEC adopted a package of rulemakings and interpretations related to the provision of advice by broker-dealers and investment advisers, including Regulation Best Interest and the Client Relationship Summary (Form CRS), effective June 30, 2020. Among other things, Regulation Best Interest requires a broker-dealer to act in the best interest of a retail customer when making a recommendation to that customer of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities. The regulation entails heightened standards for broker-dealers, and we anticipate incurring additional costs in order to review and modify our policies and procedures, as well as associated supervisory and compliance controls and the provision of Form CRS to clients. Furthermore, New York, Massachusetts and several other states have either issued their own best interest or fiduciary rules or are considering doing so and those rules may be limited to certain types of products (e.g. insurance and annuities, financial planning, etc.) or may broadly cover all recommendations made by financial advisors. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has included on its regulatory agenda fiduciary rulemaking regarding investment advice to clients who hold assets in IRAs and certain employer-sponsored retirement plan accounts. The Certified Financial Planner Board has updated its professional standards of conduct to include a fiduciary standard that applies to financial advisors who hold a Certified Financial Planner designation. Currently, Ameriprise has approximately 4,100 financial advisors that hold a Certified Financial Planner designation. Considering the various fiduciary rules and regulations that have been proposed or finalized, we continue to exert significant efforts to evaluate and prepare to comply with each rule. Depending on the span and substance of any regulations and the timing of their applicability, the scope of any implementation could impact the way we compensate our advisors, particularly with respect to the sale of commission-based products, the access that representatives of affiliated and unaffiliated product manufacturers could have to our advisors and clients, and the manner and degree to which we and our advisors could have selling and marketing costs reimbursed by product manufacturers. We have incurred infrastructure costs in anticipation of compliance with these new regulations, and ongoing costs will be driven by how these regulations may evolve over the course of time. Depending on the final regulations, we could be subject to both increased litigation risk and the possibility of overlapping or competing requirements from other regulators. Our solutions may be different than some or all of our competitors which may lead us to having a competitive advantage or disadvantage as compared to our peers. How our advisors, prospective advisor recruits, distribution partners, competitors and the broader financial industry adapt to any final regulation, or how clients, prospective clients and regulators react to industry and business changes driven thereof, will evolve over the course of time. MiFID II came into effect in January 2018 and is the most significant regulatory change EU investment firms have recently faced. MiFID II strengthened the requirement for investment firms to act in the client’s best interest, in many areas including conflicts of interest (specifically, inducements and a prohibition on free research), strengthening of best execution requirements and increased costs and charges disclosure, in relation to all services provided to clients. In response to MiFID II, Columbia Threadneedle Investments has implemented wide ranging changes to systems, policies and operating procedures across its business. Implementation of our internal measures will have direct and indirect impacts on us and certain of our affiliates, including significant changes to client servicing models, distribution models, the fees we are able to charge to clients and the way that our affiliates execute investment decisions for client portfolios. MiFID II and similar regimes may result in existing flows of business moving to less profitable channels or even to competitors providing substitutable products outside the regime. The interpretation and implementation of the inducements rules has also resulted in major changes to how fund managers finance investment research with many firms opting to pay for third-party investment research for U.S. and non-U.S. client accounts regardless of whether such accounts were covered by MiFID II. There is no assurance we will continue to have access to the third-party broker-dealers, banks, investment advisers and other financial intermediaries that currently distribute our products, or continue to have the opportunity to offer all or some of our existing products through them. Any inability to access and successfully sell our products to clients through third-party distribution channels could have a negative effect on our level of AUM and overall business and financial condition. Effective May 2018, the EU’s GDPR strengthened data protection rules for individuals within the EU. GDPR also addresses export of personal data outside the EU. Compliance with the stringent rules under GDPR will require ongoing reviews of all of our global data processing systems, processes and procedures. A failure to comply with GDPR could result in fines up to 20 million Euros or 4% of annual global revenues, whichever is higher. Domestically, state-level laws and regulations continue to evolve creating a patchwork of rules to be examined and followed. Most recently, California passed its California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which became effective on January 1, 2020. Other states may follow suit and promulgate their own privacy legislation. After the conversion of Ameriprise National Trust Bank into a federal savings bank in May 2019, Ameriprise Financial became subject to ongoing supervision by the FRB, including supervision and prudential standards, requirements related to RBC, stress-testing, resolution planning, and certain risk management requirements. Further, as a financial holding company, our activities are limited to those that are financial in nature, incidental to a financial activity or, with FRB approval, complementary to a financial activity. In order to maintain Ameriprise’s status as a financial holding company, Ameriprise Bank, as Ameriprise’s sole insured depository institution subsidiary, is required to remain “well-capitalized” and “well-managed” under applicable regulations, and must have received at least a “satisfactory” rating in its most recent examination under the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”). In addition, Ameriprise needs to remain “well-capitalized” and “well-managed” in order to maintain its status as a financial holding company. As a financial holding company, we depend on dividends, distributions and other payments from our subsidiaries in order to meet our obligations, including our debt service obligations. Our subsidiaries are subject to laws and regulations that restrict dividend payments or authorize regulatory bodies to prevent or reduce the flow of funds from those subsidiaries to Ameriprise. Our broker-dealers and bank subsidiary are limited in their ability to lend or transact with affiliates and are subject to minimum regulatory capital and other requirements, as well as limitations on their ability to use funds deposited with them in brokerage or bank accounts to fund their businesses. These requirements may hinder our ability to access funds from our subsidiaries. We may also become subject to a prohibition or limitations on our ability to pay dividends or repurchase our common stock. The federal banking regulators, including the OCC, the FRB and the FDIC, as well as the SEC (through FINRA) have the authority and under certain circumstances, the obligation, to limit or prohibit dividend payments and stock repurchases by the banking organizations they supervise, including Ameriprise and its bank subsidiaries. Failure to meet one or more of these requirements would mean, depending on the requirements not met, that Ameriprise could not undertake new activities, continue certain activities, or make acquisitions other than those permitted generally for bank holding companies. Compliance with bank holding company laws and regulations could impact the structure and availability of certain of our products and services and our costs in providing those products and services. Costs of compliance may be driven by how these laws and regulations and the scale of Ameriprise Bank evolves over the course of time. Any mandated reductions or restructuring of the fees we charge for our products and services resulting from regulatory initiatives or proceedings could reduce our revenues and/or earnings. Fees paid by mutual funds in accordance with plans and agreements of distribution adopted under Rule 12b-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act and by other sources of managed products are commonly found as a means for product manufacturers and distribution platforms to address the costs of these products and investor education. The SEC has in the past and could again propose measures that would establish a new framework to materially alter Rule 12b-1. Certain industry-wide reduction or restructuring of Rule 12b-1 fees, or other servicing fees, could impact our ability to distribute our own mutual funds and/or the fees we receive for distributing other companies’ mutual funds to our commission-based brokerage customers, which could, in turn, impact our revenues and/or earnings. Our insurance companies are subject to state regulation and must comply with statutory reserve and capital requirements. State regulators, as well as the NAIC, continually review and update these requirements and other requirements relating to the business operations of insurance companies, including their underwriting and sales practices and their use of affiliated captive insurers. Changes in these requirements that are made for the benefit of the consumer sometimes lead to additional expense for the insurer and, thus, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In December 2012, the NAIC adopted a new reserve valuation manual that applies principles-based reserve standards to life insurance products. The valuation manual has been adopted by the required number of states and the percentage of U.S. insurance premium threshold has been reached, therefore, the valuation manual was effective for companies domiciled in adopted states on January 1, 2017. Minnesota adopted the valuation manual in 2016 and New York adopted the valuation manual in December 2018 to be effective January 2020. The RiverSource Life companies have developed an implementation plan and RiverSource Life reported principles-based reserves for a universal life product issued in 2019. The requirement for principles-based life insurance reserves may result in statutory reserves being more sensitive to changes in interest rates, policyholder behavior and other market factors. It is not possible at this time to estimate the potential impact of future changes in statutory reserve and capital requirements on our insurance businesses. Further, we cannot predict the effect that proposed federal legislation may have on our businesses or competitors, such as the option of federally chartered insurers, a mandated federal systemic risk regulator, future initiatives of the FIO within the Department of the Treasury or by any of the Domiciliary Regulators, the NAIC or the International Association of Insurance Supervisors with respect to insurance holding company supervision, capital standards or systemic risk regulation. For additional discussion on the role and activities of the FIO, see the information provided under the heading “Regulation - Insurance Regulation” included in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed earlier, the FRB’s 2019 proposal for a new capital framework for ISLHCs, would create new capital requirements (even if there are any refinements to the proposal) which could potentially impact the way we structure our capital or manage our business. Changes in the supervision and regulation of the financial industry, both domestically and internationally, could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted into law in 2010 called for sweeping changes in the supervision and regulation of the financial services industry designed to provide for greater oversight of financial industry participants, reduce risk in banking practices and in securities and derivatives trading, enhance public company corporate governance practices and executive compensation disclosures, and provide greater protections to individual consumers and investors. Accordingly, while certain elements of these reforms could be further changed under the Trump administration (such as through the May 2018 legislation that loosened aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act), the Dodd-Frank Act has impacted and is expected to further impact the manner in which we market our products and services, manage our company and its operations and interact with regulators, all of which could materially impact our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that may impact our business include but are not limited to the establishment of a fiduciary standard for broker-dealers, the resolution authority granted to the FDIC, changes in regulatory oversight and greater oversight over derivatives instruments and trading. After a conformance period, we will be required to comply with the Volcker Rule. The impact of this compliance, as well as recent changes to the Volcker rule, may be operationally difficult to implement and thus may negatively impact our business. Any changes to regulations or changes to the supervisory approach may also result in increased compliance costs to the extent we are required to modify our existing compliance policies, procedures and practices. We will need to respond to changes to the framework for the supervision of U.S. financial institutions, including the actions of the FSOC. To the extent the Dodd-Frank Act or other new regulation of the financial services industry impacts the operations, financial condition, liquidity and capital requirements of unaffiliated financial institutions with whom we transact business, those institutions may seek to pass on increased costs, reduce their capacity to transact, or otherwise present inefficiencies in their interactions with us. It is uncertain whether the Dodd-Frank Act, the rules and regulations developed thereunder, or any future legislation designed to stabilize the financial markets, the economy generally, or provide better protections to consumers, will have the intended effect. Any new domestic or international legislation or regulatory changes could require us to change certain business practices, impose additional costs, or otherwise adversely affect our business operations, regulatory reporting relationships, results of operations or financial condition. Consequences may include substantially higher compliance costs as well as material effects on fee rates, interest rates and foreign exchange rates, which could materially impact our investments, results of operations and liquidity in ways that we cannot predict. In addition, prolonged government support for, and intervention in the management of, private institutions could distort customary and expected commercial behavior on the part of those institutions, adversely impacting us. In recent years, other national and international authorities have also proposed measures intended to increase the intensity of regulation of financial institutions, requiring greater coordination among regulators and efforts to harmonize regulatory regimes. These measures have included enhanced RBC requirements, leverage limits, liquidity and transparency requirements, single counterparty exposure limits, governance requirements for risk management, stress-test requirements, debt-to-equity limits for certain companies, early remediation procedures, resolution and recovery planning and guidance for maintaining appropriate risk culture. Our international operations and our worldwide consolidated operations are subject to the jurisdiction of certain of these non-U.S. authorities and may be materially adversely affected by their actions and decisions. Potential measures taken by foreign and international authorities also include the nationalization or expropriation of assets, the imposition of limits on foreign ownership of local companies, changes in laws (including tax laws and regulations) and in their application or interpretation, imposition of large fines, political instability, dividend limitations, price controls, changes in applicable currency, currency exchange controls, or other restrictions that prevent us from transferring funds from these operations out of the countries in which they operate or converting local currencies we hold to U.S. dollars or other currencies. Any of these changes or actions may negatively affect our business. A further result of our non-U.S. operations is that we are subject to regulation by non-U.S. regulators and U.S. regulators such as the Department of Justice and the SEC with respect to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. We expect the scope and extent of regulation outside the U.S., as well as general regulatory oversight, to continue to increase. A portion of our advisor force are independent contractors. Legislative or regulatory action that redefines the criteria for determining whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor could materially impact our relationships with our advisors and our business, resulting in an adverse effect on our results of operations. Changes in corporate tax laws and regulations and changes in the interpretation of such laws and regulations, as well as adverse determinations regarding the application of such laws and regulations, could adversely affect our earnings and could make some of our products less attractive to clients. We are subject to the income tax laws of the U.S., its states and municipalities and those of the foreign jurisdictions in which we have significant business operations. These tax laws are complex and may be subject to different interpretations. We must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these inherently complex tax laws when determining the provision for income taxes and must also make estimates about when in the future certain items affect taxable income in the various tax jurisdictions. Disputes over interpretations of the tax laws may be settled with the taxing authority upon examination or audit. In addition, changes to the Internal Revenue Code, administrative rulings or court decisions could increase our provision for income taxes and reduce our earnings. Many of the products we issue or on which our businesses are based (including both insurance products and non-insurance products) receive favorable treatment under current U.S. federal income or estate tax law. Changes in U.S. federal income or estate tax law could reduce or eliminate the tax advantages of certain of our products and thus make such products less attractive to clients or cause a change in client demand and activity. 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 may have to litigate to enforce and protect our copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability, which represents a diversion of resources that may be significant in amount and may not prove successful. The loss of intellectual property protection or the inability to secure or enforce the protection of our intellectual property assets could 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 or constitute misappropriation of such other party’s intellectual property rights. Third parties may have, or may eventually be issued, patents or other protections that could be infringed by our products, methods, processes or services or could otherwise limit our ability to offer certain product features. Any party that holds such a patent could make a claim of infringement against us. We may also be subject to claims by third parties for breach of copyright, trademark, license usage rights, or misappropriation of trade secret rights. Any such claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant liability for damages. If we were found to have infringed or misappropriated a third-party patent or other intellectual property rights, we could incur substantial liability, and in some circumstances could be enjoined from providing certain products or services to our customers or utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, 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, results of operations and financial condition. Changes in and the adoption of accounting standards or inaccurate estimates or assumptions in applying accounting policies could have a material impact on our financial statements; changes in the regulation of independent registered public accounting firms are present with increasing frequency in connection with broader market reforms. Our accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. Some of these policies require use of estimates and assumptions that may affect the reported value of our assets or liabilities and results of operations and are critical because they require management to make difficult, subjective, and complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain. If those assumptions, estimates or judgments were incorrectly made, we could be required to correct and restate prior period financial statements. We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC and other regulators often change the financial accounting and reporting standards governing the preparation of our financial statements. In addition, the conduct of our independent registered public accounting firm is overseen by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). These and other regulators may make additional inquiries regarding, or change their application of, existing laws and regulations regarding our independent auditor, financial statements or other financial reports and the possibility of such additional inquiries or changes is increasing in frequency in connection with broader market reforms. These changes are difficult to predict, and could impose additional governance, internal control and disclosure demands. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in our restating prior period financial statements. It is possible that the changes could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Risks Relating to Our Common Stock The market price of our shares may fluctuate. The market price of our common stock may fluctuate widely, depending upon many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including: (i) changes in expectations concerning our future financial performance and the future performance of the financial services industry in general, including financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts; (ii) differences between our actual financial and operating results and those expected by investors and analysts; (iii) our strategic moves and those of our competitors, such as acquisitions, divestitures or restructurings; (iv) changes in the regulatory framework of the financial services industry and regulatory action; (v) changes in and the adoption of accounting standards and securities and insurance rating agency processes and standards applicable to our businesses and the financial services industry; and (vi) changes in general economic or market conditions. Stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and of Delaware law may prevent or delay an acquisition of our company, which could decrease the market value of our common stock. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making them unacceptably expensive to the raider and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others: (i) elimination of the right of our shareholders to act by written consent; (ii) rules regarding how shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings, either directly or through proxies; (iii) the right of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval; and (iv) limitations on the rights of shareholders to remove directors. Delaware law also imposes some restrictions on mergers and other business combinations between us and any holder of 15% or more of our outstanding common stock. We believe these provisions protect our shareholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors and by providing our board of directors time to assess any acquisition proposal. They are not intended to make our company immune from takeovers. However, these provisions apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareholders and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our board of directors determines is not in the best interests of our company and our shareholders. The issuance of additional shares of our common stock or other equity securities may result in a dilution of interest or adversely affect the price of our common stock. Our certificate of incorporation allows our directors to authorize the issuance of additional shares of our common stock, as well as other forms of equity or securities that may be converted into equity securities, without shareholder approval. We have in the past and may in the future issue additional equity or convertible securities in order to raise capital, in connection with acquisitions or for other purposes. Any such issuance may result in a significant dilution in the interests of our current shareholders and adversely impact the market price of our common stock. Item 1B.