Prudential Financial, Inc. (“Prudential Financial” or “PFI”), a global financial ~~wellness~~services leader and premier active global investment manager with approximately ~~$1.721~~$1.742 trillion of assets under management as of December 31, ~~2020,~~2021, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Through our subsidiaries and affiliates we offer a wide array of financial products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related products and services, mutual funds and investment management. We offer these products and services to individual and institutional customers through proprietary and third-party distribution networks. Our principal executive offices are located in Newark, New Jersey, and Prudential Financial’s Common Stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “PRU”.

On December 18, 2001, ~~PICA~~The Prudential Insurance Company of America (“PICA”) converted from a mutual life insurance company owned by its policyholders to a stock life insurance company and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The demutualization was carried out under PICA’s Plan of Reorganization, which required us to establish and operate a regulatory mechanism known as the “Closed ~~Block.”~~Block”. The Closed Block includes certain in-force participating insurance and annuity products and corresponding assets that are used for the payment of benefits and policyholders’ dividends on these products, as well as certain related assets and liabilities.

Our principal operations consist of PGIM (our global investment management business), our U.S. Businesses (consisting of our ~~U.S. Workplace Solutions, U.S.~~Retirement, Group Insurance, Individual ~~Solutions,~~Annuities, Individual Life and Assurance IQ ~~divisions)~~businesses), our International Businesses, the Closed Block division and our Corporate and Other operations. The U.S. Workplace Solutions division consists of our Retirement and Group Insurance businesses; the U.S. Individual Solutions division consists of our Individual Annuities and Individual Life businesses; and the Assurance IQ division consists of our Assurance IQ business, which we acquired in October 2019. See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information related to this acquisition. The Closed Block division is accounted for as a divested business that is reported separately from the Divested and Run-off Businesses that are included in Corporate and Other. Divested and Run-off Businesses are composed of businesses that have been, or will be, sold or exited, including businesses that have been placed in wind-down status that do not qualify for “discontinued operations” accounting treatment under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). Our Corporate and Other operations include corporate items and initiatives that are not allocated to business segments ~~and~~as well as the Divested and Run-off Businesses as described above. See Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for revenues, income and loss, and total assets by segment.

In October 2021, as part of the Company’s multi-year business transformation effort, we announced the creation of Retirement Strategies, a new U.S. business that will serve the retirement needs of both individual and institutional customers. This business will bring the financial solutions and capabilities of our Individual Annuities business together with the institutional investment and pension solutions offered through our Retirement business. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the new leadership team was assembled and began making decisions regarding the business’s operating structure. When this new structure is finalized and operational, the presentation of our segment results may be modified to conform to this new structure.

Our strategy centers on our mix of high-quality protection, retirement and investment management businesses which creates growth potential due to earnings diversification and the opportunity to provide customers with integrated cross-business solutions, as well as capital benefits from a balanced risk profile. We are well-positioned to meet the needs of customers and tap into significant market opportunities through PGIM, our U.S. Businesses and our International Businesses. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information.

Provides investment management services and solutions related to public fixed income, public equity, real estate debt and equity, private credit and other alternatives, and multi-asset class strategies, to institutional and retail clients globally, as well as our general account.

Develops and distributes a full range of group life, long-term and short-term group disability, and group corporate-, bank- and trust-owned life insurance in the U.S. primarily to institutional clients for use in connection with employee and membership benefits plans. Also sells accidental death and dismemberment and other supplemental health solutions and provides plan administration services in connection with its insurance coverages.

Develops and distributes variable life, term life and universal life insurance products primarily to U.S. mass middle (households with investable assets in excess of $25,000 or annual income in excess of $50,000), mass affluent (households with investable assets or annual income in excess of $100,000) and affluent (households with investable assets in excess of $250,000) customers with a focus on providing life insurance solutions to protect individuals, families and businesses and to support estate and wealth transfer planning.

Leverages data science and technology to primarily distribute third-party products (such as Medicare, life, health, and property and casualty products) and a proprietary term life product directly to retail shoppers, primarily through its digital and agent channels. Additionally, Assurance IQ may help customers fulfill financial wellness needs by matching them with other product providers or intermediaries.

Develops and distributes life insurance, retirement products and certain accident and health products with fixed benefits to mass affluent and affluent customers through our Life Planner operations in Japan, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Our Gibraltar Life and Other operations also provide similar products to broad middle income and mass affluent customers across Japan, and through our joint ventures in Chile, China, India and Indonesia, and our strategic investments in Ghana and Kenya through multiple distribution channels (including banks, independent agencies and Life Consultants).

Includes corporate items and initiatives that are not allocated to our business segments as well as businesses that have been or will be divested or placed in wind-down status, except for the Closed Block. Results of the Closed Block, along with certain related assets and liabilities, are reported separately from the Divested and Run-off Businesses included in Corporate and Other.

In connection with the demutualization in 2001, we ceased offering domestic participating individual life insurance and annuity products under which policyholders are eligible to receive policyholder dividends reflecting experience. The liabilities for our individual in-force participating products were segregated, together with assets to be used exclusively for the payment of benefits and policyholder dividends, expenses and taxes with respect to these products, in the Closed Block. We selected the amount of assets that were expected to generate sufficient cash flow, together with anticipated revenues from the Closed Block policies, over the life of the Closed Block to fund payments of all policyholder benefits, expenses and taxes, and to provide for the continuation of the policyholder dividend scales that were in effect in 2000, assuming experience underlying such scales continued. No policies sold after demutualization have been added to the Closed Block, and its in-force business is expected to decline as we pay policyholder benefits in full.

The results of the Closed Block, along with certain related assets and liabilities, comprise the Closed Block division, which is treated as a divested business under our definition of adjusted operating income and reported separately from the other Divested and Run-off Businesses that are included in our Corporate and Other operations.

As discussed in Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, if the performance of the Closed Block is more or less favorable than we originally assumed in funding, total dividends paid to Closed Block policyholders in the future may be greater or less than the total dividends that would have been paid to these policyholders if the policyholder dividend scales that were in effect in 2000 had been continued. Any experience in excess of amounts assumed may be available for distribution over time to Closed Block policyholders as part of policyholder dividends unless offset by future Closed Block experience that is less favorable than expected. This excess experience will not be available to shareholders. If the Closed Block has insufficient funds to make guaranteed policy benefit payments, such payments will be made from PICA’s assets outside of the Closed Block. A policyholder dividend obligation liability is established for any excess experience. Each year, the Board of Directors of PICA determines the dividends payable on participating policies for the following year based on the experience of the Closed Block, including investment income, net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses, mortality experience and other factors. See Note 22 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for revenues, income and loss, and total assets of the Closed Block division.

Our strategy is to maintain the Closed Block as required by our Plan of Reorganization over the time period of its gradual diminution as policyholder benefits are paid in full. We are permitted under the Plan of Reorganization, with the prior consent of the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance for the State of New Jersey, to enter into agreements to transfer all or any part of the risks underlying the Closed Block policies.

The following chart summarizes our key areas of seasonality in our results of operations:

We regularly enter into reinsurance agreements as either the ceding entity or the assuming entity. As a ceding entity, exposure to the risks reinsured is reduced by transferring certain rights and obligations of the underlying insurance product to a counterparty. Conversely, as an assuming entity, exposure to the risks reinsured is increased by assuming certain rights and obligations of the underlying insurance products from a counterparty. We enter into reinsurance agreements as the ceding entity for a variety of reasons, but primarily do so to reduce exposure to loss, reduce risk volatility, provide additional capacity for future growth and for capital management purposes. Under ceded reinsurance, we remain liable to the underlying policyholder if a third-party reinsurer is unable to meet its obligations. On a Company-wide basis, we evaluate the financial condition of reinsurers, monitor the concentration of counterparty risk and maintain collateral, as appropriate, to mitigate this exposure. We enter into reinsurance agreements as the assuming entity as part of our normal product offering process (e.g., certain pension risk transfer products in the Retirement segment) or in order to facilitate an acquisition of a block of business.

We capture and protect the innovation in our financial services products by applying for federal business method patents and implementing trade secret controls, as appropriate. We also use numerous federal, state, common law and foreign service marks, including in particular “Prudential”, the “Prudential logo”, our “Rock” symbol and “PGIM”. We believe that the value associated with many of our patents, copyrights and trade secrets, and the goodwill associated with many of our service marks, are significant competitive assets.

Since 2004, we have had an agreement with Prudential plc of the United Kingdom (“U.K.”), with whom we have no affiliation, concerning the parties’ respective rights worldwide to use the names “Prudential” and “Pru.” Since 2019, the agreement has also included M&G plc of the U.K., the parent of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited, following its demerger from Prudential plc. The agreement restricts use of the “Prudential” and “Pru” names and marks in a number of countries outside the Americas, including Europe and most parts of Asia. Where these limitations apply, we combine our “Rock” symbol with alternative word marks. We believe that these limitations do not materially affect our ability to operate or expand internationally.

Our businesses are subject to comprehensive regulation and supervision. The purpose of these regulations is primarily to protect our customers and the overall financial system and not necessarily our shareholders or debt holders. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are regularly re-examined. Existing or future laws and regulations may become more restrictive or otherwise adversely affect our operations or profitability, increase compliance costs, or increase potential regulatory exposure. In recent years we have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, extensive changes in the laws and regulations, and regulatory frameworks applicable to our businesses in the U.S. and internationally. We cannot predict how current or future initiatives will further impact existing laws, regulations and regulatory frameworks.

In our international businesses, regulations may apply heightened requirements to non-domestic companies, which can reduce our flexibility as to intercompany transactions, investments and other aspects of business operations and adversely affect our liquidity and profitability. In some instances, regulators of a particular country may impose different, or more rigorous laws and requirements than in the U.S. or other countries to protect customers or their financial system from perceived systemic risk, including regulations governing privacy, consumer protection, employee protection, corporate governance and capital adequacy. In addition, certain of our international operations face political, legal, operational and other risks that we may not face in the U.S., including the risk of discriminatory regulation, labor issues in connection with independent contractor or franchisee status, workers’ associations and trade unions, nationalization or expropriation of assets, price controls and currency exchange controls or other restrictions that limit our ability to transfer funds from these operations out of the countries in which they operate or to convert local currencies we hold into U.S. dollars or other currencies. Some jurisdictions in which we operate joint ventures restrict our maximum percentage of ownership, which exposes us to additional operational, compliance, legal and joint venture partner risks and limits our array of potential remedies in the event of a breach by a partner.

The primary regulatory frameworks applicable to the Company are described further below under the following section headings:

Several of our domestic and foreign regulators participate in an annual supervisory college facilitated by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (“NJDOBI”). The purpose of the supervisory college is to promote ongoing supervisory coordination, facilitate the sharing of information among regulators and enhance each regulator’s understanding of the Company’s risk profile. The most recent supervisory college was held in October 2021.

Existing and future accounting rules may also impact our results of operations or financial condition. For a discussion of accounting pronouncements and their potential impact on our business, including Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-12, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

We cannot predict whether Treasury reports, interpretive guidance, new legislation or other initiatives aimed at revising Dodd-Frank and regulation of the financial system will ultimately form the basis for changes to laws or regulations impacting the Company.

The Company and our distributors are subject to rules regarding the standard of care applicable to sales of our products and the provision of advice to our customers. In recent years, many of these rules have been revised or reexamined, as described below. We cannot predict whether any proposed or new amendments to the existing regulatory framework will ultimately become applicable to our businesses. Any new standards issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) or state regulators may affect our businesses, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

In June 2019, the SEC adopted a package of rulemakings and interpretative guidance that, among other things, requires broker-dealers to act in the best interest of retail customers when recommending securities transactions or investment strategies to them. The guidance also clarifies the SEC’s views of the fiduciary duty that investment advisers owe to their clients. The new best interest standards became effective on June 30, 2020. The new standards apply to recommendations to purchase certain products offered by our PGIM, Retirement, Individual Annuities and Individual Life businesses, and have resulted in increased compliance costs, in particular in our Prudential Advisors distribution system, which we include in the results of our Individual Life segment.

In February 2020, the NAIC adopted revisions to the model suitability rule applicable to the sale of annuities. The revised model regulation states the insurance salesperson must act “without placing the producer’s or the insurer’s financial interest ahead of the consumer’s interest.” The model rule will become applicable to us as it is adopted in each state. In addition, certain state regulators and legislatures have adopted or are considering adopting best interest standards. For example, in July 2018, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NY DFS”) issued an amendment to its suitability regulations which imposes a best-interest standard on the sale of annuity and life insurance products in New York. The amendments became effective for annuity products on August 1, 2019 and for life insurance products on February 1, 2020, and the Company has taken steps we believe are necessary to comply with the rules. In 2019, the New York State Supreme Court dismissed challenges to the NY DFS amendment that had been made by certain producer trade groups. The trade groups appeal of this decision was granted in April, 2021 by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court. The NY DFS has appealed this decision to the New York Court of Appeals; however, an automatic stay of the Appellate Division decision is in effect while the appeal is pending. Also, the Massachusetts Securities Division adopted a fiduciary standard of conduct which applies to broker-dealers and its agents, which has been enforced since September 1, 2020.

Outside the U.S., in 2017 the Japanese Financial Services Agency (“FSA”) announced the “Principles of Fiduciary Duty,” a set of recommended general principles for businesses to adopt when performing client related financial services. The principles have been adopted by The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. (“Prudential of Japan”), Gibraltar Life, and

We are subject to the insurance holding company laws in the states where our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, which currently include New Jersey, Arizona, Connecticut and Indiana, or are treated as commercially domiciled, such as New York. Following the closing of the sale of PRIAC, we will no longer have a Connecticut domiciled insurer. These laws generally require each insurance company directly or indirectly owned by the holding company to register with the insurance department in the insurance company’s state of domicile and to furnish annually financial and other information about the operations of companies within the holding company system, including an assessment of the group’s risk management and current and future solvency position. Generally, all transactions affecting the insurers in the holding company system must be fair and reasonable and, if material, require prior notice and approval or non-disapproval by the state’s insurance department.

Most states, including the states in which our U.S. insurance companies are domiciled, have insurance laws that require regulatory approval of a direct or indirect change of control of an insurer or an insurer’s holding company. Laws such as these that apply to us prevent any person from acquiring control of Prudential Financial or of our insurance subsidiaries unless that person has filed a statement with specified information with the insurance regulators and has obtained their prior approval. Under most states’ statutes, acquiring 10% or more of the voting stock of an insurance company or its parent company is presumptively considered a change of control, although such presumption may be rebutted. As of January 2022, New Jersey has recognized an additional presumption of control upon the holding or controlling of enough proxies to elect 10% or more of the board of directors of a New Jersey-domiciled insurance company or its parent company. Accordingly, any person who acquires “control” of Prudential Financial, either by the acquisition of voting securities or, in the case of New Jersey, by the accumulation of proxies without the prior approval of the applicable insurance regulator of the states in which our U.S. insurance companies are domiciled will be in violation of these states’ laws and may be subject to injunctive action requiring the disposition or seizure of those securities or proxies by the relevant insurance regulator or prohibiting the voting of those securities or proxies and to other actions determined by the relevant insurance regulator. In addition, many state insurance laws require prior notification to state insurance departments of a change in control of a non-domiciliary insurance company doing business in that state.

NJDOBI acts as the group-wide supervisor of Prudential Financial pursuant to New Jersey legislation that authorizes group-wide supervision of internationally active insurance groups (“IAIGs”). The law, among other provisions, authorizes NJDOBI to examine Prudential Financial and its subsidiaries, including by ascertaining the financial condition of the insurance companies for purposes of assessing enterprise risk. In accordance with this authority, NJDOBI receives information about the Company’s operations beyond those of its New Jersey domiciled insurance subsidiaries.

Additional areas of focus regarding group-wide supervision of insurance holding companies include the following:

We cannot predict what, if any, additional requirements and compliance costs any new group-wide standards will impose on Prudential Financial.

State insurance laws regulate all aspects of our U.S. insurance businesses. State insurance departments in the fifty states, the District of Columbia and various U.S. territories and possessions monitor our insurance operations. PICA is domiciled in New Jersey and its principal insurance regulatory authority is the NJDOBI. Our other U.S. insurance companies are principally regulated by the insurance departments of the states in which they are domiciled. Generally, our insurance products must be approved by the insurance regulators in the state in which they are sold. Our insurance products are substantially affected by federal and state tax laws.

State insurance authorities have broad administrative powers with respect to all aspects of the insurance business including: (1) licensing to transact business; (2) licensing agents; (3) admittance of assets to statutory surplus; (4) regulating premium rates for certain insurance products; (5) approving policy forms; (6) regulating unfair trade and claims practices; (7) establishing reserve requirements and solvency standards; (8) fixing maximum interest rates on life insurance policy loans and minimum accumulation or surrender values; (9) regulating the type, amounts and valuations of investments permitted; (10) regulating reinsurance transactions, including the role of captive reinsurers; and (11) other matters.

State insurance laws and regulations require our U.S. insurance companies to file financial statements with state insurance departments everywhere they do business in accordance with accounting practices and procedures prescribed or permitted by these departments. The operations of our U.S. insurance companies and accounts are subject to examination by those departments at any time.

Areas of the RBC framework that have recently been subject to reexamination or revision include the following:

Due to the ongoing nature of the NAIC’s activities regarding RBC, we cannot determine the ultimate timing of the proposed changes or their impact on RBC or on our financial position.

The reserving framework for certain of our products and the regulatory capital requirements applicable to our business have undergone reexamination and revision in recent years, including in the following areas:

Each state has insurance guaranty association laws under which insurers doing business in the state are members and may be assessed by state insurance guaranty associations for certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants. Typically, states assess each member insurer in an amount related to the member insurer’s proportionate share of the business written by all member insurers in the state. The majority of state guaranty association laws provide a tax offset for a percentage of the assessment against future years’ premium taxes. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we paid $0.5 million, $1 million and $2 million, respectively, in assessments pursuant to state insurance guaranty association laws. While we cannot predict the amount and timing of future assessments on our U.S. insurance companies under these laws, we have established estimated reserves totaling approximately $30 million as of December 31, 2021, for future assessments relating to insurance companies that are currently subject to insolvency proceedings, including Penn Treaty Network America Insurance Company, Executive Life of California and Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company.

In 2017, the NAIC approved amendments to the Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Model Act to address issues relating to long-term care insurance-related insolvencies. The amendments will spread costs from future long-term care insurance-related insolvencies across the entire health and life insurance industry, resulting in increased assessments for life insurers. The amended model law will become applicable to us as it is adopted by each state. Prior insolvencies will not be included under these amendments. Given our current market share of the impacted lines of business, we expect our cost related to future insolvencies, net of premium tax offsets available under current state laws, would be a small percentage of the gross industry liability.

Our variable life insurance, variable annuity and mutual fund products generally are “securities” within the meaning of federal securities laws and may be required to be registered under the federal securities laws and subject to regulation by the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). Certain of our insurance subsidiaries are subject to SEC public reporting and disclosure requirements based on offerings of these products. Federal and some state securities regulation similar to that discussed below under “—U.S. Investment and Retirement Products and Investment Management Operations” and “—U.S. Securities and Commodities Regulation” affect investment advice, sales and related activities with respect to these products.

Dodd-Frank established a Federal Insurance Office (“FIO”) within the Department of the Treasury headed by a director appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. While the FIO does not have general supervisory or regulatory authority over the business of insurance, the FIO director performs various functions with respect to insurance, including serving as a non-voting member of the Council, monitoring the insurance sector and representing the U.S. on prudential aspects of international insurance matters, including at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (“IAIS”).

Our international insurance operations are principally supervised by regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which they operate, including the Japanese FSA, the financial services regulator in Japan. In addition to Japan, we operate insurance companies in Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil and Mexico, and have insurance operations in China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia through joint ventures. We also have strategic investments in insurance operations in Ghana and Kenya. The insurance regulatory bodies for these businesses typically oversee such issues as: (1) company licensing; (2) the licensing of insurance sales staff; (3) insurance product approvals; (4) sales practices; (5) claims payment practices; (6) permissible investments; (7) solvency and capital adequacy; and (8) insurance reserves, among other items. In some jurisdictions, for certain products, regulators will also mandate premium rates (or components of pricing) or minimum guaranteed interest rates. Periodic examinations of insurance company books and records, financial reporting requirements, market conduct examinations and policy filing requirements are among the techniques used by these regulators to supervise our non-U.S. insurance businesses. Finally, insurance regulatory authorities in the various jurisdictions in which our insurance companies are domiciled, including Japan, must approve any change of control of the insurance companies organized under their laws.

In order to monitor insurers’ solvency, regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate outside the U.S. generally establish some form of minimum solvency requirements for insurance companies, similar in concept to the RBC ratios that are employed by U.S. insurance regulators. These solvency ratios are used by regulators to assess the sufficiency of an insurer’s capital and claims-paying ability and include the impact of transactions with affiliated entities. Certain jurisdictions require the disclosure of solvency ratios to the public. Insurers that have lower solvency ratios than the regulators require are considered to have inadequate capital and are subject to varying degrees of regulatory action depending upon the level of capital inadequacy.

The insurance regulatory bodies in some of the countries where our international insurance businesses are located regulate the amount of dividends that our subsidiaries can pay to shareholders. See Note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the ability of our international subsidiaries to pay dividends to Prudential Financial.

Certain of our international insurance operations, including those in Japan, may be subject to assessments, generally based on their proportionate share of business written in the relevant jurisdiction, for certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants. In certain jurisdictions, we cannot predict the timing of future assessments and they may materially affect the results of operations of our international insurance operations in particular quarterly or annual periods. Under the Japanese insurance business law, all licensed life insurers in Japan are required to be members of and are assessed, on a pre-funded basis, by the Japan Policyholders Protection Corporation (“PPC”). These assessments generate a collective fund which is used to satisfy certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants. The PPC assesses each member in an amount related to its premium income and policy reserves. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we paid approximately $25 million, $24 million and $23 million, respectively, based on fixed currency exchange rates, in assessments pursuant to Japanese insurance guaranty association laws.

Our retirement and investment products and services are subject to federal and state securities and fiduciary laws, ERISA, and other laws and regulations. The SEC, FINRA, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), National Futures Association (“NFA”), state securities commissions, state banking and insurance departments, DOL and the Department of the Treasury are the principal U.S. regulators that regulate our retirement and investment management operations. In some cases, our domestic U.S. investment operations are also subject to non-U.S. securities laws and regulations.

Some of the separate account, registered fund and other pooled investment products offered by our businesses, in addition to being registered under the Securities Act, are registered as investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the shares of certain of these entities are qualified for sale in some states and the District of Columbia. Separate account investment products are also subject to state insurance regulation as described above. We also have several subsidiaries that are registered as broker-dealers under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), as amended, and are subject to federal and state regulation. In addition, we have subsidiaries that are investment advisers registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Our third-party advisors and licensed sales professionals within Prudential Advisors and other employees, insofar as they sell products that are securities, are subject to the Exchange Act and to examination requirements and regulation by the SEC, FINRA and state securities commissioners. Regulation and examination requirements also extend to various Prudential entities that employ or control those individuals.

Congress from time to time considers or enacts legislation that could decrease or increase the attractiveness of certain of our retirement products and services to retirement plan sponsors and administrators, or have an unfavorable or favorable effect on our ability to earn revenues from these products and services. Over time, these changes could limit our sales of defined benefit and defined contribution pension products and services and cause sponsors to discontinue existing plans for which we provide investment management, administrative, or other services; conversely, these changes could also increase the attractiveness of certain products and services we offer in connection with such plans.

In December 2019, Congress enacted the Setting Every Community up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act. The SECURE Act is intended to help promote retirement plan coverage and increase retirement plan savings, as well as facilitate access to guaranteed lifetime income solutions. The SECURE Act addresses coverage issues by making it easier for small businesses to participate in pooled employer plans and requires coverage of certain long-term, part-time workers. The SECURE Act addresses savings issues by raising the cap on amounts contributed through auto-enrollment, increasing the

We have subsidiaries that are broker-dealers, investment advisers, commodity pool operators or commodity trading advisers. The SEC, the CFTC, state securities authorities, FINRA, the NFA, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, and similar authorities are, as applicable, the principal regulators of these subsidiaries.

Our broker-dealer and commodities affiliates are members of, and are subject to regulation by, “self-regulatory organizations,” including FINRA and the NFA, as applicable. Self-regulatory organizations conduct examinations of, and have adopted rules governing, their members. In addition, state securities and certain other regulators have regulatory and oversight authority over our registered broker-dealers. Broker-dealers and their sales forces in the U.S. and in certain other jurisdictions are subject to regulations that cover many aspects of the securities business, including sales methods and trading practices. The regulations cover the suitability of investments for individual customers, use and safekeeping of customers’ funds and securities, capital adequacy, recordkeeping, financial reporting and the conduct of directors, officers and employees. The SEC, CFTC and other governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations, as well as state securities commissions in the U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory agencies, have the power to conduct administrative proceedings that can result in censure, fine, the issuance of cease-and-desist orders or suspension, termination or limitation of the activities of a broker-dealer, an investment adviser or commodities firm or its employees. Our U.S. registered broker-dealer subsidiaries are subject to federal net capital requirements that may limit the ability of these subsidiaries to pay dividends to Prudential Financial.

Our non-insurance international operations are supervised primarily by regulatory authorities in the countries in which they operate. We operate investment-related businesses in, among other jurisdictions, Japan, Taiwan, the U.K., Ireland, India, Hong Kong, Mexico, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, China and Singapore, and participate in an investment-related joint venture in China and in a retirement related joint venture with operations in Chile, Peru and Columbia. These businesses may provide products such as investment management products and services, funds, separately managed accounts and retirement products. The regulatory authorities for these businesses typically oversee such issues as: (1) company licensing; (2) the licensing of investment product sales staff; (3) sales practices; (4) solvency and capital adequacy; (5) fund product approvals and related disclosures; and (6) securities, commodities, retirement, pension and related laws, among other items. In some cases, our international investment operations are also subject to U.S. securities laws and regulations.

Prudential Financial and our subsidiaries use derivatives for various purposes, including hedging interest rate, foreign currency and equity market exposures. Dodd-Frank established a framework for regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives markets. This framework sets out requirements regarding the clearing and reporting of derivatives transactions, as well as collateral posting requirements for uncleared swaps. Affiliated swaps entered into between our subsidiaries are generally exempt from most of these requirements.

We continue to monitor the potential hedging cost impacts of new initial margin requirements, and increased capital requirements for derivatives transactions. Additionally, the increased need to post cash collateral in connection with mandatorily cleared swaps may also require the liquidation of higher yielding assets for cash, resulting in a negative impact on investment income.

We are subject to laws, regulations and directives that require financial institutions and other businesses to protect the security and confidentiality of personal information, including health-related and customer information, and to notify their customers and other individuals of their policies and practices relating to the collection and disclosure of health-related and customer information. In addition, we must comply with international privacy laws, regulations, and directives concerning the cross border transfer or use of employee and customer personal information. These laws, regulations and directives also:

Some countries have also instituted laws requiring in-country data processing and/or in-country storage of the personal data of its citizens. Compliance with such laws results in higher technology, administrative and other costs for us and affects how products and services are offered or require us to structure our businesses, operations and systems in less efficient ways.

The Company is monitoring regulatory guidance and rulemaking in these areas, and may be subject to increased compliance costs and regulatory requirements. In order to respond to the threat of security breaches and cyber-attacks, we have developed a program overseen by the Chief Information Security Officer and the Information Security Office that is designed to protect and preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and continued availability of all information owned by, or in the care of the Company. As part of this program, we also maintain an incident response plan. The program provides for the coordination of various corporate functions and governance groups and serves as a framework for the execution of responsibilities across businesses and operational roles. The program establishes security standards for our technological resources and includes training for employees, contractors and third parties. As part of the program, we conduct periodic exercises with outside advisors to gain a third-party independent assessment of our technical program and our internal response preparedness. We regularly engage with the outside security community and monitor cyber threat information.

Our businesses are subject to various anti-money laundering and financial transparency laws and regulations that seek to promote cooperation among financial institutions, regulators and law enforcement entities in identifying parties that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering. In addition, under current U.S. law and regulations we may be prohibited from dealing with certain individuals or entities in certain circumstances and we may be required to monitor customer activities, which may affect our ability to attract and retain customers. We are also subject to various laws and regulations relating to corrupt and illegal payments to government officials and others, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K.’s Anti-Bribery Law. The obligation of financial institutions, including the Company, to identify their clients, to monitor for and report suspicious transactions, to monitor dealings with government officials, to respond to requests for information by regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies, and to share information with other financial institutions, has required the implementation and maintenance of internal practices, procedures and controls.

Federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations apply to our ownership and operation of real property. Inherent in owning and operating real property are the risks of hidden environmental liabilities and the costs of any required clean-up. Although unexpected environmental liabilities can always arise, we seek to minimize this risk by undertaking environmental assessments, among other measures prior to taking title to real estate.

We are subject to the laws and regulations of states and other jurisdictions concerning the identification, reporting and escheatment of unclaimed or abandoned funds, and we are subject to audit and examination for compliance with these requirements. For additional discussion of these matters, see Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Company and certain domestic subsidiaries file a consolidated federal income tax return that includes both life insurance companies and non-life insurance companies. The principal differences between the Company’s actual income tax expense and the applicable statutory federal income tax rate are generally deductions for non-taxable investment income, including the Dividends Received Deduction (“DRD”), foreign taxes applied at a different tax rate than the U.S. rate and certain

The Tax Act of 2017 was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and was generally effective starting in 2018. The Tax Act of 2017 changed the taxation of businesses and individuals by lowering tax rates and broadening the tax base through the acceleration of taxable income and the deferral or elimination of certain deductions, as well as changing the system of taxation of earnings of foreign subsidiaries. The most significant changes for the Company were: (1) the reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%; (2) revised methodologies for determining deductions for tax reserves and the DRD; (3) an increased capitalization and amortization period for acquisition costs related to certain products; and (4) the change from a worldwide deferred taxation system to a modified territorial system of taxation on applicable earnings of foreign subsidiaries, which includes (a) a new tax on earnings of foreign subsidiaries (the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”) provision ) and (b) a new alternative tax with respect to payments to non-U.S. affiliates that are at least 25% owned (the Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax (“BEAT”)).

The GILTI provision applies a minimum U.S. tax to earnings of foreign subsidiaries in excess of a 10% deemed return on tangible assets of consolidated foreign subsidiaries by imposing the U.S. tax rate to 50% of earnings of such foreign affiliates and provides for a partial foreign tax credit for foreign income taxes. The amount of tax in any period on GILTI can depend on annual differences between U.S. taxable income recognition rules and taxable income recognition rules in the country of operations and the overall taxable income of U.S. operations, as well as U.S. expense allocation rules which limit the amount of foreign tax credits that can be applied to reduce the U.S. tax on the GILTI. Under certain circumstances, the taxable income of U.S. operations may cause more than 50% of earnings of foreign affiliates to be subject to the GILTI provision. In years that the U.S. consolidated PFI group incurs a net operating loss or has a loss from domestic businesses, the GILTI provision would operate to cause a loss of U.S. tax benefits for some or all of those losses, effectively increasing the tax on foreign earnings.

The BEAT provision could, under certain conditions, increase our tax expense. The BEAT is an alternative tax implicated if tax deductible payments from U.S. companies to foreign affiliates that are at least 25% owned exceed 3% of total U.S. tax deductions. If implicated, the BEAT taxes modified taxable income at a rate of 10% in 2019, increasing to 12.5% in 2026 and is due if the calculated BEAT tax amount that is determined without the benefit of foreign and certain other tax credits is greater than the regular corporate tax in any given year. In general, modified taxable income is calculated by adding back to a taxpayer’s regular taxable income the amount of certain “base erosion tax benefits” with respect to payments to foreign affiliates, as well as the “base erosion percentage” of any net operating loss deductions.

Since the enactment of the Tax Act of 2017, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) promulgated Proposed and Final Regulations on a number of provisions within or impacted by the Tax Act of 2017, including GILTI, foreign tax credits, net interest deductibility and the BEAT. Regulations were issued making it clear that benefit and claim payments made by our U.S. insurance businesses to our foreign affiliates on reinsurance assumed by the U.S. affiliates should not be considered to be base erosion payments. During 2020, regulations were issued that allow taxpayers to elect to exclude income of foreign subsidiaries from being subject to tax under the GILTI provision if the income of the foreign subsidiary is subject to local tax in excess of 18.9%. Other life insurance and financial services companies may benefit more or less from these tax law changes, which could impact the Company’s overall competitive position. Notwithstanding the enactment of the Tax Act of 2017, the President, and Congress, as well as state and local governments, may continue to consider from time to time legislation that could increase the amount of corporate taxes we pay, thereby reducing earnings.

The U.S. federal tax law provides that an election may be made pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 952 (the “952 election”) to subject earnings from certain insurance operations to tax in the U.S. in the tax year earned, net of related foreign tax credits. The Company made the 952 election effective for the 2017 and later tax years with respect to its affiliates incorporated in Brazil. In October 2019, the IRS issued a legal memorandum applicable to all taxpayers in which the IRS argues that the election became inoperable in 1998. The Company disagrees with the IRS’s position and the matter is now pending before IRS Independent Office of Appeals. If the Company is ultimately not successful, it will not be able to claim a U.S. tax credit for the Brazil taxes in excess of the U.S. tax rate, and thus will have a higher tax expense over time. For additional information on the 952 Election, see Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Company has a number of subsidiaries incorporated under the laws of non-U.S. jurisdictions. Those non-U.S. subsidiaries intend to operate in a manner that will not cause any to be treated as being engaged in a trade or business within the

U.S. federal tax law generally permits tax deferral on the inside build-up of investment value of certain retirement savings, annuities and life insurance products until there is a contract distribution and, in general, excludes from taxation the death benefit paid under a life insurance contract. The Tax Act of 2017 did not change these rules, though it is possible that some individuals with overall lower effective tax rates could be less attracted to the tax deferral aspect of the Company’s products. The general reduction in individual tax rates and elimination of certain individual deductions may also impact the Company, depending on whether current and potential customers have more or less after-tax income to save for retirement and manage their mortality and longevity risk through the purchase of the Company’s products. Congress from time to time may enact other changes to the tax law that could make our products less attractive to consumers, including legislation that would modify the tax favored treatment of retirement savings, life insurance and annuities products.

The products we sell have different tax characteristics and, in some cases, generate tax deductions and credits for the Company. Changes in either the U.S. or foreign tax laws may negatively impact the deductions and credits available to the Company, including the ability of the Company to claim foreign tax credits with respect to taxes withheld on our investments supporting separate account products. These changes would increase the Company’s actual tax expense and reduce its consolidated net income.

The profitability of certain products is significantly dependent on these characteristics and our ability to continue to generate taxable income, which is taken into consideration when pricing products and is a component of our capital management strategies. Accordingly, changes in tax law, our ability to generate taxable income, or other factors impacting the availability or value of the tax characteristics generated by our products, could impact product pricing, increase our tax expense or require us to reduce our sales of these products or implement other actions that could be disruptive to our businesses.

In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted the CARES Act. One provision of the CARES Act amends the Tax Act of 2017 and allows companies with net operating losses (“NOLs”) originating in 2018, 2019 or 2020 to carry back those losses for up to five years. See “Income Taxes” in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information.

Our international businesses are subject to the tax laws and regulations of the countries in which they are organized and in which they operate. Foreign governments from time to time consider legislation that could impact the amount of taxes that we pay or impact the sales of our products. For example, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) continues to study and make recommendations with respect to model global base erosion tax options that are being considered and may be adopted by foreign governments. Among the OECD recommendations is a global minimum tax. Such changes could negatively impact sales of our products or reduce our profits if the OECD recommendations are adopted by countries in which our international businesses operate.

The Japan national corporate tax rate is 23.2% for tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2018. In addition, there are local income taxes that are applied to our income earned in Japan. The Japanese consumption tax rate was increased from 8% to 10% on October 1, 2019. Insurance commissions paid to our Life Planners and Life Consultants are subject to consumption tax for individuals exceeding certain earnings thresholds; however, the tax is not charged on employee compensation (other than commissions) or insurance premiums.

In July 2019, the Japan National Tax Authority issued rules limiting policyholders’ tax deductions for premiums paid on certain corporate insurance products. For information on sales of corporate insurance products within our international insurance operations, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Results of Operations by Segment—International Businesses.”

In addition to the adoption of Dodd-Frank in the United States, lawmakers around the world are actively exploring steps to avoid future financial crises. In many respects, this work is being led by the Financial Stability Board (“FSB”), which consists of representatives of national financial authorities of the G20 nations. The G20, the FSB and related bodies have developed proposals to address such issues as financial group supervision, capital and solvency standards, systemic economic risk, corporate governance including executive compensation, and a host of related issues.

In July 2013, we, along with eight other global insurers, were designated by the FSB as a global systemically important insurer (“G-SII”) through a quantitative methodology developed and implemented by the IAIS. We remained designated as a G-SII until November 2018, at which point the FSB announced that it would not engage in an identification of G-SIIs based on the IAIS’ progress with development of the Holistic Framework for Systemic Risk in the Insurance Sector (“Holistic Framework”). The Holistic Framework, which was adopted by the IAIS in November 2019, focuses on employing an Activities Based approach (“ABA”) to assessing and managing potential sources of systemic risk through enhancements to IAIS policy measures pertaining to macroprudential surveillance, enterprise risk management, liquidity management, crisis management and recovery planning. In addition to the ABA elements, the Holistic Framework preserves the IAIS’ annual data collection and monitoring process. Upon the IAIS’ adoption of the Holistic Framework, the FSB announced that it has suspended the annual identification of G-SIIs until November 2022, when it will review the need to either discontinue or re-establish the annual process based on the initial years of implementation of the Holistic Framework.

In addition to its post financial crisis work on systemic risk, the IAIS developed the Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (“ComFrame”). Through ComFrame, the IAIS seeks to promote effective and globally consistent supervision of the insurance industry through uniform standards for insurer corporate governance, enterprise risk management and other control functions, group-wide supervision and group capital adequacy. The non-capital related components of ComFrame were adopted by the IAIS in November 2019. The ICS, which is the capital adequacy component of ComFrame, entered a five-year monitoring phase beginning in 2020. During the monitoring phase, IAIGs are encouraged to report ICS results to their group supervisory authorities to support the IAIS’ efforts to obtain feedback on the appropriateness of the framework. The IAIS will use input from supervisory authorities and IAIGs as well as stakeholder feedback on a public consultation and the results of an economic impact assessment to further improve the ICS. The IAIS is scheduled to adopt a final version of the ICS, which it expects its member supervisory authorities to implement, in 2025.

As a standard setting body, the IAIS does not have direct authority to require insurance companies to comply with the policy measures it develops, including the ICS and proposed policy measures within the Holistic Framework. However, we could become subject to these policy measures if they were adopted by either our group supervisor or supervisors of our international operations or companies, which could impact the manner in which we deploy our capital, structure and manage our businesses, and otherwise operate both within the U.S. and abroad.

Other governments and regulators, including the Japan FSA, the NAIC and state insurance regulators, have implemented, or are considering, a number of actions in response to the crisis, including delaying implementation of certain regulatory changes, temporarily waiving certain regulatory requirements and requiring or requesting insurers to waive premium payments and policy provisions and exclusions for certain periods of time. We do not know whether such changes will be temporary or permanent and we cannot predict what other actions governments will take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how any new laws, regulations, or state-sponsored programs may impact our business.

As of December 31, 2021, our employee population was comprised as set forth in the tables below:

Prudential’s Board of Directors, including its Corporate Governance and Business Ethics Committee, has oversight responsibility for our human capital resources, diversity and inclusion practices and corporate culture. Human capital is discussed by management at every Board meeting and, at least once per year, the Board devotes time to discuss human capital at each business and functional leadership level across the Company.

We believe that our success depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain talented, skilled, and motivated employees. We aim to attract individuals who share our commitment to creating accessible financial solutions that meet the long-term objectives of our global customers. Building a diverse and inclusive organization is a component of our strategic business initiative.

Also, we require U.S. employees to attend training programs addressing core issues such as understanding racism and everyday bias, building cultural intelligence, and using tools and techniques to support an inclusive culture. The goal of these training programs is for all employees to develop a baseline understanding of these concepts, which we expect will better equip us to solve the financial challenges of our increasingly diverse customers. During 2021, the majority of our U.S. employees attended such training programs.

We believe that our rigorous talent acquisition process, provision of opportunities for professional enrichment and advancement throughout our employees’ careers, and our inclusive culture will enhance our ability to retain employees.

Prudential conducts a global employee engagement survey, entitled the “EQ Survey”. The EQ Survey solicits employee feedback addressing our culture, management, career opportunities, compensation and benefits. The results of the EQ Survey influence how we strengthen our culture and implement change within the Company. In 2021, over 85% of our eligible global employees responded to the EQ Survey.

Protecting and supporting our employees is a priority at Prudential. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned more than 97% of our U.S. workforce to remote working in a matter of days. Prudential continues to address the challenges our employees and their families face in maintaining balance and well-being during the ongoing pandemic.

We view inclusion, diversity and racial equity as a moral and business imperative. Our inclusive approach to human capital management starts with our Board of Directors. Our Board embodies diversity: 82% of Prudential’s independent directors are diverse. Our commitment to advance racial equity spans our talent practices, how we design and deliver our products, our investments and public policy work, and our support of community institutions.

To reinforce our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we use a diversity modifier in our long-term incentive program that ties the long-term incentive compensation of senior management to a performance objective based on the achievement of improved diversity outcomes across the organization.

Prudential Financial files periodic and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such reports, proxy statements and other information may be obtained through the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov).

You may also access our press releases, financial information and reports filed with the SEC (for example, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those Forms) online at www.investor.prudential.com. Copies of any documents on our website are available without charge, and reports filed with or furnished to the SEC will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report filed with or furnished to the SEC.

The Company’s risk management framework documents the definition, potential manifestation, and management of its risks. The Company has categorized its risks into tactical and strategic risks. Tactical risks may cause damage to the Company, and the Company seeks to manage and mitigate them through models, metrics and the overall risk framework. The Company’s tactical risks include investment, insurance, market, liquidity, and operational risk. Strategic risks can cause the Company’s fundamental business model to change, either through a shift in the businesses in which it is engaged or a change in execution. The Company’s strategic risks include regulatory and technological changes and other external factors. These risks, as well as the sub-risks that may impact the Company, are discussed below. The Company’s risk management framework is described under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Risk Management.”

We are exposed to investment risk through our investments, which primarily consist of public and private fixed maturity securities, commercial mortgage and other loans, equity securities and alternative assets including private equity, hedge funds and real estate. For a discussion of our general account investments, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—General Account Investments.” We are also exposed to investment risk through a potential counterparty default.

Investment risk may result from (1) economic conditions, (2) adverse capital market conditions, including disruptions in individual market sectors or a lack of buyers in the marketplace, (3) volatility, (4) credit spread changes, (5) benchmark interest rate changes, (6) changes in foreign currency exchange rates and (7) declines in value of underlying collateral. These factors may impact the credit quality, liquidity and value of our investments and derivatives, potentially resulting in higher capital charges and unrealized or realized losses. Also, certain investments we hold, regardless of market conditions, are relatively illiquid and our ability to promptly sell these assets for their full value may be limited. Additionally, our valuation of

Some of our insurance operations are in emerging markets where we may be required to hold capital in local sovereign obligations. Investment risk is heightened in these markets, in particular for obligations that are not denominated in the local currency.

We provide a variety of insurance products, on both an individual and group basis, that are designed to help customers protect against a variety of financial uncertainties. Our insurance products protect customers against their potential risk of loss by transferring those risks to the Company, where those risks can be managed more efficiently through pooling and diversification over a larger number of independent exposures. During this transfer process, we assume the risk that actual losses experienced in our insurance products deviates significantly from what we expect. More specifically, insurance risk is concerned with the deviations that impact our future liabilities. Our profitability may decline if mortality experience, morbidity experience or policyholder behavior experience differ significantly from our expectations when we price our products. In addition, if we experience higher than expected claims our liquidity position may be adversely impacted, and we may incur losses on investments if we are required to sell assets in order to pay claims. If it is necessary to sell assets at a loss, our results

We use a variety of strategies to manage our mortality risks, including the use of reinsurance and derivative instruments. These strategies, however, may not be fully effective and may lead to payments to counterparties in excess of recoveries depending on how actual mortality experience emerges and on future changes in the level of premiums we pay to reinsurers. We may also benefit from offsetting impacts between our mortality and longevity products in adverse mortality or longevity scenarios, however the extent of this offset may vary.

In each case, an increase in claims, or an increase in reserves due to revised morbidity assumptions can have an immediate impact on our results of operations and financial condition; however, economically the impact of morbidity risk for products that pay out for ongoing illness or disability generally emerges over the longer term as the morbidity claims are paid.

The profitability of many of our insurance and annuity products depends in part on the value of the separate accounts supporting these products, which can fluctuate substantially depending on market conditions. Market conditions resulting in reductions in the value of assets we manage has an adverse effect on the revenues and profitability of our investment management business, which depends on fees related primarily to the value of assets under management, and could decrease the value of our strategic investments.

Derivative instruments we use to hedge and manage foreign exchange, interest rate and equity market risks associated with our products and businesses, and other risks might not perform as intended or expected, resulting in higher than expected realized losses and stresses on liquidity. Market conditions can limit availability of hedging instruments, require us to post additional collateral, and further increase the cost of executing product related hedges and such costs may not be recovered in the pricing of the underlying products being hedged.

Market risk may limit opportunities for investment of available funds at appropriate returns, including due to the current low interest rate environment, or other factors, with possible negative impacts on our overall results. Limited opportunities for attractive investments may lead to holding cash for long periods of time and increased use of derivatives for duration management and other portfolio management purposes. The increased use of derivatives may increase the volatility of our U.S. GAAP results and our statutory capital.

Our investments, results of operations and financial condition may also be adversely affected by developments in the global economy, in the U.S. economy (including as a result of actions by the Federal Reserve with respect to monetary policy, and adverse political developments), and in the Japanese economy (including due to the effects of inflation or deflation, interest rate volatility, changes in the Japan sovereign credit rating, and material changes in the value of the Japanese yen relative to the U.S. dollar). Global, U.S. or Japanese economic activity and financial markets may in turn be negatively affected by adverse developments or conditions in specific geographical regions.

For a discussion of the impact of changes in market conditions on our financial condition see Item 7A “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.”

Our exposure to interest rates can manifest over years as in the case of earnings compression or in the short term by creating volatility in both earnings and capital. For example, some of our products expose us to the risk that changes in interest rates will reduce the spread between the amounts that we are required to pay under contracts and the rate of return we are able to earn on our general account investments supporting these contracts. When interest rates decline or remain low, as they have in recent years, we must invest in lower-yielding instruments, potentially reducing net investment income and constraining our ability to offer certain products. This risk is increased as more policyholders may retain their policies in a low rate environment. Since many of our policies and contracts have guaranteed minimum crediting rates or limit the resetting of crediting rates, the spreads could decrease or go negative.

Alternatively, when interest rates rise, we may not be able to replace the assets in our general account with the higher-yielding assets as quickly as needed to fund the higher crediting rates necessary to keep these products and contracts competitive. It is possible that fewer policyholders may retain their policies and annuity contracts as they pursue higher crediting rates, which could expose the Company to losses and liquidity stress. In addition, rising interest rates could cause a decline in the market value of fixed income assets the Company manages which in turn could result in lower asset management fees earned.

Our mitigation efforts with respect to interest rate risk are primarily focused on maintaining an investment portfolio with diversified maturities that has a key rate duration profile that is approximately equal to the key rate duration profile of our liability and surplus benchmarks; however, these benchmarks are based on estimates of the liability cash flow profiles which are complex and could turn out to be inaccurate, especially when markets are volatile. In addition, there are practical and capital market limitations on our ability to accomplish this matching. Due to these and other factors we may need to liquidate investments prior to maturity at a loss in order to satisfy liabilities or be forced to reinvest funds in a lower rate environment.

For our International Businesses’ operations, our Retirement segment’s earnings on non-U.S. dollar-denominated reinsurance contracts and PGIM’s investment activities based in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, changes in foreign currency exchange rates create risk that we may experience volatility in the U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings and equity of these operations. We seek to manage this risk through various hedging strategies, including the use of foreign currency hedges and through holding U.S. dollar-denominated securities in the investment portfolios of certain of these operations. Additionally, our Japanese insurance operations offer a variety of non-Japanese yen denominated products. We seek to mitigate this risk by holding investments in corresponding currencies. For certain of our international insurance operations outside of Japan, we elect to not hedge the risk of changes in our subsidiary equity investments due to foreign exchange rate movements.

For our domestic investment portfolios supporting our U.S. insurance operations and other proprietary investment portfolios, our foreign currency exchange rate risk arises primarily from investments that are denominated in foreign currencies. We manage this risk by hedging substantially all domestic foreign currency-denominated fixed-income investments into U.S. dollars. We generally do not hedge all of the foreign currency risk of our investments in equity securities of unaffiliated foreign entities. The value and liquidity of our foreign currency investments could be adversely affected by local market, economic and financial conditions.

There can be no assurance that our hedging and other strategies will effectively mitigate foreign exchange risk. For a discussion of our hedging program and the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on our business, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of Foreign Currency Exchange Rates.” For a discussion of the impact of the U.K.’s exit from the European Union on our operations, see “Business—Regulation—International Investment and Retirement Products and Investment Management Operations.”

Our valuation of the liabilities for the minimum benefits contained in many of our variable annuity products requires us to consider the market perception of our risk of non-performance, and a decrease in our own credit spreads resulting from ratings upgrades or other events or market conditions could cause the recorded value of these liabilities to increase, which in turn could adversely affect our results of operations and financial position.

Liquidity risk is a manifestation of events that are driven by other risk types (market, insurance, investment, operational). A liquidity shortfall may arise in the event of insufficient funding sources or an immediate and significant need for cash or collateral. In addition, it is possible that expected liquidity sources, such as our credit facilities, may be unavailable or inadequate to satisfy the liquidity demands described below.

The Company has four primary sources of liquidity exposure and associated drivers that trigger material liquidity demand. Those sources are:

For a discussion of the Company’s liquidity and sources and uses of liquidity, including information about legal and regulatory limits on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Liquidity.”

An operational risk failure may result in one or more actual or potential impacts to the Company. Operational risk may be elevated as a result of organizational changes, including recent and planned changes related to the Company’s business transformation efforts, such as the planned sales of our Full Service Retirement business and a portion of our in-force traditional variable annuity block of business. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Overview” for additional information on our business transformation efforts and Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on these planned dispositions.

Liabilities we may incur as a result of operational failures are described further under “Contingent Liabilities” in Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. In addition, certain pending regulatory and litigation matters affecting us, and certain risks to our businesses presented by such matters, are discussed in Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We may become subject to additional regulatory and legal actions in the future.

We depend heavily on our telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems and on the integrity and timeliness of data we use to run our businesses and service our customers. These systems may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events or circumstances wholly or partly beyond our control.

Further, we face the risk of operational and technology failures by others, including clearing agents, exchanges and other financial intermediaries and of vendors and parties to which we outsource the provision of services or business operations.

The Company and our distributors are subject to rules regarding the standard of care applicable to sales of our products and the provision of advice to our customers, and in recent years many of these rules have been revised or re-examined. In addition, there have been a number of investigations regarding the marketing practices of brokers and agents selling financial services products and the payments they receive. Furthermore, sales practices and investor protection have increasingly become areas of focus in regulatory examinations. These investigations and examinations have resulted in enforcement actions against companies in our industry and brokers and agents marketing and selling those companies’ products. Enforcement actions could result in penalties and the imposition of corrective action plans and/or changes to industry practices, which could adversely affect our ability to market our products. If our products are distributed in an inappropriate manner, or to customers for whom they are unsuitable, or distributors of our products otherwise engage in misconduct, we may suffer reputational and other harm to our business and be subject to regulatory action, penalties or damages. Our business may also be harmed if captive/affiliate distributors engage in inappropriate conduct in connection with the sale of third-party products.

Additionally, certain of our affiliated distributors engage in direct marketing to consumers through telemarketing, email marketing and other lead generation activities that subject us to various federal and state telemarketing regulations, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Violations of these regulations could subject our affiliated distributors to litigation and regulatory inquiries that result in penalties or damages.

See Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on litigation and regulatory matters relating to the distribution of products.

Many of our distribution personnel are independent contractors or franchisees. From time to time, their status has been challenged in courts and by government agencies, and various legislative or regulatory proposals have been introduced addressing the criteria for determining the status of independent contractors’ classification as employees for, among other things, employment tax purposes or other employment benefits. The costs associated with potential changes with respect to these independent contractor and franchisee classifications have impacted our results previously and could have a material adverse effect on our business in the future.

Although we distribute our products through a wide variety of distribution channels, we do maintain relationships with certain key distributors. For example, a significant amount of our sales in Japan are derived through four major Japanese banks and a significant portion of our sales in Japan through Life Consultants is derived through a single association relationship. We periodically negotiate the terms of these relationships, and there can be no assurance that such terms will remain acceptable to us or such third-parties. An interruption in certain key relationships could materially affect our ability to market our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Distributors may elect to reduce or terminate their distribution relationships with us, including for such reasons as adverse developments in our business, adverse rating agency actions or concerns about market-related risks. We are also at risk that key distribution partners may merge, change their business models in ways that affect how our products are sold, or terminate their distribution contracts with us, or that new distribution channels could emerge and adversely impact the effectiveness of our distribution efforts. An increase in bank and broker-dealer consolidation activity could increase competition for access to distributors, result in greater distribution expenses and impair our ability to market products through these channels. Consolidation of distributors and/or other industry changes may also increase the likelihood that distributors will try to renegotiate the terms of any existing selling agreements to terms less favorable to us. Finally, we also may be challenged by new technologies and marketplace entrants that could interfere with our existing relationships.

We may be subject to claims by third-parties for (i) copyright, trademark or patent infringement; (ii) breach of copyright, trademark or license usage rights; or (iii) misappropriation of trade secrets. Any such claims and any resulting litigation could result in significant expense and liability for damages. If we were found to have infringed or misappropriated a third-party patent or other intellectual property right, we could in some circumstances be enjoined from providing certain products or services to our customers or from utilizing and benefiting from certain methods, processes, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or licenses. Alternatively, we could be required to enter into costly licensing arrangements with third-parties or implement a costly work around. Any of these scenarios could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Changes in accounting rules applicable to our business may also have an adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition. For a discussion of accounting pronouncements and their potential impact on our business, including Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-12, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

We cannot predict what other actions governments will take in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how any new laws, regulations, or state-sponsored programs may impact our business.

None.

We own our headquarters building located at 751 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey. Excluding our headquarters building and properties used by our International Businesses and the international operations of PGIM, which are discussed below, as of December 31, 2021, we conduct our business and home office functions in both owned and leased locations throughout the United States. We also conduct back-office functions in leased properties outside of the United States.

For our International Businesses, as of December 31, 2021, we own and lease home offices located in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia. We also conduct our business in owned and leased properties, primarily field offices, located throughout these same countries. For PGIM’s international operations, as of December 31, 2021, we lease home offices located in Japan, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and India. We also lease principal properties and other branch and field offices in other countries where PGIM conducts business.

We believe our properties are adequate and suitable for our business as currently conducted and are adequately maintained. The above properties do not include properties we own solely for investment purposes.

At our domestic home office properties, we are developing programs to reduce emissions. These programs include seeking ways to expand energy efficiency. For home office properties in the U.S. and Brazil, we are also developing waste diversion measures including internal recycling and composting infrastructures and availing ourselves of third-party waste diversion programs. Our Prudential Tower home office property in Newark, New Jersey and our data center located in Plymouth, Minnesota have been awarded LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

See Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements under “—Litigation and Regulatory Matters” for a description of certain pending litigation and regulatory matters affecting us, and certain risks to our businesses presented by such matters.

Not applicable.

Prudential Financial’s Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PRU.” On January 31, 2022, there were 1,134,375 registered holders of record for the Common Stock and 376 million shares outstanding.

On November 9, 2021, Prudential Financial’s Board of Directors authorized the Company to repurchase, at management’s discretion, up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding Common Stock during the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

Part II. Item 6 is no longer required pursuant to certain amendments to Regulation S-K that eliminated Item 301.

Our principal operations consist of PGIM (our global investment management business), our U.S. Businesses (consisting of our Retirement, Group Insurance, Individual Annuities, Individual Life and Assurance IQ businesses), our International Businesses, the Closed Block division, and our Corporate and Other operations. The Closed Block division is accounted for as a divested business that is reported separately from the Divested and Run-off Businesses that are included in Corporate and Other. Divested and Run-off Businesses are composed of businesses that have been, or will be, sold or exited, including businesses that have been placed in wind-down status that do not qualify for “discontinued operations” accounting treatment under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). Our Corporate and Other operations include corporate items and initiatives that are not allocated to business segments as well as the Divested and Run-off Businesses described above. See “Business—” for a description of our sources of revenue and details on how our profitability is impacted. In addition, our profitability is impacted by our ability to effectively deploy capital, utilize our tax capacity and manage expenses.

In October 2021, as part of the Company’s multi-year business transformation initiative, we announced the creation of Retirement Strategies, a new U.S. business that will serve the retirement needs of both individual and institutional customers. This business will bring the financial solutions and capabilities of our Individual Annuities business together with the institutional investment and pension solutions offered through our Retirement business. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the new leadership team was assembled and began making decisions regarding the business’s operating structure. When this new structure is finalized and operational, the presentation of our segment results may be modified to conform to this new structure.

Management expects that results in 2022 will continue to benefit from our differentiated mix of market-leading businesses that complement each other to provide competitive advantages, earnings diversification and capital benefits from a balanced risk profile. While challenges exist in the form of a low interest rate environment (see “Impact of a Low Interest Rate Environment” below), fee compression in certain of our businesses and other market factors, we expect that our businesses will produce appropriate returns for the current market environment. We believe we are well-positioned to tap into market opportunities to meet the evolving needs of individual customers, workplace clients, and society at large. Our mix of high-quality protection, retirement and investment management businesses enables us to offer solutions that cover a broad range of financial needs and to engage with our clients through multiple channels, including the ability to sell solutions across a broad socio-economic spectrum through Assurance IQ’s digital platform. We aim to expand our addressable market, build deeper and longer-lasting relationships with customers and clients, and meaningfully improve their financial wellness.

In order to become more competitive, we are working to enhance the experience of our customers and the capabilities of our businesses, which we expect will improve margins. In 2019, we launched programs in pursuit of these objectives that have resulted and will continue to result in multi-year investments in technology, systems and employee reskilling, as well as severance and related charges. In 2021, we incurred approximately $250 million of costs in connection with these programs. We expect these programs will generate significant expense efficiencies over several years. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company estimates that these programs generated cost savings of approximately $540 million and, as of December 31, 2021, we continue to remain on track to accumulate approximately $750 million of annual run-rate cost savings by the end of 2023.

Since the first quarter of 2020, the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has caused extreme stress and disruption in the global economy and financial markets, and elevated mortality and morbidity for the global population. The COVID-19

In 2021, the United States experienced multiple waves of COVID-19, with the severity of each wave depending on such factors as seasonality, varying levels of population immunity, and the evolution of the virus itself into different variants. Deaths from COVID-19 in the United States peaked in the first quarter of 2021, prior to widespread vaccination, and again in the third quarter, due to the emergence of the Delta variant. In December, the Omicron variant emerged in the United States and has since become the dominant strain, causing many more infections but with a smaller percentage of infections resulting in hospitalizations and deaths compared to prior waves. Several vaccines are now widely accessible and other therapeutics, such as antiviral treatments, are increasingly becoming available. As a result, the overall financial impact to the Company is expected to remain manageable; however, the future evolution of the virus, among other factors, could cause the actual course of the pandemic to differ from our current expectations.

The Company has taken several measures to manage the impacts of this pandemic. The actual and expected impacts of these measures and other items are set forth below:

We feel confident about our prospects for the future based on the foundation of our integrated and complementary businesses. We plan to continue our transformation by further executing on our cost savings plan and taking additional steps to increase our growth potential and reduce our market sensitivity. Our plan remains to reallocate capital across the businesses with the intention of doubling the earnings contribution from our higher-growth businesses and reducing the earnings contribution from our Individual Annuities business.

Specific outlook considerations for each of our businesses include the following:

Our U.S. and International Businesses are impacted by financial markets, economic conditions, regulatory oversight, and a variety of trends that affect the industries in which we compete.

For more information on interest rate risks, see “Risk Factors—Market Risk”.

See below for discussions related to the current interest rate environments in our two largest markets, the U.S. and Japan; the composition of our insurance liabilities and policyholder account balances; and the hypothetical impacts to our investment-related results if these interest rate environments are sustained.

Interest rates in the U.S. have experienced a sustained period of historically low levels with certain benchmarks reaching significant lows. While market conditions and events make uncertain the timing, amount and impact of any monetary policy decisions by the Federal Reserve, changes in interest rates may impact our reinvestment yields, primarily for our investments in fixed maturity securities and commercial mortgage loans. As interest rates decline, our reinvestment yield may be below our overall portfolio yield, resulting in an unfavorable impact to earnings. Conversely, as interest rates rise, our reinvestment yield may exceed the overall portfolio yield resulting in a favorable impact to earnings.

For the general account supporting our U.S. Businesses and our Corporate and Other operations, we estimate annual principal payments and prepayments that we would be required to reinvest to be approximately 6.6% of the fixed maturity security and commercial mortgage loan portfolios through 2023. The portion of the general account attributable to these operations has approximately $238 billion of such assets (based on net carrying value and including assets classified as “held-for-sale”) as of December 31, 2021. The average portfolio yield for fixed maturity securities and commercial mortgage loans is approximately 3.7%, as of December 31, 2021.

Included in the $238 billion of fixed maturity securities and commercial mortgage loans are approximately $181 billion that are subject to call or redemption features at the issuer’s option and have a weighted average interest rate of approximately 4%. Of this $181 billion, approximately 51% contain provisions for prepayment premiums. If we reinvest scheduled payments or prepayments (not subject to a prepayment fee) at rates below the current portfolio yield, including in some cases at rates below those guaranteed under our insurance contracts, future operating results will be impacted to the extent we do not, or are unable to, reduce crediting rates on in-force blocks of business, or effectively utilize other asset/liability management strategies described below, in order to maintain current net interest margins.

The following table sets forth the insurance liabilities and policyholder account balances of our U.S. operations excluding the Closed Block Division, by type, for the date indicated:

The $155 billion above relates to long-duration products such as group annuities, structured settlements and other insurance products that have fixed and guaranteed terms, for which underlying assets may have to be reinvested at interest rates that are lower than portfolio rates. We seek to mitigate the impact of a prolonged low interest rate environment on these contracts through asset/liability management, as discussed further below.

The remaining $14 billion of insurance liabilities and policyholder account balances in these operations relates to participating contracts for which the investment income risk is expected to ultimately accrue to contractholders. The crediting rates for these contracts are periodically adjusted based on the return earned on the related assets.

Assuming a hypothetical scenario where the average 10-year U.S. Treasury rate is 1.75% (which is reasonably consistent with recent rates) for the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 (and credit spreads remain unchanged from average levels experienced during the fourth quarter 2021), we estimate that the unfavorable impact to net investment income of reinvesting activities, including scheduled maturities and estimated prepayments of fixed maturities and commercial mortgage and other loans (excluding assets supporting participating contracts) would be between $30 million and $60 million for the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

In order to mitigate the unfavorable impact that a low interest rate environment has on our net interest margins, we employ a proactive asset/liability management program, which includes strategic asset allocation and hedging strategies within a disciplined risk management framework. These strategies seek to match the characteristics of our products, and to closely approximate the interest rate sensitivity of the assets with the estimated interest rate sensitivity of the product liabilities. Our asset/liability management program also helps manage duration gaps, currency and other risks between assets and liabilities through the use of derivatives. We adjust this dynamic process as products change, as customer behavior changes and as changes in the market environment occur. As a result, our asset/liability management process has permitted us to manage the interest rate risk associated with our products through several market cycles. Our interest rate exposure is also mitigated by our business mix, which includes lines of business for which fee-based and insurance underwriting earnings play a more prominent role in product profitability. We also regularly examine our product offerings and their profitability. As a result, we may reprice certain products and discontinue sales of other products that do not meet our profit expectations.

Substantially all of the $59 billion of general account assets in the Closed Block division support obligations and liabilities relating to the Closed Block policies only. See Note 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the Closed Block.

While our international insurance operations have experienced a low interest rate environment for many years, the current reinvestment yields for certain blocks of business in our international insurance operations are generally lower than the current portfolio yield supporting these blocks of business. In recent years, the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy has resulted in even lower and, at times, negative yields for certain tenors of government bonds. Our international insurance operations employ a proactive asset/liability management program in order to mitigate, to the extent possible, the unfavorable impact that the current interest rate environment has on our net interest margins. In conjunction with this program, we have not purchased negative yielding assets to support the portfolio and we continue to purchase long-term bonds with tenors of 30 years or greater. Additionally, our diverse product portfolio in terms of currency mix and premium payment structure allows us to further mitigate the negative impact from this low interest rate environment. We also regularly examine our product offerings and their profitability. As a result, we may reprice certain products, adjust commissions for certain products and discontinue sales of other products that do not meet our profit expectations. The impact of these actions and the introduction of certain new products has resulted in an increase in sales of U.S. dollar-denominated products relative to products denominated in other currencies. For additional information on sales within our international insurance operations, see “—International Businesses—Sales Results,” below.

The following table sets forth the insurance liabilities and policyholder account balances of our Japanese operations, by type, for the date indicated:

The $139 billion is primarily comprised of long-duration insurance products that have fixed and guaranteed terms, for which underlying assets may have to be reinvested at interest rates that are lower than current portfolio yields. The remaining insurance liabilities and policyholder account balances include $25 billion related to contracts that impose a market value adjustment if the invested amount is not held to maturity and $11 billion related to contracts with crediting rates that may be adjusted over the life of the contract, subject to guaranteed minimums. Most of the current crediting rates on these contracts, however, are at or near contractual minimums. Although we have the ability in some cases to lower crediting rates for those contracts that are above guaranteed minimum crediting rates, the majority of this business has interest crediting rates that are determined by formula.

Assuming a hypothetical scenario where the average 30-year Japanese Government Bond yield is 0.65% and the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate is 1.60% (which is reasonably consistent with recent rates) for the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 (and credit spreads remain unchanged from average levels experienced during the fourth quarter 2021), we

We analyze the performance of our segments and Corporate and Other operations using a measure of segment profitability called adjusted operating income. See “—Segment Measures” for a discussion of adjusted operating income and its use as a measure of segment operating performance.

Segment results for 2021 presented above reflect the following:

The amount of annualized new business premiums for any given period can be significantly impacted by several factors, including but not limited to: addition of new products, discontinuation of existing products, changes in credited interest rates for certain products and other product modifications, changes in premium rates, changes in tax laws, changes in regulations or changes in the competitive environment. Sales volume may increase or decrease prior to certain of these changes becoming effective, and then fluctuate in the other direction following such changes.

As a U.S.-based company with significant business operations outside the U.S., particularly in Japan, we are subject to foreign currency exchange rate movements that could impact our U.S. dollar (“USD”)-equivalent earnings and shareholder return on equity. Our USD-equivalent earnings could be materially affected by currency fluctuations from period to period, even if earnings on a local currency basis are relatively constant. Our USD-equivalent equity is impacted as the value of our investment in international operations may also fluctuate based on changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We seek to mitigate these impacts through various hedging strategies, including the use of derivative contracts and by holding USD-denominated assets in certain of our foreign subsidiaries.

In order to reduce earnings volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements, we enter into forward currency derivative contracts to effectively fix the currency exchange rates for a portion of our prospective non-USD-denominated earnings streams. This forward currency hedging program is primarily associated with our insurance operations in Japan.

In order to reduce equity volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements, we primarily utilize a yen hedging strategy that calibrates the hedge level to preserve the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity on a leverage neutral basis. We implement this hedging strategy utilizing a variety of instruments, including USD-denominated assets, foreign currency derivative contracts, and dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments held locally in our Japanese insurance subsidiaries. The total hedge level may vary based on our periodic assessment of the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity.

The table below presents the aggregate amount of instruments that serve to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange movements on our USD-equivalent shareholder return on equity from our Japanese insurance subsidiaries as of the dates indicated.

The USD-denominated investments that hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements on USD-equivalent earnings and shareholder return on equity from our Japanese insurance operations are reported within yen-based entities and, as a result, foreign currency exchange rate movements will impact their value reported within our yen-based Japanese insurance entities. We seek to mitigate the risk that future unfavorable foreign currency exchange rate movements will

These USD-denominated investments also pay a coupon which is generally higher than what a similar yen-denominated investment would pay. The incremental impact of this higher yield on our USD-denominated investments, as well as our dual currency and synthetic dual currency investments, will vary over time, and is dependent on the duration of the underlying investments as well as interest rate environments in both the U.S. and Japan at the time of the investments.

The financial results of our International Businesses and PGIM reflect the impact of intercompany arrangements with our Corporate and Other operations pursuant to which these segments’ non-USD-denominated earnings are translated at fixed currency exchange rates. Results of our Corporate and Other operations include differences between the translation adjustments recorded by the segments at the fixed currency exchange rate versus the actual average rate during the period. In addition, specific to our International Businesses where we hedge certain currencies, the results of our Corporate and Other operations also include the impact of any gains or losses recorded from the forward currency contracts that settled during the period, which include the impact of any over or under hedging of actual earnings that differ from projected earnings.

For our International Businesses, the fixed currency exchange rates are generally determined in connection with a foreign currency income hedging program designed to mitigate the impact of exchange rate changes on the segment’s expected USD-equivalent earnings. Pursuant to this program, our Corporate and Other operations execute forward currency contracts with third-parties to sell the net exposure of projected earnings for certain currencies in exchange for USD at specified exchange rates. The maturities of these contracts correspond with the future periods (typically on a three-year rolling basis) in which the identified non-USD-denominated earnings are expected to be generated. In establishing the level of non-USD-denominated earnings that will be hedged through this program, we exclude the anticipated level of USD-denominated earnings that will be generated by USD-denominated products and investments. For the year ended December 31, 2021, approximately 4% of the segment’s earnings were yen-based and, as of December 31, 2021, we have hedged 100%, 72% and 28% of expected yen-based earnings for 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively. To the extent currently unhedged, our International Businesses’ future expected USD-equivalent of yen-based earnings will be impacted by yen exchange rate movements.

As a result of these arrangements, our International Businesses’ results for 2021, 2020 and 2019 reflect the impact of translating yen-denominated earnings at fixed currency exchange rates of 103, 104, and 105 yen per USD, respectively. We expect our 2022 results to reflect the impact of translating yen-denominated earnings at a fixed currency exchange rate of 104 yen per USD. Since determination of the fixed currency exchange rates for a given year is impacted by changes in foreign currency exchange rates over time, the segment’s future earnings will ultimately be impacted by these changes in exchange rates.

For PGIM and certain other currencies within our International Businesses, the fixed currency exchange rates for the current year are predetermined during the third quarter of the prior year using forward currency exchange rates.

The table below presents, for the periods indicated, the increase (decrease) to revenues and adjusted operating income for the International Businesses, PGIM and Corporate and Other operations, reflecting the impact of these intercompany arrangements.

While our international insurance operations offer products denominated in local currency, several also offer products denominated in non-local currencies. This is most notable in our Japanese operations, which currently offer primarily USD-denominated products, but have also historically offered Australian dollar (“AUD”)-denominated products. The non-local currency-denominated insurance liabilities related to these products are supported by investments denominated in corresponding currencies, including a significant portion designated as available-for-sale. While the impact from foreign currency exchange rate movements on these non-local currency-denominated assets and liabilities is economically matched, differences in the accounting for changes in the value of these assets and liabilities due to changes in foreign currency exchange rate movements have historically resulted in volatility in U.S. GAAP earnings.

As a result, we implemented a structure in Gibraltar Life’s operations that disaggregated the USD- and AUD-denominated businesses into separate divisions, each with its own functional currency that aligns with the underlying products and investments. The result of this alignment was to reduce differences in the accounting for changes in the value of these assets and liabilities that arise due to changes in foreign currency exchange rate movements. For the USD- and AUD-denominated assets that were transferred under this structure, the net cumulative unrealized investment gains associated with foreign exchange remeasurement that were recorded in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” (“AOCI”) totaled $2.0 billion and $2.3 billion as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and will be recognized in earnings within “Realized investment gains (losses), net” over time as these assets mature or are sold. Absent the sale of any of these assets prior to their stated maturity, approximately 13% of the $2.0 billion balance as of December 31, 2021 will be recognized in 2022, approximately 8% will be recognized in 2023, and the remaining balance will be recognized from 2024 through 2051.

Our insurance operations in Argentina, Prudential of Argentina (“POA”), have historically utilized the Argentine peso as the functional currency given it is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates. During 2018, Argentina experienced a cumulative inflation rate that exceeded 100% over a 3-year period. As a result, Argentina’s economy was deemed to be highly inflationary, resulting in reporting changes effective July 1, 2018. Under U.S. GAAP, the financial statements of a foreign entity in a highly inflationary economy are to be remeasured as if its functional currency (formerly the Argentine peso) is the reporting currency of its parent reporting entity (the USD) on a prospective basis. While this changed how the results of POA are remeasured and/or translated into USD, the impact to our financial statements was not material nor is it expected to be material in future periods given the relative size of our POA operations. It should also be noted that due to the macroeconomic environment in Argentina, the majority of POA’s balance sheet consists of USD-denominated product liabilities supported by USD-denominated assets. As a result, this accounting change serves to reduce the remeasurement impact reflected in net income given that the functional currency and currency in which the assets and liabilities are denominated will be more closely aligned.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the application of accounting policies that often involve a significant degree of judgment. Management, on an ongoing basis, reviews estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of financial statements. If management determines that modifications in assumptions and estimates are appropriate given current facts and circumstances, the Company’s results of operations and financial position as reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements could change significantly.

The following sections discuss the accounting policies applied in preparing our financial statements that management believes are most dependent on the application of estimates and assumptions and require management’s most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments.

We capitalize costs that are directly related to the acquisition or renewal of insurance and annuity contracts. These costs primarily include commissions, as well as costs of policy issuance and underwriting and certain other expenses that are directly related to successfully negotiated contracts. We have also deferred costs associated with sales inducements related to our variable and fixed annuity contracts primarily within our Individual Annuities segment. Sales inducements are amounts that are credited to the policyholders’ account balances mainly as an inducement to purchase the contract. For additional information about sales inducements, see Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. We generally amortize DAC and deferred sales inducements (“DSI”) over the expected lives of the contracts, based on our estimates of the level and timing of gross premiums, gross profits, or gross margins, depending on the type of contract. As described in more detail below, in calculating DAC and DSI amortization, we are required to make assumptions about investment returns, mortality, persistency, and other items that impact our estimates of the level and timing of gross margins, gross profits, or gross premiums. We also periodically evaluate the recoverability of our DAC and DSI. For certain contracts, this evaluation is performed as part of our premium deficiency testing, as discussed further below in “—Insurance Liabilities—Future Policy Benefits.” As of December 31, 2021, DAC and DSI for PFI excluding the Closed Block division were $18.0 billion and $0.8 billion, respectively, and DAC in our Closed Block division was $0.2 billion. This excludes amounts presented within “Assets held-for-sale” on the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of December 31, 2021. See Note 1 and Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The amortization methodologies for products not discussed above primarily relate to less significant DAC and DSI balances associated with products in our Group Insurance and Retirement segments, which comprised approximately 1% of the Company’s total DAC and DSI balances as of December 31, 2021.

In addition to DAC and DSI, we also recognize an asset for VOBA, which is an intangible asset that represents an adjustment to the stated value of acquired in-force insurance contract liabilities to present them at fair value, determined as of the acquisition date. VOBA is amortized over the expected life of the acquired contracts using the same methodology and assumptions used to amortize DAC and DSI, as discussed above. VOBA is also subject to recoverability testing. As of December 31, 2021, VOBA was $771 million, and included $740 million related to the acquisition from American International Group (“AIG”) of AIG Star Life Insurance Co., Ltd, AIG Edison Life Insurance Company, AIG Financial Assurance Japan K.K. and AIG Edison Service Co., Ltd. (collectively, the “Star and Edison Businesses”) in 2011. The remaining balance primarily relates to previously-acquired traditional life and defined benefit businesses. The VOBA balance excludes amounts presented within “Assets held-for-sale” on the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of December 31, 2021. See Note 1 and Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. The VOBA associated with the in-force contracts of the Star and Edison Businesses is less sensitive to assumption changes, as the majority is amortized in proportion to gross premiums which are more predictably stable compared to gross profits.

We perform an annual comprehensive review of the assumptions used in estimating gross profits for future periods. Over the last several years, the Company’s most significant assumption updates that have resulted in a change to expected future gross profits and the amortization of DAC, DSI and VOBA have been related to lapse and other contractholder behavior assumptions, mortality, and revisions to expected future rates of returns on investments. These assumptions may also cause potential significant variability in amortization expense in the future. The impact on our results of operations of changes in these assumptions can be offsetting and we are unable to predict their movement or offsetting impact over time.

The quarterly adjustments for current period experience referred to above reflect the impact of differences between actual gross profits for a given period and the previously estimated expected gross profits for that period. To the extent each period’s actual experience differs from the previous estimate for that period, the assumed level of total gross profits may change. In these cases, we recognize a cumulative adjustment to all previous periods’ amortization, also referred to as an experience true-up adjustment.

The quarterly adjustments for market performance referred to above reflect the impact of changes to our estimate of total gross profits to reflect actual fund performance and market conditions. A significant portion of gross profits for our variable annuity contracts and, to a lesser degree, our variable life contracts are dependent upon the total rate of return on assets held in separate account investment options. This rate of return influences the fees we earn on variable annuity and variable life contracts, costs we incur associated with the guaranteed minimum death and guaranteed minimum income benefit features related to our variable annuity contracts and expected claims to be paid on variable life contracts, as well as other sources of profit. Returns that are higher than our expectations for a given period produce higher than expected account balances, which increase the future fees we expect to earn on variable annuity and variable life contracts and decrease the future costs we expect to incur associated with the guaranteed minimum death and guaranteed minimum income benefit features related to our variable annuity contracts and expected claims to be paid on variable life contracts. The opposite occurs when returns are lower than our expectations. The changes in future expected gross profits are used to recognize a cumulative adjustment to all prior periods’ amortization.

The weighted average rate of return assumptions used in developing estimated market returns consider many factors specific to each product type, including asset durations, asset allocations and other factors. With regard to equity market assumptions, the near-term future rate of return assumption used in evaluating DAC, DSI and VOBA and liabilities for future policy benefits for certain of our products, primarily our domestic variable annuity and domestic and international variable life insurance products is generally updated each quarter and is derived using a reversion to the mean approach, a common industry practice. Under this approach, we consider historical equity returns and adjust projected equity returns over an initial future period of five years (the “near-term”) so that equity returns converge to the long-term expected rate of return. If the near-term projected future rate of return is greater than our near-term maximum future rate of return of 15.0%, we use our maximum future rate of return. If the near-term projected future rate of return is lower than our near-term minimum future rate of return of 0%, we use our minimum future rate of return. As of December 31, 2021, our domestic variable annuities and variable life insurance businesses assume an 8.0% long-term equity expected rate of return and a 0.0% near-term mean reversion equity expected rate of return, and our international variable life insurance business assumes a 4.8% long-term equity expected rate of return and a 0.7% near-term mean reversion equity expected rate of return.

With regard to interest rate assumptions used in evaluating DAC, DSI and VOBA and liabilities for future policy benefits for certain of our products, we update the long-term and near-term future rates used to project fixed income returns annually and quarterly, respectively. As a result of our 2021 annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, we kept our long-term expectation of the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate and 10-year Japanese Government Bond yield unchanged and continue to grade to rates of 3.25% and 1.00%, respectively, over ten years. As part of our quarterly market experience updates, we update our near-term projections of interest rates to reflect changes in current rates.

We establish reserves for future policy benefits to, or on behalf of, policyholders using methodologies prescribed by U.S. GAAP. The reserving methodologies used include the following:

The assumptions used in establishing reserves are generally based on the Company’s experience, industry experience and/or other factors, as applicable. We update our actuarial assumptions, such as mortality, morbidity, retirement and policyholder behavior assumptions, annually, unless a material change is observed in an interim period that we feel is indicative of a long-term trend. Generally, we do not expect trends to change significantly in the short-term and, to the extent these trends may change, we expect such changes to be gradual over the long-term. In a sustained low interest rate environment, there is an increased likelihood that the reserves determined based on best estimate assumptions may be greater than the net liabilities.

The reserves for certain optional living benefit features, including GMAB, GMWB and GMIWB are accounted for as embedded derivatives at fair value, as described above. This methodology could result in either a liability or contra-liability balance, given changing capital market conditions and various actuarial assumptions. Since there is no observable active market for the transfer of these obligations, the valuations are calculated using internally-developed models with option pricing techniques. The models are based on a risk neutral valuation framework and incorporate premiums for risks inherent in valuation techniques, inputs, and the general uncertainty around the timing and amount of future cash flows. The significant inputs to the valuation models for these embedded derivatives include capital market assumptions, such as interest rate levels and volatility assumptions, the Company’s market-perceived risk of its own non-performance risk (“NPR”), as well as actuarially-determined assumptions, including mortality rates and contractholder behavior, such as lapse rates, benefit utilization rates and withdrawal rates. Capital market inputs and actual contractholders’ account values are updated each quarter based on capital market conditions as of the end of the quarter, including interest rates, equity markets and volatility. In the risk neutral valuation, the initial swap curve drives the total returns used to grow the contractholders’ account values. The Company’s discount rate assumption is based on the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) swap curve adjusted for an additional spread, which includes an estimate of NPR. Actuarial assumptions, including contractholder behavior and mortality, are reviewed at least annually, and updated based upon emerging experience, future expectations and other data, including any observable market data, such as available industry studies or market transactions such as acquisitions and reinsurance transactions. For additional information regarding the valuation of these optional living benefit features, see Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Policyholders’ account balances liability represents the contract value that has accrued to the benefit of the policyholder as of the balance sheet date. This liability is primarily associated with the accumulated account deposits, plus interest credited, less policyholder withdrawals and other charges assessed against the account balance, as applicable. Our unearned revenue reserve also reported as a component of “Policyholders’ account balances” primarily relates to the variable and universal life products within our Individual Life and International Businesses segments and represents policy charges for services to be provided in future periods. The charges are deferred as unearned revenue and are generally amortized over the expected life of the contract in proportion to the product’s estimated gross profits, similar to DAC, DSI and VOBA as discussed above. Policyholders’ account balances also include amounts representing the fair value of embedded derivative instruments associated with the index-linked features of certain universal life and annuity products. For additional information regarding the valuation of these embedded derivatives, see Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The following table summarizes the aggregate impact that could result on each of the listed financial statement balances from changes in certain key assumptions. The figures below are presented in aggregate for the Company. The information below is for illustrative purposes and includes only the hypothetical direct impact on December 31, 2021 balances of changes in a single assumption and not changes in any combination of assumptions. Additionally, the illustration of the insurance assumption impacts below reflects a parallel shift in the insurance assumptions across the Company; however, these may be non-parallel in practice and only applicable to specific businesses. Changes in current assumptions could result in impacts to financial statement balances that are in excess of the amounts illustrated. A description of the estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of each of these financial statement balances is provided above. For traditional long-duration and limited-payment contracts, U.S. GAAP requires the original assumptions used when the contracts are issued to be locked-in and that those assumptions be used in all future liability calculations as long as the resulting liabilities are adequate to provide for the future benefits and expenses (i.e., there is no premium deficiency). Therefore, these products are not reflected in the sensitivity table below unless the hypothetical change in assumption would result in an adverse impact that would cause a premium deficiency. Similarly, the impact of any favorable change in assumptions for traditional long-duration and limited-payment contracts is not reflected in the table below given that the current assumption is required to remain locked-in, and instead the positive impacts would be recognized into net income over the life of the policies in force.

The impacts presented within this table exclude the following:

The following table summarizes certain significant assumptions made in establishing best estimate reserves for long-term care products to perform premium deficiency testing, and the net impact that could result to the best estimate reserves from changes in these assumptions should they occur. Under U.S. GAAP, reserves for long-term care products are primarily calculated using the locked-in assumptions concept described above. As such, the adverse hypothetical impacts illustrated in the table below are those that would increase our best estimate reserves and, when compared to our GAAP reserves, may cause a premium deficiency that would require us to unlock and update our assumptions and record a charge to net income. The favorable hypothetical impacts in the table below would decrease our best estimate reserves but would not result in an immediate decrease to our GAAP reserves (given that we would be required to leave the current assumptions locked-in); rather, the positive impacts would be recognized into net income over the life of the policies in force.

The information below is for illustrative purposes and includes the impacts of changes in a single assumption and not changes in any combination of assumptions. As a result of emerging experience, changes in current assumptions may result in impacts to the best estimate reserve in future periods that are in excess of or lower than the amounts illustrated.

As of December 31, 2021, our goodwill balance of $1,804 million is primarily reflected in the following reporting units: $1,080 million for Assurance IQ, $558 million for PGIM, and $130 million for Gibraltar Life and Other.

The Full Service Retirement business has been classified as held-for-sale and as a divested business within Corporate & Other and its assets, including goodwill of $455 million, are presented within “Assets held-for-sale” on the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of December 31, 2021. See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on the pending disposition of the Full Service Retirement business.

We test goodwill for impairment on an annual basis, as of December 31 and more frequently if events or circumstances indicate the potential for impairment is more likely than not. The goodwill impairment analysis is performed at the reporting unit level, which is the same as, or one level below, our operating segments. Although the accounting guidance provides for an optional qualitative assessment for testing goodwill impairment, all of our reporting units elected to perform the quantitative test, which compares each reporting unit’s estimated fair value to its carrying value. The carrying value represents the capital that the business would require if operating as a standalone entity.

The annual quantitative goodwill impairment analysis for Assurance IQ utilized both market valuation techniques based on both sales and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (“EBITDA”) forward multiples and discounted cash flow valuation techniques. The estimated fair value of Assurance IQ as of December 31, 2021 was based on weighting the results of each approach and included assumptions that a market participant would use to value the business. Based on the goodwill impairment test performed as of December 31, 2021, the Company recognized a non-cash goodwill impairment pre-tax charge of $1,060 million, ($837 million after-tax) for Assurance IQ driven by a decline in peer valuations combined with a reduction in the forecasted cash flows, as described further below.

The market approaches derived the value of Assurance IQ based on comparable publicly traded companies. Each comparable company was assigned a relative weight based on various factors, primarily focused on the comparability of lines of business and business mix, with additional considerations given to comparability of business lifecycle, growth, and profitability. Forward market multiples were developed for the comparable companies using independent analysts’ consensus estimates for each company’s forecasted sales and EBITDA. The market multiples were then applied to Assurance IQ’s forecasted results, and an implied control premium, reflective of expected synergies a market participant would realize, was added to determine a total estimated fair value for the reporting unit. The value of the comparable publicly traded companies declined in 2021, particularly during the last three months of the year, which significantly impacted the valuation of Assurance

The discounted cash flow approaches estimated the fair value of Assurance IQ by applying a discount rate, derived from a capital asset pricing model and reflecting a market expected rate of return for the reporting unit, to its projected future cash flows. The projected future cash flows involved significant judgement and were based on our internal forecasts including expected synergies, and a range of terminal values, which incorporated an expected long-term growth rate and market-based multiples. Revisions to the long-term forecasts, following the annual Medicare enrollment period in the fourth quarter of 2021, reflected lower growth rates in Medicare sales driven by slower agent growth, and increased operating expenses, along with other changes in business plans, including shifts in the product mix. The long-term forecasts also incorporated changes in the current and expected industry and market conditions and trends, in addition to the business specific factors. These revisions led to declines in the cash flow projections, consistent with how a market participant would assess the outlook of the business.

The $1,060 million pre-tax impairment charge resulted in a $1,080 million goodwill asset assigned to the Assurance IQ reporting unit as of December 31, 2021. See “Risk Factors—Strategic Risk” for additional information on risks that may impact the performance and fair value of Assurance IQ and may result in additional impairment charges in future periods.

Gibraltar Life and Other and PGIM completed a quantitative impairment analysis using an earnings multiple approach, which resulted in their fair value exceeding their carrying value by a weighted average of 545% as of December 31, 2021.

Our investment portfolio consists of public and private fixed maturity securities, commercial mortgage and other loans, equity securities, other invested assets, and derivative financial instruments. Derivatives are financial instruments whose values are derived from interest rates, foreign exchange rates, financial indices or the values of securities or commodities. Derivative financial instruments we generally use include swaps, futures, forwards and options and may be exchange-traded or contracted in the over-the-counter (“OTC”) market. We are also party to financial instruments that contain derivative instruments that are “embedded” in the financial instruments. Management believes the following accounting policies related to investments, including derivatives, are most dependent on the application of estimates and assumptions. Each of these policies is discussed further within other relevant disclosures related to investments and derivatives, as referenced below:

We present at fair value in the statements of financial position our debt security investments classified as available-for-sale, investments classified as trading such as our assets supporting experience-rated contractholder liabilities and certain fixed maturities, equity securities, and certain investments within “Other invested assets,” such as derivatives. For additional information regarding the key estimates and assumptions surrounding the determination of fair value of fixed maturity and equity securities, as well as derivative instruments, embedded derivatives and other investments, see Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements and “—Valuation of Assets and Liabilities—Fair Value of Assets and Liabilities.”

For our investments classified as available-for-sale, the impact of changes in fair value is recorded as an unrealized gain or loss in AOCI, a separate component of equity. For our investments classified as trading and equity securities, the impact of

In addition, an allowance for credit losses is measured each quarter for available-for-sale fixed maturity securities, held-to-maturity fixed maturity securities, commercial mortgage and other loans. For additional information regarding our policies regarding the measurement of credit losses, see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

For equity method investments, the carrying value of these investments is written down or impaired to fair value when a decline in value is considered to be other-than-temporary.

We sponsor pension and other postretirement benefit plans covering employees who meet specific eligibility requirements. Our net periodic costs for these plans consider an assumed discount (interest) rate, an expected rate of return on plan assets, expected increases in compensation levels, mortality and trends in health care costs. Of these assumptions, our expected rate of return assumptions and our discount rate assumptions have historically had the most significant effect on our net period costs associated with these plans.

We determine our expected rate of return on plan assets based upon a building block approach that considers plan asset mix, risk free rates, inflation, real return, term premium, credit spreads, equity risk premium and capital appreciation as well as expenses, the effect of active management and the effect of rebalancing for the equity, debt and real estate asset mix applied on a weighted average basis to our pension asset portfolio. See Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for our actual asset allocations by asset category and the asset allocation ranges prescribed by our investment policy guidelines for both our pension and other postretirement benefit plans. Our assumed long-term rate of return for 2021 was 6.00% for our domestic pension plans and 6.75% for our other postretirement benefit plans. Given the amount of plan assets as of December 31, 2020, the beginning of the measurement year, if we had assumed an expected rate of return for both our domestic pension and other domestic postretirement benefit plans that was 100 bps higher or 100 bps lower than the rates we assumed, the change in our net periodic costs would have been as shown in the table below. The information provided in the table below considers only changes in our assumed long-term rate of return given the level and mix of invested assets at the beginning of the measurement year, without consideration of possible changes in any of the other assumptions described above that could ultimately accompany any changes in our assumed long-term rate of return.

Foreign pension plans represent 4% of plan assets at the beginning of 2021. An increase in expected rate of return by 100 bps would result in a decrease in net periodic pension costs of $6 million; conversely, a decrease in expected rate of return by 100 bps would result in an increase in net periodic pension costs of $4 million.

Foreign pension plans represent 13% of plan obligations at the beginning of 2021. An increase in discount rate by 100 bps would result in a decrease in net periodic pension costs of $6 million; conversely, a decrease in discount rate by 100 bps would result in an increase in net periodic pension costs of $10 million.

Given the application of the authoritative guidance for accounting for pensions, and the deferral and amortization of actuarial gains and losses arising from changes in our assumed discount rate, the change in net periodic pension cost arising from an increase in the assumed discount rate by 100 bps would not always be expected to equal the change in net periodic pension cost arising from a decrease in the assumed discount rate by 100 bps.

For purposes of calculating pension income from our own qualified pension plan for the year ended December 31, 2022, we increased the discount rate to 2.85% from 2.55% in 2021. The expected rate of return on plan assets will increase to 6.00% in 2022 from 5.75% in 2021, and the assumed rate of increase in compensation will remain unchanged at 4.5%.

In addition to the effect of changes in our assumptions, the net periodic cost or benefit from our pension and other postretirement benefit plans may change due to factors such as actual experience being different from our assumptions, special benefits to terminated employees, or changes in benefits provided under the plans.

Our effective tax rate is based on income, non-taxable and non-deductible items, tax credits, statutory tax rates and tax planning opportunities available in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. Inherent in determining our annual tax rate are judgments regarding business plans, planning opportunities and expectations about future outcomes. The Dividend Received Deduction (“DRD”) is a major reason for the difference between the Company’s effective tax rate and the U.S. federal statutory rate. The DRD is an estimate that incorporates the prior and current year information, as well as the current year’s equity market performance. Both the current estimate of the DRD and the DRD in future periods can vary based on factors such as, but not limited to, changes in the amount of dividends received that are eligible for the DRD, changes in the amount of distributions received from underlying fund investments, changes in the account balances of variable life and annuity contracts, and the Company’s taxable income before the DRD.

An increase or decrease in our effective tax rate by one percentage point would have resulted in a decrease or increase in our 2021 “Total income tax expense (benefit)” of $94 million.

A contingency is an existing condition that involves a degree of uncertainty that will ultimately be resolved upon the occurrence of future events. Under U.S. GAAP, accruals for contingencies are required to be established when the future event is probable and its impact can be reasonably estimated, such as in connection with an unresolved legal matter. The initial reserve reflects management’s best estimate of the probable cost of ultimate resolution of the matter and is revised accordingly as facts and circumstances change and, ultimately, when the matter is brought to closure.

For digital insurance brokerage placement services, the Company earns both initial and renewal commissions as compensation for the placement of insurance policies with insurance carriers. At the effective date of the policy, the Company records within “Other income” the expected lifetime revenue for the initial and renewal commissions considering estimates of the timing of future policy cancellations. These estimates are reassessed each reporting period and any changes in estimates are reflected in the current period.

The Company has an established governance framework to manage the implementation of the standard. The Company’s implementation efforts continue to progress including, but not limited to, implementing refinements to key accounting policy decisions, modifications to actuarial valuation models, updates to data sourcing capabilities, automation of key financial reporting and analytical processes and updates to internal controls over financial reporting.

ASU 2018-12 will impact, at least to some extent, the accounting and disclosure requirements for all long-duration insurance and investment contracts issued by the Company. While the magnitude of impacts is still being assessed, the Company expects the standard to result in a significant decrease to “Total equity” upon adoption, primarily from remeasuring in-force contract liabilities using current upper-medium grade fixed income instrument yields through “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)”. The standard also requires significantly enhanced disclosures. In addition to the significant impacts to the balance sheet upon adoption, the Company also expects an impact to the pattern of earnings emergence following the transition date. See Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a more detailed discussion of ASU 2018-12, as well as other accounting pronouncements issued but not yet adopted and newly adopted accounting pronouncements.

The following table sets forth PGIM’s operating results for the periods indicated:

Expenses decreased $41 million, primarily reflecting higher variable expenses in the prior year associated with higher revenues of certain consolidated funds, as discussed above. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in other variable expenses, primarily reflecting higher asset management fees, as well as higher compensation expenses primarily driven by business growth and certain long-term employee compensation plans tied to performance factors.

The following table sets forth assets under management by asset class as of the dates indicated:

The following table sets forth assets under management by source as of the dates indicated:

The following table sets forth the component changes in PGIM’s assets under management for the periods indicated:

The following table sets forth the operating results for our U.S. Businesses for the periods indicated:

The following table sets forth Retirement’s operating results for the periods indicated:

Benefits and expenses increased $4,454 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses increased $4,460 million driven primarily by an increase in policyholders’ benefits, including changes in reserves related to the higher pension risk transfer premiums discussed above.

Account values are a significant driver of our operating results, and are primarily driven by net additions (withdrawals) and the impact of market changes. The investment income and interest we credit to policyholders on our spread-based products varies with the level of general account values. The income we earn on most of our fee-based products varies with the level of fee-based account values as many policy fees are determined by these values.

The following table shows the changes in the account values of Retirement’s products for the periods indicated. Account values include both internally- and externally-managed client balances as the total balances drive revenue for the Retirement business. For more information on internally-managed balances, see “—PGIM.”

The following table sets forth Group Insurance’s operating results and ~~distributes a full range~~benefits and administrative operating expense ratios for the periods indicated:

Benefits and expenses increased $870 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses increased $882 million. The increase primarily reflected higher policyholders’ benefits, including changes in reserves, in our group life business mostly due to COVID-19 impacts on both non-experience- and experience-rated contracts, and increases in our group disability business driven by growth, as discussed above, and a less favorable impact from claims experience on long-term disability contracts.

The following table sets forth Group Insurance’s annualized new business premiums, as defined under “—Segment Measures” above, for the periods indicated:

Our Individual Annuities business includes both fixed and variable annuities which may include optional guaranteed living benefit riders (e.g., ~~bank-~~GMIB, GMAB, GMWB and ~~trust-owned life~~GMIWB), and/or optional death benefit riders (e.g., GMDB). We also offer fixed annuities that provide a guarantee of principal and interest credited at rates we determine (subject to certain contractual minimums) or at rates based upon the performance of an index (subject to caps or participation rates), as well as indexed variable annuities that provide several index crediting strategies and varying levels of downside protection at predetermined levels and durations. The drivers of our business results are generally included in adjusted operating income, with exceptions related to certain guarantees, as discussed below.

The U.S. GAAP accounting and our adjusted operating income treatment for our guarantees differ depending upon the specific contractual features. Under U.S. GAAP, the reserves for GMIB and GMDB are accounted for in accordance with an insurance fulfillment accounting framework and the results are included in adjusted operating income in a manner generally consistent with U.S. GAAP.

In contrast, certain of our guaranteed living benefit riders (e.g., GMAB, GMWB and GMIWB) are accounted for under U.S. GAAP as embedded derivatives and reported using a fair value accounting framework. For purposes of measuring segment performance, adjusted operating income excludes the changes in fair value and instead reflects the performance of these riders using an insurance fulfillment accounting framework. Under this framework, adjusted operating income recognized each period reflects the rider fees earned during the period, less the portion of such fees estimated to be required to cover future benefit payments and hedging costs. Sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders have been discontinued as of December 31, 2020. See “Business—Individual Annuities” for more information about these products.

The following table sets forth Individual Annuities’ operating results for the periods indicated:

Benefits and expenses increased $43 million. Excluding the impact of our annual reviews and update of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses increased $34 million primarily driven by higher general and administrative expenses, net of capitalization, driven by higher distribution and asset management expenses reflecting higher average separate account values, as discussed above, partially offset by lower operating expenses. This increase was partially offset by lower interest expense.

Account values are a significant driver of our operating results. Since most fees are determined by the level of separate account assets, fee income varies primarily based on the level of account values. Additionally, our fee income generally drives other items such as the pattern of amortization of DAC and other costs. Account values are driven by net flows from new business sales, surrenders, withdrawals and benefit payments, policy charges and the impact of positive or negative market value changes. The annuity industry’s competitive and regulatory landscapes, which have been dynamic over the last few years, may impact our net flows, including new business sales. The following table sets forth account value information for the periods indicated:

Sales for 2021 reflected our product pivot strategy and consisted largely of indexed variable annuities, as sales of traditional variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders were discontinued as of December 31, 2020. The decrease in sales, net of full surrenders and death benefits, largely reflects lower full surrenders in the prior year driven by general uncertainty around COVID-19.

The following is a summary of certain risks associated with Individual Annuities’ products, certain strategies in mitigating those risks including any updates to those strategies since the previous year-end, and the related financial results.

The difference between the change in value of our hedging instruments and the change in value of the portion of the economic liability that is being hedged, has historically been reflected in adjusted operating income over time. Beginning with the second quarter of 2020, this impact is excluded from adjusted operating income which the Company believes enhances the understanding of underlying performance trends.

The valuation of the economic liability we seek to defray excludes certain items that are included within the U.S. GAAP liability, such as NPR in order to maximize protection irrespective of the possibility of our own default, as well as risk margins (required by U.S. GAAP but different from our best estimate) and valuation methodology differences. The following table, which includes the portion of the traditional variable annuities block of business that is classified as “held-for-sale”, as discussed above, provides a reconciliation between the liability reported under U.S. GAAP and the economic liability we manage through our ALM strategy as of the periods indicated:

As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of our fixed income instruments and derivative assets exceed the economic liability within the entities in which the risks reside.

Under our ALM strategy, we expect differences in the U.S. GAAP net income impact between the changes in value of the fixed income instruments (either designated as available-for-sale or designated as trading) and derivatives as compared to the changes in the embedded derivative liability these assets support. These differences can be primarily attributed to three distinct areas:

We employ a capital hedge program to protect a portion of the overall capital position of the variable annuities business against its exposure to the equity markets. The capital hedge program is conducted using equity derivatives which include equity call and put options, total return swaps and futures contracts. The changes in value of these derivatives have historically been recognized in adjusted operating income over the expected duration of the capital hedge program. Beginning with the second quarter of 2020, changes in value of these derivatives are excluded from adjusted operating income which the Company believes enhances the understanding of underlying performance trends.

The following table provides the net impact to the Consolidated Statements of Operations from the results excluded from adjusted operating income, which is primarily driven by the changes in the U.S. GAAP embedded derivative liability and hedge positions under the ALM strategy as described above, and the related amortization of DAC and other costs.

~~Develops~~For 2021, the gain of $1,924 million was driven by a favorable impact related to the U.S. GAAP liability before NPR, net of the change in fair value of hedge assets (excluding capital hedges) as well as favorable market experience updates largely due to favorable equity markets and ~~distributes individual~~rising interest rates. These impacts were partially offset by an unfavorable NPR adjustment, losses associated with our capital hedge program and charges related to the amortization of DAC and other costs.

For certain living benefit guarantees, claims will primarily represent the funding of contractholder lifetime withdrawals after the cumulative withdrawals have first exhausted the contractholder account value. Due to the age of the in-force block, limited claim payments have occurred to date, and they are not expected to increase significantly within the next five years, based upon current assumptions. The timing and amount of future claims will depend on actual returns on contractholder account value and actual contractholder behavior relative to our assumptions. The majority of our current living benefit guarantees provide for guaranteed lifetime contractholder withdrawal payments inclusive of a “highest daily” contract value guarantee. Our Prudential Defined Income variable ~~and fixed~~annuity complements our variable annuity products ~~primarily~~with the highest daily benefit and provides for guaranteed lifetime contractholder withdrawal payments, but restricts contractholder asset allocation to ~~U.S. mass affluent (households~~a single bond fund sub-account within the separate accounts.

The majority of our traditional variable annuity contracts with ~~investable assets~~ living benefit guarantees, and contracts sold with our highest daily living benefit features, include risk mitigants in the form of an automatic rebalancing feature and/or ~~annual income~~inclusion in ~~excess~~our ALM strategy. We may also utilize external reinsurance as a form of ~~$100,000)~~additional risk mitigation. The risks associated with the guaranteed benefits of certain legacy products that were sold prior to our development of the automatic rebalancing feature are also managed through our ALM strategy. Certain legacy products with GMAB rider options include the automatic rebalancing feature but are not included in the ALM strategy. As discussed above, sales of traditional variable annuities with living benefit guarantees and ~~affluent (households~~automatic rebalancing features have been discontinued as of December 31, 2020, and in the third quarter of 2021, we announced that we had entered into an agreement to sell a portion of our in-force traditional variable annuity block. See “Business—Individual Annuities” for more information about these products and Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the disposition.

The following table sets forth the risk management ~~strategies.~~

Develops and distributes ~~variable life, universal life and term~~ life insurance, retirement products ~~primarily~~and certain accident and health products with fixed benefits to ~~U.S. mass middle (households with investable assets in excess of $25,000 or annual income in excess of $50,000),~~ mass affluent ~~(households with investable assets or annual income in excess of $100,000)~~ and affluent ~~(households with investable assets~~customers through our Life Planner operations in ~~excess of $250,000)~~Japan, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Our Gibraltar Life and Other operations also provide similar products to broad middle income and mass affluent customers ~~with a focus on providing life insurance solutions to protect individuals, families~~across Japan, and ~~businesses~~through our joint ventures in Chile, China, India and ~~to support estate~~Indonesia, and ~~wealth transfer planning.~~our strategic investments in Ghana and Kenya through multiple distribution channels (including banks, independent agencies and Life Consultants).