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New York Life announces strong 2020 financial results underscoring company’s enduring financial strength
New York Life | March 16, 2021
NEW YORK — New York Life, America’s largest1 and most admired2 mutual life insurer, today announced strong financial results for 2020 that highlight the company’s ability to successfully weather the unprecedented and challenging moments of 2020. New company highs with $27 billion in surplus, $702 billion in assets under management, $1.1 trillion in individual life insurance in force in the U.S., and $12.5 billion in total dividends and benefits paid to policy owners and their beneficiaries underscore New York Life’s enduring financial strength.
In 2020, New York Life declared a dividend payout of $1.8 billion to eligible participating policy owners in 2021, the second largest in company history. The ability to pay a dividend3 in excess of the guarantees provided to policy owners on their cash value growth for a 167th consecutive year highlights the benefits of New York Life’s focused business strategy and long-term investment approach.
New York Life also completed the largest acquisition in company history in adding Cigna’s group life and disability insurance business, now rebranded New York Life Group Benefit Solutions, to the company’s portfolio of strategic businesses. The $6.3 billion acquisition, which adds approximately 3,000 employees and over nine million customers4, places New York Life among the top five insurers across group life and disability insurance5 and enhances the company’s strategic business portfolio which supports New York Life’s core retail life insurance franchise and bolsters the company’s financial strength.
New York Life Chairman and CEO Ted Mathas said, “Our diversified business model, unsurpassed financial strength, ongoing commitment to mutuality, and long-term outlook allow us to maintain our exceptional position despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic and deliver on our promises to policy owners. Our number one priority last year was focusing on our humanity and being there for our policy owners as well as for our employees and financial professionals to make sure all stayed safe, healthy, and financially protected in these incredibly challenging times.”
New York Life’s surplus is a key component of the company’s strong financial strength ratings. All four major financial rating agencies once again gave New York Life the highest ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer, making the company one of only two in the industry to achieve this standard out of the 800 life insurers operating in the United States today.
“While the world has changed a great deal in the last year, New York Life’s ability to fulfill our guarantees and deliver long-term value to our policy owners has not,” Mathas added. “I am incredibly proud of our industry-leading financial professionals and dedicated employees who remain grounded in helping people build better futures. Even while navigating the challenging headwinds experienced in 2020, our 12,000 financial professionals rose to the occasion providing advice and guidance in their local communities at a time when it was needed the most. New York Life is not only built to successfully weather challenging times, but to maintain strength in the face of them and emerge even stronger. We will continue to be there when our policy owners need us, providing financial security and peace of mind, just as we always have.”
Financial performance highlights as of December 31, 2020 include6:
- $27 billion surplus (including Asset Valuation Reserve).
- $12.5 billion in total dividends and benefits paid to policy owners.
- $1.8 billion total dividend payout declared for 2021.
- Cash and invested assets of over $284 billion in General Account, and total assets under management of $702 billion.
- $1.1 trillion of individual life insurance in force in the U.S.
- Life insurance sales of $1.2 billion.
- Annuity sales of over $13.7 billion.
- $2.3 billion in operating earnings.
New York Life Insurance Company 2020 Financial Highlights (in millions)
|
2020 |
2019 |
|
|
$26,994 |
$26,965 |
|
|
$12,437 |
$11,521 |
|
|
$1,097,355 |
$1,061,108 |
|
|
$701,610 |
$628,546 |
|
|
$1,170 |
$1,334 |
|
|
$13,735 |
$13,232 |
|
|
$2,281 |
$2,393 |
ABOUT NEW YORK LIFE
New York Life Insurance Company (www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States* and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies**.
New York Life Group Benefit Solutions products and services are provided exclusively by or through Life Insurance Company of North America or New York Life Group Insurance Company of NY, formerly known as Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York (New York, NY), or by or through affiliates or subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation. Life Insurance Company of North America is not authorized in New York and does not conduct insurance business in New York.
*Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 5/18/2020. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500/.
**Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 10/15/2020: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa), Standard & Poor’s (AA+).
Note: “New York Life” or “the company” can refer either separately to the parent company, New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC), or one of its subsidiaries, or collectively to all New York Life companies, which include NYLIC and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation (NYLIAC), NYLIFE Insurance Company of Arizona (NYLAZ), Life Insurance Company of North America (LINA), and New York Life Group Insurance Company of NY (NYLGICNY). NYLAZ is not authorized in New York or Maine, and does not conduct insurance business in New York or Maine. LINA is not authorized in New York and does not conduct insurance business in New York. LINA and NYLGICNY were acquired by NYLIC on December 31, 2020, through the acquisition of Cigna’s Group Life & Group Disability Insurance Businesses (now referred to as the New York Life Group Benefit Solutions business). Any discussion of ratings and safety throughout the Report applies only to the financial strength of New York Life, and not to the performance of any investment products issued by the company. Such products’ performances will fluctuate with market conditions.
1Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 5/18/2020. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500/.
2As reported by “Fortune 2021 World’s Most Admired Companies ranking within Insurance (Life and Health),” Fortune magazine, 2/1/2021. For methodology, please see https://fortune.com/franchise-list-page/methodology-worlds-most-admired-companies-2021/.
3Dividends are not guaranteed.
4Estimated number of unique customer relationships represented among 15.9 million covered lives across both Disability and Life. Source: Cigna 3Q2020 earnings: https://www.cigna.com/static/www-cigna-com/docs/about-us/investor-relations/quarterly-reports-and-sec-filings/cigna-corp-third-quarter-2020-release.pdf.
5Source: Based on Life Insurance Company of North America and Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York (New York, NY) new sales as reported in LIMRA's U.S. Workplace Benefits, Disability and Life Sales 2019 Annual Results)
6Cigna’s Group Life and Group Disability Insurance Businesses were acquired on 12/31/2020. As a result, only 2020 Surplus and Asset Valuation Reserve (AVR) and 2020 Assets Under Management amounts include the impact of the acquisition.
7Total surplus, which includes the Asset Valuation Reserve (AVR), is one of the key indicators of the company’s long-term financial strength and stability, and is presented on a consolidated basis of the company. NYLIC’s statutory surplus was $21.73 billion and $22.03 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Included in NYLIC’s statutory surplus is NYLIAC’s statutory surplus totaling $9.45 billion and $9.35 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and LINA’s statutory surplus of $1.85 billion at December 31, 2020. AVR for NYLIC was $3.59 billion and $3.37 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. AVR for NYLIAC was $1.60 billion and $1.56 billion at December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. AVR for LINA was $0.07 billion at December 31, 2020.
Policy owners can view audited statutory financial statements by visiting our website, www.newyorklife.com, beginning in mid-March.
8Policy owner benefits primarily include death claims paid to beneficiaries and annuity payments. Dividends are payments made to eligible policy owners from divisible surplus. Divisible surplus is the portion of the company’s total surplus that is available, following each year’s operations, for distribution in the form of dividends. Dividends are not guaranteed. Each year the board of directors votes on the amount and allocation of the divisible surplus. Policy owner benefits and dividends reflect the consolidated results of NYLIC and its domestic insurance subsidiaries. Intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. NYLIC’s policy owner benefits and dividends were $8.41 billion and $7.67 billion for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. NYLIAC’s policy owner benefits were $4.18 billion and $3.89 billion for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
9Individual life insurance in force is the total face amount of individual life insurance contracts (term, whole and universal life) outstanding for NYLIC and its domestic insurance subsidiaries at a given time. The company’s individual life insurance in force totaled $1,097.36 billion at December 31, 2020 (including $178.82 billion for NYLIAC).
10Assets under management consist of cash and invested assets and separate account assets of the company’s domestic and international insurance operations, and assets the company manages for third-party investors, including mutual funds, separately managed accounts, retirement plans, and assets under administration.
The company’s general account investment portfolio totaled $284.16 billion as of December 31, 2020 (including $112.80 billion invested assets for NYLIAC and $7.96 billion invested assets for LINA). As of December 31, 2020, total assets equaled $359.30 billion (including $174.52 billion total assets for NYLIAC and $8.60 billion total assets for LINA). Total liabilities, excluding the AVR, equaled $332.31 billion (including $165.08 billion total liabilities for NYLIAC and $6.75 billion total liabilities for LINA). See Note 7 for total surplus.
11Insurance sales represent annualized first-year premiums on participating issued whole life insurance, term life insurance, universal life insurance, long-term care insurance, and other health insurance products. A sale is generally counted when the initial premium is paid and the policy is issued. Adjustments are made to normalize non-recurring premiums to align with our annualized recurring premium methodology for insurance sales. Some examples are: single premium products sold through our agents and Third Party Retail Life and Corporate-Owned Life Insurance distribution channels, and our network of independent agents and brokers, are counted at 10 percent. Sales are generated from both domestic and Mexican operations.
12Total annuity sales represent premiums on our deferred annuities (both fixed and variable) and on our guaranteed income annuities. Sales are generally recognized when premiums are received. Annuities are primarily issued by NYLIAC.
13Operating earnings is the measure used for management purposes to track the company’s results from ongoing operations and the underlying profitability of the business. This chart is based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) with certain adjustments we believe are more appropriate as a measurement approach (non-GAAP).
Policy owners can view the GAAP-basis consolidated financial statements and a detailed reconciliation to our non-GAAP performance measures by visiting our website, www.newyorklife.com, beginning in mid-March.
The New York State Department of Financial Services (the Department) recognizes only statutory accounting practices for determining and reporting the financial condition and results of operations of an insurance company, for determining its solvency under the New York Insurance Law, and for management determining whether its financial condition warrants the payment of a dividend to its policy owners. No consideration is given by the Department to financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP in making such determinations.
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Media contact
Kevin Maher
New York Life Insurance Company
(212) 576-7937
Kevin_B_Maher@newyorklife.com