Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefits in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and, to a limited extent, in certain other countries. The principal operating subsidiaries in the United States are Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum America), Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company (Provident), The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company (Paul Revere Life), Colonial Li...
Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefits in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and, to a limited extent, in certain other countries. The principal operating subsidiaries in the United States are Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum America), Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company (Provident), The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company (Paul Revere Life), Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, Unum Insurance Company, and Starmount Life Insurance Company (Starmount). In the United Kingdom, the company operates through Unum Limited, and in Poland, through Unum Zycie TUiR S.A. (Unum Poland). The company’s products include disability, life, accident, critical illness, dental, and vision, as well as other related services. The company markets its products primarily through the workplace.
The benefits provided by the company help the working world thrive throughout life's moments and protect people from the financial hardship of illness, injury, or loss of life. As a leading provider of employee benefits, the company offers a broad portfolio of products and services through the workplace that provide support when it is needed most.
Specifically, the company offers disability, life, and voluntary products, on both individual and group bases, as well as certain fee-based services. These products and services, which can be sold stand-alone or combined with other coverages, help employers of all sizes attract and retain the talented and capable workforce they need to succeed, while protecting the incomes and livelihood of their employees.
Business Strategies
The company’s strategy remains centered on growing its core businesses through investing and transforming its operations and technology to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of the marketplace, driving enhanced customer experiences, and expanding into new adjacent markets through meaningful partnerships and effective deployment of its capital across its portfolio. The company continues to analyze and employ strategies that will help it navigate the current environment and allow it to maintain financial flexibility to support the needs of its businesses, while also allowing it to return capital to its shareholders.
Segments
The company has three principal operating segments: Unum US, Unum International, and Colonial Life.
Unum US Segment
The company’s Unum US segment consists of group disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment, as well as supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The group disability line of business includes long-term and short-term disability, medical stop-loss, and fee-based service products. The supplemental and voluntary line of business includes voluntary benefits, individual disability, and dental and vision products. Unum US products are issued primarily by Unum America, Provident, Starmount, and Unum Insurance Company. These products, excluding medical stop-loss, which is no longer marketed as of the third quarter of 2024, are marketed through the company’s field sales personnel, who work in conjunction with independent brokers and consultants. The company’s market strategy for Unum US is to effectively deliver an integrated offering of employee benefit products in the group core market, which it defines for Unum US as employee groups, the group large case market, and the supplemental and voluntary market.
Group Long-term and Short-term Disability
The company sells group long-term and short-term disability products to employers for the benefit of employees.
Group long-term disability provides employees with insurance coverage for loss of income in the event of extended work absences due to sickness or injury. The company offers services to employers and insureds to encourage and facilitate rehabilitation, retraining, and re-employment. Most policies begin providing benefits following 90 or 180 day waiting periods and continue providing benefits until the employee reaches a certain age, generally between 65 and 70, or recovers from the disability. The benefits are limited to specified maximums as a percentage of income. Also included in the company’s long-term disability product line is its medical stop-loss product, which is no longer actively marketed as of the third quarter of 2024. As the company’s medical stop-loss contracts were renewable on an annual basis, no medical stop-loss policies will remain in-force as of the third quarter of 2025. This product was designed to protect self-insured employers if their employees' medical claims exceed certain agreed-upon thresholds.
Group short-term disability insurance generally provides coverage from loss of income due to injury or sickness for up to 26 weeks and is limited to specified maximums as a percentage of income. Benefits are typically effective after 0 to 30 days for accidents and after 7 to 30 days for sickness.
The company’s fee-based services include leave management and administrative services only (ASO) business. Leave management services provide administrative services on behalf of employers to ensure the protected leave eligibility and status for employees are in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. ASO products provide administrative services regarding claims processing and billing for self-insured customers for which the responsibility for funding claim payments remains with the customer.
Premiums for group long-term and short-term disability are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. In some cases, coverage for large employers will include retrospective experience rating provisions or will be underwritten on an experience-rated basis. Premiums for experience-rated group long-term and short-term disability business are based on the expected experience of the client, given its demographics, industry group, and location, adjusted for the credibility of the specific claim experience of the client. Both group long-term and short-term disability are sold primarily on a basis permitting periodic repricing to address the underlying claims experience. Fees for the company’s leave management services and ASO business are generally based on the number of covered employees and an agreed-upon per-employee, per-month rate. Premiums for the company’s medical stop-loss product were generally based on the number of covered employees in self-insured employer groups and their estimated overall health risk, plus provisions for administrative expenses and profit.
The company has defined underwriting practices and procedures. If the coverage amount for its disability policies exceeds certain prescribed age and amount limits, the company may require a prospective insured to submit evidence of insurability. The company’s disability policies are typically issued, both at inception and renewal, with rate guarantees. For new group policyholders, the usual rate guarantee is one to three years. Profitability of group long-term and short-term disability insurance is affected by sales, persistency, investment returns, claims experience, and the level of administrative expenses.
Group Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment
Group life and accidental death and dismemberment products are sold to employers as employee benefit products. Group life consists primarily of renewable term life insurance, with the coverages frequently linked to employees' wages and includes a provision for waiver of premium, if disabled. Accidental death and dismemberment consists primarily of an additional benefit amount payable if death or severe injury is attributable to an accident.
Premiums are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. Underwriting practices and rate guarantees are similar to those used for group disability products, and evidence of insurability is required for benefits in excess of a specified limit.
Profitability of group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance is affected by persistency, investment returns, mortality and other claims experience, and the level of administrative expenses.
Voluntary Benefits
Voluntary benefits products are primarily sold to groups of employees through payroll deduction at the workplace and include accident, disability, life, hospital indemnity, cancer, and critical illness. Products are issued on both a group and individual basis.
Premiums are generally based on assumptions for morbidity, mortality, persistency, administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. The company develops its assumptions based on its own experience and published industry tables. However, underwriting requirements are often waived for cases that meet certain criteria, including participation levels. Individual voluntary benefits products, other than life insurance, are offered on a guaranteed renewable basis, which allows the company to reprice in-force policies, subject to regulatory approval. Group voluntary benefits products are offered primarily on an optionally renewable basis, which allows the company to reprice or terminate in-force policies.
Profitability of voluntary benefits products is affected by the level of employee participation, persistency, investment returns, mortality and other claims experience, and the level of administrative expenses.
Individual Disability
Individual disability products are offered primarily to multi-life employer groups to supplement their group disability plans and may be funded by the employer, but the majority of its individual disability policies are entirely owned by the employee and are portable. Individual disability insurance provides the insured with a portion of earned income lost as a result of sickness or injury. The benefits, including the underlying group disability coverage, typically range from 30 percent to 75 percent of the insured's monthly earned income. The company provides various options with respect to length of benefit periods, product features, and waiting periods before benefit payments begin, which permit tailoring of the multi-life plan to a specific employer's needs. The company also markets individual disability policies which include payments for the transfer of business ownership between partners and payments for business overhead expenses, also on a multi-life basis. Individual disability products do not provide for the accumulation of cash values.
Premium rates for individual disability products vary by age, product features, industry, region, and occupation based on assumptions concerning morbidity, mortality, persistency, administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. The company develops its assumptions based on its own experience. The company’s underwriting rules, issue limits, and plan designs reflect risk and the financial circumstances of prospective insureds. Individuals in multi-life groups may be subject to limited medical underwriting. The majority of the company’s individual disability policies are written on a noncancelable basis. Under a noncancelable policy, as long as the insured continues to pay the fixed annual premium for the policy's duration, the company cannot cancel the policy or change the premium.
Dental and Vision
Group dental and vision products are sold to employers as employee benefit products. The company’s group dental products include a variety of insured and self-insured dental care plans, including preferred provider organizations and scheduled reimbursement plans. The company’s group vision products provide coverage that includes a range of both in-network and out-of-network benefits for routine vision services offered either in conjunction with its dental product offerings or as stand-alone coverage.
Premiums for small case group dental and vision products are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus a provision for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. Premiums for large employer groups are underwritten on an experience-rated basis.
Unum International Segment
The company’s Unum International segment includes its operations in the United Kingdom and Poland. Unum UK's business includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business, which include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products. Unum Poland's business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. Unum International's products are sold primarily through field sales personnel and independent brokers and consultants. The market strategy for the segment is to offer benefits to employers and employees through the workplace, with a focus on the expansion of the number of employers and employees covered in the company’s Unum UK business, and the growth of the existing Unum Poland business through the incorporation of its benefits and distribution expertise.
Unum UK Group Long-term Disability
Group long-term disability products are sold to employers for the benefit of employees. Group long-term disability provides employees with insurance coverage for loss of income in the event of extended work absences due to sickness or injury. Services are offered to employers and insureds to encourage and facilitate rehabilitation, retraining, and re-employment. Most policies begin providing benefits following 90 or 180 day waiting periods and continue providing benefits until the employee reaches a certain age or reaches the end of the limited period specified in the policy terms. The benefits are limited to specified maximums as a percentage of income.
Premiums for group long-term disability are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. Some cases carry experience rating provisions. Premiums for experience-rated group long-term disability business are based on the expected experience of the client, given its demographics, industry group, and location, adjusted for the credibility of the specific claim experience of the client. Policies are sold primarily on a basis permitting periodic repricing to address the underlying claims experience. The company has defined underwriting practices and procedures.
Unum UK Group Life
Group life products are sold to employers as employee benefit products. Group life consists of two types of products: a renewable term life insurance product and a group dependent life product. The renewable term life product provides a lump sum benefit to the beneficiary upon the death of an employee. The group dependent life product, which the company discontinued offering to new customers in 2012, provides an annuity to the beneficiary upon the death of an employee. Both coverages are frequently linked to employees' wages. Premiums for group life are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. Underwriting and rate guarantees are similar to those utilized for Unum UK group long-term disability products.
Unum UK Supplemental
Supplemental products are sold to employers and groups of employees and include group critical illness and group dental products. Group critical illness products provide a lump-sum benefit on the occurrence of a covered critical illness event. Group dental products generally provide fixed benefits based on specified treatments or a portion of the cost of the treatment. Beginning in 2022, supplemental products are no longer actively marketed to individual customers.
Premiums for group critical illness products are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. Underwriting and rate guarantees are similar to those utilized for Unum UK group long-term disability products. Premiums for group dental products are generally based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses and profit, with minor pricing variation based on the number of covered employees in the group.
Unum Poland
Unum Poland products, which include both individual and group life products, provide renewable term and whole life insurance with accident and health riders. Premiums are based on expected claims of a pool of similar risks, plus provisions for administrative expenses, investment income, and profit.
Colonial Life Segment
The company’s Colonial Life segment includes the accident, sickness, and disability product line, life product line, and cancer and critical illness product line. Products are issued primarily by Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company and marketed to employees, on both a group and an individual basis, at the workplace through an independent contractor agent sales force and brokers. The company’s market strategy for Colonial Life is to effectively deliver a broad set of voluntary products and services in the public sector and in the commercial sector, with a particular focus on the core market, which it defines for Colonial Life as accounts.
The company’s underwriters evaluate the medical condition of prospective policyholders prior to the issuance of a policy on a simplified basis.
Accident, Sickness, and Disability
The accident, sickness, and disability product line consists of short-term disability policies, accident-only policies providing benefits for injuries on a specified loss basis, and its dental and vision policies. It also includes accident and health policies, which cover events, such as hospital admissions, confinement, and surgeries.
Premiums are generally based on assumptions for morbidity, mortality, persistency, administrative expenses, investment income, and profit. The company develops its assumptions based on its own experience and published industry tables. Premiums are primarily individual guaranteed renewable, which allows the company to change premiums on a state-by-state basis. Some policies are written on a group basis, which are offered primarily on an optionally renewable basis, allowing the company to reprice or terminate in-force policies. Premiums for the company’s dental and vision products are guaranteed renewable, with rates that vary by age and region.
Life
Life products primarily consist of universal life, whole life, and term life policies. The company develops its assumptions based on its own experience and published industry tables. Premiums for the individual whole life and term life products are guaranteed for the life of the contract. Premiums for the individual universal life products are flexible and may vary at the individual policyholder level. For the group term life products, the company retains the right to change premiums at the account level based on the experience of the account.
Cancer and Critical Illness
Cancer policies provide various benefits for the treatment of cancer, including hospitalization, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Critical illness policies provide a lump-sum benefit and/or fixed payments on the occurrence of a covered critical illness event.
Closed Block Segment
The company’s Closed Block segment consists of group and individual long-term care and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. Closed Block segment premium income for 2024 consisted of approximately 79 percent group and individual long-term care and 21 percent other insurance products.
Group and Individual Long-term Care
Group long-term care was previously offered to employers for the benefit of employees. Individual long-term care was previously marketed on a single-life customer basis. The company’s long-term care insurance was sold on a guaranteed renewable basis, which allows the company to reprice in-force policies, subject to regulatory approval.
Other
Other insurance products not actively marketed include individual disability, group pension, individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, and other miscellaneous product lines. The majority of these products had been reinsured, with approximately 84 percent of reserves as of December 31, 2024, ceded to other insurance companies.
Regulation
The company is also regulated by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on a national basis, primarily for the protection of policyholders.
The company’s U.K. insurance subsidiary, Unum Limited, is subject to dual regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The company’s Polish insurance subsidiary, Unum Zycie TUiR, is subject to regulation by the Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego (KNF) of the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA) in Poland.
The domiciliary states of the company’s U.S. insurance subsidiaries have all adopted a version of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) RBC Model Act, which prescribes a system for assessing the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus for all life and health insurers.
All states where the company’s traditional U.S. insurance subsidiaries are domiciled require insurers to conduct, at least annually, an own risk and solvency assessment (ORSA), which provides a group-level perspective on the risks of current and future business plans and the sufficiency of capital to support those risks.
The company’s lead state regulator, the Maine Bureau of Insurance (MBOI), adopted the NAIC GCC standards, and the company submits its GCC report to the MBOI annually.
The company is also monitoring the International Association of Insurance Supervisors' (IAIS) development of new capital requirements applicable to Internationally Active Insurance Groups (IAIGs).
The PRA has statutory requirements, including capital adequacy and liquidity requirements, and minimum solvency margins, to which Unum Limited must adhere as part of the provisions of the U.K. Solvency II, the system of prudential regulation applying in the U.K., which prescribes capital requirements and risk management standards. The company’s U.K. holding company is also subject to the U.K. Solvency II requirements relevant to insurance holding companies, while its subsidiaries (the Unum UK Solvency II Group), which include Unum Limited, are subject to group and individual supervision under the U.K. Solvency II. The Unum UK Solvency II Group received approval from the PRA to use its own internal model for calculating regulatory capital and also received approval for certain associated regulatory permissions, including transitional relief, which applies until January 2032.
Certain of the company’s insurance products are also subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and regulates the disclosure and use of protected health information.
The General Data Protection Regulation of the EU and the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (collectively referred to as ‘the GDPR’) establish the legal framework for the company’s EU and U.K. entities that collect and process information from individuals who reside in the EU and the U.K., respectively.
The company is subject to U.S. federal laws and regulations generally applicable to public companies, including the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York Stock Exchange relating to public reporting and disclosure, accounting and financial reporting, corporate governance, and securities trading.
History
Unum Group was founded in 1848. The company was incorporated in 1995.
