Risk Management Overview
At Unum, as an insurer, we are in the business of risk management. Risk management is essential to our
ability to meet our commitments while maintaining and growing our businesses.
We employ a decentralized risk management model under which risk-based decisions are made daily on a
local level. To achieve long-term success, we believe risk management must be the responsibility of all
employees. The individual and collective decisions of our employees play a key role in successfully
managing our overall risk profile. We strive for a culture of accountability that supports our risk
management framework and regulatory compliance. We believe these values allow our employees to feel
comfortable identifying issues as well as taking ownership for addressing potential problems and
directing solutions.
Our Enterprise Risk Management framework strives to:
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Identify, assess, monitor, prioritize, and report on our risk positions and exposures, including
notable risk events;
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Assess material risks, including how they affect us, how individual risks interrelate, and how
management addresses these risks;
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Practice strong risk management, including diversification across and within business units and
systematic limit monitoring;
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Identify emerging risks and analyze how material future risks might affect us;
- Fulfill regulatory, rating agency, and governance objectives; and
- Maintain our risk appetite policy and report against its tolerance and limits.
Through adherence to these objectives, we believe we are better positioned to fulfill our corporate
mission, maximize shareholder value, and meet commitments to our policyholders.
Risk Management Oversight
Our governance structure is a multi-layered approach which fully supports our Enterprise Risk Management
framework and emanates a strong “tone at the top” behavior. This behavior is demonstrated through the
participation of senior leaders on the
Executive Risk Management Committee.
The Executive Risk Management Committee manages the overall risk profile, aiming for a balance between
growth objectives, risk and capital. The Company’s Chief Risk Officer, who is a member of the Executive
Risk Management Committee, has primary
responsibility for Unum's Enterprise Risk Management framework and is supported by risk committees of
our business segments, as well as several corporate risk committees.
Our board has an active role in overseeing our Enterprise Risk Management framework. The board is
responsible for managing strategic risk and regularly reviews impacts from market, credit, insurance,
operational and reputational risks.
Through our Enterprise Risk Management framework, we have established a culture that supports candid
discussion and reporting of risks while empowering our employees to take ownership for risk management.