Unum 2015 Annual Report Download - page 169

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Unum 2015 Annual Report
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the Act) 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
statements within the meaning of the Act. Forward-looking statements are those not based on historical information, but rather relate to
our outlook, future operations, strategies, financial results, or other developments. Forward-looking statements 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,” “plans,” “assumes,” “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:
• Sustained periods of low interest rates.
• Fluctuation in insurance reserve liabilities and claim payments due to changes in claim incidence, recovery rates, mortality and
morbidity rates, and policy benefit offsets due to, among other factors, the rate of unemployment and consumer confidence, the
emergence of new diseases, epidemics, or pandemics, new trends and developments in medical treatments, the effectiveness of
our claims operational processes, and changes in government programs.
• Unfavorable economic or business conditions, both domestic and foreign.
• Legislative, regulatory, or tax changes, both domestic and foreign, including the effect of potential legislation and increased
regulation in the current political environment.
• Investment results, including, but not limited to, changes in interest rates, defaults, changes in credit spreads, impairments, and the
lack of appropriate investments in the market which can be acquired to match our liabilities.
• A cyber attack or other security breach could result in the unauthorized disclosure of confidential data.
• The failure of our business recovery and incident management processes to resume our business operations in the event of a natural
catastrophe, cyber attack, or other event.
• Increased competition from other insurers and financial services companies due to industry consolidation, new entrants to our
markets, or other factors.
• Execution risk related to our technology needs.
• Changes in our financial strength and credit ratings.
• Damage to our reputation due to, among other factors, regulatory investigations, legal proceedings, external events, and/or
inadequate or failed internal controls and procedures.
• Actual experience that deviates from our assumptions used in pricing, underwriting, and reserving.
• Actual persistency and/or sales growth that is higher or lower than projected.
• Changes in demand for our products due to, among other factors, changes in societal attitudes, the rate of unemployment, consumer
confidence, and/or legislative and regulatory changes, including healthcare reform.
• Effectiveness of our risk management program.
• Contingencies and the level and results of litigation.
• Availability of reinsurance in the market and the ability of our reinsurers to meet their obligations to us.
• Ineffectiveness of our derivatives hedging programs due to changes in the economic environment, counterparty risk, ratings
downgrades, capital market volatility, changes in interest rates, and/or regulation.
• Changes in accounting standards, practices, or policies.
• Fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates.
• Ability to generate sufficient internal liquidity and/or obtain external financing.
• Recoverability and/or realization of the carrying value of our intangible assets, long-lived assets, and deferred tax assets.
• Terrorism, both within the U.S. and abroad, ongoing military actions, and heightened security measures in response to these types
of threats.
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 in this section.