United Fire Group - 10-K annual report 2017

Washington, D.C. 20549

This report may contain forward-looking statements about our operations, anticipated performance and other similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), for forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expected and/or projected. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about United Fire Group, Inc. ("UFG," the "Registrant," the "Company," "we," "us," or "our"), the industry in which we operate, and beliefs and assumptions made by management. Words such as "expect(s)," "anticipate(s)," "intend(s)," "plan(s)," "believe(s)," "continue(s)," "seek(s)," "estimate(s)," "goal(s)," "target(s)," "forecast(s)," "project(s)," "predict(s)," "should," "could," "may," "will continue," "might," "hope," "can" and other words and terms of similar meaning or expression in connection with a discussion of future operations, financial performance or financial condition, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. See Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors" of this report for more information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties that may affect the actual financial condition and results of the Company include but are not limited to the following:

These are representative of the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from what is expressed in forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this report or as of the date they are

made. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), we do not have any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

United Fire Group, Inc. owns 100 percent of one subsidiary, United Fire & Casualty Company. United Fire & Casualty Company owns 100 percent of eight subsidiaries: (1) United Life Insurance Company; (2) Addison Insurance Company; (3) Lafayette Insurance Company; (4) United Fire & Indemnity Company; (5) Mercer Insurance Company; (6) Financial Pacific Insurance Company; (7) UFG Specialty Insurance Company; and (8) United Real Estate Holdings Company, LLC. Mercer Insurance Company owns 100 percent of two subsidiaries: (1) Franklin Insurance Company; and (2) Mercer Insurance Company of New Jersey, Inc. United Fire Lloyds is an affiliate of United Fire & Indemnity Company.

In 2015, the Company dissolved three of its holding companies in order to flatten our organizational chart. The companies dissolved were American Indemnity Financial Corporation, Mercer Insurance Group, Inc. and Financial Pacific Insurance Group, Inc. In addition, Texas General Indemnity Company was renamed to UFG Specialty Insurance Company on July 1, 2015.

Our property and casualty insurance business is comprised of commercial lines insurance, including surety bonds, personal lines insurance and assumed reinsurance. All of our property and casualty insurance subsidiaries and our affiliate belong to an intercompany reinsurance pooling arrangement. On July 1, 2015, UFG Specialty Insurance Company entered the pooling arrangement. Pooling arrangements permit the participating companies to rely on the capacity of the entire pool's capital and surplus, rather than being limited to policy exposures of a size commensurate with each participant's own surplus level. Under such arrangements, the members share substantially all of the insurance business that is written and allocate the combined premiums, losses and expenses based on percentages defined in the arrangement.

Our life insurance business consists solely of the operations of United Life Insurance Company. Our life insurance business is comprised of deferred and immediate fixed annuities, universal life insurance products and traditional life insurance products.

Employees

Available Information

We provide free and timely access to all our reports filed with the SEC in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.ufginsurance.com. Under the "Investors" tab, select "Financial Documents" and then, select "SEC

Filings" to view the list of our SEC filings, which includes annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, beneficial ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a), 15(d) or 16(a) of the Exchange Act. Such reports are made available as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC.

Our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct is also available at www.ufginsurance.com in the Investor Relations section. To view it, under the "Investors" tab, select "Governance Documents" and then "Code of Ethics and Business Conduct."

Free paper copies of any materials that we file with or furnish to the SEC can also be obtained by writing to Investor Relations, United Fire Group, Inc., 118 Second Avenue SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401.

We staff our regional offices with underwriting, claims and marketing representatives and administrative technicians, all of whom provide support and assistance to the independent agencies. Also, home office staff technicians and specialists provide support to our subsidiaries, regional offices and independent agencies. We use management reports to monitor subsidiary and regional offices for overall results and conformity to our business policies.

Competition

The property and casualty insurance industry is highly competitive. We compete with numerous property and casualty insurance companies in the regional and national market, many of which are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial and other resources. Except for regulatory considerations, there are limited barriers to entry into the insurance industry. Our competitors may be domestic or foreign, as well as licensed or unlicensed. The exact number of competitors within the industry is not known. Insurers compete on the basis of reliability, financial strength and stability, ratings, underwriting consistency, service, business ethics, price, performance, capacity, policy terms and coverage conditions.

In addition, because our products are marketed exclusively through independent insurance agencies, most of which represent more than one company, we face competition within each agency and competition to retain qualified independent agents. Our competitors include companies that market their products through agents, as well as companies that sell insurance directly to their customers.

Our competitive advantages include our commitment to:

Competition

We encounter significant competition in all lines of our life and fixed annuity business from other life insurance companies and other providers of financial services. Since our products are marketed exclusively through independent life insurance agencies that typically represent more than one company, we face competition within our agencies. Competitors include companies that market their products through agents, as well as companies that sell directly to their customers. The exact number of competitors within the industry is not known.

To attract and maintain relationships with our independent life insurance agencies, we offer competitive commission rates and other sales incentives. Our life insurance business achieves a competitive advantage by offering products that are simple and straightforward, by providing outstanding customer service, by being accessible to our agents and customers, and by using technology in a variety of ways to assist our agents and improve the delivery of service to our policyholders.

For more information specific to continuing and discontinued operations, including products, pricing and seasonality of premiums written is incorporated by reference from, refer to Note 10 "Segment Information" and Note 17 "Discontinued Operations" contained in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Additionally, for a detailed discussion of our operating results by continuing operations and discontinued operations, refer to the "Consolidated Results of Operations" section in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

Incorporated by reference from Note 4 "Reinsurance" contained in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

Property insurance indemnifies an insured with an interest in physical property for loss of, or damage to, such property or the loss of its income-producing abilities. Casualty insurance primarily covers liability for damage to property of, or injury to, a person or entity other than the insured. In most cases, casualty insurance also obligates the insurance company to provide a defense for the insured in litigation, arising out of events covered by the policy.

Liabilities for loss and loss settlement expenses reflect management's best estimates at a given point in time of what we expect to pay for claims that have been reported and those that have been incurred but not reported ("IBNR"), based on known facts, circumstances, and historical trends.

The determination of reserves (particularly those relating to liability lines of insurance that have relatively longer lag in claim reporting) requires significant work to reasonably project expected future claim reporting and payment patterns. If, during the course of our regular monitoring of reserves, we determine that coverages previously written are incurring higher than expected losses, we will take action that may include, among other things, increasing the related reserves. Any adjustments we make to reserves are reflected in operating results in the year in which we make those adjustments. We engage an independent actuary, Regnier Consulting Group, Inc. ("Regnier"), to render an opinion as to the reasonableness of our statutory reserves annually. The actuarial opinion is filed in those states where we are licensed.

On a quarterly basis, United Fire's internal actuary performs a detailed actuarial review of IBNR reserves. This review includes a comparison of results from the most recent analysis of reserves completed by both our internal and external actuaries. Senior management meets with our internal actuary to review, on a quarterly basis, the adequacy of carried reserves based on results from this actuarial analysis. There are two fundamental types or sources of IBNR reserves. We record IBNR reserves for "normal" types of claims and also specific IBNR reserves related to unique circumstances or events. A major hurricane is an example of an event that might necessitate establishing specific IBNR reserves because an analysis of existing historical data would not provide an appropriate estimate.

We do not discount loss reserves based on the time value of money. 

For a more detailed discussion of our loss reserves, refer to the "Critical Accounting Policies" section in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and Note 5 "Reserves for Losses and Loss Settlement Expenses" contained in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

We calculate the policy reserves reported in our Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with GAAP. For our fixed annuities and universal life policies, we establish a benefit reserve at the time of policy issuance in an amount equal to the deposits received. Subsequently, we adjust the benefit reserve for any additional deposits, interest credited and partial or complete withdrawals, as well as insurance and other expense charges. We base policy reserves for other life products on the projected contractual benefits and expenses and interest rates appropriate to those products. We base reserves for accident and health products, which are a minor portion of our reserves, on appropriate morbidity tables.

We determine reserves for statutory purposes based upon mortality rates and interest rates specified by Iowa state law. Our life insurance subsidiary's reserves meet or exceed the minimum statutory requirements. Griffith, Ballard & Company, an independent actuary, assists us in developing and analyzing our reserves on both a GAAP and statutory basis.

For further discussion of our life insurance reserves, refer to the "Critical Accounting Policies" section in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

Incorporated by reference from Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," under the headings "Investments," "Market Risk" and "Critical Accounting Policies"; and Note 1 "Significant Accounting Policies" under the headings "Investments," Note 2 "Summary of Investments," and Note 3 "Fair Value of Financial Instruments," contained in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

The insurance industry is subject to comprehensive and detailed regulation and supervision. Each jurisdiction in which we operate has established supervisory agencies with broad administrative powers. While we are not aware of any currently proposed or recently enacted state or federal regulation that would have a material impact on our operations, we cannot predict the effect that future regulatory changes might have on us.

We are subject to extensive regulation, primarily at the state level. The method, extent and substance of such regulation varies by state, but generally has its source in National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") model laws and regulations that establish standards and requirements for conducting the business of insurance and that delegate regulatory authority to a state regulatory agency. Moreover, the NAIC Accreditation Program requires state regulatory agencies to meet baseline standards of solvency regulation, particularly with respect to regulation of multi-state insurers. In general, such regulation is intended for the protection of those who purchase or use our insurance products, and not our shareholders. These rules have a substantial effect on our business and relate to a wide variety of matters including: insurance company licensing and examination; the licensing of insurance agents and adjusters; price setting or premium rates; trade practices; approval of policy forms; claims practices; restrictions on transactions between our subsidiaries and their affiliates, including the payment of dividends; investments; underwriting standards; advertising and marketing practices; capital adequacy; and the collection, remittance and reporting of certain taxes, licenses and fees.

The state laws and regulations that have the most significant effect on our insurance operations and financial reporting are discussed below.

Insurance Holding Company Regulation

We are regulated as an insurance holding company system in the states of domicile of our property and casualty insurance companies and life insurance subsidiary: Iowa (United Fire & Casualty Company, United Life Insurance Company, UFG Specialty Insurance Company and Addison Insurance Company), California (Financial Pacific Insurance Company), Louisiana (Lafayette Insurance Company), New Jersey (Mercer Insurance Company of New Jersey, Inc.), Pennsylvania (Mercer Insurance Company and Franklin Insurance Company) and Texas (United Fire & Indemnity Company and United Fire Lloyds). These regulations require that we annually furnish financial and other information about the operations of the individual companies within our holding company system. Generally, the insurance laws of these states provide that notice to the state insurance commissioner is required before finalizing any transaction affecting the ownership or control of an insurer and before finalizing certain material transactions between an insurer and any person or entity within its holding company system. In addition, some of those transactions cannot be finalized without the commissioner's prior approval.

Most states have now adopted the version of the Model Insurance Holding Company System Regulation Act and Regulation as amended by the NAIC in December 2010 (the "Amended Model Act") to introduce the concept of "enterprise risk" within an insurance company holding system. Enterprise risk is defined as any activity, circumstance, event or series of events involving one or more affiliates of an insurer that, if not remedied promptly, is likely to have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition or the liquidity of the insurer or its insurance holding company system as a whole. The Amended Model Act imposes more extensive informational requirements on us, including requiring us to prepare an annual enterprise risk report that identifies the material risks within our insurance company holding system that could pose enterprise risk to our licensed insurers. Compliance with new reporting requirements under the Amended Model Act began for us in 2014 for the 2013 fiscal year.

Restrictions on Shareholder Dividends

Price Regulation

Nearly all states have insurance laws requiring us to file rate schedules, policy or coverage forms, and other information with the state's regulatory authority. In certain states, rate schedules, policy forms, or both, must be approved prior to use. While insurance laws vary from state to state, their objectives are generally the same: an insurance rate cannot be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. The speed with which we can change our rates in response to competition or in response to increasing costs depends, in part, on the willingness of state regulators to allow adequate rates for the business we write.

Investment Regulation

We are subject to various state regulations requiring investment portfolio diversification and limiting the concentration of investments we may maintain in certain asset categories. Failure to comply with these regulations leads to the treatment of nonconforming investments as nonadmitted assets for purposes of measuring statutory surplus. Further, in some instances, state regulations require us to sell certain nonconforming investments.

Exiting Geographic Markets; Canceling and Nonrenewing Policies

Most states regulate our ability to exit a market. For example, states limit, to varying degrees, our ability to cancel and non-renew insurance policies. Some states prohibit us from withdrawing one or more types of insurance

business from the state, except upon prior regulatory approval. Regulations that limit policy cancellation and non-renewal may restrict our ability to exit unprofitable markets.

Insurance Guaranty Associations

Each state has insurance guaranty association laws. Membership in a state's insurance guaranty association is generally mandatory for insurers wishing to do business in that state. Under these laws, associations may assess their members for certain obligations that insolvent insurance companies have incurred with regard to their policyholders and claimants.

Typically, states assess each solvent association member with an amount related to that member's proportionate share of business written by all association members within the state. Most state guaranty associations allow solvent insurers to recoup the assessments they are charged through future rate increases, surcharges or premium tax credits. However, there is no assurance that we will ultimately recover these assessments. We cannot predict the amount and timing of any future assessments or refunds under these laws.

Shared Market and Joint Underwriting Plans

State insurance regulations often require insurers to participate in assigned risk plans, reinsurance facilities and joint underwriting associations. These are mechanisms that generally provide applicants with various types of basic insurance coverage that may not otherwise be available to them through voluntary markets. Such mechanisms are most commonly instituted for automobile and workers' compensation insurance, but many states also mandate participation in Fair Access to Insurance Requirements ("FAIR") Plans or Windstorm Plans, which provide basic property coverage. Participation is based upon the amount of a company's voluntary market share in a particular state for the classes of insurance involved. Policies written through these mechanisms may require different underwriting standards and may pose greater risk than those written through our voluntary application process.

Statutory Accounting Rules

For public reporting, insurance companies prepare financial statements in accordance with GAAP. However, state laws require us to calculate and report certain data according to statutory accounting rules as defined in the NAIC Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual. While not a substitute for any GAAP measure of performance, statutory data frequently is used by industry analysts and other recognized reporting sources to facilitate comparisons of the performance of insurance companies.

Insurance Reserves

State insurance laws require that insurance companies analyze the adequacy of their reserves annually. Our appointed actuaries must submit an opinion that our statutory reserves are adequate to meet policy claims-paying obligations and related expenses.

Financial Solvency Ratios

Although the federal government and its regulatory agencies generally do not directly regulate the business of insurance, federal initiatives and legislation often have an impact on our business. These initiatives and legislation include tort reform proposals, proposals addressing natural catastrophe exposures, terrorism risk mechanisms, federal financial services reforms, various tax proposals affecting insurance companies, and possible regulatory limitations, impositions and restrictions arising from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank"), and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Various legislative and regulatory efforts to reform the tort liability system have impacted and will continue to impact our industry. Although there has been some tort reform with positive impact to the insurance industry, new causes of action and theories of damages continue to be proposed in state court actions or by federal or state legislatures that continue to expand liability for insurers and their policyholders. For example, some state legislatures have from time-to-time considered legislation addressing direct actions against insurers related to bad faith claims. As a result of this unpredictability in the law, insurance underwriting is expected to continue to be difficult in commercial lines, professional liability and other specialty coverages.

Dodd-Frank expanded the federal presence in insurance oversight and may increase regulatory requirements that are applicable to us. Dodd-Frank's requirements include streamlining the state-based regulation of reinsurance and non-admitted insurance (property or casualty insurance placed with insurers that are eligible to accept insurance, but are not licensed to write insurance in a particular state). Dodd-Frank also established the Federal Insurance Office within the U.S. Department of the Treasury that is authorized to, among other things, gather data and information to monitor aspects of the insurance industry, identify issues in the regulation of insurers about insurance matters, and preempt state insurance measures under certain circumstances.

Dodd-Frank also contains a number of provisions related to corporate governance and disclosure matters. In response to Dodd-Frank, the SEC has adopted or proposed rules regarding director independence, director and officer hedging activities, executive compensation clawback policies, compensation advisor independence, pay versus performance disclosures, internal pay equity disclosures, and shareholder proxy access. We continue to monitor developments under Dodd-Frank and their impact on us, insurers of similar size and the insurance industry as a whole.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the related amendments in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act may increase our operating costs and underwriting losses. This landmark legislation continues to result in numerous changes within the health care industry that could create additional operating costs for us, particularly with respect to our workers' compensation products.

Our financial strength, as measured by statutory accounting principles, is regularly reviewed by an independent rating agency that assigns a rating based upon criteria such as results of operations, capital resources and minimum policyholders' surplus requirements. An insurer's financial strength rating is one of the primary factors evaluated by those in the market to purchase insurance. A poor rating indicates that there is an increased likelihood that the insurer could become insolvent and therefore not able to fulfill its obligations under the insurance policies it issues. This rating can also affect an insurer's level of premium writings, the lines of business it can write and, for insurers like us that are also public registrants, the market value of its securities.

Our property and casualty insurers are rated by A.M. Best Company ("A.M. Best") on a group basis. Our pooled property and casualty insurers have all received an "A" (Excellent) financial strength rating from A.M. Best. Our life insurance subsidiary has received an "A-" (Excellent) financial strength rating from A.M. Best. According to A.M. Best, companies rated "A" and "A-" have "an excellent ability to meet their ongoing obligations to policyholders."

A.M. Best also assigns issuer credit ratings based on a company's ability to repay its debts. All of our property and casualty insurers have received an issuer credit rating of "a" from A.M. Best. Our life insurance subsidiary has received an issuer credit rating of "a-" from A.M. Best. Beginning in 2012, our holding company parent was also rated by A.M. Best, receiving an issuer credit rating of "bbb."

The following table sets forth information concerning the following executive officers:

A brief description of the business experience of these officers follows:

Randy A. Ramlo became our President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2007. He previously served as our Chief Operating Officer from May 2006 until May 2007, as Executive Vice President from May 2004 until May 2007, and as Vice President, Fidelity and Surety, from November 2001 until May 2004. He also worked as an underwriting manager in our Great Lakes region. Mr. Ramlo began his employment with us as an underwriter in 1984.

Michael T. Wilkins became our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in May 2014. He served as our Executive Vice President, Corporate Administration, from May 2007 to May 2014. He was our Senior Vice President, Corporate Administration, from May 2004 until May 2007, our Vice President, Corporate Administration, from August 2002 until May 2004 and the resident Vice President in our Lincoln regional office from 1998 until 2002. Prior to 1998, Mr. Wilkins held various other positions within the Company since joining us in 1985.

Dawn M. Jaffray became our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in May 2015. Ms. Jaffray previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Soleil Advisory Group, a consulting firm specializing in operational consulting, mergers and acquisitions, investment and strategy from 2009 to 2015. Prior to her service with Soleil Advisory Group, Ms. Jaffray held numerous positions in insurance operations and mergers/acquisition activities, primarily in the role of principal financial officer. Ms. Jaffray's business experience has been focused in particular on insurance, finance and capital management.

Barrie W. Ernst is our Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. He joined us in August 2002. Previously, Mr. Ernst served as Senior Vice President of SCI Financial Group in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he worked from 1980 to 2002. SCI Financial Group was a regional financial services firm providing brokerage, insurance and related services to its clients.

Neal R. Scharmer was appointed our Vice President and General Counsel in May 2001 and Corporate Secretary in May 2006. He joined us in 1995.

Michael J. Sheeley was appointed Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of United Life Insurance Company in March 2011. Prior to assuming leadership of United Life Insurance Company, Mr. Sheeley served us as personal lines underwriting manager from 1991 to 2011. He has also served in various capacities including commercial underwriting and claims since joining us in 1985.

We provide readers with the following discussion of risks and uncertainties relevant to our business. These are factors that we believe could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historic or anticipated results. We could also be adversely affected by other factors, in addition to those listed here. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements is set forth in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

The occurrence, frequency and severity of catastrophe losses are unpredictable and may adversely affect our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition.

Our property and casualty insurance operations expose us to claims arising from catastrophic events affecting multiple policyholders. Such catastrophic events consist of various natural disasters, including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, windstorms, hailstorms, fires and wildfires, earthquakes, severe winter weather, tropical storms, volcanic eruptions and man-made disasters such as terrorist acts (including biological, chemical or radiological events), explosions, infrastructure failures and results from political instability. We have exposure to tropical storms and hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, Eastern and Southeastern coasts of the United States. We have exposure to tornadoes, windstorms and hail storms throughout the United States. We have exposure to earthquakes along the West Coast and the New Madrid Fault area. Our automobile and inland marine business also exposes us to losses arising from floods and other perils.

Property damage resulting from catastrophes is the greatest risk of loss we face in the ordinary course of our business. We have exposure to catastrophe losses under both our commercial insurance policies and our personal insurance policies. The losses from catastrophic events are a function of both the extent of our exposure, the frequency and severity of the events themselves and the level of reinsurance assumed and ceded. For example, the losses experienced from a tornado will vary on whether the location of the tornado was in a highly populated or unpopulated area, the concentration of insureds in that area and the severity of the tornado. Increases in the value and geographic concentration of insured property and the effects of inflation could increase the severity of claims from a catastrophic event.

Long-term weather trends may be changing and new types of catastrophe losses may be developing due to climate change, which is a phenomenon that has been associated with extreme weather events linked to rising temperatures, including effects on global weather patterns, greenhouse gases, sea, land and air temperature, sea levels, rain and snow. While the emerging science regarding climate change and its connection to extreme weather events continues to be debated, in recent years there has been an increase in frequency and severity of tornadoes and hailstorms, and hurricanes are now impacting areas further inland than experienced in the recent past. Such changes in climate conditions could cause our underlying modeling data to be less accurate, limiting our ability to evaluate and manage our risk.

In addition, as with catastrophe losses generally, it can take a long time for us to determine our ultimate losses associated with a particular catastrophic event. The inability to access portions of the impacted area, the complexity of the losses, legal and regulatory uncertainty and the nature of the information available for certain catastrophic events may affect our ability to estimate the claims and claim adjustment expense reserves. Such complex factors include, but are not limited to: determining the cause of the damage, evaluating general liability exposures, estimating additional living expenses, the impact of demand surge, infrastructure disruption, fraud, business interruption costs and reinsurance collectability.

The timing of a catastrophic occurrence at the end or near the end of a reporting period may also affect the information available to us when estimating claims and claim adjustment expense reserves for the reporting period. As our claims experience for a particular catastrophe develops, we may be required to adjust our reserves to reflect our revised estimates of the total cost of claims. However, because the occurrence and severity of catastrophes are inherently unpredictable and may vary significantly from year to year and region to region, historical results of operations may not be indicative of future results of operations.

Catastrophes may reduce our net income, cause substantial volatility in our financial results for any fiscal quarter or year or otherwise adversely affect our financial condition, liquidity or results of operations. Catastrophes may also negatively affect our ability to write new business.

Following catastrophes there are also sometimes legislative, administrative and judicial decisions that seek to expand insurance coverage for claims beyond the original intent of the policies or seek to prevent the application of deductibles. Our ability to manage catastrophic exposure may be limited by public policy considerations, the political environment, changes in the general economic climate and/or social responsibilities.

Our reserves for property and casualty insurance losses and loss settlement expenses and our life insurance reserves for future policy benefits are based on estimates and may be inadequate, adversely impacting our financial results.

We maintain insurance reserves to cover our estimated ultimate unpaid liability for claim and claim adjustment expenses, including the estimated cost of the claims adjustment process, for reported and unreported claims and for future policy benefits. Our reserves may prove to be inadequate, which may result in future charges to earnings and/or a downgrade of our financial strength rating or the financial strength ratings of our insurance company subsidiaries.

Insurance reserves represent our best estimate at a given point in time. They are not an exact calculation of liability but instead are complex estimates, which are a product of actuarial expertise and projection techniques from a number of assumptions and expectations about future events, many of which are highly uncertain.

The process of estimating claims and claims adjustment expense reserves involves a high degree of judgment. These estimates are based on historical data and the impact of various factors such as:

Many of these factors are not quantifiable. The inherent uncertainties of estimating reserves are greater for certain types of liabilities, particularly those in which the various considerations affecting the type of claim are subject to change and in which long periods of time may elapse before a definitive determination of liability is made. Reserve estimates are continually refined in a regular and ongoing process as experience develops and further claims are reported and settled.

Along with other insurers, we use internal and external models in assessing our exposure to catastrophe losses that assume various conditions and probability scenarios; however, these models do not necessarily accurately predict future losses or accurately measure losses currently incurred. Models for catastrophes use historical information about various catastrophes and details about our in-force business. While we use this information in our pricing and risk managements, there are limitations with respect to their usefulness in predicting losses in any reporting period. Such limitations lead to questionable predictive capability and post-event measurements that have not been well understood or proven to be sufficiently reliable. In addition, the models are not necessarily reflective of our state-specific policy language, demand surge for labor and materials or loss settlement expenses, all of which are subject to wide variation.

For our life insurance business, we calculate life insurance product reserves based on our assumptions, including estimated premiums we will receive over the assumed life of the policy, the timing of the event covered by the

insurance policy and the amount of benefits or claims to be paid. The premiums that we charge and the liabilities that we hold for future policy benefits are based on assumptions reflecting a number of factors, including the amount of premiums that we will receive in the future, the rate of return on assets we purchase with premiums received, expected claims, mortality, morbidity, expenses and persistency, which is the measurement of the percentage of insurance policies remaining in force from year to year. However, due to the nature of the underlying risks and the high degree of uncertainty associated with the determination of the liabilities for unpaid policy benefits and claims, we cannot determine precisely the amounts we will ultimately pay to settle these liabilities. To the extent that actual experience is less favorable than our underlying assumptions, we could be required to increase our liabilities, which may harm our financial strength and reduce our profitability.

For example, if mortality rates are higher than our pricing assumptions, we will be required to make greater claims payments on our life insurance policies than we had projected. Our results of operations may also be adversely impacted by an increase in morbidity rates.

Actual loss and loss settlement expenses paid might exceed our reserves. If our loss reserves are insufficient, or if we believe our loss reserves are insufficient to cover our actual loss and loss settlement expenses, we will have to increase our loss reserves and incur charges to our earnings, which could indicate that premium levels were insufficient. As such, deviations from one or more of these assumptions could result in a material adverse impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements and our financial strength rating or the financial strength ratings of our insurance company subsidiaries could be downgraded.

For a detailed discussion of our reserving process and the factors we consider in estimating reserves, refer to the "Critical Accounting Policies" section in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

Our geographic concentration in both our property and casualty insurance and life insurance businesses ties our performance to the business, economic and regulatory conditions of certain states.

Our revenues and profitability are subject to the prevailing regulatory, legal, economic, political, demographic, competitive, weather and other conditions in the principal states in which we do business. With respect to regulatory conditions, the NAIC and state legislators continually reexamine existing laws and regulations, specifically focusing on modifications to holding company regulations, interpretations of existing laws and the development of new laws and regulations. In a time of financial uncertainty or a prolonged economic downturn, regulators may choose to adopt more restrictive insurance laws and regulations. Changes in regulatory or any other of these conditions could make it less attractive for us to do business in such states and would have a more pronounced effect on us compared to companies that are more geographically diversified. In addition, our exposure to severe losses from localized natural perils, such as hurricanes or hailstorms, is increased in those areas where we have written a significant amount of property insurance policies.

Unauthorized data access, cyber attacks and other security breaches could have an adverse impact on our business and reputation.

We rely on computer systems to conduct our business for our customer service, marketing and sales activities, customer relationship management and producing financial statements. Our business and operations rely on secure and efficient processing, storage and transmission of customer and Company data, including personally identifiable information. Our ability to effectively operate our business depends upon our ability, and the ability of certain third party vendors and business partners, to access our computer systems to perform necessary business functions, such as providing quotes and product pricing, billing and processing premiums, administering claims, and reporting our financial results.

We retain confidential information on our computer systems, including customer information and proprietary business information belonging to us and our policyholders. Our business and operations depend upon our ability to

safeguard this personally identifiable information. Our systems may be vulnerable to unauthorized access and hackers, computer viruses, and other scenarios in which our data may be compromised.

Cyber attacks involving these systems, or those of our third party vendors, could be carried out remotely and from multiple sources and could interrupt, damage, or otherwise adversely affect the operations of these critical systems. Cyber attacks could result in the modification or theft of data, the distribution of false information, or the denial of service to users. Threats to data security can emerge from a variety of sources and change rapidly, resulting in the ongoing need to expend resources to secure our data in accordance with customer expectations and statutory and regulatory requirements.

Any compromise of the security of our data could expose us to liability and harm our reputation, which could affect our business and results of operations. We continually enhance our operating procedures and internal controls to effectively support our business and comply with our regulatory and financial reporting requirements, but there can be no assurances that we will be able to implement security measures adequate to prevent every security breach.

Although, to date, we do not believe we have experienced any material cyber attacks, the occurrence, scope and effect of any cyber attack may remain undetected for a period of time. We maintain cyber liability insurance coverage that provides both third-party liability and first-party insurance coverages; however, our insurance may be insufficient to cover all losses and expenses related to a cyber attack.

Conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally may weaken materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our results of operations, financial position and liquidity are materially affected by conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally, both in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. As a result of such conditions, our policyholders may choose to defer paying insurance premiums or stop paying insurance premiums altogether. In addition, we may experience an elevated incidence of claims and lapses or surrenders of policies causing a change in our exposure.

Factors such as consumer spending, business investment, government spending, the volatility and strength of the capital markets, investor and consumer confidence and inflation levels all affect the business and economic environment and, ultimately, the amount and profitability of our business. In an economic downturn characterized by higher unemployment, lower family income, lower corporate earnings, lower business investment, negative investor sentiment and lower consumer spending, the demand for our insurance products could be adversely affected.

We are subject to certain risks related to our investment portfolio that could negatively affect our profitability.

Investment income is an important component of our net income and overall profitability. We invest premiums received from policyholders and other available cash to generate investment income and capital appreciation, while also maintaining sufficient liquidity to pay covered claims, operating expenses and dividends. As discussed in detail below, general economic conditions, changes in financial markets and many other factors beyond our control can adversely affect the value of our investments and the realization of investment income.

We primarily manage our investment portfolio internally under required statutory guidelines and investment guidelines approved by our Board of Directors and the boards of directors of our subsidiaries. Although these guidelines stress diversification and capital preservation, our investments are subject to a variety of risks, including:

We exercise prudence and significant judgment in analyzing and validating fair values, which are primarily provided by third parties, for securities in our investment portfolio, including those that are not regularly traded in active markets. We also exercise prudence and significant judgment in determining whether the impairment of particular investments is temporary or other-than-temporary. Due to the inherent uncertainties involved in these judgments, we may incur unrealized losses and subsequently conclude that other-than-temporary write downs of our investments are required.

Our success depends primarily on our ability to underwrite risks effectively and adequately price the risks we underwrite.

The results of our operations and our financial condition depend on our ability to underwrite and set premium rates accurately for a wide variety of determinable and indeterminable risks based on available information. Adequate rates are necessary to generate premiums sufficient to pay losses, loss settlement expenses and underwriting expenses and to earn a profit. To price our products accurately, we must collect and properly analyze a substantial amount of data; develop, test and apply appropriate pricing techniques; closely monitor and timely recognize changes in trends; and project both severity and frequency of losses with reasonable accuracy. We could underprice risks which would adversely affect our profit margins. Conversely, we could overprice risks which could reduce our sales volume and competitiveness. Our ability to undertake these efforts successfully, and to price our products accurately, is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to:

The cyclical nature of the property and casualty insurance industry may affect our financial performance.

The property and casualty insurance industry is cyclical in nature and has historically been characterized by soft markets (periods of relatively high levels of price competition, less restrictive underwriting standards and generally low premium rates) followed by hard markets (periods of capital shortages resulting in a lack of insurance availability, relatively low levels of price competition, more selective underwriting of risks and relatively high premium rates). During soft markets, we may lose business to competitors offering competitive insurance at lower prices. We may reduce our premiums or limit premium increases leading to a reduction in our profit margins and revenues. We expect these cycles to continue.

The demand for property and casualty insurance can also vary significantly, rising as the overall level of economic activity increases and falling as that activity decreases. Fluctuations in demand and competition could produce underwriting results that would have a negative impact on the results of our operations and financial condition.

The effects of emerging claim and coverage issues and class action litigation on our business are uncertain.

We are subject to certain effects of emerging or potential claims and coverage issues that arise as industry practices and legal, judicial, social, economic and other environmental conditions change, including unexpected and unintended issues related to claims and coverage. These issues may adversely affect our business by either extending coverage beyond our underwriting intent or by increasing the number and/or size of claims, resulting in further

increases in our reserves. The effects of these and other unforeseen emerging claim and coverage issues are extremely hard to predict. Examples of these issues include:

A downgrade or a potential downgrade in our financial strength or issuer credit ratings could result in a loss of business and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Ratings are an important factor in establishing the competitive position of insurance companies. Third-party rating agencies assess and rate the claims-paying ability, capital strength and creditworthiness of insurers and reinsurers based on criteria established by the agencies. A.M. Best rates our property and casualty insurance companies on a group basis. Our life insurance subsidiary receives a separate rating. Since 2012, A.M. Best has also given an issuer credit rating to our parent holding company. The table below shows the current ratings assigned to our companies by A.M. Best.

Financial strength and issuer credit ratings are used by policyholders, insurers, reinsurers and insurance and reinsurance intermediaries as an important means of assessing the financial strength, creditworthiness and quality of insurers and reinsurers. These ratings are not evaluations directed to potential purchasers of our common stock and are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold our common stock. These ratings are subject to change at any time and could be revised downward or revoked at the sole discretion of the rating agency. Downgrades in our financial strength ratings could adversely affect our ability to access the capital markets or could lead to increased borrowing costs in the future. Perceptions of the Company by investors, producers, other businesses and consumers could also be significantly impaired.

We believe that the ratings assigned by A.M. Best are an important factor in marketing our products. Our ability to retain our existing business and to attract new business in our insurance operations depends on our ratings by this agency. Our failure to maintain our ratings, or any other adverse development with respect to our ratings, could cause our current and future independent agents and policyholders to choose to transact their business with more highly rated competitors. If A.M. Best downgrades our ratings or publicly indicates that our ratings are under review, it is likely that we will not be able to compete as effectively with our competitors and our ability to sell insurance policies could decline, leading to a decrease in our premium revenue and earnings. For example, many of our agencies and policyholders have guidelines that require us to have an A.M. Best financial strength rating of "A-" or higher. A reduction of our A.M. Best ratings below "A-" would prevent us from issuing policies to a portion of our current policyholders or other potential policyholders with ratings requirements. Additionally, a ratings downgrade could materially increase the number of surrenders for all or a portion of the net cash values by the owners of

policies and contracts we have issued, and materially increase the number of withdrawals by policyholders of cash values from their policies.

A reduction in our issuer credit rating could limit our ability to access capital markets or significantly increase the cost to us of raising capital. The failure of our insurance company subsidiaries to maintain their current ratings could dissuade a lender or reinsurance company from conducting business with us. A ratings downgrade could also cause some of our existing liabilities to be subject to acceleration, additional collateral support, changes in terms, or creation of additional financial obligations. It might also increase our interest or reinsurance costs.

We are exposed to credit risk in certain areas of our operations.

In addition to exposure to credit risk related to our investment portfolio, we are exposed to credit risk in several other areas of our business operations, including from:

To a large degree, the credit risk we face is a function of the economy; accordingly, we face a greater risk during periods of economic downturn. While we attempt to manage these risks through underwriting and investment guidelines, collateral requirements and other oversight mechanisms, our efforts may not be successful. For example, collateral obtained may subsequently have little or no value. As a result, our exposure to credit risk could materially and adversely affect our results of operation and financial condition.

We are subject to comprehensive laws and regulations, changes to which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Insurance is a highly regulated industry. We are subject to extensive supervision and regulation by the states in which we operate. As a public company, we are also subject to increased regulation at the federal level. Our ability to comply with these laws and regulations and obtain necessary and timely regulatory action is, and will continue to be, critical to our success and ability to earn profits.

Examples of regulations that pose particular risks to our ability to earn profits include the following:

Compliance with these laws and regulations requires us to incur administrative costs that decrease our profits. These laws and regulations may also prevent or limit our ability to underwrite and price risks accurately, obtain timely premium rate increases necessary to cover increased costs, discontinue unprofitable relationships or exit unprofitable markets and otherwise continue to operate our business profitably. In addition, our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in actions by state or federal regulators, including the imposition of fines and penalties or, in an extreme case, revocation of our ability to do business in one or more states. Finally, we could face individual, group and class action lawsuits by our policyholders and others for alleged violations of certain state laws and regulations. Each of these regulatory risks could have a negative effect on our profitability.

Market conditions may affect our access to and the cost of reinsurance and our reinsurers may not pay losses in a timely manner, or at all.

Although reinsurance makes the reinsurer liable to us to the extent the risk is transferred, it does not eliminate our liability to our policyholders because we remain liable as the direct insurer on all of the reinsured risks. As a result we are subject to credit risk relating to our ability to recover amounts due from our reinsurers.

Our ability to collect reinsurance recoverables may be subject to uncertainty. Our losses must meet the qualifying conditions of the reinsurance agreement. Our reinsurance agreements are subject to specified limits and we would not have reinsurance coverage to the extent that it exceeds those limits. We are also subject to the risk that reinsurers may dispute their obligations to pay our claims. Reinsurers must have the financial capacity and willingness to make payments under the terms of a reinsurance agreement or program. Reinsurers may dispute amounts we believe are due to us. Particularly, following a major catastrophic event, our inability to collect a material recovery from a reinsurer on a timely basis, or at all, could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, operating results and financial condition.

Market conditions determine the availability and cost of the reinsurance protection we purchase, which affects the level of our business profitability, as well as the level and types of risk we retain. Although we purposely work with several reinsurance intermediaries and reinsurers, we may be unable to maintain our current reinsurance facilities or obtain other reinsurance facilities in adequate amounts and at favorable premium rates. Moreover, there may be a situation in which we have more than two catastrophic events within one policy year. Because our current catastrophe reinsurance program only allows for one automatic reinstatement at an additional reinstatement premium, we would be required to obtain a new catastrophe reinsurance policy to maintain our current level of catastrophe reinsurance coverage. Such coverage may be difficult to obtain, particularly if it is necessary to do so during hurricane season following the second catastrophe. If we are unable to renew our expiring facilities or to obtain new reinsurance facilities, either our net exposure to risk will increase or, if we are unwilling to bear an increase in net risk exposures, we will have to reduce the amount of risk we underwrite.

We face significant competitive pressures in our business that could cause demand for our products to fall or hinder our ability to introduce new products or services and keep pace with advances in technology, reducing our revenue and profitability.

The insurance industry is highly competitive and will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future. In our property and casualty insurance business and in our life insurance business we compete, and will continue to compete, with many major U.S. and non-U.S. insurers and smaller regional companies, as well as mutual companies, specialty insurance companies, underwriting agencies, and diversified financial services companies, including banks, mutual funds, broker-dealers and asset-managers. Except for regulatory considerations, there are few barriers to entry in the insurance market. National banks, with their large existing customer bases, may increasingly compete with insurers as a result of court rulings allowing national banks to sell annuity products in some circumstances, and as a result of new legislation removing restrictions on bank affiliations with insurers. These

developments may increase competition, by increasing the number, size and financial strength of competitors who may be able to offer, due to economies of scale, more competitive pricing than we can.

Our competitors may attempt to increase their market share by lowering rates. In that case, we could experience reductions in our underwriting margins or sales of insurance policies. Losing business to competitors offering similar products at lower prices or who have a competitive advantage may adversely affect the results of our operations. Additionally, economic conditions may reduce the total volume of business available to us and our competitors.

We price our insurance products based on estimated profit margins, and we may not be able to react in a timely manner to reprice our insurance products to respond to changes in the market. Some of our competitors may be larger and have far greater financial, technology and marketing resources than we do. If new or existing competitors decide to target our policyholder base by offering similar or enhanced product offerings or technologies at lower prices than we are able to offer, our premium revenue and our profitability could decline.

Our products are marketed exclusively through independent insurance agencies, most of which represent more than one company. We face competition within each agency and competition to retain qualified independent agents. Our competitors include companies that market their products through agents, as well as companies that sell insurance directly to their customers. In personal insurance, the use of comparative rating technologies has impacted our business and may continue to impact the entire industry. This has resulted in an increase in the total level of quote activity but a lower percentage of quotes have resulted in new business from customers. There is also the potential for similar technology to be used to compare rates for small business.

The successful implementation of our business model depends on our ability to adapt to evolving technologies and industry standards and introduce new products and services. There is no guarantee we will be able to introduce new or improved products, or that our products will achieve market acceptance. We may also not be successful in using new technologies effectively or adapting our proprietary technology to evolving customer requirements, causing our products or services to become obsolete.

Technology may be increasingly playing a role in our ability to be competitive. Innovations such as telematics and other usage-based methods of determining premiums may impact product design and pricing and may be an increasingly important factor in our ability to be competitive. Our competitive position may also be impacted by our ability to institute technology that collects and analyzes a wide variety of data points to make underwriting or other decisions.

Our business depends on the uninterrupted operations of our facilities, systems and business functions.

Our business depends on our employees' or vendors' ability to perform necessary business functions, such as processing new and renewal policies, providing customer service, making claims payments, facilitating collections and cancellations and performing actuarial functions necessary for pricing and product development. We increasingly rely on technology and systems to accomplish these business functions in an efficient and uninterrupted fashion. Our inability to access our facilities or a failure of technology, telecommunications or other systems could significantly impair our ability to perform such functions on a timely basis or affect the accuracy of transactions. If sustained or repeated, such a business interruption or system failure could result in a deterioration of our ability to write and process new and renewal business, serve our agents and policyholders or perform other necessary business functions as discussed above.

If a natural disaster or a terrorist act occurs, our company and employees could be directly adversely affected, depending on the nature of the event. We have an emergency preparedness plan that consists of the information and procedures required to enable rapid recovery from an occurrence, such as natural disaster or business disruption, which could potentially disable us for an extended period of time. This plan was successfully tested during 2008 and 2016, both by the Midwest flooding that affected our corporate headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017 that affected our Gulf Coast regional office in Galveston, Texas. It was also tested, to a lesser extent, by Super Storm Sandy in 2012 that affected our East Coast regional office in Pennington, New Jersey.

Adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect our ability to meet liquidity needs, as well as our access to and the cost of capital.

Although capital market conditions have improved, our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and statutory capital position could be materially adversely affected by continued volatility, uncertainty and disruptions in the capital and credit markets.

Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets may limit our access to capital required to operate our business. Such market conditions may limit our ability to replace, in a timely manner, maturing liabilities; satisfy statutory capital requirements; and access the capital necessary to grow our business. As such, we may be forced to delay raising capital, issue shorter term securities than we prefer, utilize available internal resources or bear an unattractive cost of capital, which could decrease our profitability and significantly reduce our financial flexibility and liquidity.

We may experience difficulty in integrating future acquisitions to our operations.

The successful integration of any newly acquired businesses into our operations will require, among other things:

Unexpected difficulties in integrating any acquisition could result in increased expenses and the diversion of management time and resources. If we do not successfully integrate any acquired business into our operations, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. Further, any potential acquisitions may require significant capital outlays and, if we issue equity or convertible debt securities to pay for an acquisition, the issuance may be dilutive to our existing shareholders.

The exclusions and limitations in our policies may not be enforceable.

Many of the policies we issue include exclusions and other conditions that define and limit coverage, which exclusions and conditions are designed to manage our exposure to certain types of risks and expanding theories of legal liability. In addition, many of our policies limit the period during which a policyholder may bring a claim under the policy, which period in many cases is shorter than the statutory period under which these claims can be brought by our policyholders. While these exclusions and limitations help us assess and control our loss exposure, it is possible that a court or regulatory authority could nullify or void an exclusion or limitation, or legislation could be enacted which modifies or bars the use of these exclusions and limitations. This could result in higher than anticipated losses by extending coverage beyond the intent of our underwriting. In some instances, these changes may not become apparent until sometime after we have issued the insurance policies that are affected by these changes. As a result, the full extent of liability under our insurance contracts may not be known for many years after a policy is issued.

Our internal controls are not fail-safe.

As a result of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no system of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control objectives have been or will be met, and that every instance of error or fraud has been or will be detected. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system will be met. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake.

The determination of the amount of impairments taken on our investments requires estimates and assumptions which are subject to differing interpretations and could materially impact our results of operations or financial position.

The determination of the amount of impairments varies by investment type and is based upon our periodic evaluation and assessment of known and inherent risks associated with the respective asset class. Such evaluations and assessments are revised as conditions change and new information becomes available. There can be no assurance that our management has accurately assessed the level of impairments taken in our financial statements. Furthermore, additional impairments may need to be taken in the future. Historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments.

Additionally, our management considers a wide range of factors about the instrument issuer and uses its best judgment in evaluating the cause of the decline in the estimated fair value of the instrument and in assessing the prospects for recovery. Inherent in management's evaluation of the security are assumptions and estimates about the operations of the issuer and its future earnings potential.

The ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends may affect our liquidity and ability to meet our obligations.

As a holding company, we have no significant independent operations of our own. Our principal sources of funds are dividends and other payments received from our subsidiaries. We rely on those dividends for our liquidity and to meet our obligations to pay dividends to shareholders and make share repurchases. Dividends from those subsidiaries depend on their statutory surplus, earnings and regulatory restrictions.

State insurance laws limit the ability of insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends and require our insurance subsidiaries to maintain specified minimum levels of statutory capital and surplus. The actual ability to pay dividends may further be constrained by business and regulatory considerations, such as the impact of dividends on surplus, by our competitive position and by the amount of premiums that we can write. Ordinary dividend payments, or dividends that do not require prior approval by the insurance subsidiaries' domiciliary state insurance regulator are generally limited to amounts determined by a formula which varies by jurisdiction. Extraordinary dividends, on the other hand, require prior regulatory approval by the insurance subsidiaries' domiciliary state insurance regulator before they can be made.

In addition, competitive pressures generally require insurance companies to maintain insurance financial strength ratings. These restrictions and other regulatory requirements affect the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to make dividend payments to us. At times we may not be able to pay dividends on our common stock, or we may be required to seek prior approval from the applicable regulatory authority before we can pay any such dividends. In addition, the payment of dividends by us is within the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on numerous factors, including our financial condition, our capital requirements and other factors that our Board of Directors considers relevant.

The price of our common stock may be volatile.

The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially due to a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could be significant and could cause a loss in the amount invested in our shares of common stock. Factors that could cause fluctuations include, but are not limited to, the following:

Certain provisions of our organizational documents, as well as applicable insurance laws, could impede an attempt to replace or remove our management or members of our Board of Directors, prevent the sale of the Company or prevent or frustrate any attempt by shareholders to change the direction of the Company, each of which could diminish the value of our common stock.

Our articles of incorporation and bylaws, as well as applicable laws governing corporations and insurance companies, contain provisions that could impede an attempt to replace or remove our management or prevent the sale of the Company that, in either case, shareholders might consider being in their best interests. For example:

Further, the insurance laws of Iowa and the states in which our insurance company subsidiaries are domiciled prohibit any person from acquiring direct or indirect control of us or our insurance company subsidiaries, generally defined as owning or having the power to vote 10.0 percent or more of our outstanding voting stock, without the prior written approval of state regulators.

These provisions of our articles of incorporation and bylaws, and these state laws governing corporations and insurance companies, may discourage potential acquisition proposals. These provisions and state laws may also delay, deter or prevent a change of control of the Company, in particular through unsolicited transactions that some or all of our shareholders might consider to be desirable. As a result, efforts by our shareholders to change the direction or the Company's management may be unsuccessful, and the existence of such provisions may adversely affect market prices for our common stock if they are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts.

If the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the consummation of the sale of our life insurance subsidiary are not met, including the receipt of regulatory approvals, it may diminish the value of our common stock

On September 18, 2017, we signed a definitive agreement to sell our subsidiary, United Life Insurance Company, to Kuvare. This agreement contains several conditions precedent that must be satisfied prior to closing, including

planning for the separation and migration of information technology systems and business operations. Further, the Iowa Insurance Division must approve Kuvare's acquisition of United Life Insurance Company. Failure to complete the transaction could adversely affect market prices for our common stock.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Not applicable.

PART II.

Our practice has been to pay quarterly cash dividends, which we have paid every quarter since March 1968.

Additional information about these restrictions is incorporated by reference from Note 6 "Statutory Reporting, Capital Requirements and Dividends and Retained Earnings Restrictions" contained in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

The following table sets forth the high and low trading price as reported on the NASDAQ stock market for our common stock for the calendar periods indicated, as well as the amount of cash dividends declared on our common stock.

Under our share repurchase program, we may purchase our common stock from time to time on the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. The amount and timing of any purchases will be at our discretion and will depend upon a number of factors, including the share price, general economic and market conditions, and corporate and regulatory requirements. Our share repurchase program may be modified or discontinued at any time.

(1) Our share repurchase program was originally announced in August 2007. In August 2016, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional 1,500,000 shares of common stock through the end of August 2018. This is in addition to the 1,528,886 shares of common stock remaining under its previous authorizations. As of December 31, 2017 we remained authorized to repurchase 2,236,572 shares of common stock.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

On September 18, 2017, the Company signed a definitive agreement to sell its subsidiary, United Life Insurance Company, to Kuvare. As a result, our life insurance business has been considered held for sale and accounted for as discontinued operations in the Consolidated Financial Statements of Cash Flows. All periods presented have been revised to show results from continuing and discontinued operations, unless otherwise noted. The sale is expected to close in the first half of 2018, subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approval. For more information, refer to Part II, Item 8, Note 17 "Discontinued Operations."

Reportable Segments

MEASUREMENT OF RESULTS

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared on the basis of GAAP. We also prepare financial statements for each of our insurance company subsidiaries based on statutory accounting principles and file them with insurance regulatory authorities in the states where they do business.

Management evaluates our operations by monitoring key measures of growth and profitability. We believe that disclosure of certain non-GAAP financial measures enhances investor understanding of our financial performance. The following provides further explanation of the key measures management uses to evaluate our results:

(1) Includes international assumed losses.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

(2) The expense ratio is calculated by dividing nondeferred underwriting expenses and amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs by net premiums earned. The expense ratio measures a company's operational efficiency in producing, underwriting and administering its insurance business.

(3) The combined ratio is a commonly used financial measure of property and casualty underwriting performance. A combined ratio below 100.0 percent generally indicates a profitable book of business. The combined ratio is the sum of the net loss ratio and the underwriting expense ratio.

Premiums from continuing operations

Net Premiums Written

Net premiums written comprise direct and assumed premiums written, less ceded premiums written. Direct premiums written are the total policy premiums, net of cancellations, associated with policies issued and underwritten by our property and casualty insurance business. Assumed premiums written are the total premiums associated with the insurance risk transferred to us by other insurance and reinsurance companies pursuant to reinsurance contracts. Ceded premiums written is the portion of direct premiums written that we cede to our reinsurers under our reinsurance contracts. Net premiums earned are recognized ratably over the life of a policy and differ from net premiums written, which are recognized on the effective date of the policy.

Direct Premiums Written

Assumed Premiums Written

Ceded Premiums Written

Losses and Loss Settlement Expenses from continuing operations

Catastrophe Exposures

Catastrophe losses are inherent risks of the property and casualty insurance business. Catastrophic events include, without limitation, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, hailstorms, wildfires, high winds, winter storms and other natural disasters, along with man-made exposures to losses resulting from, without limitation, acts of war, acts of terrorism and political instability. Such events result in insured losses that can be, and may continue to be, a material factor in our results of operations and financial position, as the extent of losses from a catastrophe is a function of both the total amount of insured exposure in an area affected by the event and the severity of the event. Because the level of insured losses that may occur in any one year cannot be accurately predicted, these losses contribute to fluctuations in our year-to-year results of operations and financial position. Some types of catastrophes are more likely to occur at certain times within the year than others, which adds an element of seasonality to our property and casualty insurance claims. Our property and casualty insurance business experiences some seasonality with regard to premiums written, which are generally highest in January and July and lowest during the fourth quarter. Losses and loss settlement expenses incurred tend to remain consistent throughout the year, with the exception of catastrophe losses, which generally are highest in the second and third quarters. The frequency and severity of catastrophic events are difficult to accurately predict in any year. However, some geographic locations are more susceptible to these events than others.

We control our direct insurance exposures in regions that are prone to naturally occurring catastrophic events through a combination of geographic diversification, restrictions on the amount and location of new business production in such regions, and reinsurance. We regularly assess our concentration of risk exposures in natural catastrophe exposed areas. We have strategies and underwriting standards to manage these exposures through individual risk selection, subject to regulatory constraints, and through the purchase of catastrophe reinsurance coverage. We use catastrophe modeling and a risk concentration management tool to monitor and control our accumulations of potential losses in natural catastrophe exposed areas of the United States, such as the Gulf and East Coasts, as well as in areas of exposure in other countries where we are exposed to a portion of an insurer's underwriting risk under our assumed reinsurance contracts.

Overall, the models indicate increased risk estimates for our exposure to hurricanes in the U.S., but the impact of the models on our book of business varies significantly among the regions that we model for hurricanes. Based on our analysis, we have implemented more targeted underwriting and rate initiatives in some regions. We will continue to take underwriting actions and/or purchase additional reinsurance as necessary to reduce our exposure.

Catastrophe modeling generally relies on multiple inputs based on experience, science, engineering and history, and the selection of those inputs requires a significant amount of judgment. The modeling results may also fail to account for risks that are outside the range of normal probability or are otherwise unforeseen. Because of this, actual results may differ materially from those derived from our modeling assumptions.

Despite our efforts to manage our catastrophe exposure, the occurrence of one or more severe natural catastrophic events in heavily populated areas could have a material effect on our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.

The process of estimating and establishing reserves for losses incurred from catastrophic events is inherently uncertain and the actual ultimate cost of a claim, net of reinsurance recoveries, may vary materially from the estimated amount reserved. Although we reinsure a portion of our exposure, reinsurance may prove to be inadequate if a major catastrophic event exceeds our reinsurance limits or if we experience a number of small catastrophic events that individually fall below our reinsurance retention level.

Catastrophe Losses

The increase in catastrophe losses in 2016 was primarily due to the number of catastrophes and an increase in severity. In 2016, our catastrophe losses included 41 catastrophes, where our largest single pre-tax catastrophe loss totaled $10.4 million. Catastrophe losses in 2016 added 6.5 percentage points to the combined ratio.

Catastrophe Reinsurance

We use many reinsurers, both domestic and foreign, which helps us to avoid concentrations of credit risk associated with our reinsurance. All reinsurers we do business with must meet the following minimum criteria: capital and surplus of at least $250.0 million and an A.M. Best rating or an S&P rating of at least "A-." If a reinsurer is rated by both rating agencies, then both ratings must be at least an "A-."

Refer to Part II, Item 8, Note 4 "Reinsurance" for further discussion of our reinsurance programs.

Terrorism Coverage

2017 Results

2016 Results

In 2016, our losses and loss settlement expenses were 25.4 percent higher than 2015 and our net loss ratio increased 8.7 points due to an increase in catastrophe losses, which accounted for 2.7 percentage points of the increase, and an increase in large losses over $500 thousand in our commercial automobile and commercial fire & allied lines of business. Catastrophe losses increased to $61.2 million in both our direct business and assumed reinsurance business as compared to $32.3 million in 2015.

2015 Results

In 2015, our losses and loss settlement were impacted by a better performing book of business and lower catastrophe losses in both our direct business and assumed reinsurance business.

Reserve Development

2017 Development

2016 Development

2015 Development

Reserve development amounts can vary significantly from year-to-year depending on a number of factors, including the number of claims settled and the settlement terms, and are subject to reallocation between accident years and lines of business.

Net Loss Ratios by Line