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Statutory Financial Information | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Statutory Financial Information [Abstract] |
Schedule of Dividend Payment Restrictions [Table Text Block] | Statutory Net Income, Capital and Surplus, and Dividends Statutory net income for U.S. life insurance companies is reported in conformity with statutory accounting principles prescribed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and adopted by applicable domiciliary state laws. The commissioners of the states of domicile have the right to permit other specific practices that may deviate from prescribed practices. For the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010, or 2009, none of the states of domicile for our U.S. insurance subsidiaries had adopted accounting practices that differed materially from statutory accounting principles prescribed by the NAIC. The statutory operating results of our traditional U.S. insurance subsidiaries, which exclude Tailwind Re and Northwind Re, as well as the statutory results for these two special purpose financial captive U.S. insurance subsidiaries, are as follows:
| Year Ended December 31
| 2011 |  | 2010 |  | 2009
| (in millions of dollars)
Combined Net Income |  |  |  |  |
Traditional U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries | $ | 642.9 |  |  | $ | 628.8 |  |  | $ | 639.2 |
Tailwind Re and Northwind Re | $ | 80.0 |  |  | $ | 79.1 |  |  | $ | 87.2 |
Combined Net Gain from Operations |  |  |  |  |
Traditional U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries | $ | 664.0 |  |  | $ | 645.7 |  |  | $ | 741.2 |
Tailwind Re and Northwind Re | $ | 80.4 |  |  | $ | 79.2 |  |  | $ | 87.2 |
Statutory capital and surplus is as follows:
| December 31
| 2011 |  | 2010
| (in millions of dollars)
Combined Capital and Surplus |  |  |
Traditional U.S. Insurance Subsidiaries | $ | 3,461.3 |  |  | $ | 3,395.1 |
Tailwind Re and Northwind Re | $ | 1,226.5 |  |  | $ | 1,276.9 |
Restrictions under applicable state insurance laws limit the amount of dividends that can be paid to a parent company from its insurance subsidiaries in any 12-month period without prior approval by regulatory authorities. For life insurance companies domiciled in the United States, that limitation generally equals, depending on the state of domicile, either ten percent of an insurer's statutory surplus with respect to policyholders as of the preceding year end or the statutory net gain from operations, excluding realized investment gains and losses, of the preceding year. The payment of dividends to a parent company from its insurance subsidiaries is generally further limited to the amount of unassigned statutory surplus. Based on the restrictions under current law, $634.4 million is available during 2012 for the payment of ordinary dividends to Unum Group from its traditional U.S. insurance subsidiaries, which exclude Tailwind Re and Northwind Re. The ability of Tailwind Re and Northwind Re to pay dividends to their respective parent companies, Tailwind Holdings and Northwind Holdings, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Unum Group, will depend on their satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements and on the performance of the business reinsured by Tailwind Re and Northwind Re. We also have the ability to receive dividends from our United Kingdom insurance subsidiary, Unum Limited, subject to applicable insurance company regulations and capital guidance in the United Kingdom. Approximately £187.0 million is available for the payment of dividends from Unum Limited during 2012, subject to regulatory approval. Deposits At December 31, 2011 and 2010, our U.S. insurance subsidiaries had on deposit with U.S. regulatory authorities securities with a book value of $294.3 million and $293.6 million, respectively, held for the protection of policyholders.

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