Unum 2008 Annual Report Download - page 156

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152
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The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” to encourage companies to provide prospective information,
as long as those statements are identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying
important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. Certain
information contained in this Annual Report or in any other written or oral statements made by us in communications with the financial
community or contained in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), may be considered forward-looking.
Forward-looking statements are those not based on historical information, but rather relate to future operations, strategies, financial results,
or other developments and speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to update these statements, even if made available
on our website or otherwise. These statements may be made directly in this document or may be made part of this document by reference
to other documents filed by us with the SEC, a practice which is known as “incorporation by reference.” You can find many of these statements
by looking for words such as “will,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “projects,” “goals,”
“objectives,” or similar expressions in this document or in documents incorporated herein.
These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our
control. We caution readers that the following factors, in addition to other factors mentioned from time to time, may cause actual results
to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements:
• Unfavorable economic or business conditions, both domestic and foreign, including the continued nancial market disruption.
• Investment results, including but not limited to, realized investment losses resulting from impairments that differ from our
assumptions and historical experience.
• Rating agency actions, state insurance department market conduct examinations and other inquiries, other governmental
investigations and actions, and negative media attention.
• Changes in interest rates, credit spreads, and securities prices.
• Currency exchange rates.
• Changes in our nancial strength and credit ratings.
• Changes in claim incidence and recovery rates due to, among other factors, the rate of unemployment and consumer condence, the
emergence of new diseases, epidemics, or pandemics, new trends and developments in medical treatments, and the effectiveness of
claims management operations.
• Increased competition from other insurers and nancial services companies due to industry consolidation or other factors.
• Legislative, regulatory, or tax changes, both domestic and foreign, including the effect of potential legislation and increased
regulation in the current political environment.
• Effectiveness of our risk management program.
• The level and results of litigation.
• Effectiveness in supporting new product offerings and providing customer service.
• Actual experience in pricing, underwriting, and reserving may deviate from our assumptions.
• Lower than projected persistency and lower sales growth.
• Fluctuation in insurance reserve liabilities.
• Ability and willingness of reinsurers to meet their obligations.
• Changes in assumptions related to intangible assets such as deferred acquisition costs, value of business acquired, and goodwill.
• Ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends as a result of regulatory restrictions.
• Events or consequences relating to terrorism and acts of war, both domestic and foreign.
• Changes in accounting standards, practices, or policies.
• Ability to recover our systems and information in the event of a disaster or unanticipated event.
All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly
qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to above.