PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INC | 2013 | FY |

21. DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS

Types of Derivative Instruments and Derivative Strategies

Interest Rate Contracts

Interest rate swaps, options, and futures are used by the Company to reduce risks from changes in interest rates, manage interest rate exposures arising from mismatches between assets and liabilities (including duration mismatches) and to hedge against changes in the value of assets it owns or anticipates acquiring or selling. Swaps may be attributed to specific assets or liabilities or may be used on a portfolio basis. Under interest rate swaps, the Company agrees with other parties to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between fixed-rate and floating-rate interest amounts calculated by reference to an agreed upon notional principal amount.

The Company also uses swaptions, interest rate caps, and interest rate floors to manage interest rate risk. A swaption is an option to enter into a swap with a forward starting effective date. The Company pays a premium for purchased swaptions and receives a premium for written swaptions. In an interest rate cap, the buyer receives payments at the end of each period in which the interest rate exceeds the agreed strike price. Similarly, in an interest rate floor, the buyer receives payments at the end of each period in which the interest rate is below the agreed strike price. Swaptions and interest rate caps and floors are included in interest rate options.

In exchange-traded interest rate futures transactions, the Company purchases or sells a specified number of contracts, the values of which are determined by the values of underlying referenced investments, and posts variation margin on a daily basis in an amount equal to the difference in the daily market values of those contracts. The Company enters into exchange-traded futures with regulated futures commission's merchants who are members of a trading exchange.

Equity Contracts

Equity index options are contracts which will settle in cash based on differentials in the underlying indices at the time of exercise and the strike price. The Company uses combinations of purchases and sales of equity index options to hedge the effects of adverse changes in equity indices within a predetermined range.

Foreign Exchange Contracts

Currency derivatives, including currency futures, options, forwards, and swaps, are used by the Company to reduce risks from changes in currency exchange rates with respect to investments denominated in foreign currencies that the Company either holds or intends to acquire or sell, and to hedge the currency risk associated with net investments in foreign operations and anticipated earnings of its foreign operations.

 Under currency forwards, the Company agrees with other parties to deliver a specified amount of an identified currency at a specified future date. Typically, the price is agreed upon at the time of the contract and payment for such a contract is made at the specified future date. As noted above, the Company uses currency forwards to mitigate the impact of changes in currency exchange rates on U.S. dollar equivalent earnings generated by certain of its non-U.S. businesses, primarily its international insurance and investments operations. The Company executes forward sales of the hedged currency in exchange for U.S. dollars at a specified exchange rate. The maturities of these forwards correspond with the future periods in which the non-U.S. dollar-denominated earnings are expected to be generated. These earnings hedges do not qualify for hedge accounting.

 Under currency swaps, the Company agrees with other parties to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between one currency and another at an exchange rate and calculated by reference to an agreed principal amount. Generally, the principal amount of each currency is exchanged at the beginning and termination of the currency swap by each party.

Credit Contracts

The Company writes credit default swaps for which it receives a premium to insure credit risk. These are used by the Company to enhance the return on the Company's investment portfolio by creating credit exposure similar to an investment in public fixed maturity cash instruments. With these derivatives, the Company sells credit protection on an identified name, or an index of names, and in return receives a quarterly premium. This premium or credit spread generally corresponds to the difference between the yield on the referenced name's (or an index's referenced names) public fixed maturity cash instruments and swap rates, at the time the agreement is executed. If there is an event of default by the referenced name or one of the referenced names in the index, as defined by the agreement, then the Company is obligated to pay the referenced amount of the contract to the counterparty and receive in return the referenced defaulted security or similar security or (in the case of a credit default index) pay the referenced amount less the auction recovery rate. See credit derivatives written section for further discussion of guarantees. In addition to selling credit protection the Company has purchased credit protection using credit derivatives in order to hedge specific credit exposures in the Company's investment portfolio.

Other Contracts

 TBAs. The Company uses “to be announced” (“TBA”) forward contracts to gain exposure to the investment risk and return of mortgage-backed securities. TBA transactions can help the Company enhance the return on its investment portfolio, and can provide a more liquid and cost effective method of achieving these goals than purchasing or selling individual mortgage-backed pools. Typically, the price is agreed upon at the time of the contract and payment for such a contract is made at a specified future date. Additionally, pursuant to the Company's mortgage dollar roll program, TBAs or mortgage-backed securities are transferred to counterparties with a corresponding agreement to repurchase them at a future date. These transactions do not qualify as secured borrowings and are accounted for as derivatives.

Loan Commitments. In its mortgage operations, the Company enters into commitments to fund commercial mortgage loans at specified interest rates and other applicable terms within specified periods of time. These commitments are legally binding agreements to extend credit to a counterparty. Loan commitments for loans that will be held for sale are recognized as derivatives and recorded at fair value. The determination of the fair value of loan commitments accounted for as derivatives considers various factors including, among others, terms of the related loan, the intended exit strategy for the loans based upon either securitization valuation models or investor purchase commitments, prevailing interest rates, origination income or expense, and the value of service rights. Loan commitments that relate to the origination of mortgage loans that will be held for investment are not accounted for as derivatives and accordingly are not recognized in the Company's financial statements. See Note 23 for a further discussion of these loan commitments.

Embedded Derivatives. The Company sells variable annuity products, which may include guaranteed benefit features that are accounted for as embedded derivatives. These embedded derivatives are marked to market through “Realized investment gains (losses), net” based on the change in value of the underlying contractual guarantees, which are determined using valuation models. The Company maintains a portfolio of derivative instruments that is intended to economically hedge the risks related to the above products' features. The derivatives may include, but are not limited to equity options, total return swaps, interest rate swaptions, caps, floors, and other instruments.

The Company invests in fixed maturities that, in addition to a stated coupon, provide a return based upon the results of an underlying portfolio of fixed income investments and related investment activity. The Company accounts for these investments as available-for-sale fixed maturities containing embedded derivatives. Such embedded derivatives are marked to market through “Realized investment gains (losses), net,” based upon the change in value of the underlying portfolio.

Synthetic Guarantees. The Company sells synthetic guaranteed investment contracts, through both full service and investment-only sales channels, to qualified pension plans. The assets are owned by the trustees of such plans, who invest the assets according to the contract terms agreed to with the Company. The contracts contain a guarantee of a minimum rate of return on participant balances supported by the underlying assets, and a guarantee of liquidity to meet certain participant-initiated withdrawals from the contract. Under U.S. GAAP, these contracts are accounted for as derivatives and recorded at fair value.

The table below provides a summary of the gross notional amount and fair value of derivatives contracts used in a non-broker-dealer capacity by the primary underlying, excluding embedded derivatives which are recorded with the associated host. Many derivative instruments contain multiple underlyings. The fair value amounts below represent the gross fair value of derivative contracts prior to taking into account the netting effects of master netting agreements and cash collateral held with the same counterparty. This netting impact results in total derivative assets of $533 million and $3,075 million as of December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and total derivative liabilities of $2,156 million and $307 million as of December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, reflected in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position.

• Based on notional amounts, most of the Company's derivatives do not qualify for hedge accounting as follows: i) derivatives that economically hedge embedded derivatives do not qualify for hedge accounting because changes in the fair value of the embedded derivatives are already recorded in net income, ii) derivatives that are utilized as macro hedges of the Company's exposure to various risks typically do not qualify for hedge accounting because they do not meet the criteria required under portfolio hedge accounting rules, and iii) synthetic guaranteed investment contracts (GIC's), which are product standalone derivatives do not qualify as hedging instruments under hedge accounting rules.
• Excludes embedded derivatives which contain multiple underlyings. The fair value of these embedded derivatives was a net liability of $430 million as of December 31, 2013 and a net liability of $3,438 million as of December 31, 2012, included in “Future policy benefits” and “Fixed maturities, available-for-sale.”

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

The following table presents recognized derivative instruments (including bifurcated embedded derivatives), and repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements that are offset in the balance sheet, and/or are subject to an enforceable master netting arrangement or similar agreement, irrespective of whether they are offset in the balance sheet.

For information regarding the rights of offset associated with the derivative assets and liabilities in the table above see “—Credit Risk” below. For securities purchased under agreements to resell and securities sold under agreements to repurchase, the Company monitors the value of the securities and maintains collateral, as appropriate, to protect against credit exposure. Where the Company has entered into repurchase and resale agreements with the same counterparty, in the event of default, the Company would generally be permitted to exercise rights of offset. For additional information on the Company's accounting policy for securities repurchase and resale agreements, see Note 2 to the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements.

Cash Flow, Fair Value and Net Investment Hedges

The primary derivative instruments used by the Company in its fair value, cash flow, and net investment hedge accounting relationships are interest rate swaps, currency swaps and currency forwards. These instruments are only designated for hedge accounting in instances where the appropriate criteria are met. The Company does not use futures, options, credit, equity or embedded derivatives in any of its fair value, cash flow or net investment hedge accounting relationships.

The following table provides the financial statement classification and impact of derivatives used in qualifying and non-qualifying hedge relationships, excluding the offset of the hedged item in an effective hedge relationship.

• Amounts deferred in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).”
• Relates to the sale of equity method investments.

For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, the ineffective portion of derivatives accounted for using hedge accounting was not material to the Company's results of operations and there were no material amounts reclassified into earnings relating to instances in which the Company discontinued cash flow hedge accounting because the forecasted transaction did not occur by the anticipated date or within the additional time period permitted by the authoritative guidance for the accounting for derivatives and hedging. In addition, there were no instances in which the Company discontinued fair value hedge accounting due to a hedged firm commitment no longer qualifying as a fair value hedge.

Presented below is a roll forward of current period cash flow hedges in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” before taxes:

Using December 31, 2013 values, it is anticipated that a pre-tax loss of approximately $15 million will be reclassified from “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” to earnings during the subsequent twelve months ending December 31, 2014, offset by amounts pertaining to the hedged items. As of December 31, 2013, the Company does not have any qualifying cash flow hedges of forecasted transactions other than those related to the variability of the payment or receipt of interest or foreign currency amounts on existing financial instruments. The maximum length of time for which these variable cash flows are hedged is 25 years. Income amounts deferred in “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” as a result of cash flow hedges are included in “Net unrealized investment gains (losses)” in the Consolidated Statements of Equity.

For effective net investment hedges, the amounts, before applicable taxes, recorded in the cumulative translation adjustment account within “Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)” were $356 million in 2013, $117 million in 2012, and $(102) million in 2011.

Credit Derivatives Written

The following table sets forth the Company's exposure from credit derivatives where the Company has written credit protection, by NAIC rating of the underlying credits as of December 31, 2013 and 2012. The Company's maximum amount at risk under these credit derivatives listed below assumes the value of the underlying referenced securities become worthless. These credit derivatives have maturities of less than 2 years. The table excludes a credit derivative related to surplus notes issued by a subsidiary of Prudential Insurance and embedded derivatives contained in externally-managed investments in the European market.

The following table sets forth the composition of the Company's credit derivatives where the Company has written credit protection by industry category as of the dates indicated.

• Includes Credit Default Index derivative with various industry categories.

In addition to the above, the Company entered into a credit derivative that will require the Company to make certain payments in the event of deterioration in the value of the surplus notes issued by a subsidiary of Prudential Insurance. The notional amount of this credit derivative is $500 million and the fair value as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 was a liability of $4 million and $32 million, respectively. No collateral was pledged in either period.

In addition to writing credit protection, the Company has purchased credit protection using credit derivatives in order to hedge specific credit exposures in the Company's investment portfolio. As of December 31, 2013 and 2012, the Company had $1,399 million and $1,680 million of outstanding notional amounts, respectively, reported at fair value as a liability of $42 million and $35 million, respectively.

Prior to disposal in the fourth quarter of 2013, the Company held certain externally-managed investments in the European market which contained embedded derivatives. Their fair values were primarily driven by changes in credit spreads. These investments were medium-term notes that were collateralized by investment portfolios primarily consisting of investment grade European fixed income securities, including corporate bonds and asset-backed securities, and derivatives, as well as varying degrees of leverage. The notes had a stated coupon and provided a return based on the performance of the underlying portfolios and the level of leverage. The Company invested in these notes to earn a coupon through maturity, consistent with its investment purpose for other debt securities. The notes were accounted for under U.S. GAAP as available-for-sale fixed maturity securities with bifurcated embedded derivatives (total return swaps). Changes in the value of the fixed maturity securities were reported in Equity under the heading “Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)” and changes in the market value of the embedded total return swaps are included in current period earnings in “Realized investment gains (losses), net.” The Company's maximum exposure to loss from these investments was $314 million on December 31, 2012.

Counterparty Credit Risk

The Company is exposed to credit-related losses in the event of non-performance by counterparties to financial derivative transactions. The Company manages credit risk by entering into derivative transactions with highly rated major international financial institutions and other creditworthy counterparties, and by obtaining collateral where appropriate. Additionally, limits are set on single party credit exposures which are subject to periodic management review.

The credit exposure of the Company's OTC derivative transactions is represented by the contracts with a positive fair value (market value) at the reporting date. To reduce credit exposures, the Company seeks to (i) enter into OTC derivative transactions pursuant to master agreements that provide for a netting of payments and receipts with a single counterparty, and (ii) enter into agreements that allow the use of credit support annexes, which are bilateral rating-sensitive agreements that require collateral postings at established threshold levels. Cleared derivatives are bilateral transactions between the Company and a counterparty where the transactions are cleared through a clearinghouse, such that each derivative counterparty is only exposed to the default of the clearinghouse. These cleared transactions require initial and daily variation margin collateral postings and include certain interest rate swaps and credit default swaps entered into on or after June 10, 2013, related to new guidelines implemented under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Also, the Company enters into exchange-traded futures and certain options transactions through regulated exchanges and these transactions are settled on a daily basis, thereby reducing credit risk exposure in the event of non-performance by counterparties to such financial instruments.

Under fair value measurements, the Company incorporates the market's perception of its own and the counterparty's non-performance risk in determining the fair value of the portion of its OTC derivative assets and liabilities that are uncollateralized. Credit spreads are applied to the derivative fair values on a net basis by counterparty. To reflect the Company's own credit spread a proxy based on relevant debt spreads is applied to OTC derivative net liability positions. Similarly, the Company's counterparty's credit spread is applied to OTC derivative net asset positions.

Certain of the Company's derivative agreements with some of its counterparties contain credit-rating related triggers. If the Company's credit rating were to fall below a certain level, the counterparties to the derivative instruments could request termination at the then fair value of the derivative or demand immediate full collateralization on derivative instruments in net liability positions. If a downgrade occurred and the derivative positions were terminated, the Company anticipates it would be able to replace the derivative positions with other counterparties in the normal course of business. The aggregate fair value of all derivative instruments with credit-risk-related contingent features that are in a net liability position were $621 million as of December 31, 2013. In the normal course of business the Company has posted collateral related to these instruments of $519 million as of December 31, 2013. If the credit-risk-related contingent features underlying these agreements had been triggered on December 31, 2013, the Company estimates that it would be required to post a maximum of $60 million of additional collateral to its counterparties.

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