t
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended
OR
Commission File Number
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
|
||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
|
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
|
|
|
(Address of principal executive offices) |
|
(Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
|
Trading Symbol(s) |
|
Name of each exchange on which registered |
|
|
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer |
|
☐ |
|
Accelerated filer |
|
☐ |
|
☒ |
|
Smaller reporting company |
|
||
Emerging growth company |
|
|
|
|
|
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based on the offering price and number of shares sold in the Registrant’s initial public offering on August 7, 2019, was $
The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of March 30, 2023 was
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Table of Contents
|
|
Page |
PART I |
|
|
Item 1. |
1 |
|
Item 2. |
19 |
|
Item 3. |
19 |
|
Item 4. |
19 |
|
|
|
|
PART II |
|
|
Item 5. |
20 |
|
Item 6. |
20 |
|
Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
21 |
Item 7A. |
42 |
|
Item 8. |
43 |
|
Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
84 |
Item 9A. |
84 |
|
Item 9B. |
84 |
|
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections |
84 |
|
|
|
|
PART III |
|
|
Item 10. |
85 |
|
Item 11. |
90 |
|
Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters |
94 |
Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
94 |
Item 14. |
95 |
|
|
|
|
PART IV |
|
|
Item 15. |
96 |
|
Item 16. |
99 |
i
PART I
Item 1. Business.
Overview
On August 7, 2019, Vericity, Inc. (the “Company”) completed the initial public offering of 14,875,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $10.00 per share (the “IPO”). The IPO was conducted in connection with the conversion of Members Mutual Holding Company (“Members Mutual”) from mutual to stock form and the acquisition by Vericity, Inc. of all of the capital stock of Members Mutual following its conversion to stock form after its plan of conversion and amended and restated articles of incorporation were approved at a special meeting of eligible members on August 6, 2019 (the “Conversion”). As a result of the Conversion, Vericity, Inc. became the holding company for converted Members Mutual and its indirect subsidiaries, including Fidelity Life Association and Efinancial, LLC.
In the IPO, a total of 3,501,648 shares were sold to eligible members, employees and management of Members Mutual, and certain purchasers in a community offering, and a total of 11,373,352 were sold to Apex Holdco L.P., an affiliate of J.C. Flowers IV L.P., a private equity fund advised by J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, pursuant to a standby stock purchase agreement under which Apex Holdco L.P. agreed to act as the standby purchaser for the IPO (“Standby Purchaser”). As a result, the Standby Purchaser owns approximately 76.5% of the issued and outstanding shares of Vericity, Inc. common stock.
We conduct our business through our two operating subsidiaries, Fidelity Life Association, an Illinois-domiciled life insurance company chartered in 1896 (“Fidelity Life”), and Efinancial, LLC, a call center-based insurance agency (“Efinancial”). Fidelity Life distributes life insurance products through Efinancial and other unaffiliated agents and is licensed in the District of Columbia and every state except New York and Wyoming. A.M. Best has assigned an “A-” (Excellent) rating to Fidelity Life, which is the fourth highest out of fifteen ratings. Fidelity Life is located in Des Plaines, Illinois.
We provide life insurance protection targeted to the middle American market. We believe there is a substantial unmet need for life insurance, particularly among domestic households with annual incomes of between $50,000 and $125,000, a market we refer to as our target Middle Market. We strive to deliver to this market affordable, easy to understand term and whole life insurance products through a consumer-friendly and efficient sales process. Through innovation in product design and distribution that provides access to the Middle Market, including call center and web-enabled sales and underwriting processes, quick issuance of policies and an emphasis on products not medically underwritten at the time of sale, we believe we are well positioned to make life insurance more affordable and accessible to the Middle Market.
Efinancial markets life products for Fidelity Life and other unaffiliated insurance companies. Efinancial’s primary operations are conducted through employee agents from physical call centers and remote locations which we refer to as our retail channel, and through independent agents and other marketing organizations, which we refer to as our wholesale channel. Efinancial’s principal office is located in Bellevue, Washington.
We believe our unique products and ability to unconditionally issue policies either during or within 24 to 48 hours of the initial call differentiates us from our competitors. Leveraging our patented RAPIDecision® sales and underwriting processes, we can sell a life insurance policy to a consumer before medical underwriting is complete. We are able to complete an initial underwriting process for most of our life insurance applicants either during or shortly after the initial call, and if not, within 24 to 48 hours after that initial call. For the year ended December 31, 2022, approximately 90% of our policy applications processed through our RAPIDecision® underwriting process received an underwriting disposition on or shortly after the initial sales call. Approximately one-half of the remaining applications received final underwriting decisions within the next 24 to 48 hours.
Our RAPIDecision®Life product provides coverage at the point of issue that is a blend of all-cause term life insurance for part of the coverage and accidental death insurance for the remainder of the total face amount. If a policyholder completes medical underwriting after the initial sale of the RAPIDecision®Life product, the policy benefits may be improved based on the underwriting results to increase the proportion of all-cause term life insurance coverage, typically with no increase in premium. In some instances, based upon the results of predictive analytic models, the consumer can qualify for the full amount of all-cause coverage without medical testing.
For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had total consolidated revenue of $163.9 million and $176.6 million, net life premium revenue of $100.1 million and $108.0 million, and a net loss of $20.5 million and $16.7 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, we had total assets of $770.1 million and equity of $111.3 million.
Our Approach
Our business model is predicated upon gaining cost effective access to the Middle Market, engaging consumers in our sales process for life insurance with products that have higher placement rates than traditional fully underwritten term life insurance in a call
1
center environment, and issuing those products quickly. We require access to a large quantity of quality sales leads to keep our retail call center agents productive. Currently, we acquire about half of our sales leads from third-party vendors. We supplement that lead flow with leads from affinity partner relationships and leads we generate ourselves. More significantly, we are rapidly increasing our own lead generation capabilities and growing our affinity business with non-life insurance partners that provide their customers or prospects as leads, and we market and sell life insurance products to those leads.
We tend to sell policies with lower face amounts, resulting in more affordable options for our customers. Although not the lowest priced, our products are competitive and they represent an attractive consumer value considering the coverage they provide and the relative simplicity of our sales and underwriting processes. Our business model allows us to capture end-to-end data beginning with the acquisition of sales leads through the final disposition of life insurance policies. With this data, we plan to develop and apply predictive analytics to realize efficiencies at various points in the sales process.
Business Segments
We manage our business through three segments:
Agency Segment
Overview
The Agency Segment consists of the operations of Efinancial. Efinancial is a call center and remote employee based insurance agency that markets life insurance for Fidelity Life and unaffiliated insurance companies. Efinancial’s primary operations are conducted through employee agents who may be located remotely or within one of our three call center locations, all located within the United States, which we refer to as our retail channel. In addition, Efinancial operates as a wholesale agency, assisting independent agents that seek to produce business for the carriers that Efinancial represents, which we refer to as our wholesale channel.
The Agency Segment’s main source of revenue is commissions earned on the sale of insurance policies sold through our retail channel. Efinancial’s employee agents utilize insurance sales leads to contact potential customers and then work with the customers to complete the sales process, which can occur during the initial contact or within 24 to 48 hours for non-medically underwritten policies. In our wholesale channel, in consideration for using our carrier contracts, access to leads and case management services, we receive a portion of the commission earned by the independent agent from the carrier. Efinancial also generates insurance lead sales revenue through its eCoverage web presence, and through the resale of leads that are not well suited for our call center.
Agents
Our agents in the Agency Segment are either employed by Efinancial or are independent agents who sell through our wholesale distribution channel.
Our Employee Agents
In each of our retail call center facilities, our employee agents, or call center insurance agents, conduct outbound telephone sales using insurance sales leads obtained from sales lead vendors or generated by our own marketing efforts or through our affinity partner relationships. To a much lesser extent, the call center insurance agents also handle inbound telephone and web-based inquiries directly from consumers. Our Applicant and Prospect System provides a structured environment in which our call center insurance agents are able to efficiently handle both in-bound and out-bound sales traffic.
Efinancial is reliant on a capable and well-trained sales force of insurance agents to effectively operate its call center platform. It is therefore important for Efinancial’s business to attract, retain and develop its insurance agents. Efinancial primarily recruits individuals with little or no prior experience in the insurance industry. We seek to develop a career path for our recruits by providing a comprehensive training program designed to assist new recruits in becoming licensed agents and achieving success with call center
2
marketing. In a process that typically takes between six to eighteen weeks, a new hire will receive training, learn to develop leads and work towards receiving the required insurance sales licenses. Following licensure and promotion to retail call center agent, a new agent is placed on the physical or virtual sales floor, where monitoring and coaching continue. As an agent develops sales experience, the level of supervision of that agent decreases and the agent is able to handle more sophisticated sales opportunities.
For the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, Efinancial’s retail call centers generated a total of $41.0 million and $44.6 million, respectively, in commission revenues, of which $28.9 million and $34.1 million, respectively, were generated from sales of Fidelity Life products.
Our Independent Agents
Efinancial has developed capabilities that allow us to expand sales operations beyond the call center insurance agents traditionally associated with a direct sales operation. Efinancial also operates as a wholesale agency and recruits independent agents to market insurance products using Efinancial’s platform. Through our wholesale channel, we subcontract with our independent agents to sell through Efinancial’s contracts with its insurance carriers. Efinancial offers services to these independent agents, including access to our ALISS® technology, marketing platform, case management services, insurance sales leads and sales education. Efinancial earns a portion of the commission revenue on independent agent sales. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, Efinancial generated $2.4 million and $2.0 million, respectively, in revenue from our affiliation with our independent agents.
Our Partners
We partner with unaffiliated insurance carriers to market their products through our agency distribution platform. We also have marketing relationships with third-party businesses and member organizations, which we call our affinity partners, under which Efinancial provides their customers and members with access to the insurance products we market, either under their brand or Efinancial’s brand.
Other Insurance Carriers
Our Agency Segment also generates revenue from the sales of insurance products issued by unaffiliated companies, or carriers. We typically enter into contractual agency relationships with carriers that are non-exclusive and terminable on short notice by either party for any reason. Efinancial’s retail call center agents help consumers select among these carriers based on that consumer’s needs, insurance product features, cost and other factors. The mix of insurance carrier sales will vary over time based on client preferences, carrier strategies, availability of new product features, premium cost, commissions paid, carrier placement rates, and ease of doing business.
For the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, Efinancial generated $14.2 million and $12.4 million, respectively, in total commission revenue from agency contracts with unaffiliated life insurance carriers.
The following tables show our total earned commissions for our retail and wholesale channels:
Retail Channel:
|
|
For the Years Ended |
|
|||||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
||
Carrier |
|
|
|
|||||
Fidelity Life Association |
|
$ |
28,889 |
|
|
$ |
34,054 |
|
Affinity partners |
|
|
2,792 |
|
|
|
3,141 |
|
All other carriers |
|
|
9,298 |
|
|
|
7,412 |
|
Total eSales Earned Commissions |
|
$ |
40,979 |
|
|
$ |
44,607 |
|
3
Wholesale Channel:
|
|
For the Years Ended |
|
|||||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
||
Carrier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Fidelity Life Association |
|
$ |
5 |
|
|
$ |
17 |
|
All other carriers |
|
|
2,713 |
|
|
|
2,283 |
|
Total earned commissions |
|
|
2,718 |
|
|
|
2,300 |
|
Wholesale commission expense |
|
|
635 |
|
|
|
452 |
|
Net earned wholesale commissions |
|
$ |
2,083 |
|
|
$ |
1,848 |
|
Affinity Partners
In a typical affinity partner arrangement, Efinancial will market our range of insurance products to the affinity partner’s customers or prospects under Efinancial’s brand or our affinity partner’s brand. Affinity partner relationships offer an attractive source for insurance sales leads and increase our revenues. Given the existing relationship between an affinity partner and its prospects or customers, we believe that the sales leads generated by our affinity partners are of a high quality relative to sales leads purchased from a third-party. We expect affinity partner relationships to continue to be a valuable source of future growth. Currently, nearly all of our affinity business is derived from a single affinity partner.
Our Technology Platforms
Applicant and Prospect System
Our Applicant and Prospect System (APS) is a technology ecosystem that uses a combination of proprietary software and Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) third party vendors to operate our retail call centers. Our proprietary software application suite manages lead management, call scripting, quoting, insurance policy applications, and product information. Our technology ecosystem includes Salesforce Sales Cloud, a best in breed consumer management system that supports robust automation engines as well as layered data protection. Additionally, our environment is integrated with a third-party telephony system to prioritize and distribute calls to sales personnel. This full technology solution includes logic that makes allocations to specific call center insurance agents based on factors such as availability, complexity of sales leads, state licensing requirements, source of the sales lead and other factors, in an effort to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of our retail call centers.
ALISS®
Our independent agents continue to use our patented Automated Life Insurance Sales System, or ALISS®, as a service remotely from their locations. ALISS® is made up of several functional models that provide much of the same functionality as the Applicant and Prospect System, including consumer relationship management. We believe that ALISS® provides a comprehensive package of operational features that help our distributors increase their productivity and grow their businesses.
Consumer Technologies
Fidelity Life has developed a digital purchase experience – a web portal that enables qualified consumers to calculate how much life insurance they need, obtain quotes, apply, and purchase a policy online. Consumers can also start the purchase process online and seamlessly transition to speak with an agent at any point in the journey. Fidelity Life also has a robust website, FidelityLife.com, that enables consumers to obtain customized product recommendations and quotes depending on their personal situation. Efinancial also has several web portals for consumers to shop for insurance, including Efinancial.com, termfinder.com and eCoverage.com. These web portals offer consumers easy-to-use tools, such as online price quoting and information (in the form of articles and blogs) designed to help consumers better understand the life insurance market. These websites also provide consumers with the ability to initiate the sales process online.
Marketing
Efinancial’s business relies heavily on the use of insurance sales leads. Our sales leads are records of personal and contact information of potential purchasers of life insurance. We analyze these sales leads to enable our agents to make contact with consumers that we believe are more likely than the general population to purchase life insurance products.
Efinancial uses a combination of marketing methods to obtain insurance sales leads to support its operations. Efinancial acquires a significant portion of its sales leads from third-party vendors specializing in insurance sales leads. Additionally, Efinancial generates
4
leads through its websites (including Efinancial.com and eCoverage.com) and through affinity partners whose customers and prospects are interested in life insurance. We evaluate the profitability of sales leads by analyzing their cost and productivity based on the sales resulting from these sales leads. We use this information to seek to optimize the productivity and cost efficiency of leads we acquire.
As a result of our business model, Efinancial’s marketing expenses are a significant part of our total cost of doing business. To reduce our customer acquisition costs, we contract with third-party marketers who contact consumers, some of whom will click through to one of eCoverage’s landing pages. In addition to becoming an Efinancial lead, the consumer may also “click” on an ad to receive a quote from a third-party carrier. If the consumer clicks on an insurance option sponsored by another company, we generate insurance lead sales revenue from that click. We are also able to generate insurance lead sales revenue through the sale of information regarding leads sourced through the eCoverage landing pages. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 we generated $4.9 million and $6.3 million from insurance lead sales revenues, respectively. Additionally, we seek to sell a policy to that lead through our call center.
For a description of the marketing of policies written by Fidelity Life, see “Business—Insurance Segment—Distribution.”
Competition
Efinancial competes for access to talented sales representatives and for quality sales prospects or leads. Much of the competition for talent involves agent recruitment. Efinancial’s competitors include SelectQuote, AIG Direct, and Health I.Q., among others. Some competitors in the direct distribution call center industry have made much larger investments or have greater resources to hire insurance agents and develop new technologies. Also, agents choose to work through agencies based on a number of factors including marketing service and support, technology tools, the insurance company that the agency represents, sales commission structure, and the number and quality of sales leads. However, Efinancial believes that its innovative sales processes and the Fidelity Life quick-issue products it sells, combined with our ability to customize our product offering based on a customer’s ability to pay through our distribution platform, position Efinancial to successfully compete and continue to grow in the Middle Market.
Insurance Segment
Overview
Fidelity Life was chartered in 1896 and operated independently until the 1950s, when it became affiliated with several stock life insurance companies that managed its operations and controlled its strategies pursuant to a management services agreement. In 2003, the independent members of the Board of Directors undertook a review of the longstanding management relationship and future plans for operation of Fidelity Life. During 2005, the prior long-term management contract and all affiliations were terminated and a reconstituted Board of Directors and a new management team were selected. Since then, Fidelity Life has again operated independently.
As discussed in more detail below, Fidelity Life engages in the following business lines:
Core Life. Our Core Life insurance business is the primary business of the Insurance Segment. Core Life represents a significant portion of the insurance business written by Fidelity Life since it resumed independent operations in 2005. Our Core Life business consists of in-force policies that are considered to be of high strategic importance to Fidelity Life.
Non-Core Life. Our Non-Core Life business consists of: products that are currently being marketed but are not deemed to be of high strategic importance to the Company; in-force policies from product lines introduced since Fidelity Life resumed independent operations in 2005, but were subsequently discontinued; and an older annuity block of business that was not included in the Closed Block.
Closed Block. Our Closed Block represents all in-force participating insurance policies of Fidelity Life. The Closed Block was established in connection with our 2007 reorganization into a mutual holding company structure.
Annuities and Assumed Life. We have assumed reinsurance commitments with respect to annuity contract-holder deposits and a block of life insurance contracts that were ceded by former affiliates of Fidelity Life. In 2019, one of these former affiliates recaptured the majority of the assumed block of life business. The annuity deposits were ceded to Fidelity Life through two contracts entered into in the early 1990s. These annuity and assumed life deposits are now largely in run-off, with only minor amounts of new deposits each year. There are minimal remaining surrender charges associated with the assumed annuity contracts.
5
The following table sets forth the net premium revenues by business line for Fidelity Life’s Insurance Segment for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:
|
|
For the Twelve Months Ended |
|
|||||
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|||||
Net Insurance Premium |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Core Life |
|
$ |
69,002 |
|
|
$ |
70,338 |
|
Non-Core Life |
|
|
27,934 |
|
|
|
34,507 |
|
Closed Block |
|
|
3,073 |
|
|
|
3,039 |
|
Annuities and Assumed Life |
|
|
66 |
|
|
|
74 |
|
Total |
|
$ |
100,075 |
|
|
$ |
107,958 |
|
Core Life and Non-Core Life
Our Products
In its Core and Non-Core Life insurance business, Fidelity Life offers an array of traditional and innovative insurance products. The principal life insurance products offered by Fidelity Life fall within the RAPIDecision® product line. The RAPIDecision® product line includes several term life insurance products. RAPIDecision® products use our RAPIDecision® underwriting process, which is a process that for many products does not rely on medical testing as part of the underwriting process, thereby substantially shortening the time required for underwriting and policy issuance. See “Underwriting and Risk Selection” in this form 10-K.
Core Life:
RAPIDecision® Life. Our RAPIDecision® Life product was introduced in 2008 and is primarily marketed by Efinancial and select unaffiliated distributors. The RAPIDecision® Life product was specifically designed to address the problem of low product placement in direct distribution for medically underwritten business, stemming in part from the typical length of the life insurance underwriting process. Our RAPIDecision® Life product incorporates the following features:
RAPIDecisionLifeOne®. This product is a one-year term product designed to be a quick sale, with a focus on younger issue ages (20-45). Underwriting utilizes the RAPIDecision® underwriting process.
LifeTime Benefit Term. LifeTime Benefit Term is our patented voluntary worksite product offering. Voluntary worksite policies like LifeTime Benefit Term are provided to employer and other groups for sales to their employees, participants and members. LifeTime Benefit Term insurance is sold on a group policy basis by offering future paid up coverage additions after the policy has been in-force for a certain number of years. LifeTime Benefit Term coverage can be kept by the individual after they leave employment with the group. We have been issued a patent for one variation of the LifeTime Benefit Term product. We largely ceased writing this business directly in 2014 and have entered into a licensing agreement and reinsurance agreement under which we license the product to Combined Insurance Company of America (“Combined Insurance”) and assume 50% of the business written. The most current licensing agreement provides Combined Insurance with a non-exclusive license to market the LifeTime Benefit Term product. The reinsurance agreement has been terminated as of December 31, 2021 as to new policies or certificates of insurance written on or after January 1, 2022. A revised licensing agreement was entered into in early 2022 which provides a fee to Fidelity Life allowing Combined Insurance to use our patented product. The fee in 2022, reported in Other income was $373 thousand. Fidelity Life continues to manage the direct in-force block of LifeTime Benefit Term policies that are now in run-off.
RAPIDecision® Final Expense. Our RAPIDecision® Final Expense product is targeted toward individuals aged 50-85 and provides permanent whole life coverage for amounts ranging from $5,000 to $35,000. These policies are designed to help in lessening
6
the burden of covering final expenses, such as medical costs, funeral costs, and credit card debt. Like RAPIDecision® Life, RAPIDecision®Final Expense does not require a medical examination, but instead approval is determined based upon answers to various health questions and database results. There is a related graded death benefit Final Expense product for poorer underwriting risks.
Non-Core Life:
Accidental Death Benefit. Fidelity Life offers accidental death benefit insurance as both a policy rider and as stand-alone policy coverage. The accidental death benefit product covers death due to accidental causes as defined in the policy. Accidental death benefit is a quick-issue product with limited underwriting.
RAPIDecision® Senior Life Term and Whole Life. Fidelity Life’s Senior Life Term and Whole Life products are designed for impaired risk individuals in particular age ranges (50 to 70 for term and 50 to 85 for whole life). Senior Life Term and Whole Life products are underwritten utilizing the RAPIDecision® underwriting process and offer graded death benefits over an initial three-year period (the full face amount is paid for all causes of death starting in policy year four).
Distribution
For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the breakdown of sales of annualized premiums for new in-force policies by distribution channel were as follows:
|
|
For the Years Ended |
|
|||||
|
|
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|||||
Efinancial |
|
$ |
8,492 |
|
|
$ |
6,667 |
|
AmeriLife |
|
|
29,708 |
|
|
|
34,671 |
|
Independent Sales Distributors |
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
84 |
|
Worksite Producers |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
29,818 |
|
Total |
|
$ |
38,229 |
|
|
$ |
71,240 |
|
More information regarding our relationship with AmeriLife can be found in Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Underwriting and Risk Selection
We have developed the RAPIDecision® underwriting process to support the quick issuance of our RAPIDecision® products. The first step in our RAPIDecision® underwriting process is for a consumer to complete a coverage application. We verify the medical history and conditions disclosed in the application using automated web-based links to reporting and statistical agencies and a data base service with pharmaceutical records. The underwriting decision is made based on this information. The RAPIDecision® underwriting process is supported by our proprietary technology platforms that allow us to obtain an underwriting decision during or shortly after the initial call, and if not, 24 to 48 hours after that initial call. This technology platform is our Fidelity Life Association Sales Handler, or FLASH, system.
Consistent with our business strategy and our view of the needs of our customers, we do not perform medical underwriting in the traditional way prior to the issuance of a policy. Traditionally, in our industry, the life insurance underwriting process takes place prior to policy issuance and involves a paramedical examination, blood and urine testing and other tests designed to assess the underwriting risk and the lowest premium appropriate for the level of risk involved. Such traditional underwriting delays policy issuance after an application is submitted by several weeks. This delay makes it difficult to achieve acceptable placement ratios in call center sales, leading to lost sales and unrecovered costs. In contrast, our primary underwriting process is designed to support the quick issuance of policies. We therefore do not typically require an initial paramedical exam. By not requiring this exam or postponing it until after policy issuance, we are able to issue coverage far more quickly, although without access to up front medical data that is standard in industry underwriting practices. This means that our insurance products generally are issued at lower face amounts and a relatively higher price per dollar of coverage as compared to medically underwritten products. If medical underwriting is completed after the initial sale of a RAPIDecision® Life policy, the policy benefits may be improved based on the underwriting results to increase the proportion of all-cause term life insurance coverage, typically with no increase in premium.
Fidelity Life employs a small staff of full-time employee underwriters. Most of the underwriting of individual policies is performed on an outsourced basis, primarily using two contract underwriting firms. Given the quick-issue nature of many of Fidelity
7
Life’s products, it is important to our business to be able to access underwriting services on an as-needed basis. Using outsourced contract underwriters gives Fidelity Life the flexibility to meet this need.
In our typical underwriting process, Fidelity Life’s contract underwriters access the information on a potential customer, what we refer to as a case, through a web-based interface and approve or decline the individual case based on Fidelity Life’s underwriting rules. If necessary, a member of our contract underwriting team can be joined to an initial phone call with a potential customer. While our in-house underwriting team does engage in certain case underwriting activities, the team’s primary function is to manage and supervise the contract underwriters. Our in-house underwriting team oversees our contract underwriters to review their compliance with our underwriting standards.
Product Pricing
We regularly review claim results for each of our products, comparing actual experience to the assumptions used to design and price the products. The review process is performed by our actuarial and finance teams with assistance from the underwriting and operations team, product development team and marketing. Variances in our expectations for particular products are examined for implications on product performance and used to evaluate product prices and underwriting assumptions. Product experience is also reviewed by our reinsurance partners.
Key elements of our product pricing include assumptions regarding future mortality (amount and timing of future benefit payments), persistency experience (number and timing of policyholder discontinuations or coverage lapses) and investment returns (interest we will earn on investment of available cash and reserves).
Outsourced Functions
Fidelity Life contracts with third-party service providers to provide, or assist with, a number of key functions that are traditionally performed in-house in the life insurance industry. These functions include insurance policy administration, underwriting, investment portfolio management, internal audit, filing of insurance policy forms with state regulatory agencies and income tax return preparation. This model was adopted to reduce the fixed cost investment in our Insurance Segment, provide operating flexibility and allow access to specialized skills as needed. In doing so, we believe we can contract with partners that possess a wide range of experience and with established capabilities that would be costly and time consuming for us to develop internally.
Competition
Competition in the life insurance industry is based on many factors. These factors include the perceived financial strength of the insurer, premiums charged, policy terms and conditions, services provided, reputation, financial ratings assigned by independent rating agencies and the experience of the insurer in the line of insurance to be written. In addition, there are many competitors that participate in the non-medically underwritten segment of the life insurance industry. As new competitors enter the non-medically underwritten market using predictive analytics, they may price aggressively to capture market share.
Fidelity Life’s competition includes many companies that are larger, and which have significantly more resources at their disposal. While lacking the scale and market presence of many of its principal competitors, Fidelity Life does have certain attributes we believe to provide us competitive advantages in a crowded marketplace. These include innovative products, proprietary technology and controlled distribution in Efinancial. These advantages allow us to be more flexible in adapting to product and sales process opportunities than our more established competitors. We also believe that our innovative products and processes provide a point of differentiation that appeals to consumers.
Fidelity Life also competes by placing a majority of its policies through Efinancial. While this distribution channel provides access to our target Middle Market, we are aware that some Middle Market consumers prefer to purchase life insurance through alternative methods. We have developed an internet-based direct sales platform that permits customers to complete the purchase of a Fidelity Life insurance policy completely over the internet. Several of our competitors have also begun to implement online and digital distribution platforms. We believe that through the implementation of the Fidelity Life internet-based direct sales platform we will be able to extend our reach into our target Middle Market.
A.M. Best Rating
Fidelity Life is rated by A.M. Best, an independent rating agency that specializes in ratings for the insurance industry. A.M. Best annually issues a financial strength rating for the great majority of insurance companies doing business in the U.S. The financial strength rating is an independent opinion of an insurer’s financial strength and its ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy obligations. A.M. Best’s financial strength rating is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of an insurer’s balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile and is subject to a regular review by A.M. Best. Currently, A.M. Best has assigned Fidelity
8
Life a financial strength rating of “A-” (Excellent), which is the fourth highest rating category for A.M. Best. A.M. Best’s financial strength rating is not a recommendation to purchase, hold, or terminate any insurance policy or contract or any other financial obligation issued by an insurer, nor does it address the suitability of any particular policy or contract for a specific purpose or purchaser. In addition, A.M. Best’s financial strength rating does not address the risks or the advisability of any investment in our common stock.
IT Applications
Fidelity Life’s business, including the marketing, sales and administration of its insurance products, relies on its technology infrastructure. Our technology infrastructure incorporates both proprietary and commercially available elements, including the following:
Reinsurance
Fidelity Life uses reinsurance arrangements with multiple reinsurance carriers to limit our claims risk under our insurance contracts and to mitigate the impact of the insurance policies we issue on our statutory policyholder surplus. Our retention limit is $300,000 on each insured life for all policies. On the products that we currently issue where we have reinsurance, our reinsurance is on a first-dollar quota-share basis. Additionally, our reinsurance arrangements provide Fidelity Life with access to underwriting technology and risk management expertise from our reinsurance partners.
We evaluate our reinsurance needs, including the appropriate amount and structure of particular reinsurance arrangements, based on a number of factors, including the expertise of particular reinsurance carriers (and their technology platforms) required to support our various life insurance products, the estimated variability of claims experience, the estimated future impact of new business written on our statutory reserves and the costs of reinsurance.
Our current reinsurance arrangements open for new business are with Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America (“Hannover Life”) and Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc. (“Swiss Re”). The following is a brief summary of the reinsurance agreements relating to these arrangements:
Hannover Life. Under our agreements with Hannover Life, we cede claims liability under certain of our term life policies in the Core Life business to Hannover Life on a coinsurance basis. We cede 25% of the claims liability to Hannover Life. Reinsurance premiums per policy are determined according to the amount reinsured with Hannover Life. These agreements do not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreements with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party.
Swiss Re. Under our agreements with Swiss Re, we cede claims liability under certain of our term life policies in the Core Life business to Swiss Re on a coinsurance basis. We cede 65% of the claims liability to Swiss Re. Reinsurance premiums per policy are determined according to the amount reinsured with Swiss Re. These agreements do not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreements with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party.
9
Swiss Re.— Accidental Death Benefit. Under our agreement with Swiss Re, we cede to Swiss Re 90% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under our accidental death benefit policies and riders on a coinsurance basis. Reinsurance premiums are determined according to the amount reinsured with Swiss Re per policy or rider. Swiss Re has the right to modify the reinsurance premium rates upon 90 days written notice to us. If we do not accept such modified reinsurance premium rates and we are unable to agree upon a revised rate structure within 60 days of Swiss Re’s original notice, then the reinsurance premium rates then in effect continue unchanged. However, Swiss Re may, upon 30 days written notice to us, terminate the reinsurance on any policy or rider for which we have not accepted Swiss Re’s modified reinsurance premium rate. This agreement does not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party. In the first quarter 2022, Fidelity Life entered into a reinsurance contract with Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc. This new treaty is in addition to existing coinsurance agreements on policies issued through and including December 31, 2020. The impact of this transaction to our segment results included an initial ceded premium of $2.6 million based on the statutory reserves at January 1, 2022. The impact to pre-tax income is nominal, however various income statement lines are impacted.
Swiss Re.—Final Expense. Under a separate agreement with Swiss Re, we cede to Swiss Re on a coinsurance basis 40% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under our final expense level death benefit and final expense graded benefit policies. This agreement does not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 60 days written notice to the other party. In the first quarter 2022, Fidelity Life entered into a reinsurance contract with Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc. This new treaty is in addition to existing coinsurance agreements on Final Expense Level Death Benefit policies issued through and including December 31, 2020. The impact of this transaction to our segment results included an initial ceded premium of $3.9 million based on the statutory reserves at January 1, 2022. The impact to pre-tax income is nominal, however various income statement lines are impacted.
Swiss Re.—InstaTerm. The Company cedes to Swiss Re, on a coinsurance basis 33.3% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under InstaTerm term life insurance product. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party.
Swiss Re.—RapidDecission LifeOne®. The Company cedes to Swiss Re, on a coinsurance basis 80% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under RAPIDecision LifeOne® term life insurance product. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party.
RGA Reinsurance Company —Final Expense Under an agreement with RGA Reinsurance Company we cede to RGA on a coinsurance basis 40% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under our final expense level death benefit and final expense graded benefit policies. This agreement does not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 60 days written notice to the other party.
SCOR Global Life USA Reinsurance Company Inc. (SCOR)—InstaTerm. The Company cedes to SCOR on a coinsurance basis 33.3% of our claims liability, subject to certain per life limits, under InstaTerm term life insurance product. This agreement does not have a fixed term. Either party may terminate the agreement with respect to future business with 90 days written notice to the other party.
In 2013, Fidelity Life entered into a reserve financing reinsurance arrangement with Hannover Life designed to enhance its ability to continue to grow Fidelity Life’s Core Life insurance business. This agreement was first amended and restated as of July 1, 2016, and a subsequent amendment was filed with the Illinois Department of Insurance in November 2019 and approved by the Illinois Department of Insurance on December 23, 2019. The structure of the agreement, which was first effective July 1, 2013, involves a combination of coinsurance with funds withheld and yearly renewable term reinsurance covering most of the Company’s non-participating in-force life insurance business with issue dates on or before December 31, 2019.
Even though we reinsure certain of our liabilities to third-party reinsurance carriers, Fidelity Life remains directly liable to policyholders for the benefit payments associated with these policies. Our reinsurance carriers have a contractual relationship with Fidelity Life to reimburse us for policy claims but are not under any contractual obligation to our policyholders. Because Fidelity Life remains directly liable to policyholders for the full amount of the death benefits payable under its policies, Fidelity Life bears credit risk relating to its reinsurers under its reinsurance contracts. As a result, Fidelity Life will only enter into a reinsurance agreement with reinsurers that have stable operating performance, including a minimum A.M. Best financial strength rating of “A-” (Excellent).
10
We had reinsurance recoverables of $214.9 million and $184.1 million as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively. The following table sets forth our five largest reinsurers based on reinsurance recoverables as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, and the A.M. Best ratings of those reinsurers as of December 31, 2022:
|
|
As of December 31, 2022 |
|
As of December 31, 2021 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Ceded |
|
|
Claims and |
|
|
|
|
|
2022 |
|
Ceded |
|
|
Claims and |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
Future |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Total |
|
|
A.M. |
|
Future |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Total |
|
||||||
|
|
Policy |
|
|
Amounts |
|
|
Reinsurance |
|
|
Best’s |
|
Policy |
|
|
Amounts |
|
|
Reinsurance |
|
||||||
|
|
Benefits |
|
|
Recoverable |
|
|
Recoverables |
|
|
Rating |
|
Benefits |
|
|
Recoverable |
|
|
Recoverables |
|
||||||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
Reinsurer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
Hannover Life |
|
$ |
80,792 |
|
|
$ |
12,431 |
|
|
$ |
93,223 |
|
|
A+ |
|
$ |
74,822 |
|
|
$ |
11,440 |
|
|
$ |
86,262 |
|
Swiss Re |
|
|
63,182 |
|
|
|
21,560 |
|
|
|
84,742 |
|
|
A+ |
|
|
43,685 |
|
|
|
17,504 |
|
|
|
61,189 |
|
Combined Insurance |
|
|
16,064 |
|
|
|
2,189 |
|
|
|
18,253 |
|
|
A+ |
|
|
14,668 |
|
|
|
3,841 |
|
|
|
18,509 |
|
RGA Reinsurance Company |
|
|
5,535 |
|
|
788 |
|
|
|
6,323 |
|
|
A+ |
|
|
3,065 |
|
|
528 |
|
|
|
3,593 |
|
||
Canada Life Assurance Company |
|
|
2,056 |
|
|
416 |
|
|
|
2,472 |
|
|
A+ |
|
|
2,201 |
|
|
465 |
|
|
|
2,666 |
|
||
Other (12 Reinsurers) |
|
|
6,275 |
|
|
|
3,574 |
|
|
|
9,849 |
|
|
|
|
|
7,646 |
|
|
|
4,266 |
|
|
|
11,912 |
|
Total |
|
$ |
173,904 |
|
|
$ |
40,958 |
|
|
$ |
214,862 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
146,087 |
|
|
$ |
38,044 |
|
|
$ |
184,131 |
|
Core Life. The overall relationship of ceded premium to direct premiums increased in 2022 due to the mix of business and related retention rates. For the Core Life business line, the amount of death benefit reinsured by Fidelity Life varies by insurance product, with some products having no reinsurance and others have 80% or 90% of the death benefit is reinsured, all of which is subject to the $300,000 limit. For the Closed Block and the annuities and assumed life business lines, the percent of death benefit reinsured is higher, on average, than the average for the insurance products currently being sold in the Core Life line of business. The following table shows the different relationship of reinsurance premiums ceded to total direct and assumed premiums for each of these business lines for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.
|
|
As of December 31, 2022 |
|
|
As of December 31, 2021 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Core Life |
|
|
Non-Core Life |
|
|
Closed Block |
|
|
Annuities and Assumed Life |
|
|
Total |
|
|
Core Life |
|
|
Non-Core Life |
|
|
Closed Block |
|
|
Annuities and Assumed Life |
|
|
Total |
|
||||||||||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Ratios: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Direct and Assumed Premium |
|
$ |
150,030 |
|
|
$ |
61,867 |
|
|
$ |
7,881 |
|
|
$ |
460 |
|
|
$ |
220,238 |
|
|
$ |
137,788 |
|
|
$ |
62,569 |
|
|
$ |
10,336 |
|
|
$ |
452 |
|
|
$ |
211,145 |
|
Ceded Premium |
|
$ |
81,028 |
|
|
$ |
33,933 |
|
|
$ |
4,808 |
|
|
$ |
394 |
|
|
$ |
120,163 |
|
|
$ |
67,450 |
|
|
$ |
28,062 |
|
|
$ |
7,297 |
|
|
$ |
378 |
|
|
$ |
103,187 |
|
Ceded % of Total Direct and Assumed Premiums |
|
|
54.0 |
% |
|
|
54.8 |
% |
|
|
61.0 |
% |
|
|
85.7 |
% |
|
|
54.6 |
% |
|
|
49.0 |
% |
|
|
44.8 |
% |
|
|
70.6 |
% |
|
|
83.6 |
% |
|
|
48.9 |
% |
The period-to-period comparison of the ceded to direct and assumed premiums shows the total ceding percentage in our Core Life increasing, as the percentage of the total increased due to changes in reinsurance contracts.
Non-Core Life. Non-Core life follows the same reinsurance guidelines and procedures as Core Life, as discussed above.
Closed Block. In October 2006, Fidelity Life established a Closed Block consisting of all of the outstanding participating policies issued or assumed by Fidelity Life. We call this arrangement the Closed Block. We operate the Closed Block in accordance with a Closed Block memorandum that we entered into in connection with our 2007 reorganization as a mutual holding company. The purpose of the Closed Block is to provide reasonable assurance to the participating policyholders that sufficient assets will be available to provide for the continuation of policy benefits and experience-based dividends for these participating policies. Most of the participating policies in the Closed Block were sold on the basis of “no dividends expected” and, accordingly, such policies had never received an experience-based dividend prior to 2022. In 2022, dividends on these “no dividends expected” policies began to be paid, and dividends will be paid in future years if experience warrants. The payment of any dividends is not guaranteed based on the results of a specific block or group of participating policies. The declaration of any dividend is subject to the discretion of the Board of Directors of Fidelity Life, and dividends are not payable until declared. No new dividend-paying or participating policies have been issued by Fidelity Life since our reorganization in 2007.
11
The Closed Block was funded on October 1, 2006 with cash flow producing assets that together with anticipated revenues from the Closed Block policies were expected to be sufficient to support the Closed Block, including payment of claims, expenses, and taxes and to provide for continuation of dividends, to the extent experience allowed, for the life of the policies. Dividend scales were changed in 2022 due to past and expected future experience. It is possible that past experience and expectations of future experience may lead to further changes in dividend scales. If the future experience is such that the assets of the Closed Block are not sufficient to pay the claims and expenses guaranteed under the policies, then Fidelity Life would be required to make such payments from its general funds. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Form 10-K for further discussion regarding the Closed Block.
Annuities and Assumed Life
Fidelity Life reinsures products issued by other companies under four reinsurance arrangements, three of which are not open to new insurance policies but still cover the existing in-force business that was assumed prior to 1993. Under two contracts with Zurich American Life Insurance Company, Fidelity Life assumed the liability for the contractual benefits under a group of annuity contracts written through 1993. Under a contract with Protective Life Insurance Company (“Protective Life”), the successor company of a former affiliate, Fidelity Life assumed a portion of the risk on a group of life insurance contracts primarily written in the 1980s and early 1990s. On March 29, 2019, Protective Life recaptured the majority of the assumed block of life business.
Fidelity has an active reinsurance agreement with Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America (Bermuda) Ltd. (Hannover Bermuda) under which Fidelity Life assumes a portion of risks on certain life contracts originally issued by Fidelity Life and ceded to Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America. In addition, we license our LifeTime Benefit Term product to Combined Insurance Company of America (Combined Insurance) and for certificates issued prior to January 1, 2022 we reinsured 50% of the business written by Combined Insurance on that product.
The following table sets forth Fidelity Life’s assumed reinsurance liabilities as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:
|
|
As of December 31, 2022 |
|
|
As of December 31, 2021 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Future Policy Benefits |
|
|
Contract Holder Account Balances |
|
|
Other Policyholder Liabilities |
|
|
Total Assumed Liabilities |
|
|
Future Policy Benefits |
|
|
Contract Holder Account Balances |
|
|
Other Policyholder Liabilities |
|
|
Total Assumed Liabilities |
|
||||||||
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reinsurer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
Hannover Bermuda |
$ |
|
(1,441 |
) |
$ |
— |
|
$ |
|
9 |
|
$ |
|
(1,432 |
) |
$ |
|
(1,481 |
) |
$ |
— |
|
$ |
|
10 |
|
$ |
|
(1,471 |
) |
||
Protective Life Insurance Company |
|
|
1,507 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
1,511 |
|
|
|
1,440 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
1,444 |
|
||
Zurich American Life Insurance Company |
|
— |
|
|
|
69,070 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
69,070 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
71,832 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
71,832 |
|
||||
Combined Insurance Company of America |
|
|
60,910 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
1,776 |
|
|
|
62,686 |
|
|
|
47,779 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
3,231 |
|
|
|
51,010 |
|
||
Total |
$ |
|
60,976 |
|
$ |
|
69,070 |
|
$ |
|
1,789 |
|
$ |
|
131,835 |
|
$ |
|
47,738 |
|
$ |
|
71,832 |
|
$ |
|
3,245 |
|
$ |
|
122,815 |
|
Corporate & Other Segment
The results of this segment consist of net investment income and net gains (losses) on investments earned on invested assets. We also include certain corporate expenses that are not allocated to our other segments, including public company costs and other expenses of Vericity, Inc., board expenses, allocation of executive management time spent on corporate matters, and financial reporting and auditing costs related to our consolidation and internal controls. Our Corporate & Other Segment recognizes income (loss) to the extent that net investment income and net gains (losses) on investments exceed (are less than) corporate expenses.
Intellectual Property
The Company and its subsidiaries rely on our proprietary intellectual property to conduct our business. We believe that it is easy for participants in the insurance industry to attempt to copy product and process ideas of other participants. We therefore intend to protect to the fullest extent permitted by law our intellectual property rights in the unique products and sales processes we have developed. We believe that protecting our intellectual property rights and obtaining protection for future innovations will help us to achieve better results over time.
12
Efinancial currently has trade name protection for certain of its key internet domains, including Efinancial.com, termfinder.com, eCoverage.com, and netcoverage.com. Efinancial has also been granted two U.S. patents for its ALISS® agency management system. The patents include tracking and management of leads from purchase through the sales cycle. Real-time modeling is applied to lead sourcing, user identification, purchase intent and identification of the product a customer is most likely to purchase.
We have been granted four U.S. patents related to the RAPIDecision® Life product and its supporting sales and underwriting technology and processes and a separate patent directed to the LifeTime Benefit Term product. We continue to seek additional patent protections for our RAPIDecision® Life product. We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights or avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, and the intellectual property rights we have may not be a meaningful barrier to competition.
Information Technology
Fidelity Life maintains an in-house information technology staff. Fidelity Life’s in-house personnel are supplemented by independent consultants, as needed, for programming, development, and other technology-based efforts.
Fidelity Life maintains a Disaster Recovery Plan under the Enterprise Disaster Recovery Plan umbrella and has put in place various programs to increase our agility in responding to a disaster.
Similar to Fidelity Life, Efinancial maintains an in-house information technology staff. The Efinancial technology team is responsible for developing and maintaining Efinancial’s applications and assisting our internal and external customers. In limited cases, we use outside contractors to provide additional programming and development expertise.
The Bellevue, Des Plaines, and Tempe call centers are connected via high-speed connection to TierPoint and each other. The data and files hosted on the two TierPoint data centers are automatically backed up and duplicated to the other data center nightly and weekly.
Efinancial maintains a Disaster Recovery Plan under the Enterprise Disaster Recovery Plan umbrella.
Cybersecurity
Vericity maintains a dedicated cybersecurity department that manages the Access Review, Cloud Security, Compliance and Privacy, Data Loss Prevention, Endpoint Security, Incident Response, Risk Management, Security Awareness, and Vulnerability Management programs for the entire enterprise. Additionally, in response to the growing threat of cyber-attacks in the insurance industry, certain jurisdictions have begun to consider and adopt new cybersecurity regulations. We take steps to comply with all applicable financial industry cybersecurity regulations and believes we comply in all material respects with current requirements. It must be noted that the patchwork nature of the laws in this area can make it more costly and difficult to ensure compliance. Our Board of Directors oversees cybersecurity risk management and delegates oversight of our information security program to our executive officers and we provide updates to our Board of Directors at each meeting.
Investments
We had total cash and investment assets of $363.6 million as of December 31, 2022. All invested assets are managed pursuant to an investment plan developed by our executive management team and approved by and reviewed annually with the investment committee of our Board of Directors. All changes to the investment plan are approved by the investment committee.
We have contracted with a third-party investment advisory firm to provide portfolio management and consulting services to assist our Chief Financial Officer with the oversight of various portfolios and investment managers that manage portions of our investment portfolio. We utilize multiple investment managers to leverage specialized expertise in specific asset classes. Each investment manager operates under agreed-upon guidelines that are specifically designed for the investment manager’s segment of the overall portfolio. Our investment advisor meets periodically, but not less frequently than quarterly, with the investment committee of our Board of Directors to review portfolio results, portfolio managers and discuss portfolio strategies.
Our investment strategy is to diversify among asset classes and individual issuers to achieve appropriate matching of assets with insurance liabilities, sufficient liquidity and predictability of income. The composition of our investment portfolio supporting our Insurance Segment is primarily investment grade fixed maturity securities and is managed with primary emphasis on current earnings. The Closed Block assets are segregated in a separate portfolio and are managed in accordance with the Closed Block memorandum.
13
Enterprise Risk Management
The review and assessment of enterprise risks is the responsibility of the Vericity, Inc. executive management team with oversight provided by the Board of Directors through its audit committee. We have established risk management policies and procedures throughout our organization. To supervise the implementation of these risk management policies and procedures, we have engaged outside consultants on this topic and have established a risk management committee that consists of members of our senior management team.
In 2015, we launched a multi-phase risk assessment project focused on formalizing our enterprise risk management process covering Efinancial, Fidelity Life, their respective subsidiaries and operations and all corporate activities. Project goals include defining key risks and risk events, establishing corporate risk tolerances and documenting the accountability for the risk management processes. We re-evaluated our program in 2019 and made significant reporting and process improvements and narrowed the focus of our enterprise risk management program. We seek continuous improvement of our program and the program will continue to evolve over time. We currently assess our key risks on four primary measures: impact, likelihood, vulnerability and speed of onset.
Employees & Human Capital
As of December 31, 2022, Fidelity Life had 137 employees and Efinancial had 280 employees. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that relations with our employees are good. Our core values of Putting People First, Operating with Excellence, being Passionate Team Players and Making a Positive Difference help our employees maintain a connected culture of working together to help middle America get access to affordable life insurance products and solutions. We are also committed to helping build a diverse and well rounded employee base where we focus on a stair step approach to maintaining equity, fostering inclusion which ultimately leads to the diversity of people, thoughts and ideas we want to hear and see in all of our employees. We view our employees as part of our overall competitive advantage and the key to a successful future. We monitor competitor, industry and overall economic trends in order to ensure we maintain competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits to attract and retain our talent. We also provide training, education and other development opportunities to ensure our employees can grow and achieve their goals.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
As a publicly traded holding company for a US domiciled life insurance product manufacturer and insurance agency, our primary Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) focus tends to lean toward the social responsibility aspects of ESG. We comply in all material respects with insurance, SEC, NASDAQ and other legal, regulatory or exchange governance requirements. Additionally as we do not manufacture industrial or waste dependent products, do not have a large industrial or commercial real estate footprint and conduct limited travel overall, the environmental impacts of the Company itself are small. We do discuss ESG principles with our third-party investment advisory firm and we monitor the potential impacts of climate change or other environmental considerations as they relate to our ability accurately underwrite our insurance policies. As a provider of a product that is especially important to those who would suffer a great deal of financial hardship due to the death of a loved one, our entire business is focused on social responsibility and providing assistance to people when they may need it the most. As to our employees, as discussed elsewhere in this document we are committed to helping build a diverse and well rounded employee base where we focus on a stair step approach where we work toward maintaining equity, foster inclusion which in turn ultimately leads to a more diverse group of people, thoughts and ideas. We believe that by serving our Middle Market consumers, engaging our diverse and multi-state workforce and ensuring we are offering products and services that help maintain financial security we make a large impact from a social responsibility perspective. We closely follow ESG activities, proposed laws, rules and regulations and we have not currently seen impacts that would cause us to change or further enhance our risk factors as it relates to ESG.
Regulation
Our businesses are subject to a number of federal and state laws and regulations. These laws and regulations cover Fidelity Life operations as a life insurance company and Efinancial’s insurance agency operations. Our operations are subject to extensive laws and governmental regulations, including administrative determinations, court decisions and similar constraints. The purpose of the laws and regulations affecting our operations is primarily to protect our policyholders and not our shareholders. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are regularly re-examined, and existing or future laws and regulations may become more restrictive or otherwise adversely affect our operations. State insurance laws regulate most aspects of our insurance businesses, and we are regulated by the insurance departments of the states in which we sell insurance policies. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) assists the various state insurance regulators in the development, review and implementation of a wide range of financial and other regulations over the insurance industry.
14
Insurance Regulation
Both Fidelity Life and Efinancial are licensed to transact business in all states and jurisdictions in which they conduct an insurance business. Fidelity Life is an Illinois-domiciled life insurance company licensed to transact business in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Fidelity Life is not licensed to transact business in New York or Wyoming. Efinancial is an insurance agency domiciled in the State of Washington and is licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. State insurance laws regulate many aspects of our business. Such regulation is vested primarily in state agencies having broad administrative and in some instances discretionary power dealing with many aspects of our business, which may include, among other things, required reserve liability levels, permitted classes of investments, transactions among affiliates, marketing practices, advertising, privacy, policy forms, reinsurance reserve requirements, acquisitions, mergers, and capital adequacy, and is concerned primarily with the protection of policyholders and other consumers rather than shareholders. We are subject to financial and market conduct examinations by insurance regulators from our domiciliary states and from other states in which we do business and are currently undergoing such a financial examination by the Illinois Department of Insurance.
State laws and regulations governing the financial condition of insurers apply to Fidelity Life, including standards of solvency, risk-based capital requirements, types, quality and concentration of investments, establishment and maintenance of reserves, required methods of accounting, reinsurance and minimum capital and surplus requirements, and the business conduct of insurers, including sales and marketing practices, claim procedures and practices, and policy form content. In addition, state insurance laws require licensing of insurers and their agents. State insurance regulators have the power to grant, suspend and revoke licenses to transact business and to impose substantial fines and other penalties.
Agent Licensing
Efinancial (or its designated representative) is authorized to act as an insurance producer under company licenses or licenses held by its officers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In each jurisdiction in which Efinancial transacts business, it is generally subject to regulation regarding licensing, sales and marketing practices, premium collection and safekeeping, and other market conduct practices. Its business depends on the validity of, and continued good standing under, the licenses and approvals pursuant to which it operates, as well as compliance with pertinent regulations. We devote significant effort toward maintaining licenses for Efinancial and managing its operations and practices consistent with the diverse and complex regulatory environment in which we operate.
Fidelity Life sells its insurance products through Efinancial and independent distributors. Efinancial employs insurance agents working in its call centers and also works with independent insurance agents. The states in which insurance agents operate require agents to obtain and maintain licenses to sell insurance products. In order to sell insurance products, the agents must be licensed by their resident state and by any other state in which they do business and must comply with regulations regarding licensing, sales and marketing practices, premium collection and safeguarding, and other market conduct practices. In addition, in most states, Fidelity Life must appoint the agents and agencies that sell our insurance products, and Efinancial and the agents that they work with must be appointed by all carriers for which they sell.
Consistent with various federal and state legal requirements, we monitor our agents that sell for Fidelity Life and Efinancial, and we monitor the agencies with which the independent distributors and independent agents work in order to understand and evaluate the agencies’ training and general supervision programs relevant to regulatory compliance. For Efinancial’s call center agents using telephone sales, we periodically record and monitor the sales calls in order to identify and correct potential regulatory compliance problems.
Financial Review
Fidelity Life is required to file detailed annual and quarterly financial reports with the insurance departments in the states in which we do business, and its business and accounts are subject to examination by such agencies at any time. These examinations generally are conducted under NAIC guidelines. Under the rules of these jurisdictions, insurance companies are examined periodically (generally every three to five years) by one or more of the supervisory agencies on behalf of the states in which they do business.
Market Conduct Regulation
The laws and regulations governing our insurance businesses include numerous provisions governing the marketplace activities of insurers, such as Fidelity Life, and agencies, such as Efinancial, including regulations governing the form and content of disclosures to consumers, advertising, product replacement, sales and underwriting practices, complaint handling, and claims handling. State insurance regulators enforce compliance, in part, through periodic market conduct examinations.
Insurance Holding Company Regulation
All states in which Fidelity Life conducts insurance business have enacted legislation that requires each insurance company in a holding company system to register with the insurance regulatory authority of its state of domicile and to furnish that regulatory authority
15
financial and other information concerning the operations of, and the interrelationships and transactions among, companies within its holding company system that may materially affect the operations, management or financial condition of the insurers within the system. These laws and regulations also regulate transactions between insurance companies and their parents and affiliates. Generally, these laws and regulations require that all transactions within a holding company system between an insurer and its affiliates be fair and reasonable and that the insurer’s statutory surplus following any transaction with an affiliate be both reasonable in relation to its outstanding liabilities and adequate to its financial needs. Statutory surplus is the excess of admitted assets over statutory liabilities. For certain types of agreements and transactions between an insurer and its affiliates, these laws and regulations require prior notification to, and non-disapproval or approval by, the insurance regulatory authority of the insurer’s state of domicile. These laws and regulations also require the holding company system to file an annual report identifying certain risks (“enterprise risks”) that, if not remedied, are likely to have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition of the insurer or its holding company system as a whole.
Dividend Limitations
As a holding company with no significant business operations of its own, Vericity, Inc. depends on intercompany dividends or other distributions from its subsidiaries as the principal source of cash to meet its obligations. The ability of Fidelity Life to pay dividends to its corporate parent is limited under Illinois law. Such dividends may only be paid out of earned surplus (excluding unrealized capital gains), and no dividend may be paid that would reduce Fidelity Life’s statutory surplus to less than the amount required to be maintained by Illinois law for the types of business transacted by Fidelity Life. All intercompany dividends must be reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance prior to payment. In addition, Fidelity Life may not pay an “extraordinary” dividend or distribution until 30 days after the Illinois Director of Insurance (“the Director”) has received sufficient notice of the intended payment and has not objected or has approved the payment within the 30-day period. An “extraordinary” dividend or distribution is defined under Illinois law as a dividend or distribution that, together with other dividends and distributions made within the preceding 12 months, exceeds the greater of:
As a result of no shareholder dividends in 2022, Fidelity Life’s remaining ordinary dividend capacity on December 31, 2022 was $9.8 million. In connection with the approval of the Conversion by the Director, we agreed, for a period of twenty-four months following the completion of the Conversion, to (i) seek the prior approval of the Illinois Department of Insurance for any declaration of an ordinary dividend by Fidelity Life, and (ii) either maintain $20 million of the proceeds of the offering at Vericity, Inc. or use all or a portion of that $20 million to fund our operations. To date we have not requested any such dividend and the 24 month prior approval for ordinary dividends expired in August of 2021.
Efinancial is not subject to the above dividend restrictions that relate to Fidelity Life.
Change of Control
Illinois law requires advance approval by the Director of any direct or indirect change of control of an Illinois-domiciled insurer, such as Fidelity Life. In considering an application to acquire control of an insurer, the Director generally will consider such factors as experience, competence, and the financial strength of the applicant, the integrity of the applicant’s Board of Directors and officers, the acquirer’s plans for the management and operation of the insurer, and any anti-competitive effects that may result from the acquisition. Under Illinois law, there exists a presumption of “control” when an acquiring party acquires 10% or more of the voting securities of an insurance company or of a company which itself controls an insurance company. Therefore, any person acquiring, directly or indirectly, 10% or more of our common stock would need the prior approval of the Director, or a determination from the Director that “control” has not been acquired. Under Section 59.1(6)(i) of the Illinois Insurance Code, no person or a group of persons acting in concert (other than the Standby Purchaser in the Company’s IPO), may acquire, directly or indirectly, more than 5% of the capital stock of Vericity, Inc. for a period of five years from the effective date of the Conversion without the approval of the Director.
In addition, a person seeking to acquire, directly or indirectly, control of an insurance company is required in some states to make filings prior to completing an acquisition if the acquirer and the target insurance company and their affiliates have sufficiently large market shares in particular lines of insurance in those states. Approval of an acquisition may not be required in these states, but the state insurance departments could take action to impose conditions on an acquisition that could delay or prevent its consummation.
Policy and Contract Reserve Sufficiency
Fidelity Life is required under Illinois law to conduct annual analyses of the sufficiency of its life insurance and annuity statutory reserves. In addition, other states in which Fidelity Life is licensed may have certain reserve requirements that differ from those of Illinois. In each case, a qualified actuary must submit an opinion each year that states that the aggregate statutory reserves, when considered in light of the assets held with respect to such reserves, make good and sufficient provision for the associated contractual
16
obligations and related expenses of the insurer. If such an opinion cannot be provided, the affected insurer must set up additional reserves by moving funds from surplus. Fidelity Life submitted these opinions without qualification as of December 31, 2022 to applicable insurance regulatory authorities.
Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Requirements
The NAIC has established a standard for assessing the solvency of insurance companies using a formula for determining each insurer’s RBC. The RBC model act provides that life insurance companies must submit an annual RBC report to state regulators reporting their RBC based upon four categories of risk: asset risk, insurance risk, interest rate risk and business risk. For each category, the capital requirement is determined by applying factors to various asset, premium and reserve items, with the factor being higher for those items with greater underlying risk and lower for less risky items. The formula is intended to be used by insurance regulators as an early warning tool to identify possible weakly capitalized companies for purposes of initiating further regulatory action. Companies that do not maintain total adjusted risk-based capital in excess of 200% of the company’s authorized control level RBC may be required to take specific actions at the direction of state insurance regulators. Fidelity Life’s total adjusted capital at December 31, 2022 was well in excess of 200% of its authorized control level. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation—Risk-Based Capital.”
NAIC Ratios
The NAIC is a voluntary association of state insurance commissioners formed to discuss issues and formulate policy with respect to regulation, reporting and accounting of insurance companies. Although the NAIC has no legislative authority and insurance companies are at all times subject to the laws of their respective domiciliary states, and to a lesser extent, other states in which they conduct business, the NAIC is influential in determining the form in which such laws are enacted. Model insurance laws, regulations and guidelines have been promulgated by the NAIC as minimum standards by which state regulatory systems and regulations are measured.
The NAIC also has established a set of 12 financial ratios to assess the financial strength of insurance companies. The key financial ratios of the NAIC’s Insurance Regulatory Information System, or IRIS, which were developed to assist insurance departments in overseeing the financial condition of insurance companies, are reviewed by experienced financial examiners of the NAIC and state insurance departments to select those companies that merit highest priority in the allocation of the regulators’ resources. IRIS identifies these key financial ratios and specifies a range of “unusual values” for each ratio. The NAIC suggests that insurance companies that fall outside the “usual” range in four or more financial ratios are those most likely to require analysis by state regulators. However, according to the NAIC, it may not be unusual for a financially sound company to have several ratios outside the “usual” range. For the year ended December 31, 2022, Fidelity Life was within the “usual” range for all ratios.
Statutory Accounting Principles (SAP)
SAP is a basis of accounting developed by U.S. insurance regulators to monitor and regulate the solvency of insurance companies. In developing SAP, insurance regulators were primarily concerned with evaluating an insurer’s ability to pay all its current and future obligations to policyholders. As a result, statutory accounting focuses on conservatively valuing the assets and liabilities of insurers, generally in accordance with standards specified by the insurer’s domiciliary jurisdiction. Uniform statutory accounting practices are established by the NAIC and generally adopted by regulators in the various U.S. jurisdictions. These accounting principles differ somewhat from GAAP, which are designed to measure a business on a going-concern basis. GAAP gives consideration to matching of revenue and expenses and, as a result, certain insurer expenses are capitalized when incurred and then amortized over the life of the associated policies. The valuation of assets and liabilities under GAAP is based in part upon best estimate assumptions made by the insurer. Shareholders’ equity under GAAP represents both amounts currently available and amounts expected to emerge over the life of the business. As a result, the values for assets, liabilities and equity reflected in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP may be different from those reflected in financial statements prepared under SAP.
State insurance laws and regulations require Fidelity Life to file with state insurance departments publicly available quarterly and annual financial statements, prepared in accordance with statutory guidelines that generally follow NAIC uniform standards. State insurance laws require that the annual statutory financial statements be audited by an independent public accountant and that the audited statements be filed with the insurance departments in states where the insurer transacts business.
State Insurance Guaranty Funds Laws
In most states, there is a requirement that life insurers doing business within the state participate in a guaranty association, which is organized to pay contractual benefits owed pursuant to insurance policies issued by impaired, insolvent or failed insurers. These associations levy assessments, up to prescribed limits, on all member insurers in a particular state on the basis of the proportionate share
17
of the written premium in the state by member insurers in the lines of business in which the impaired, insolvent or failed insurer is engaged. Some states permit member insurers to recover such paid assessments through full or partial premium tax offsets.
Life insurance company insolvencies or failures may result in additional guaranty association assessments against Fidelity Life in the future. At this time, we are not aware of any material liabilities for guaranty fund assessments that apply to Fidelity Life with respect to impaired or insolvent insurers that are currently subject to insolvency proceedings.
Regulation of Investments
Fidelity Life is subject to state laws and regulations that require diversification of its investment portfolios and limit the amount of investments in certain asset categories, such as below-investment grade fixed-income securities, equity real estate, mortgages, other equity investments, foreign investments and derivatives. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations would cause investments exceeding regulatory limitations to be treated as non-admitted assets for purposes of measuring statutory surplus, and, in most instances, require divestiture.
Federal and State Legislative and Regulatory Changes
From time to time, various regulatory and legislative changes have been proposed for the insurance industry. Among the proposals that have in the past been or are at present being considered are the possible introduction of federal regulation in addition to, or in lieu of, the current system of state regulation of insurers and proposals in various state legislatures (some of which proposals have been enacted) to conform portions of their insurance laws and regulations to various model acts adopted by the NAIC. We are unable to predict whether any of these proposed laws and regulations will be adopted, the form in which any such laws and regulations would be adopted or the effect, if any, these developments would have on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Other Laws and Regulations
USA Patriot Act and Similar Regulations
The USA Patriot Act of 2001, enacted in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, contains anti-money laundering and financial transparency laws and mandates the implementation of various regulations applicable to broker-dealers and other financial services companies, including insurance companies. The Patriot Act seeks to promote cooperation among financial institutions, regulators and law enforcement entities in identifying parties that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering. The increased obligations of financial institutions to identify their customers, watch for and report suspicious transactions, respond to requests for information by regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies, and share information with other financial institutions, require the implementation and maintenance of internal practices, procedures and controls.
Privacy of Consumer Information
U.S. federal and state laws and regulations require financial institutions, including insurance companies, to protect the security and confidentiality of consumer financial information and to notify consumers about their policies and practices relating to their collection and disclosure of consumer information and their policies relating to protecting the security and confidentiality of that information. Similarly, federal and state laws and regulations also govern the disclosure and security of consumer health information. In particular, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulate the disclosure and use of protected health information by health insurers and others (including life insurers), the physical and procedural safeguards employed to protect the security of that information and the electronic transmission of such information.
Telephone and Email Solicitation Sales Regulations
The United States Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and various states have promulgated and enacted rules and laws that govern personal privacy, telephone and email solicitations and data privacy. There are numerous state statutes and regulations governing phone and email solicitation activities that apply or may apply to us. For example, some states place restrictions on the methods and timing of telephone solicitation calls and require that certain mandatory disclosures be made during the course of a call. We specifically train our retail call center sales agents to handle calls in an approved manner, and such compliance training is costly and time consuming. Federal and state “Do Not Call” regulations must be followed for us to engage in telephone sales activities. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission has promulgated rules in response to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 that regulates the use of electronic mail in commercial contexts. This regulation applies to all electronic mail for which the primary purpose is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service.
18
Federal Income Taxation
The U.S. Congress and state and local governments consider from time-to-time legislation that could increase or change the manner of taxing the products Fidelity Life sells and of calculating the amount of taxes paid by life insurance companies or other corporations, including Fidelity Life. To the extent that any such legislation is enacted in the future, we could be adversely affected.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
In addition to the risks delineated throughout Item 1, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) in many countries continues to adversely impact global commercial activity and has contributed to significant volatility in financial markets. The measures governments worldwide have enacted to combat the pandemic have resulted in disruptions in global and local supply chains and have led to adverse impacts on economic and market conditions as well as increases in unemployment. The severity of COVID-19 and duration of government containment actions have impacted both employees and customers of the Company and presented material uncertainty and risk with respect to the Company’s performance, liquidity, results of operations, and financial condition.
The stress and disruption placed on the global economy and financial markets from the outbreak of COVID-19 may continue to have near and long-term negative effects on investment valuations, returns, and credit allowance exposure. The Company will continue to closely monitor the situation, including potential negative impacts on sales of new policies and mortality; however, due to the highly uncertain nature of these conditions, it is not possible to reliably estimate the length and severity of COVID-19 or its impact to the Company’s operations, but the effect could be material.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None
Item 2. Properties.
We operate from three locations that are leased from unaffiliated parties. Vericity, Inc. and Fidelity Life are headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois at 1350 E. Touhy Avenue, Suite 205W. Efinancial is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington at 1203 114th Avenue, Southeast. Efinancial has a call center in Des Plaines, Bellevue and Tempe, Arizona. In total, the three locations can house in excess of 200 employees. During the COVID pandemic we began transitioning most employee roles to remote capable roles. Today we operate as a remote first workforce and our locations supplement those remote capabilities to provide hybrid work location alternatives for our employees.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
We are, from time to time, involved in various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business. These matters often raise difficult and complicated factual and legal issues and are subject to many uncertainties and complexities, including but not limited to the underlying facts of each matter; novel legal issues; differences or developments in applicable laws and judicial interpretations; class certification issues; judges reconsidering prior rulings; the length of time before many of these matters might be resolved by settlement, through litigation, or otherwise.
The outcome of these matters may be affected by many factors included but not limited to decisions, verdicts, and settlements in other individual and class action lawsuits that involve the Company, other insurers, or other entities and/or by other legal, governmental, and regulatory actions that involve the Company, other insurers, or other entities.
While it is not possible to forecast the outcome of such legal proceedings, in light of known facts, current issues under consideration via motions to dismiss or otherwise, existing insurance, reinsurance, and established reserves, we believe that there is no individual or class action case pending against the Company that is currently likely to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Non-Applicable
19
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “VERY.”
On November 6, 2019, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had declared a special one-time cash distribution of $6.25 per share to common shareholders of record on November 21, 2019, that was paid on December 6, 2019. The cash distribution totaled approximately $93 million. The cash distribution was declared after the completion of a capital needs assessment undertaken by Vericity, Inc. management at the direction of the Board of Directors, following the closing of the Company’s IPO.
Since we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends depends in large measure on our subsidiaries' ability to make distributions of cash or property to us. Illinois insurance laws restrict the amount of distributions Fidelity Life can pay to us without the approval of the Director. See Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Note 9 to our audited consolidated financial statements, which are incorporated by reference in this Item 5. In connection with the approval of the Conversion by the Director, we agreed, for a period of twenty-four months following the completion of the Conversion, to (i) seek the prior approval of the Illinois Department of Insurance for any declaration of an ordinary dividend by Fidelity Life, and (ii) either maintain $20 million of the proceeds of the IPO at Vericity, Inc. or use all or a portion of that $20 million to fund our operations. While this time period has now expired, Fidelity Life did not request approval or declare a dividend during that time period.
As of March 28, 2023, the Company had 905 shareholders of record of common stock.
Use of IPO Proceeds
The Company completed its IPO on August 7, 2019, pursuant to a Form S-1 declared effective by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 20, 2019 (File No. 333-231952). Below are further details of the use of the IPO proceeds: Vericity, Inc. registered the sale of a maximum of 20,125,000 shares, of which 14,875,000 were sold in the IPO. Raymond James served as managing underwriter in the IPO.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
As a smaller reporting company, as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K, the Company has elected to comply with certain scaled disclosure reporting obligations, and therefore is not required to provide the information required by Item 301 of Regulation S-K.
20
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Forward-Looking Statements
This Form 10-K contains “forward-looking” statements that are intended to enhance the reader’s ability to assess our future financial and business performance. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that represent our beliefs concerning future operations, strategies, financial results or other developments, and contain words and phrases such as “may,” “expects,” “should,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends” or similar expressions. In addition, statements that refer to our future financial performance, anticipated growth and trends in our business and in our industry and other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Because these forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions that are subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control or are subject to change, actual results could be materially different.
Consequently, such forward-looking statements should be regarded solely as our current plans, estimates and beliefs with respect to, among other things, future events and financial performance. Except as required under the federal securities laws, we do not intend, and do not undertake, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
The forward-looking statements include, among other things, those items listed below: