Jackson Financial Inc. 10-K

Item 1A. Risk Factors Risk Factor Summary The following is a summary of the material risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained below. Risks Related to Conditions in the Global Capital Markets and the Economy , primarily include: • Equity market performance and its impact on asset and liability valuation, hedge program performance and fee revenue; • Volatility in interest rates or prolonged periods of low interest rates and their impact on hedge program performance and income derived from our investments; • Deterioration of the credit quality of, and defaults on, the securities and loans in our investment portfolio; and • Impacts from climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Risks Related to Financing and Liquidity , include: • Dependence on cash made available to us by our operating subsidiaries and our ability to access the capital markets; • A downgrade or a potential downgrade in our financial strength or credit ratings impacting our business and costs of financing; • Liquidity risks associated with sourcing a large concentration of our funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (“FHLBI”); and • Difficulty in selling certain investments, or to sell in significant amounts at acceptable prices, to generate cash to meet our needs. Risks Related to Legal, Tax and Regulatory Matters , include: • Changes in accounting standards; • Our businesses are heavily regulated and are impacted by changes in regulation; • A decrease in the risk-based capital (RBC) ratio (as a result of a reduction in statutory capital and surplus or increase in RBC requirements) of our insurance subsidiaries could result in increased scrutiny by insurance regulators and rating agencies; • Legal and regulatory investigations and actions; • Our investment advisory agreements with clients, and our selling and distribution agreements with various financial intermediaries and consultants, are subject to termination or non-renewal on short notice; • Changes in U.S. federal income or other tax laws or the interpretation of tax laws could affect sales of our products and profitability; • We may not be able to mitigate the reserve strain associated with Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX, potentially impacting our capital position; and • Changes to comply with new and potential laws or regulations that impose fiduciary or best interest standards in connection with the sale of our products impacting our costs and sales. Risks Related to the Products We Offer and Distribution , primarily include: • A failure to accurately describe the many features and options of our annuities or to administer the many features and options consistent with their descriptions; • Optional guaranteed benefits within certain of our annuities could decrease our earnings, decrease our capitalization, and could increase the volatility of our financial results, result in higher risk management costs and expose us to increased counterparty risk; and • The terms of our new registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) may not meet customer needs, and we may encounter delays and missed market opportunities if we need to revise those terms. 28 Risks Related to Models, Estimates, Assumptions and Valuations , primarily include: • Model design and performance errors; • Inability to adequately identify, monitor and manage risks; • Possible significant deviations from our assumptions regarding the proportion of our annuity contracts that will remain in force from one period to the next should persistency or mortality rates differ significantly from our pricing expectations; and • The subjective nature of some valuations and their impact on allowances and impairments taken on our investments and goodwill. Risks Related to Counterparty Performance and Reinsurance , primarily relating to: • Our use of financial derivative transactions to hedge, and reinsurance to mitigate, risks exposes us to counterparty credit risk. Risks Related to Our Information Technology and Other Operational Matters , primarily include: • Disruption in our operations, and those of our material outsourcing partners; • Our information technology systems could fail, or their security could be compromised; • Failure to protect the confidentiality of customer information or proprietary business information could adversely affect us and our reputation; and • Inability to recruit and maintain key employees and experienced and productive employees. Risks We Face as a New Public Company , primarily relating to: • Our management discovered a material weakness in our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, which resulted in a restatement of our previously issued annual financial statements; and • Our efforts to meet Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) standards and to enhance the sustainability of our businesses may not meet investors’ or regulators’ expectations. Risks Related to the Demerger and our Separation from Prudential plc , primarily include: • Prudential plc may retain a significant ownership stake in Jackson for an extended period of time; • Prudential plc and Athene Holding Ltd. will have influence over us as large shareholders and could pursue business interests or exercise their voting power as shareholders in ways that are detrimental to us or our other shareholders; and • Prudential and its affiliates provide a significant amount of PPM’s assets under management and, if they choose to terminate their investment advisory agreements, it could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. General Risk Factors , primarily include: • Natural and man-made disasters and catastrophes, diseases, epidemics, pandemics, malicious acts, terrorist acts, civil unrest, and climate change; • Anti-takeover provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws could discourage, delay, or prevent a change of control of our Company and could affect the trading price of our Class A common stock; • Applicable insurance laws could make it difficult to effect a change of control of our Company; and • Our Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the federal courts, as applicable, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or shareholders. 29 Risk Factors You should carefully consider the risk factors below, in addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K These risk factors are important to understanding the contents of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC . The risks described below are not the only ones we, face. The occurrence of any of the following risks or additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In any such case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline. In addition, many of these risks are interrelated and could occur under similar business and economic conditions, and the occurrence of certain of them could in turn cause the emergence or exacerbate the effect of others. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks and uncertainties described below. Risks Related to Conditions in the Global Capital Markets and the Economy General conditions in the global capital markets and the economy could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Volatility in global capital markets and the global economy could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, availability and cost of credit, geopolitical issues and trade disputes have contributed to increased volatility in worldwide capital and equity markets. These global factors also could impact business and consumer confidence and may lead to economic uncertainty, stay-at-home orders, and business shutdowns, thereby causing a slowdown in economic activity. An economic downturn could have an adverse effect on our business. Our customers may choose to defer paying premiums, stop paying premiums altogether, or simply allow policies to lapse. In addition, many state insurance departments, including the New York State Department of Financial Services, may require insurers to offer flexible premium payment plans, relax payment dates and waive late fees and penalties to avoid canceling or non-renewing policies. The cost of reinsurance to us for these policies could increase, and we could encounter decreased availability of such reinsurance. If customer lapse rates significantly exceed our expectations, they could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Conversely, if our policyholder lapse rates are significantly lower than our expectations, the increased cost of providing guaranteed living benefits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows Such events and conditions could also have an adverse effect on our sales of annuities, result in a decrease or halt in economic activity in large geographic areas, adversely affect our business within those geographic areas or the general economic climate, affect the availability and cost of reinsurance protections and could affect the availability and effectiveness of hedging instruments resulting in a material and adverse impact on our profitability. Equity market declines and volatility could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our variable annuity business is highly sensitive to equity market conditions. Sustained decline, weakness or stagnation in equity markets would result in depressed variable annuity policyholder account balances and lower revenues and earnings, that is, fees and risk charges that are proportional to policyholder account balances. Lower variable annuity account balances also impact the likelihood of claims arising from guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits on many of our variable annuity policies, which may reduce the profitability of the business depending on the effectiveness of our hedge program. Equity market declines and volatility could influence policyholder behavior, which could adversely impact the levels of full surrenders and/or partial withdrawals within annuity contracts or cause customers to reallocate a portion of their account balances to more conservative investment options (which generally have lower fees). These actions could negatively impact our profitability or increase the value of guaranteed benefit liabilities, particularly if customers were to remain in conservative investment options during an equity market increase. In addition, equity market volatility could lead to changes in estimates underlying our calculations of deferred acquisition costs (“DAC”) that, in turn, could accelerate our 30 DAC amortization, reduce our current earnings and result in changes to the fair value of our optional guarantee benefit liabilities, which could increase the volatility of our results of operations. We face equity risk from our asset portfolio, our derivative hedging program, and the products we sell. Market volatility could increase our need for additional hedging and increase the costs of the derivatives we use for hedging. Our hedging program may be unable to mitigate effectively the equity market volatility of our liabilities, which could lead to economic losses or increased volatility in earnings. For example, we are exposed to basis risk, which results from our inability to purchase or sell hedge assets whose performance perfectly matches the performance of the funds into which policyholders allocate their assets. While mutual funds made available to variable annuity policyholders are those with historical performance, and we believe that we would be sufficiently matched with hedge assets, we anticipate some variance between the two. This variance may be exacerbated during periods of high volatility and could result in a loss of capital and/or reduced earnings. In addition, we may sometimes choose, based on economic considerations and other factors, not to fully mitigate the equity market volatility of our portfolio. For example, in periods of high market volatility or adverse conditions, we may experience a reduction in the availability, or an increase in the cost, of the derivatives we use to hedge market risk, making it either impossible or impractical to mitigate effectively the equity market volatility of our liabilities. Volatility in interest rates or prolonged periods of low interest rates could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Changes in interest rates and credit spreads could result in fluctuations in the income derived from our investments and could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. A significant proportion of our business is based upon the difference between the returns we earn on our assets and the interest and other benefits payable to our customers. A significant portion of our assets are invested in fixed income securities and our results are therefore affected by fluctuations in prevailing interest rates and credit spreads. Fixed annuities, variable annuities with a fixed fund option, and institutional products expose us to the risk that changes in interest rates, which are not fully reflected in the interest rates credited to customers, will reduce spread and could reduce profitability of those businesses. Significant volatility in interest rates could have an adverse impact on highly structured or limited liquidity assets in our investment portfolio. Interest rate risk exposure for variable annuities increases when the present value of expected future benefit payments increases. The present value of expected future benefit payments increases due to factors including equity market underperformance, low interest rates, adverse policyholder behavior and increased longevity. As a result, lower interest rates increase the present value of our variable annuity exposure and generally lead to increased hedging needs and associated costs. We are exposed primarily to the following risks arising from fluctuations in interest rates: • the risk of mismatch between the expected duration of liabilities and investments; • the reinvestment risk associated with accelerated prepayments on mortgage-backed securities and other fixed income securities in decreasing interest rate environments and delayed prepayments in increasing interest rate environments; • risk associated with decreasing estimated fair values of the fixed income securities and mortgage loans that comprise a significant portion of our investment portfolio; • the risk of increases in statutory reserve and capital requirements due to decreases in interest rates or changes in prescribed interest rates; • the risk of increases in the costs of derivatives we use for hedging or increases in the volume of hedging we do as interest rates decrease; • the risk of loss related to customer withdrawals following a sharp and sustained increase in interest rates as customers seek higher perceived returns; • the risk of loss from reduced fee income, increased guaranteed benefit costs and accelerated DAC amortization arising from fluctuations in the variable annuity separate account values associated with fixed income investment options due to increased interest rates or credit spread widening; • the risk of volatility in our U.S. GAAP results of operations driven by interest rate related components of liabilities; and • the risk of reduced profitability on products where the interest rate credited to the policyholder increases faster than the corresponding yield of our investment portfolio. 31 Volatility in credit spreads could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Changes in credit spreads affect the underlying market price of our fixed income securities. If credit spreads widen significantly, we could be exposed to higher levels of other-than-temporary impairments. If credit spreads tighten significantly, it could result in reduced net investment income associated with new purchases of fixed maturity securities. Credit spreads also affect our variable annuity business. Widening credit spreads would reduce the value of bonds held within policyholder funds, decreasing the average account value of our annuity contracts, and negatively impacting the fee income we earn. Narrowing credit spreads would reduce the investment yields available on new asset purchases and the discount rates used in the principle-based statutory reserve calculation, potentially increasing statutory reserve requirements and, in turn, reducing statutory capital. Similarly, narrowing credit spreads would reduce the discount rates used in the GAAP embedded derivative reserves, potentially increasing GAAP reserve requirements. Although these effects on bond fund valuation, investment yields, and reserve discount rates run in offsetting directions for either credit spread widening or narrowing, it is possible for one of them to outweigh the other under certain market conditions. Any of these risks could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We are exposed to the risk of deterioration of the credit quality of, and defaults on, the securities and loans in our investment portfolio, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We are subject to the risk that the issuers of our fixed maturity securities and other debt securities and borrowers on our commercial mortgages will default on principal and interest payments or be unable or unwilling to pay us in a timely manner, if at all, due to bankruptcy, insolvency, lack of liquidity, adverse economic conditions, operational failure, fraud or other reasons. The occurrence of a major economic downturn, acts of corporate malfeasance, widening credit risk spreads or other events that adversely affect the issuers or guarantors of securities we own or the underlying collateral of structured securities we own could cause the estimated fair value of our fixed maturity securities portfolio to decline and cause the default rate of the fixed maturity securities in our investment portfolio to increase. Defaults by such issuers and borrowers in the payment or performance of their obligations could reduce our investment income and investment gains or result in investment losses. Further, the value of any fixed maturity security is subject to impairment based on the expectations for repayment of the cash flows agreed under the obligation. Issuers of the fixed maturity securities that we own could experience performance deterioration that trigger rating agency downgrades. Even if the issuers have not defaulted on principal and interest payments with respect to these securities, we could still be required by regulators and rating agencies to hold more capital in support of these investments. As a result, we could experience a higher cost of capital and potential constraints on our ability to grow our business and maintain our own ratings. See Note 4 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of the valuation of our securities investments. Moreover, certain concentrations within the portfolio, such as issuer and industry concentrations in corporate bonds or geographic and property type concentrations in mortgage loans, could have adverse effects on our investment portfolio and consequently on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Events or developments that have a negative effect on any industry or geographic region could have a greater adverse effect on our investment portfolio to the extent that the portfolio is concentrated. Moreover, our ability to sell certain assets could be limited if other market participants are seeking to sell similar or related assets at the same time. Deterioration in the credit quality of the fixed maturity securities, other debt securities, and mortgages in our investment portfolio, or an increase in the default rate of our mortgage loan investments caused by worsening economic conditions or otherwise, could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our investment management business’ revenues and results of operations depend on the market value and composition of our assets under management, which could fluctuate significantly based on various factors, including many factors outside of our control. PPM America, Inc. ("PPM") and Jackson National Asset Management, LLC ("JNAM"), our investment advisory subsidiaries, manage our general and separate account assets, respectively. PPM also provides investment management services to Prudential’s Asian affiliates. Most of our revenues are derived from management and administration fees, which typically are calculated as a percentage of the value of assets under management. The fees charged for these services vary with the type of service, the investment strategy and the amount of assets managed. The value and composition of our assets under management could be adversely affected by several factors, including: 32 • Market Factors. Market volatility and interest rates could adversely affect our assets under management and revenues. • Client Preferences. Certain clients may withdraw their assets at any time and on short notice. • Product Trends. Changing market dynamics, investment trends and material changes to variable annuity products may reduce interest in some of the investment products our investment advisory subsidiaries offer, or clients and prospects may continue to seek investment products that our investment advisory subsidiaries do not currently offer. • Investment Performance. Our inability to achieve investment returns for clients that meet or exceed investment returns for comparable asset classes and competing investment services could result in clients withdrawing assets and in prospective clients choosing to invest elsewhere. • Fee Changes. Our investment advisory subsidiaries may be required to reduce fee levels, restructure the fees they charge or adjust the services they offer to their clients to remain competitive. A decrease in the value of our assets under management or an adverse shift in the mix of those assets would adversely affect our investment management business’ revenues. A reduction in revenues could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The failure to understand and respond effectively to the risks associated with global climate change could adversely affect our achievement of our long-term strategy. Global climate change could pose a systemic risk to the financial system. Global climate change could increase the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters and pandemics. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming could impact global investment asset valuations. There is also a risk that some asset sectors could face significantly higher costs and an adjustment to asset values leading to an adverse impact on the value and future performance of investment assets as a result of global climate change and regulatory or other responses, including changing preferences of investment managers and investors and their evaluation of associated risk. Climate change could also impact other counterparties, including reinsurers and derivatives counterparties. A failure to identify and address these global climate issues could cause a material adverse effect on the achievement of our business objectives. The duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, development of variant strains of the virus, and actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the continued pandemic may adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We continue to closely monitor developments related to COVID-19. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows will depend on future developments, which remain uncertain, including the efficacy of vaccines and effective long-term treatments against variant strains of COVID-19. We also are unable to predict the duration and effectiveness of governmental and regulatory actions taken to contain the variant strains or the impact of future laws, regulations, or restrictions on our business. The risk management and contingency plans we have implemented may be inadequate to protect our business. Since fall of 2021, our employees have been working in an office-centric, hybrid approach, where weekly our employees combine in-office and remote work arrangements that can adjust according to fluctuations in contagion risk. Remote work arrangements continue to present operational risk, including cybersecurity risks. Our business operations could also be significantly disrupted if our critical workforce, key vendors, third-party suppliers, or counterparties with whom we transact are unable to work effectively because of illness, quarantines, and government actions in response to the variant strains of COVID-19. Any of these factors could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Risks Related to Financing and Liquidity We have incurred indebtedness that we will need to service and refinance, which will depend upon, among other things, cash made available to us by our operating subsidiaries and our ability to access the capital markets. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our existing indebtedness, as well as any future indebtedness that we may incur, will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future from our subsidiaries’ operations, our ability to access the 33 capital markets for financing or refinancing, or asset sales. Our ability to generate cash to meet our debt obligations in the future is sensitive to capital market returns and interest rates, primarily due to our variable annuity business. In addition, we may be able to incur substantially more indebtedness under the terms of our debt agreements. Any such incurrence of additional indebtedness would increase the risks created by our level of indebtedness. Overall, our ability to generate cash is subject to general economic, financial market, competitive, legislative, regulatory, client behavior and other factors that are beyond our control. We may not generate sufficient funds to service our debt and meet our business needs, such as funding working capital or the expansion of our operations. If we are not able to repay or refinance our debt as it becomes due, we could be forced to take unfavorable actions, including significant business and legal entity restructuring, limited new business investment, selling assets or dedicating an unsustainable level of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness. In the event we default, the lenders who hold our debt could also accelerate amounts due, which could potentially trigger a default or acceleration of the maturity of our other debt. Our failure to comply with negative covenants contained in our current or future credit facilities could trigger prepayment obligations, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our Revolving Facility and 2023 Delayed-Draw Term Loan ("DDTL") Facility require us to comply with certain covenants, including requirements that we maintain a minimum adjusted consolidated net worth and a maximum ratio of our indebtedness to adjusted consolidated net worth. Our failure to comply with these restrictive covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived within any applicable grace period, could result in the acceleration of amounts outstanding under the Revolving Facility and of the DDTL Facility. In addition, if we default on certain other outstanding indebtedness or any swap contract, we will also be in default under the Revolving Facility and on the DDTL Facility. Any such default, and any resulting acceleration of our outstanding indebtedness, would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our ability to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness or obtain additional financing depends on many factors outside our control. The 2023 DDTL Facility matures on February 22, 2023. The Revolving Facility matures on February 22, 2024, subject to customary terms and conditions for extensions. We may be unable to refinance our indebtedness, at maturity or otherwise, on terms acceptable to us or at all. Market disruptions, as well as our indebtedness levels, may increase our cost of borrowing or adversely affect our ability to refinance our obligations as they become due. If we are unable to refinance our indebtedness or access additional credit, or if short-term or long-term borrowing costs dramatically increase, our ability to meet our short-term and long-term obligations could be adversely affected, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. A downgrade or a potential downgrade in our financial strength or credit ratings could result in a loss of business and cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Financial strength ratings, which various rating agencies publish as measures of an insurance company’s ability to meet customer obligations, are important to maintaining public confidence in our products, the ability to distribute our products and our competitive position. Credit ratings are important to our ability to raise capital through the issuance of debt and to the cost of such financing. A ratings downgrade could occur for a variety of reasons specific to us or our performance, a more general reassessment of the risks and performance of the insurance industry or the broader financial services industry, or because of changes by rating agencies in their methodologies or rating criteria. In December 2021, S&P announced proposed changes to its rating methodologies. The proposed changes have not been finalized, so the impact, if any, these changes may have on our ratings is unknown. A negative outlook on our ratings or a downgrade in any of our ratings, the announcement of a potential downgrade, or customer concerns about the possibility of a downgrade, could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. These direct or indirect adverse effects could include impacts on: 34 • product sales; • relationships with our sales force and independent sales intermediaries; • the number or amount of policy surrenders and withdrawals by customers; • our ability to obtain new reinsurance or obtain it on reasonable pricing terms; • our ability to raise capital and its cost; • liquidity through increased collateral required by counterparties; • our ability to maintain existing derivative contracts or to purchase new derivatives contracts, on acceptable terms or at all; • our ability to compete for attractive acquisition opportunities; and • our cost of borrowing. Adverse capital and credit market conditions could significantly affect our liquidity, access to capital and cost of capital, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. During periods of market upheaval and economic uncertainty, capital and credit markets have exerted downward pressure on availability of liquidity and credit capacity for certain issuers. We need to access liquidity to pay operating expenses (including costs relating to our hedging program), policyholder benefits, interest expenses, dividends, or distributions on our common stock, and to capitalize our insurance subsidiaries. We require a significant amount of liquidity to support our hedging program, to satisfy variation margin requirements on futures positions or to cover the initial cost of equity and interest rate options. Volatile market environments have the potential to increase hedging related liquidity requirements, as the amount of cash we need to pay out in variation margin each day is directly related to the magnitude of equity market and interest rate movements. Additionally, as our over-the-counter bilateral hedging transactions become subject to initial margin requirements, we would need liquid assets of sufficient quality to satisfy those requirements. Without sufficient liquidity, we could be required to curtail or limit our operations and our hedging program, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The level of cash and securities we maintain combined with expected cash inflows from investments and operations, may be inadequate to meet our short-term and long-term customer benefits and expense payment obligations. If market or other conditions have an adverse impact on our capital and liquidity, we may have to seek additional financing, which may be unavailable due to adverse market conditions, restrictive regulatory considerations, overall lower availability of credit to the financial services industry, our credit ratings and credit capacity, or a negative perception in the lender community 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 or recession. Similarly, our access to funds could be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions against us. Internal sources of liquidity could prove to be insufficient and, in such case, we would not be able to successfully obtain additional financing on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to access capital markets to issue new debt, refinance existing debt or sell additional equity as needed, or if we are unable to obtain such financing on acceptable terms, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely impacted. Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in capital and credit markets could also limit our access to the capital required to operate our business. Such market conditions would limit our ability to replace maturing liabilities in a timely manner, 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 would be forced to delay raising capital, could miss payments on our debt or reduce or eliminate dividends paid on our common stock, issue shorter term securities than we prefer or bear an unattractive cost of capital which could decrease profitability and significantly reduce financial flexibility. Disruptions in markets also could limit our access to capital markets required to purchase derivatives, limiting our ability to hedge according to our hedging strategy. As a result, disruptions in the financial markets could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We are subject to liquidity risks associated with sourcing a large concentration of our funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (“FHLBI”). 35 We use institutional funding agreements originating from FHLBI, which from time to time serve as a significant source of our liquidity. See Note 11 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of those funding agreements and related collateral requirements . Additionally, we also use agreements with the FHLBI to meet near-term liquidity needs, augmenting our repurchase agreement capacity from other counterparties. If the FHLBI were to change its definition of eligible collateral, we could be required to post additional amounts of collateral in the form of cash or other assets. Or, if our creditworthiness falls below the FHLBI’s requirements or if legislative or other political actions cause changes to the FHLBI’s mandate or to the eligibility of life insurance companies to be members of the FHLBI system, we could be required to find other sources to replace this funding, which may prove difficult and increase our liquidity risk. Some of our investments are relatively illiquid and could be difficult to sell, or to sell in significant amounts at acceptable prices, to generate cash to meet our needs. We hold certain investments that are relatively illiquid, such as privately placed fixed maturity securities, mortgage loans, certain asset backed securities and alternative investments. In the past, even some of our high-quality investments experienced reduced liquidity during periods of market volatility or disruption. If we were required to liquidate these investments on short notice, we could have difficulty doing so and could be forced to sell them for less than we otherwise would have been able to realize, which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. As a holding company, Jackson depends on the ability of its subsidiaries to meet its obligations and liquidity needs, including dividend distributions and stock repurchases. Jackson is the holding company for all our operations and is a separate legal entity from its subsidiaries. Dividends and other distributions from Jackson’s subsidiaries, including payments on internal debt, are the principal sources of cash flow available to Jackson to pay principal and interest on its outstanding indebtedness, corporate operating expenses, shareholder dividends, and to repurchase stock and meet its other obligations. The inability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or provide other distributions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and cash flows, and restrict our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders or to make stock repurchases. The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends and make other distributions to Jackson will further depend on the impact to their financial strength ratings and their ability to meet applicable regulatory standards and receive regulatory approvals, which are based in part on the prior year’s statutory income, capital and surplus, and unassigned funds (surplus) and require our insurance subsidiaries to hold a specific amount of minimum reserves in order to meet future obligations on their outstanding policies. Unassigned funds (surplus) represents the undistributed and unappropriated amount of statutory surplus at any balance sheet date (comparable to U.S. GAAP retained earnings). These regulations specify that the minimum reserves must be sufficient to meet future obligations, after giving consideration to future required premiums to be received, and are based on, among other things, certain specified mortality tables, interest rates and methods of valuation, which are subject to change. To meet their claims-paying obligations, our insurance subsidiaries regularly monitor their reserves to ensure they hold sufficient amounts to cover actual or expected contract and claims payments. At times, we may determine that reserves in excess of the minimum are needed to ensure sufficient coverage. Changes in, or reinterpretations of, these regulatory standards could constrain the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or to advance or repay funds in sufficient amounts and at times necessary to meet our debt obligations and corporate expenses. Requiring our insurance subsidiaries to hold additional reserves has the potential to constrain their ability to pay dividends to Jackson. See “Business–Regulation–State Insurance Regulation” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Distributions from our Insurance Company Subsidiaries.” Risks Related to Legal, Tax and Regulatory Matters Changes in accounting standards could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the principles of which are revised from time to time. Accordingly, from time to time, we will be required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”). FASB has issued several accounting standards updates which have resulted in significant changes in U.S. GAAP, including how we account for our 36 financial instruments and how our financial statements are presented. Changes to U.S. GAAP could affect the way we account for and report significant areas of our business, impose special demands on us in the areas of governance, employee training, internal controls and disclosure and affect how we manage our business. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944), Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, which applies to all insurance entities that issue long-duration contracts and revises elements of the measurement models for traditional nonparticipating long-duration and limited payment insurance liabilities, and recognizes and modifies the amortization model for DAC for most long duration contracts. The new accounting standard also requires product features that have other-than-nominal credit risk, or market risk benefits, to be measured at fair value. In November 2020, ASU 2020-11 was issued which modified ASU 2018-12 to be effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2022. We are currently evaluating the impact that the adoption of this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements. At current market interest rate levels, ASU 2018-12 and ASU 2020-11 could ultimately result in a material decrease in our shareholders’ equity, which could cause a material adverse effect on our leverage ratios and other rating agency metrics and could consequently adversely impact our financial strength ratings and our ability to incur new indebtedness or refinance our existing indebtedness. In addition, ASU 2018-12 and ASU 2020-11 could also result in increased market sensitivity of our financial statements and results of operations. Our operating insurance companies are also subject to statutory accounting practices prescribed or permitted by their states of domicile. Any changes in the method of calculating reserves for our products under statutory accounting practices could result in increased reserve requirements, and any movements in economic inputs, such as interest rates, under this framework could impact the volatility of our statutory surplus and required capital. The NAIC prescribes Economic Scenario Generators developed by the American Academy of Actuaries (“Academy”) for use by the life insurance industry in calculations of life and annuity statutory reserves and statutory capital. Beginning in early 2017, the Academy notified the NAIC’s Life Actuarial (A) Task Force that it did not have the resources to maintain the Economic Scenario Generators, except in their current form, and that a suitable replacement should be found. As a result, in October 2020, the NAIC selected Conning, Inc. (“Conning”), a global software and professional services firm, to provide an Economic Scenario Generators software platform for use in calculations of life and annuity reserves and capital under the NAIC risk- based capital requirements. Conning is expected to provide the NAIC with updated real-world scenarios modeling interest rates, equities, and other economic factors, and provide full documentation and training materials for regulators and insurers. Based on currently available information, the potential impact of any revisions to the Economic Scenario Generators is unclear at present. If these potential changes to Economic Scenario Generators are significant, there could be a material impact on the level and volatility of our statutory surplus and required statutory capital. Our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in regulation could reduce our profitability and limit our growth. Our annuity products and our insurance company subsidiaries are subject to extensive and potentially conflicting state and federal tax, securities, insurance and employee benefit plan laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. These laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which could have an unknown or adverse impact on us. Moreover, these laws and regulations are administered and enforced by a number of different governmental and self-regulatory authorities, including state insurance regulators, state securities administrators, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and state attorneys general, each of which exercises a degree of interpretive latitude. We also are subject to the laws and regulations from state insurance regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, who regularly re-examine existing laws and regulations applicable to insurance companies and their products. In some cases, these laws and regulations are designed to protect or benefit the interests of a specific constituency rather than a range of constituencies. For example, state insurance laws and regulations are generally intended to protect or benefit purchasers or users of insurance products, not investors. In addition, federal and state securities laws and regulations apply to certain of our insurance products that are considered “securities” under such laws, including our variable annuity contracts. In many respects, these laws and regulations limit our ability to grow and improve the profitability of our business. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Statutory Capital.” Also, banking regulators across the globe have adopted rules that apply to certain qualified financial contracts, including many derivatives contracts, securities lending agreements and repurchase agreements with certain banking institutions and certain of their affiliates. These rules generally require the banking institutions and their applicable affiliates to include contractual provisions in their qualified financial contracts that limit or delay certain rights of their counterparties, including 37 counterparties’ default rights (such as the right to terminate the contracts or foreclose on collateral) and restrictions on assignments and transfers of credit enhancements (such as guarantees) arising in connection with the banking institution or an applicable affiliate becoming subject to a bankruptcy, insolvency, resolution or similar proceeding. Our qualified financial contracts are subject to these rules. As a result, we amended our existing qualified financial contracts with the relevant banking institutions and their affiliates by adhering to the various International Swaps and Derivatives Association Resolution Stay Protocols. If any of our counterparties became subject to a bankruptcy, insolvency, resolution, or similar proceeding, the application of these rules could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Statutory Capital.” We are monitoring any regulatory action that could potentially impact our business. At this time, we cannot predict what form those regulations could take or their potential impact. A decrease in the risk-based capital (RBC) ratio (as a result of a reduction in statutory capital and surplus or increase in RBC requirements) of our insurance subsidiaries could result in increased scrutiny by insurance regulators and rating agencies, which scrutiny could lead to corrective measures and ratings declines adversely affecting our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has established model regulations that provide minimum capitalization requirements for insurance companies based on risk-based capital (RBC) formulas. Each of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries is subject to RBC standards or other minimum statutory capital and surplus requirements imposed under the laws of its respective jurisdiction of domicile. A failure to meet these requirements could subject them to further examination or corrective action imposed by insurance regulators, including limitations on their ability to write additional business, increased regulatory supervision, or seizure or liquidation. Any corrective action imposed could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. A decline in RBC ratio, whether or not it results in a failure to meet applicable RBC requirements, could limit the ability of an insurance subsidiary to make dividends or distributions to us, could result in a loss of customers or new business, or could influence ratings agencies to downgrade financial strength ratings, each of which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In any particular year, total adjusted capital amounts and RBC ratios could change due to a variety of factors, including the amount of statutory earnings generated by the insurance subsidiary, the amount of additional capital that insurer must hold to support business growth, equity market and credit market conditions, the value and credit ratings of certain fixed income and equity securities in its investment portfolio, and the value of certain derivative instruments that do not receive hedge accounting, as well as changes to the RBC formulas and the interpretation of the NAIC’s instructions with respect to RBC calculation methodologies. In addition, rating agencies may implement changes to their own internal models, which differ from the RBC capital model, and that have the effect of increasing or decreasing the amount of capital our insurance subsidiaries should hold relative to the rating agencies’ expectations. Under stressed or stagnant capital market conditions and with the aging of existing insurance liabilities, without offsets from new business, the amount of additional statutory reserves that an insurance subsidiary is required to hold could materially increase. These factors would decrease the total adjusted capital available for use in calculating the subsidiary’s RBC ratio. To the extent that an insurance subsidiary’s RBC ratio is deemed to be insufficient, we may seek to take actions either to increase the capitalization of the insurer or to reduce the capitalization requirements. If we were unable to accomplish such actions, the rating agencies could view this as a reason for a ratings downgrade. Legal and regulatory investigations and actions are increasingly common in our industry and could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We face a significant risk of litigation and regulatory investigations and actions in the ordinary course of operating our business, including the risk of class action lawsuits, arbitration claims, government subpoenas, regulatory investigations and actions and other claims. Our operations could become subject to individual lawsuits, class action lawsuits and regulatory actions relating, among other things, to sales or underwriting practices; payment of contingent or other sales commissions; claims payments, refunds, practices and procedures; product design; disclosure; administration; additional premium charges for premiums paid on a periodic basis; interest crediting practices; denial or delay of benefits; charging excessive or impermissible fees; 38 alleged misconduct by our employees and agents; failure to properly supervise representatives with agents or other persons with whom we do business; and breaches of duties to customers. We are also subject to a variety of complaints and investigations concerning employment matters. Plaintiffs in class action and other lawsuits against us may seek very large or indeterminate amounts, including punitive or non-economic compensatory and treble damages, which amounts could remain unknown for substantial periods of time. In some jurisdictions, juries, judges, and arbitrators have substantial discretion in awarding punitive or non-economic compensatory damages, which creates the potential for unpredictable material adverse judgments or awards in any given lawsuit or arbitration. Arbitration awards also are subject to very limited appellate review. The insurance industry has been the focus of increased scrutiny and class action lawsuits related to cost of insurance (“COI”) charges. These lawsuits allege that insurers have improperly included factors when calculating COI charges not authorized by the contract and that insurers have improperly failed to reduce COI charges to reflect improved mortality experience. In certain COI class action lawsuits, companies have made significant settlement payments or been held liable with significant monetary judgments. We have been subject to COI class action lawsuits in the past, and there can be no assurance we will not face scrutiny and class action lawsuits related to COI in the future. The insurance industry also has been subject to a variety of other actions, including cases challenging adherence to policy terms and marketing of policies. In addition, the Financial Industry and Regulatory Authority and state regulators have increasingly scrutinized annuity sales, and the alleged unsuitability of these sales, to seniors. We are subject to various regulatory inquiries, such as information requests, subpoenas, market conduct exams and books and record examinations, from state and federal regulators and other authorities, which could result in fines, recommendations for corrective action or other regulatory actions. Federal and state regulators have focused on, and continue to devote substantial attention to, the mutual fund, variable annuity, and insurance product industries, including the broker-dealer system. As a result of publicity relating to widespread perceptions of industry abuses, it is possible that legislative and regulatory reforms may impact our business. Given the large or indeterminate amounts sometimes sought, and the inherent unpredictability of litigation, it is also possible that defense and settlement costs and the unfavorable resolution of one or more pending litigation matters could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Current or future litigation or actions, inquiries or investigations by governmental authorities or regulators, including with respect to the matters discussed in this risk factor, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Litigation and actions, inquiries and investigations by governmental authorities and regulators are inherently unpredictable, and a substantial legal liability or a significant regulatory action against us could be material. Moreover, even if we ultimately prevail in any litigation or any action or investigation by governmental authorities or regulators, we could suffer significant reputational harm, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Increased regulatory scrutiny and any resulting investigations or proceedings could result in new legal actions or precedents and industry-wide regulations or practices that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See Note 14 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information . Our investment management business is heavily regulated, and changes in regulation and in supervisory and enforcement policies could limit or delay our growth and cause a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows. Virtually all aspects of our investment management business are subject to federal and state laws, regulations and rules of securities regulators and exchanges, and laws and regulations in the foreign jurisdictions in which our subsidiaries conduct business. Violations could subject us to civil liability, criminal liability or sanction, including restriction or revocation of our professional licenses or registrations, restriction on the ability to collect fees for services provided, revocation of the licenses of our employees, censures, fines, or temporary suspension or permanent bar from conducting business. A regulatory proceeding, even if it does not result in a finding of wrongdoing or sanction, could require substantial expenditures of time, resources, and money, and could potentially damage our reputation. Any such liability or sanction could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Increasingly, our investment advisory subsidiaries must manage actual and potential conflicts of interest, including situations where their services to a particular client conflict, or are perceived to conflict, with the interests of another client. Failure to adequately address potential conflicts of interest could adversely affect our reputation and business prospects and 39 could give rise to litigation or regulatory enforcement actions. Our investment advisory subsidiaries have procedures and controls that are designed to identify and mitigate conflicts of interest, including those designed to prevent the improper sharing of information. However, appropriately managing conflicts of interest is complex. Our investment advisory subsidiaries’ reputation could be damaged and the willingness of clients to enter into transactions in which such a conflict may arise could be adversely affected if our investment advisory subsidiaries fail, or appear to fail, to deal appropriately with actual or perceived conflicts of interest. Our investment advisory agreements with clients, and our selling and distribution agreements with various financial intermediaries and consultants, are subject to termination or non-renewal on short notice . Our investment advisory subsidiaries’ written investment management agreements with their clients are terminable without penalty at any time or upon relatively short notice by either party. Moreover, our investment advisory subsidiaries’ investment management agreements with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-registered investment companies (each, a “RIC”), including the RICs affiliated with Jackson National Life that serve as the sole investment options for our variable annuities, may be terminated at any time, without payment of any penalty, by the RIC’s board of trustees or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the RIC on not more than 60 days’ notice. The investment management agreements pursuant to which our investment advisory subsidiaries manage RICs must be renewed and approved by the RICs’ boards of trustees (including a majority of the independent trustees) annually. A significant majority of the trustees are independent. Consequently, the board of trustees of each RIC may not approve the investment management agreement each year or may condition its approval on revised terms that are adverse to us. Also, as required by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), each investment advisory agreement with a RIC automatically terminates upon its assignment, although new investment advisory agreements may be approved by the RIC’s board of trustees and shareholders. The Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Advisers Act”), also requires approval or consent of investment advisory agreements by clients in the event of an assignment of the agreement. An “assignment” for purposes of both the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act includes a sale of a controlling block of the voting stock of the investment adviser or its parent company, or a change in control of the investment adviser. Consequently, clients may not approve an assignment of an investment advisory agreement, which event could have an adverse effect on our business. Changes in U.S. federal income or other tax laws or the interpretation of tax laws could affect sales of our products and profitability. The annuity products that we market generally provide the customer with certain federal income tax advantages. For example, federal income taxation on any increases in non-qualified annuity contract values (i.e., the “inside build-up”) is deferred until it is received by the customer. With other savings investments, such as certificates of deposit and taxable bonds, the increase in value is generally taxed each year as it is realized. Additionally, life insurance death benefits are generally exempt from income tax. From time to time, various tax law changes have been proposed that could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including the elimination of all or a portion of the income tax advantages described above for annuities and life insurance. If legislation were enacted to eliminate the tax deferral for annuities, such a change would have an adverse effect on our ability to sell our annuities. Moreover, if the treatment of annuities was changed prospectively, and the tax-favored status of existing contracts was grandfathered, holders of existing contracts would be less likely to surrender or rollover their contracts, which could also adversely affect our business. An increase in the U.S. corporate income tax rate and a minimum corporate tax based on book income could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We may not be able to mitigate the reserve strain associated with Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX, potentially resulting in a negative impact on our capital position. The model regulation of the NAIC entitled “Valuation of Life Insurance Policies,” commonly known as “Regulation XXX,” and supporting Guideline entitled “The Application of the Valuation of Life Insurance Policies,” commonly known as “Guideline AXXX,” require insurers to establish statutory reserves for certain term life insurance policies with long-term 40 premium guarantees and for certain universal life policies with secondary guarantees that are consistent with the statutory reserves required for other individual life insurance policies with similar guarantees. During 2014, the NAIC approved a new regulatory framework under Actuarial Guideline 48 ("AG 48"), applicable to the use of captive insurers in connection with Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX transactions. In December 2016, the NAIC adopted an update to AG 48 (“Updated AG 48”) and a model regulation (Term and Universal Life Insurance Reserve Financing Model Regulation) that contains the same substantive requirements as the Updated AG 48. The model regulation will replace AG 48 in a state upon the state’s adoption of the model regulation. Neither Michigan nor New York has adopted the model regulation to date, and Updated AG 48 will continue to apply to us until the model regulation is adopted. As a result of these regulatory changes, it will likely be difficult for us to establish new captive financing arrangements on a basis consistent with past practices. As a result of these restrictions on financing redundant reserves, the implementation of new captive structures in the future could be less capital-efficient, could lead to lower product returns or increased product pricing or could result in reduced sales of certain products. As of year-end 2016, we completed a captive statutory reserve financing transaction covering substantially all our existing Regulation XXX term life insurance business in conformity with Updated AG 48. As a result of such transaction, we were able to release approximately $300 million in Regulation XXX reserves. While we no longer write term life insurance business subject to Regulation XXX at this time, we may acquire Regulation XXX and Guideline AXXX business in the future. In this connection, we may not be successful in implementing reinsurance, capital management or captive structures to mitigate any excessive levels of reserves, as a result of market conditions or otherwise, if the negative impact on our capital position was to reach a level where we desired to take such actions. It is unclear what additional actions and regulatory changes will result from the continued scrutiny of captive reinsurers and reform efforts by the NAIC and other regulatory bodies. The NAIC is evaluating changes to accounting rules regarding surplus notes with linked assets, a structure used in certain captive reserve financing transactions, and we are monitoring for any changes that could impact our statutory financial statements. If state insurance regulators determine to restrict our use of captive reinsurers, it could require us to increase statutory reserves, incur higher operating or tax costs or reduce sales. If we are unsuccessful or unable to finance these non-economic reserves, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. We are subject to U.S. federal, state and other securities and state insurance laws and regulations which, among other things, require that we distribute certain of our products through a registered broker-dealer; failure to comply with those laws, including a failure to have a registered broker-dealer, or changes in those laws could have a material adverse effect on our operations and our profitability. Federal and state securities laws and regulations apply to insurance products that are also “securities” (including variable annuity contracts), to the separate accounts that issue them, and to certain fixed interest rate or index-linked contracts. Such laws and regulations require that we distribute these products through a broker-dealer that is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and certain state securities regulators and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Accordingly, our offering and selling of annuities, and in managing certain proprietary mutual funds associated with those products, are subject to extensive regulation under federal and state securities laws as well as the FINRA rules. Costs related to compliance with these securities laws will be greater than costs for our unregistered products. Due to the increased operating and compliance costs, the profitability of issuing these products is uncertain. Moreover, changes in these laws and regulations could affect the way we conduct our business and the products we sell and could adversely impact our operations and profitability, including increasing the regulatory and compliance burden upon us, resulting in increased costs. Changes to comply with new and potential laws or regulations which impose fiduciary or best interest standards in connection with the sale of our products could materially increase our costs, decrease our sales and result in a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Regulators continue to propose and adopt fiduciary rules, best interest standards and other similar laws and regulations applicable to the sale of annuities. These rules, standards, laws, and regulations generally require advisers providing investment recommendations to act in the client’s best interest or put the client’s interest ahead of their own interest. We face uncertainty regarding the adoption of these rules and regulations and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, and state insurance departments could adopt potentially conflicting or overlapping standards. 41 Changes in these standards, rules and laws could lead to changes to our compensation practices and product offerings and increase our litigation risk, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. See “Business—Regulation—Federal Initiatives.” Risks Related to the Products We Offer and Distribution Our failure to accurately describe the many features and options of our annuities or to administer the many features and options consistent with their descriptions could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our annuities contain many options and features, and we rely on third-party distributors to describe and explain our products to investors and our customers. There is a risk that we and/or our distributors fail to describe every feature and option in contracts, forms, regulatory filings, marketing literature, and other written descriptions. Any such failure, or any other intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of our products in advertising materials or other external communications, or inappropriate activities by our personnel or third-party distributors, could adversely affect our reputation and business, as well as lead to potential regulatory actions or litigation. Additionally, U.S. federal income tax law imposes requirements relating to annuity and insurance product design, administration and investments that are conditions for beneficial tax treatment of such products under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). State and federal securities and insurance laws also impose requirements relating to annuity and insurance product design, offering and distribution, and administration. Failure to administer product features in accordance with applicable law, or to meet any of these complex tax, securities or insurance requirements could subject us to administrative penalties imposed by a particular governmental or self-regulatory authority, unanticipated costs associated with remedying such failure or other claims, litigation, harm to our reputation or interruption of our operations. If this were to occur, it could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Optional guaranteed benefits within certain of our annuities could decrease our earnings, decrease our capitalization, increase the volatility of our financial results, result in higher risk management costs and expose us to increased counterparty risk. Certain of the annuities we offer, certain in-force annuities we offered historically, and certain annuity risks we assumed historically through reinsurance, include optional guaranteed benefits. Optional guaranteed benefits are designed to offer protection to customers against changes in equity markets and interest rates. The value of these optional guaranteed benefits is affected by market factors, including interest rates, equity values, bond spreads and realized volatility, and customer behavior. Changes in markets could result in the requirement to hold additional reserves with respect to these products, which could negatively impact our liquidity or require us to raise additional capital. An increase in these liabilities would result in a decrease in our net income and depending on the magnitude of any such increase, could cause a material adverse effect on our financial condition, including our capitalization, as well as the financial strength and credit ratings which are necessary to support our product sales. Additionally, we make assumptions regarding customer behavior at the time of pricing and in selecting and using the optional guaranteed benefits within our products. An increase in the valuation of the liability related to these optional guaranteed benefits could result to the extent emerging and actual experience deviates from these customer option use assumptions. Annually, or as circumstances warrant, we conduct a comprehensive review of our actuarial assumptions, including those assumptions relating to customer behavior, and update assumptions when appropriate. If we update our assumptions based on our actuarial assumption review in future years, we could be required to increase the liabilities we record for future policy benefits and claims to a level that causes a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows which, in certain circumstances, could impair our solvency. In addition, we have in the past updated our assumptions on customer behavior, which has negatively impacted our net income, and we could be required to implement further updates in the future. Our use of derivatives may not effectively address the costs of optional guaranteed benefits with the result that such benefits would adversely affect our results and financial position. Our use of derivative instruments may not effectively offset the costs of optional guaranteed benefits offered within certain of our annuity products or may otherwise be insufficient in relation to our other obligations. Periods of significant and 42 sustained downturns in securities markets, increased equity volatility, reduced interest rates, or deviations in expected customer behavior could increase the cost of executing hedges beyond what was anticipated in the pricing of the products being hedged and could produce economic losses not addressed by the risk management techniques employed. The way we hedge optional guaranteed benefits of our annuities could cause significant variability in our U.S. GAAP accounting results and could have adverse impacts on the level of statutory capital and the RBC ratios of our insurance subsidiaries. These factors, individually or collectively, could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The terms of our new registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) may not meet customer needs, and we may encounter delays and missed market opportunities if we need to revise those terms, which could negatively affect our revenues, costs and results of operations. Our registered index-linked annuity (RILA) intends to provide a product that meets the growing demand for RILA products. Creation of the product required the preparation, filing and effectiveness of a registration statement with the SEC. Changes to that product offering may require an amendment to that registration statement, or a new registration statement, which would entail analysis of the needed changes and their effects, a new product description and review by the SEC. Those steps could interrupt and delay the marketing of our product, which could decrease revenues, increase costs, and negatively impact our results of operations. Competition could adversely affect our market share and financial results, which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In some of our markets, we face competitors that are larger, have greater financial resources or greater market share, have better brand recognition, offer a broader range of products, or have higher crediting rates. Our competitors include major stock and mutual insurance companies, mutual fund organizations, banks, and other financial services companies. In recent years, substantial consolidation and convergence among companies in the insurance and financial services industries resulted in increased competition from large, well-capitalized insurance and financial services firms that market products and services similar to ours. These competitors compete with us for customers, distribution partners (such as brokers and independent agents), and employees. Increased consolidation among banks and other financial services companies could create firms with even stronger competitive positions, negatively impact the insurance industry’s sales, increase competition for access to third-party distributors, result in greater distribution expenses and impair our ability to market our annuities to our current customer base or expand our customer base. We depend on our network of financial advisors in the independent broker-dealer channel for a significant portion of the sales of our annuities. The market for these financial advisors is highly competitive. If our competitors offer annuities that are more attractive than ours, pay higher commission rates to financial advisors than we do or offer a better service experience than we do, these financial advisors may concentrate their efforts in selling our competitors’ products instead of ours. Some of our competitors may spread their operating costs over a larger in-force block and may absorb greater risk while maintaining their financial strength and credit ratings, thereby allowing them to price their products more competitively. Additionally, we are faced with competition from other products, including non-insurance products such as mutual funds, certificates of deposit and newly developed investment products. These competitive pressures could result in increased pricing pressures on our products and services and could harm our ability to maintain or increase our profitability. In addition, if our financial strength and credit ratings are lower than our competitors, we could experience increased surrenders or a significant decline in sales. The competitive landscape in which we operate could be further affected by government sponsored programs or regulatory changes in the United States and similar governmental actions outside of the United States. Competitors that receive governmental financing, guarantees or other assistance, or that are not subject to the same regulatory constraints could have or obtain pricing or other competitive advantages. We also face competition from new entrants into our markets or non-traditional or online competitors, many of whom are leveraging digital technology that could challenge the position of traditional financial service companies, including us, by providing new services or creating new distribution channels. We believe competition will intensify across all regions in response to consumer demand, digital and other technological advances, the need for economies of scale and the 43 consequential impact of consolidation, regulatory actions, and other factors. Our ability to generate appropriate returns will depend significantly on our capacity to anticipate and respond appropriately to these competitive pressures. We may not continue to compete effectively, and competitive activity could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We could experience difficulty in marketing and distributing products. We distribute our products through a variety of third-party distribution partners. Our agreements with third-party distributors are subject to termination by either party with or without cause. We periodically renegotiate the terms of these agreements, and such terms may not remain attractive or acceptable to us or such third parties. Our distributors could elect to suspend, alter, reduce or terminate their distribution relationships with us for various reasons, including changes in our distribution strategy, decisions to discontinue a product, failure to create new products, adverse developments in our business or products with features that do not meet minimum thresholds set by the distributor, or developments in laws or regulations that affect our products. If certain key distributors were to terminate their relationship with us or reduce the amount of sales that they produce for us, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. Our key distribution partners could merge, consolidate, or change their business models in ways that affect how our products are sold or terminate their distribution contracts with us. New distribution channels could emerge and adversely impact the effectiveness of our distribution efforts. An increase in bank, wire house and broker-dealer consolidation activity could increase competition for access to distributors, result in greater distribution expenses and impair our ability to market products through these channels. Consolidation of distributors or other industry changes could also increase the likelihood that distributors will try to renegotiate the terms of any existing selling agreements to terms less favorable to us. Also, if we are unsuccessful in attracting and retaining key distribution associates, including wholesalers, our sales could decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Risks Related to Models, Estimates, Assumptions and Valuations We rely on complex models to predict behavior, to identify potential risks and to estimate financial performance, which models may be ineffective due to incomplete or inaccurate assumptions or errors in data analysis or interpretation, which could result in materially inaccurate risk assessments and output. We use complex models to predict customer behavior, to identify potential risks and to estimate financial performance, including market trends. Those models assist us in establishing reserves and derivative positions in respect of liabilities arising from our insurance policies and annuity contracts and to perform a range of operational functions, including the calculation of regulatory or internal capital requirements and determining hedging requirements. Some of these tools form an integral part of our information and decision-making framework. No model is perfect, and each is highly dependent upon the assumptions used, which, in turn, are dependent upon the empirical and subjective analysis and evaluation of data with respect to customer behavior under different conditions, mortality, policy lapse or surrender, market trends, performance and volatility, and intervening factors, such as large scale disasters and pandemics. There is a significant risk that the underlying data may be incomplete, may contain errors due to the large volume of information collected and processed or the limitations of the tools used in that processing, or be insufficiently predictive of future trends given it historical nature. Further, judgments applied in interpreting that data may be incorrect due to the significant subjective and complex judgments, estimates and assumptions that are involved. The failure of the model to predict trends or outcomes could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our risk management policies and procedures may not be adequate to anticipate, identify, monitor, and manage developing risks, which could leave us exposed to those risks, thus negatively affecting our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Many of our methods of managing risk and exposures are based upon our use of historical market and customer behavior or statistics based on historical models. As a result, these methods will not predict infrequent or unexpected future exposures, which could be significantly greater than the historical data indicate, such as the risk of terrorism or pandemics causing a large number of deaths or disruption to the financial markets or economy. Our hedging and reinsurance strategies also rely 44 on assumptions and projections regarding our assets, liabilities, general market factors and the creditworthiness of our counterparties that could prove to be incorrect or prove to be inadequate. Other risk management methods depend upon the evaluation of information regarding markets, clients, catastrophe occurrence or other matters that is publicly available or otherwise accessible to us, which may not always be accurate, complete, up-to-date, or properly evaluated. Accordingly, our risk management policies and procedures may not adequately mitigate the risks to our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our analyses of scenarios and sensitivities that we utilize in connection with our variable annuity risk management strategies involve significant estimates based on assumptions and could therefore result in material differences from actual outcomes compared to the sensitivities calculated under such scenarios. As part of our variable annuity exposure risk management program, we may, from time to time, estimate the impact of various market factors under certain scenarios on our variable annuity distributable earnings or our reserves (collectively, the “market sensitivities”), which are used to guide our assessment of investment and hedging strategies and capital reserves. Any such market sensitivities may use inputs which are difficult to approximate and could include estimates that differ materially from actual results. Any such estimates, or the absence thereof, could be associated with, among other things: (i) basis returns related to equity or fixed income indices,(ii) actuarial assumptions related to customer behavior and life expectancy and (iii) management actions, including changes in investment and hedging activities, that may occur in response to developing facts, circumstances and experience for which no estimates are made in any market sensitivities. Any such estimates, or the absence thereof, could produce sensitivities that could differ materially from actual outcomes and therefore affect our actions in connection with our exposure risk management program. Our liquidity, statutory capitalization, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by a broad range of capital market scenarios, which could materially affect our reserving requirements and, by extension, could materially affect the accuracy of estimates used in any market sensitivities. If our reserves for future policy benefits and claims are not sufficient, we would be required to increase our reserve liabilities. We calculate and maintain reserves for estimated future benefit payments to our customers. We release these reserves as those future obligations are extinguished. The reserves we establish necessarily reflect estimates and actuarial assumptions about our expected future experience. These estimates and actuarial assumptions include estimates and assumptions related to future mortality, longevity, interest rates, future equity performance, reinvestment rates, persistency, claims experience and customer elections (i.e., the exercise or non-exercise of rights by customers under the contracts). Examples of customer elections include lapses and surrenders, withdrawals and amounts of withdrawals, and contributions and the allocation thereof. The assumptions and estimates used in connection with the reserve estimation process are inherently uncertain and involve the exercise of significant judgment. Annually, or as circumstances warrant, we conduct a comprehensive review of the assumptions used in connection with the reserve estimation process. Based on this review, reserves may be adjusted with a corresponding benefit or charge to net income. Our future financial results depend upon the extent to which our actual future experience is consistent with the assumptions we have used in pricing our products and determining our reserves. Many factors affect future experience, including economic, political, and social conditions, inflation, healthcare costs and changes in doctrines of legal liability and damage awards in litigation. The ultimate amounts we will pay for actual future benefits and the timing of those payments is uncertain. We could face unanticipated losses if there are significant deviations from our assumptions regarding the persistency of our annuity contracts or if mortality rates differ significantly from our pricing expectations. Our future profitability is based in part upon expected patterns of premiums, expenses and benefits using a number of assumptions, including those related to the probability that a policy or contract will remain in force from one period to the next, or persistency or mortality. It is not possible to precisely predict persistency or mortality, and actual results could differ significantly from assumptions. The effect of persistency on profitability varies for different products. For certain products, actual persistency that is lower than assumptions could have an adverse impact on future profitability. In addition, we could also be forced to sell investments at a loss to fund withdrawals. For some life insurance and variable annuities, actual persistency in later policy durations that is higher than assumed persistency could also have a negative impact on profitability. If these policies remain in force longer than assumed, we could be required to make greater benefit payments than we had anticipated when we priced these products. In addition, we set prices and initial crediting rates for our annuities based upon expected claims and payment patterns, using assumptions for, among other factors, the persistency and 45 mortality rates of our customers. Significant deviations in experience from assumptions regarding persistency and mortality rates could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The subjective determination of the amount of allowances and impairments taken on our investments could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The manner of determining the amount of allowances and impairments varies by investment type and is based upon our evaluation and assessment of known and inherent risks associated with the respective asset class. Management updates its evaluations regularly and reflects changes in allowances and impairments in operations as such evaluations are revised. Management’s judgments, as reflected in our financial statements, may not be an accurate estimate of the actual and eventual diminution in realized value. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments or allowances. Furthermore, we may need to take additional impairments or provide for additional allowances in the future, which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See Note 4 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information . The returns that we expect to achieve on our investment portfolio may not be realized. We make certain assumptions regarding our future financial performance which are embedded within our pricing process and other models upon which our financial reporting is based, including reserve and DAC related models. Included within these assumptions are estimates regarding the level of returns to be achieved on our investment portfolio. These returns are subject to market and other factors and may not ultimately be achieved. Actual results may differ, perhaps significantly, from our current expectations. To the extent that such differences occur, our future financial performance may be materially and adversely different than that communicated in this Form 10-K and elsewhere. Risks Related to Counterparty Performance and Reinsurance Our use of financial derivative transactions to hedge risks associated with our operations exposes us to counterparty credit risk that could adversely affect us. We use derivatives primarily as part of our financial risk management strategy, principally to manage the inherent equity market and interest rate risk associated with the optional guaranteed benefits embedded in those products. Derivative contracts, primarily composed of futures and options on equity indices and interest rates, are an essential part of our program and are selected to provide a measure of economic protection. These transactions are designed to manage the risk of a change in the value, yield, price, cash flows or degree of exposure with respect to assets, liabilities, or future cash flows that we have acquired or incurred. For information regarding notional amounts on our derivative instruments, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Investments—Derivative Instruments.” We manage the potential credit exposure for derivative contracts through evaluation of the credit worthiness of counterparties, the use of ISDA and collateral agreements, and master netting agreements. If our counterparties fail or refuse to honor their obligations under the derivative contracts, we may not be able to realize the full market value of the derivatives if that value exceeds the amount of collateral held at the time of failure. Any such failure or refusal could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our transactions with financial and other institutions generally specify the circumstances under which either party is required to pledge collateral related to any change in the market value of the derivatives contracts. The amount of collateral, or variation margin, we are required to post under these agreements could increase under certain circumstances, which could adversely affect our liquidity. We invest on a short-term basis the cash collateral pledged to us by our derivative counterparties in unsecured money market and prime funds, which exposes us to the credit risk of the financial institutions where we invest funds received as collateral. Additionally, the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) and other regulations could increase the need for liquidity and for the amount of collateral assets in excess of current levels, further exacerbating these risks. In a period of market or credit stress, derivative counterparties may take a more conservative view of their acceptable credit exposure to us, resulting in reduced capacity to execute derivative-based hedges when we need it most. Similarly, a downgrade in our credit ratings could cause counterparties to limit or reduce their exposure to us and thus reduce our ability to manage our market risk exposures effectively during times of market stress. 46 Our use of reinsurance to mitigate a portion of the risks that we face exposes us to counterparty credit risk that could adversely affect us. We use reinsurance to mitigate a portion of the risks that we face, principally in certain of our in-force annuity and life insurance products with regard to longevity and mortality risks, in certain of our annuities with regard to the GMIB features, and the in-force fixed annuities and fixed index annuities ceded to Athene. Under our reinsurance arrangements, other insurers assume a portion of the obligation to pay claims and related expenses to which we are subject. We remain liable as the direct insurer on all risks we reinsure and, therefore, are subject to the risk that a reinsurer is unable or unwilling to pay or reimburse claims at the time demand is made. Despite these measures, the inability or unwillingness of a reinsurer to meet its obligations to us, or the inability to collect under our reinsurance treaties for any other reason, could cause a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In connection with the Athene Reinsurance Transaction, Apollo Insurance Solutions, an affiliate of Athene, manages all the assets held in the related funds withheld account. Since this arrangement with Athene involves reinsurance of substantially all of our in-force fixed annuities and fixed index annuities, it covers a larger volume of business than would a traditional reinsurance agreement, thereby exposing us to a large concentration of credit risk with respect to Athene. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.” The difficulties faced by other financial institutions could adversely affect us. Many of our transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of default of our counterparty or client. In addition, with respect to credit transactions in which we acquire a security interest in collateral owned by the borrower, our credit risk could be exacerbated when the collateral cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure due to us. We also have exposure to financial institutions in the form of unsecured debt instruments, derivative transactions, reinsurance and underwriting arrangements, unsecured money market and prime funds and equity investments. Losses or impairments to the carrying value of these assets could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, an insolvency of, or the appointment of a receiver to rehabilitate or liquidate, a significant competitor could negatively impact our businesses if such appointment were to impact consumer confidence in our products and services. Risks Related to Our Information Technology and Other Operational Matters Adverse outcomes from the operational risks inherent in our business, and those of our material outsourcing partners, could disrupt our business, and have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Operational risks are inherent to our businesses and include direct or indirect losses resulting from inadequate or failed internal and external processes, systems or deliberate human actions, inactions, or error. Our policies and procedures may not be fully effective in identifying, monitoring, or mitigating our risk exposure against all types of risk. We also face exposure from fraud, the effects of natural or man-made catastrophic events (such as natural disasters, pandemics, cyber-attacks, acts of terrorism, civil unrest, and other catastrophes), and other external events. These risks could also adversely impact us through our distribution partners and our partners that provide outsourcing, policy administration, external technology, data hosting and other services. Exposure to such events could impact our operational resilience and ability to perform necessary business functions by disrupting our systems, operations, new business sales and renewals, distribution channels and services to customers, or result in the loss of confidential or proprietary data. Such events, as well as any weaknesses in administration systems (such as those relating to customer records) or actuarial reserving and hedging processes, legal and regulatory sanctions, decreased profitability, financial loss, adverse changes in policyholder behavior, could damage our reputation and relationship with our customers and business partners. We rely on the performance and operations of a number of third-party distribution, policy administration, outsourcing (including external technology and data hosting), and service partners. These include back office support functions, such as those relating to information technology infrastructure, development and support, and customer facing operations and services, such as product distribution and services (including through digital channels) and investment operations. This creates reliance upon the resilient operational performance of these partners and requires the implementation and oversight 47 of policies and procedures to ensure that we are not unduly subjected to reputational, financial, or other risks attributable to such third parties. Failure to adequately oversee our third-party partners, or the failure of a partner (or of its information technology and operational systems and processes) could result in significant disruption to business operations and customers and could have adverse reputational, regulatory and legal implications, and thus could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. A failure to maintain high standards of corporate governance may adversely impact our business, customers, and employees, through poor decision-making or oversight of key risks. Poor governance may arise where key governance committees have a lack of diversity, skills, or experience in their members or unclear (or insufficient) oversight responsibilities and mandates. Further, a failure to manage the risks associated with environmental, social and governance matters may adversely impact our reputation and brand, ability to attract and retain customers and staff, to deliver on our long-term strategy and our results of our operations and long-term financial success. See “Business— Environmental, Social and Governance.” Our information technology systems could fail, which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our business operations depend on the ability to process large numbers of transactions for numerous and diverse products, which requires the effective operation of our information technology systems. We employ a large number of complex and interconnected information technology and finance systems, models, and user developed applications in our processes to support our business operations. We also have arrangements in place with third-party suppliers and other service providers through which we share and receive information. The performance of our core business activities and the uninterrupted availability of services to customers rely significantly on, and require significant investment in, information technology infrastructure and security, system development, data governance and management, compliance, as well as other supporting operational systems, personnel, controls and processes. We rely on these systems throughout our business for a variety of functions, including processing claims and applications, providing information to customers and distributors, performing actuarial analyses, and maintaining financial records. Our information technology systems, and those of our outside vendors and service providers, are vulnerable to physical or electronic intrusions, computer viruses, ransomware or other attacks, programming errors and disruption from similar events. The large number of transactions we process makes it highly likely that errors will occasionally occur. Furthermore, the failure of these systems for any reason could cause significant interruptions to our operations, make it difficult to recover critical services, damage assets, and compromise the integrity and security of data. Our information technology systems, and those of our outside vendors and service providers, are vulnerable to physical or electronic intrusions, computer viruses, ransomware or other attacks, programming errors and disruption from similar events. We are exposed to the increasing risks of attempts to disrupt the availability, confidentiality and integrity of our information technology systems, which could result in disruption to key operations. This could result in reputational damage and direct or indirect financial loss. The cybersecurity threat continues to evolve globally in sophistication, frequency of attacks and potential significance. Our market profile and growing customer interest in interacting with their financial services providers, through the internet and social media, could also increase the likelihood of us being a target by cyber criminals. We have been, and likely will continue to be, subject to potential damage from computer viruses, attempts to access confidential information, including customer data, and cybersecurity attacks such as “denial of service” attacks, phishing, sophisticated and automated attacks, and other disruptive software campaigns. Our security measures, including information security policies, administrative, technical, and physical controls, employee training and other preventative actions may not fully protect us from such events. During times of significant change, the resilience and operational effectiveness of these systems and processes could be adversely impacted. In particular, we are increasing use of emerging technological tools and digital services and forming strategic partnerships with third parties to provide these capabilities. A failure to implement appropriate governance and management of the incremental operational risks from emerging technologies could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. New and currently unforeseeable regulatory issues could also arise from the increased use of emerging technology, data, and digital services. 48 A material failure or breach of our information technology systems, or those of our third-party suppliers and other service providers, could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows as well as loss of trust from our customers and employees, reputational damage and potential legal and regulatory liability. Increased cybersecurity threats and computer crime also pose a risk of litigation, regulatory investigations, and other penalties. Data privacy is subject to frequently changing rules and regulations regarding the handling of personal data. Any breach in the security of our information technology systems could result in the disclosure or misuse of confidential or proprietary business information, including sensitive customer, supplier, or employee information maintained in the ordinary course of our business. Any such event, or any failure to comply with these data privacy requirements or other laws in this area, could cause damage to our reputation, or loss of revenue and could result in legal liability or penalties. In addition, we could incur large expenditures to investigate, remediate, and recover networks or information systems and protect against similar future events. Failure to protect the confidentiality of customer information or proprietary business information could adversely affect our reputation and cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our business and relationships with customers depend on our ability to maintain the confidentiality of our customers’ proprietary business and confidential information (including customer transactional data and personal information about our distribution partners and customers).The risks of failing to secure data and misusing data are increased by the use of emerging technological tools that increase the volume of data that we collect and process. Pursuant to federal laws, various federal agencies have established rules protecting the privacy and security of personal information. In addition, most states have enacted laws, which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, to safeguard the privacy and security of personal information. Any compromise of our information technology systems or of the third-party partners' systems that results in the unauthorized access or disclosure of nonpublic personally identifiable or proprietary business information could damage our reputation in the marketplace, deter investors from purchasing our products, subject us to civil liability and require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses. New and currently unforeseeable regulatory issues could also arise from the increased use of emerging technology, data, and digital services. We retain confidential information in our information systems and in cloud-based systems (including customer transactional data and personal information about our distribution partners, customers, and our own employees). We rely on commercial technologies and third parties to maintain the security of those systems. Anyone who is able to circumvent our security measures and penetrate our information systems, or the cloud-based systems we use, could access, view, misappropriate, alter or delete any information in the systems, including personally identifiable customer information and proprietary business information. It is possible that an employee, contractor, or representative could, intentionally or unintentionally, disclose or misappropriate personal information or other confidential information. Our employees, distribution partners and other third-party partners use portable computers or mobile devices that could contain similar information to that in our information systems, and these devices have been and could be lost, stolen or damaged. Any compromise of the security of our information technology systems that results in the unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable customer information could damage our reputation in the marketplace, deter people from purchasing our products, subject us to civil and criminal liability and require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses, any of which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Our inability to recruit, motivate and retain key employees and experienced and productive employees could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our business depends on our ability to attract, motivate, and retain highly skilled, and often highly specialized, technical, investment, actuarial, managerial, and executive personnel. Intense competition exists for key employees with demonstrated abilities, and we may be unable to retain or hire such employees. For example, we rely upon the knowledge and experience of employees with technical expertise to provide sound operational controls for our overall enterprise, including the accurate and timely preparation of required regulatory filings and U.S. GAAP and statutory financial statements and operation of internal controls. Our success also depends on the continued service of our key senior management team, including executive officers and senior managers. The unexpected loss of services of one or more of our key employees could have a material adverse effect on our operations due to their skills, knowledge of our business, their years of industry experience and the potential difficulty in promptly finding qualified replacement employees. 49 We depend on the ability of our employees, including senior management, to work together to accomplish the Company’s business plans and strategic objectives. As of the Demerger, we are now a public company and will need employees with different skillsets and public company experience. We may not be able to attract this talent. In addition, we may not have the resources we need or associates with the right skillsets and working relationships may not develop properly among existing employees and senior management, which may force us to supplement or replace personnel at inopportune times with possible disruption and additional costs. We may be unable to retain key employees or identify and attract suitable replacements for various reasons, including if we do not maintain responsible, diverse, and inclusive working practices. Our succession plans may not operate effectively, and our compensation plans may not be effective in helping us retain our key employees, the loss of one or more of whom could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Intense competition exists generally and among insurers and other financial services companies for highly skilled and experienced employees. Further, heightened competition for talent and skilled employees in localities in which we operate could limit our ability to grow our business in those localities as quickly as planned. Misconduct by our employees or business partners could expose us to significant legal liability and reputational harm. Past or future misconduct by our employees, agents, and intermediaries, representatives of our broker-dealer subsidiaries or employees of our distribution partners could result in violations of law by us or our subsidiaries, regulatory sanctions and serious reputational or financial harm, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective. Actions taken by our employees outside of the scope of their employment and unrelated to our business could cause reputational harm to us. This could include a failure to consider the rights, diversity and interests of the people and communities in which we or our business partners operate despite our robust controls and procedures. It is possible that our compensation policies and practices could inadvertently incentivize or fail to dis-incentivize excessive or inappropriate risk taking. If our employees take excessive or inappropriate risks, those risks could harm our reputation, subject us to significant civil or criminal liability and require us to incur significant technical, legal, and other expenses. Risks We Face as a New Public Company Our management discovered a material weakness in our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, which resulted in a restatement of our previously issued 2020 annual financial statements. We continue to prepare our compliance readiness for Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) and will be required to provide management’s report on internal control over financial reporting as of the filing of our second annual report currently expected in 2023. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Auditing Standard 2201 “An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements” states that the restatement of previously issued financial statements to reflect the correction of a material misstatement is an indicator of a material control weakness. We described in Note 2—Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements to our audited financial statements included in our registration statement on Form 10 the background to the restatement of our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. Our management concluded that the restatement resulted from a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. In addition, our management identified the need for stronger controls when assessing the accounting for significant and unusual transactions that involve a high degree of judgment and complexity, along with the need for additional technical U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) accounting expertise. Although our management has taken significant steps to remediate this material weakness, our management can give no assurance yet that all the measures it has taken will on a permanent and sustainable basis remediate the material weakness in our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting or that any other material weaknesses or restatement of financial results will not arise in the future. While we are taking the necessary steps to implement a robust Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) program in order to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, if we are unable to implement these requirements in the stipulated timeframe, we will not be able to assess whether our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could harm investor confidence and the market price of our common stock. 50 Our historical consolidated financial data are not necessarily representative of the results we would have achieved as a fully independent company and are not a reliable indicator of our future results. Our historical consolidated financial data included in this Form 10-K do not necessarily reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows we would have achieved as a separate company during the periods presented or those we will achieve in the future. For example, we adjusted our capital structure to more closely align with peer U.S. public companies. As a result, financial metrics that are influenced by our capital structure are not necessarily indicative for historical periods of the performance we achieve as a newly independent company. Significant increases may occur in our cost structure as a result of the Demerger, including costs related to public company reporting, investor relations and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. See “Consolidated Financial Statements.” As a result of these matters, among others, it may be difficult for investors to compare our future results to historical results or to evaluate our relative performance or trends in our business. We describe in Note 2—Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements to our audited financial statements, included in our previously filed Form 10, the background to the restatement of our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020. Our management has concluded that the restatement resulted from a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. Our historical growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth, and we may not be able to identify attractive growth opportunities. Our historical growth rates may not reflect our future growth rates. Our future growth depends on our ability to continue to offer and sell products that investors and our distribution partners find attractive. We may not be able to identify opportunities to grow our business by developing new products and entering new markets. With future growth, our returns may not be as favorable as our historic returns. If we are unable to find profitable growth opportunities, it will be more difficult for us to continue to grow, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We will be required to disclose in our periodic reports filed with the SEC transactions engaged in by our “affiliates” with restricted parties. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), requires companies subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reporting obligations to disclose in their periodic reports specified dealings or transactions involving individuals and entities targeted by certain Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctions engaged in by the reporting company or any of its affiliates. In some cases, reporting companies are required to disclose these types of transactions even if the transactions would otherwise be permissible under U.S. law. Reporting companies are required to separately file with the SEC a notice that such activities have been disclosed in the relevant periodic report, and the SEC is required to post this notice of disclosure on its website and send the report to the U.S. President and certain U.S. Congressional committees. The U.S. President thereafter is required to initiate an investigation and to determine whether fines, penalties or other reprimands should be imposed. Under the Exchange Act, we would be required to report if we or any of our “affiliates” knowingly engaged in certain specified activities in non-compliance with OFAC sanctions. Because the SEC defines the term “affiliate” broadly, it includes any entity controlled by us as well as any person or entity that controls us or is under common control with us. Because Prudential plc owns shares of our Class A common stock representing approximately 18.5% of the total voting power of our common stock, we may be required to disclose certain activities undertaken by Prudential plc and its affiliates involving individuals and entities targeted by OFAC sanctions. Disclosure of such activities, even if such activities are not subject to sanctions under applicable law, and any fines, penalties or other reprimands actually imposed on us or our affiliates as a result of these activities, could harm our reputation and have a negative impact on our business. Our efforts to meet Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) standards and to enhance the sustainability of our businesses may not meet investors’ or regulators’ expectations. Some of our customers, prospective investors, or shareholders, or those considering such a relationship with us, may evaluate our business or other practices according to a variety of ESG standards and expectations. Some of our regulators have proposed ESG rules or announced that they intend to review our practices against ESG standards; others may yet do so. Our investors or others may evaluate our practices by ESG criteria that are continually 51 evolving and not always clear. These standards and expectations may also reflect contrasting or conflicting values or agendas. Our decisions or priorities must also necessarily and simultaneously, consider our business goals and interests. We define our own corporate purpose, in part, by the sustainability of our practices and our impact on all our stakeholders. Our practices may not change in the way or at the rate all or any stakeholders expect. As a result, our efforts to conduct our business in accordance with some or all these expectations may involve compromises, at least in the short run. We may fail to meet our ESG commitments or targets. Our policies and processes to evaluate and manage ESG standards in coordination with other business priorities may not be completely effective or satisfy investors, regulators, or other stakeholders. We may face adverse regulatory, investor, or other public stakeholder scrutiny resulting in business, reputational, or legal challenges. Risks Related to the Demerger and our Separation from Prudential plc The existence and disposition of Prudential’s retained equity interest in us could affect the market price of our Class A common stock. Prudential plc holds approximately 18.5% of Jackson's outstanding Class A common stock. Prudential has stated its intent to monetize a portion of those shares for cash proceeds within 12 months following the September 2021 completion of the Demerger, such that Prudential expects to own less than 10% of the total combined voting power of Jackson’s common stock at the end of such period. There can be no assurance regarding the method by which Prudential will dispose of its remaining interest in us or the timing thereof. Further, the disposition by Prudential of its remaining ownership interest in us may be subject to various conditions, including receipt of any necessary regulatory and other approvals, the existence of satisfactory market conditions, and the confirmation of credit and financial strength ratings. These conditions may not be satisfied, or Prudential plc may decide for any other reason to retain its ownership interest in us for an extended period of time. Prudential and Athene will have influence over us as large shareholders and could pursue business interests or exercise their voting power as shareholders in ways that are detrimental to us or our other shareholders. Prudential plc and Athene Holding Ltd., respectively, own approximately 18.5% and 9.9%, of the total combined voting power of Jackson’s common stock as of December 31, 2021. As large shareholders, Prudential and Athene are able to influence matters requiring shareholder approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger or other significant corporate transactions we may undertake. The interests of Prudential or Athene could conflict with our interests or the interests of our other shareholders. Prudential, Athene, and their respective affiliates could pursue business interests, acquisition opportunities, or exercise their voting power as shareholders of our Company in ways that are detrimental to us or to our other shareholders. Conflicts of interest could also arise between Athene and us with respect to the Athene Reinsurance Transaction or future transactions we may engage in with Athene. In addition, because of our relationships with Prudential and Athene, adverse publicity, increased regulatory scrutiny or investigations by regulators or law enforcement agencies involving Prudential or Athene could have a negative impact on us. Prudential and its affiliates provide a significant amount of PPM’s assets under management and, if they choose to terminate their investment advisory agreements, it could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Prudential plc and its affiliates are significant clients of PPM America, Inc (PPM). Prudential and its affiliates represent $28 billion of assets under management or 36% of PPM’s total assets under management. PPM’s investment management agreements with Prudential and its affiliates are terminable at any time or on short notice by either party, and Prudential and its affiliates are not under any obligation to maintain any level of assets under management with PPM. If Prudential and its affiliates were to terminate their investment management agreements with PPM, it could cause material disruption in the operations and investment advisory capabilities of PPM, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. 52 Mutual indemnities have been given under the Demerger Agreement by Prudential and the Company. If Prudential failed to honor its indemnity to us, or we were called upon to indemnify Prudential, this could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and/or results. Our Demerger Agreement with Prudential contains, among other provisions, mutual indemnities under which Prudential indemnifies us against liabilities arising in respect of the Prudential Group (other than the Company’s business) and the Company indemnifies the Prudential Group against liabilities arising in respect of the business carried on us. If Prudential were to fail to pay an indemnity amount owed to us, or we were called upon to make an indemnity payment to Prudential, we could experience a material adverse effect upon our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. General Risk Factors We face risks arising from acquisitions or other strategic transactions. We have made acquisitions in the past and may pursue further acquisitions or other strategic transactions, including reinsurance, dispositions, and joint ventures, in the future. We face a number of risks arising from acquisition transactions, including difficulties in assimilating and retaining employees and intermediaries, incur unforeseen liabilities that arise in connection with the acquired businesses, or face unfavorable market conditions that could negatively impact our expectations for the acquired businesses. Furthermore, strategic transactions could require us to increase our leverage or, if we issue shares to fund an acquisition, would dilute the holdings of the existing shareholders. These risks could prevent us from realizing the expected benefits from acquisitions and could result in the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets recognized at the time of acquisition. In addition, our strategy of complementing our organic growth by exploring opportunities for acquisitions could be materially and adversely affected by the increasingly competitive nature of the life insurance and annuity merger and acquisition market and the increased participation of non-traditional buyers in the life insurance and annuity merger and acquisition market. We are exposed to risks related to natural and man-made disasters and catastrophes, diseases, epidemics, pandemics, malicious acts, terrorist acts, civil unrest, and global climate change. The risk of catastrophic mortality, such as from a pandemic, civil unrest, an act of terrorism, a natural disaster or other event that causes a large number of deaths or injuries. The likelihood, timing and severity of pandemics, significant epidemics, and outbreaks of disease cannot be predicted. Additionally, the impact of global climate change could cause changes in weather patterns, resulting in more severe and more frequent natural disasters, which could lead to unanticipated problems with our business continuity plans and thereby cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our ability to conduct business could be adversely affected by a disruption in the infrastructure that supports our operations and the communities in which they are located. This could include a disruption involving electrical, communications, transportation, or other services we use or that third parties with whom we conduct business use, and we may not be able to successfully implement contingency plans. Lastly, catastrophic events could harm the financial condition of our reinsurers and thereby increase the probability of default on reinsurance recoveries. As a result, our ability to write new business could also be affected. These events could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The insurance that we maintain may not fully cover all potential exposures. We maintain various insurance policies, but such insurance may not cover all risks associated with the operation of our business. Our coverage is subject to exclusions and limitations, including higher self-insured retentions or deductibles and maximum limits and liabilities covered. In addition, from time to time, various types of insurance may not be available on commercially acceptable terms or, in some cases, at all. We are potentially at additional risk if one or more of our insurance carriers are unable to remain solvent, may not fulfill their obligations, or fail. In the future, we may not be able to obtain coverage at current levels without a significant increase in premium, if at all. Certain claims may not be covered by our insurance policies or, if covered, could exceed the limits of available insurance coverage. 53 The market price of our Class A common stock could be volatile and could decline. Stock markets have experienced extreme volatility in recent years that has been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations could adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the market price of our Class A common stock could fluctuate significantly due to, among other factors, our results of operations and any capital markets activities, investors’ perceptions of us relative to other companies in the insurance industry and other industries, and any related actions on the part of regulators or rating agencies. Anti-takeover provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws could discourage, delay, or prevent a change of control of our Company and could affect the trading price of our Class A common stock. Our certificate of incorporation and our by-laws contain provisions that could discourage, delay, or prevent a change in our management or control over us that shareholders consider favorable. For example, our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws collectively: • authorize the issuance of shares of Class A common stock to create voting impediments or to frustrate persons seeking to effect a takeover or gain control; • authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to thwart a takeover attempt; • provide that vacancies on our board of directors, including vacancies resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by a majority vote of directors then in office; • prohibit shareholder action by written consent, thereby requiring all actions to be taken at a meeting of the shareholders; and • establish advance notice requirements for nominations of candidates for election as directors or to bring other business before an annual meeting of our shareholders. These provisions could prevent our shareholders from receiving the benefit from any premium to the market price of our Class A common stock offered by a bidder in a takeover context. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock if the provisions are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts in the future. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could also make it difficult for shareholders to replace or remove our management. Furthermore, the existence of the foregoing provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of Class A common stock. These provisions could facilitate management entrenchment that could delay, deter, render more difficult or prevent a change in our control, which may not be in the best interests of our shareholders. Applicable insurance laws could make it difficult to effect a change of control of our Company. The insurance laws and regulations of the various states in which our insurance subsidiaries are organized could delay or impede a business combination involving us. State insurance laws prohibit an entity from acquiring control of an insurance company without the prior approval of the domestic insurance regulator. Under most states’ statutes, an entity is presumed to have control of an insurance company if it owns, directly or indirectly, 10% or more of the voting stock of that insurance company or its parent company. These regulatory restrictions could delay, deter, or prevent a potential merger or sale of our company, even if our board of directors decides that it is in the best interests of shareholders for us to merge or be sold. These restrictions also could delay sales by us or acquisitions by third parties of our insurance subsidiaries. Our Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the federal courts, as applicable, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or shareholders. Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed to us or our shareholders by any of our current or former directors, officers, other employees, agents or shareholders, 54 (iii) any action asserting a claim arising out of or under the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (including, without limitation, any action asserting a claim arising out of or pursuant to our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws) or (iv) any action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Unless we consent to an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and the rules and regulations thereunder. Neither this provision nor the exclusive forum provision will mean that shareholders have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The choice of forum provisions in our certificate of incorporation will limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or any of our current or former directors, officers, other employees, agents or shareholders, which could discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Or, a court could determine that the exclusive forum provision is unenforceable. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more specified types of actions and proceedings, we could incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments None.