Risk management includes the identification and measurement of various forms of risk, the establishment of risk thresholds and the creation of processes intended to maintain risks within these thresholds while optimizing returns on the underlying assets or liabilities. We consider risk management an integral part of our core business.

Market risk is the risk of change in the value of financial instruments as a result of absolute or relative changes in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates or equity or commodity prices. To varying degrees, the investment and trading activities supporting all of our products and services generate market risks. The market risks incurred and our strategies for managing these risks vary by product.

With respect to non-variable life insurance products, fixed rate annuities, the fixed rate options in our variable life insurance and annuity products, consumer banking products, and other finance businesses, we incur market risk primarily in the form of interest rate risk. We manage this risk through asset/liability management strategies that seek to match the interest rate sensitivity of the assets to that of the underlying liabilities. Our overall objective in these strategies is to limit the net change in value of assets and liabilities arising from interest rate movements. While it is more difficult to measure the interest sensitivity of our insurance liabilities than that of the related assets, to the extent that we can measure such sensitivities we believe that interest rate movements will generate asset value changes that substantially offset changes in the value of the liabilities relating to the underlying products.

For variable annuities and variable life insurance products, excluding the fixed rate options in these products, mutual funds and most separate accounts, our main exposure to the market is the risk that asset management fees decrease as a result of declines in assets under management due to changes in prices of securities. We also run the risk that asset management fees calculated by reference to performance could be lower. For variable annuity and variable life insurance products with minimum guaranteed death benefits, we also face the risk that declines in the value of underlying investments as a result of changes in prices of securities may increase our net exposure to death benefits under these contracts. We do not believe that these risks add significantly to our overall market risk.

We manage our exposure to equity price risk relating to our general account primarily by seeking to match the risk profile of equity investments against risk-adjusted equity market benchmarks. We measure benchmark risk levels in terms of price volatility in relation to the market in general.

The sources of our exposure to market risk can be divided into two categories, "other than trading" activities conducted primarily in our insurance, annuity and guaranteed products operations, and "trading" activities conducted primarily in our securities operations. As part of our management of both "other than trading" and "trading" market risks, we use a variety of risk management tools and techniques. These include sensitivity and Value-at-Risk ("VaR") measures, position and other limits based on type of risk, and various hedging methods.

Other Than Trading Activities

We hold the majority of our assets for "other than trading" activities in our segments that offer insurance, annuities and guaranteed products. We incorporate asset/liability management techniques and other risk management policies and limits into the process of investing our assets. We use derivatives for hedging purposes in the asset/liability management process.

Insurance, Annuities and Guaranteed Products Asset/Liability Management
We seek to maintain interest rate and equity exposures within established ranges, which we periodically adjust based on market conditions and the design of related products sold to customers. Our risk managers establish investment risk limits for exposures to any issuer, geographic region, type of security or industry sector and oversee efforts to manage risk within policy constraints set by management and approved by the Board of Directors.

We use duration and convexity analyses to measure price sensitivity to interest rate changes. Duration measures the relative sensitivity of the fair value of a financial instrument to changes in interest rates. Convexity measures the rate of change of duration with respect to changes in interest rates. We seek to manage our interest rate exposure by legal entity by matching the relative sensitivity of asset and liability values to interest rate changes, or controlling "duration mismatch" of assets and liabilities. We have target duration mismatch constraints for each entity. As of December 31, 2001, the difference between the pre-tax duration of assets and the target duration of liabilities in our duration managed portfolios was within our constraint limits. We consider risk-based capital implications in our asset/liability management strategies.

We also perform portfolio stress testing as part of our regulatory cash flow testing. In this testing, we evaluate the impact of altering our interest-sensitive assumptions under various moderately adverse interest rate environments. These interest-sensitive assumptions relate to the timing and amount of redemptions and prepayments of fixed-income securities and lapses and surrenders of insurance products. We evaluate any shortfalls that this cash flow testing reveals to determine if we need to increase statutory reserves or adjust portfolio management strategies.

Market Risk Related to Interest Rates
Our "other than trading" assets that subject us to interest rate risk include fixed maturity securities, mortgage loans and policy loans. In the aggregate, the carrying value of these assets represented 64% of our consolidated assets, other than assets that we held in separate accounts, as of December 31, 2001 and 63% as of December 31, 2000.

With respect to "other than trading" liabilities, we are exposed to interest rate risk through policyholder account balances relating to interest-sensitive life insurance, annuity and investment-type contracts and through outstanding short-term and long-term debt.

We assess interest rate sensitivity for "other than trading" financial assets, financial liabilities and derivatives using hypothetical test scenarios that assume either upward or downward 100 basis point parallel shifts in the yield curve from prevailing interest rates. The following tables set forth the potential loss in fair value from a hypothetical 100 basis point upward shift at December 31, 2001 and 2000, because this scenario results in the greatest net exposure to interest rate risk of the hypothetical scenarios tested at those dates. While the test scenario is for illustrative purposes only and does not reflect our expectations regarding future interest rates or the performance of fixed-income markets, it is a near-term, reasonably possible hypothetical change that illustrates the potential impact of such events. These test scenarios do not measure the changes in value that could result from non-parallel shifts in the yield curve, which we would expect to produce different changes in discount rates for different maturities. As a result, the actual loss in fair value from a 100 basis point change in interest rates could be different from that indicated by these calculations.

The tables above do not include approximately $95 billion of insurance reserve and deposit liabilities at December 31, 2001 and $77 billion at December 31, 2000. We believe that the interest rate sensitivities of these insurance liabilities offset, in large measure, the interest rate risk of the financial assets set forth in these tables.

Substantially all of the $1.026 billion increase in the total estimated potential loss at December 31, 2001 from December 31, 2000 resulted from our acquisition of Gibraltar Life in April 2001.

The estimated changes in fair values of our financial assets shown above relate to assets invested to support our insurance liabilities, but do not include assets associated with products for which investment risk is borne primarily by the contract holders rather than by us.

Market Risk Related to Equity Prices
We actively manage equity price risk against benchmarks in respective markets. We benchmark our return on equity holdings against a blend of market indices, mainly the S&P 500 and Russell 2000, and we target price sensitivities that approximate those of the benchmark indices. We estimate our equity price risk from a hypothetical 10% decline in equity benchmark market levels and measure this risk in terms of the decline in fair market value of equity securities we hold. Using this methodology, our estimated equity price risk at December 31, 2001 was $227 million, representing a hypothetical decline in fair market value of equity securities we held at that date from $2.272 billion to $2.045 billion. Of our $227 million estimated equity price risk at December 31, 2001, approximately $90 million relates to Gibraltar Life. Our estimated equity price risk using this methodology at December 31, 2000 was $232 million, representing a hypothetical decline in fair market value of equity securities we held at that date from $2.317 billion to $2.085 billion. In calculating these amounts, we exclude equity securities related to products for which the investment risk is borne primarily by the contractholder rather than by us. While these scenarios are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect our expectations regarding future performance of equity markets or of our equity portfolio, they represent near term reasonably possible hypothetical changes that illustrate the potential impact of such events.

Market Risk Related to Foreign Currency Exchange Rates
We are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk in our general account and through our operations in foreign countries. In our international life insurance business, we generally invest in assets denominated in the same currencies as our insurance liabilities, which mitigates our foreign currency exchange rate risk for these operations.

Our exposure to foreign currency risk within the general account investment portfolios supporting our U.S. insurance operations arises primarily from purchased investments that are denominated or payable in foreign currencies. We generally hedge substantially all foreign currency-denominated fixed-income investments supporting our U.S. operations into U.S. dollars, using foreign exchange forward contracts and currency swaps, in order to mitigate the risk that the fair value of these investments fluctuates as a result of changes in foreign exchange rates. We generally do not hedge all of the foreign currency risk of our equity investments in unaffiliated foreign entities.

Our operations in foreign countries create two additional sources of foreign currency risk. First, we reflect the operating results of our foreign branches and subsidiaries in our financial statements based on the average exchange rates prevailing during the period. We hedge some of these foreign currency flows based on our overall risk management strategy and loss limits. We generally hedge our anticipated exposure to adjusted operating income fluctuations resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates relating to our International operations in Japan, of which our Japanese insurance operations are the most significant, using foreign exchange forward contracts and currency swaps. Second, we translate our equity investment in foreign branches and subsidiaries into U.S. dollars using the foreign currency exchange rate at the financial statement period-end date. We have chosen to partially hedge this exposure.

We actively manage foreign currency exchange rate risk within specified limits at the consolidated level using Value-at-Risk analysis. This statistical technique estimates, at a specified confidence level, the potential pretax loss in portfolio market value that could occur over an assumed time horizon due to adverse market movements. We calculate this using a variance/covariance approach.

We calculate Value-at-Risk estimates of exposure to loss from volatility in foreign currency exchange rates for one-month time periods. Our estimated VaR at December 31, 2001 for foreign currency assets not hedged to U.S. dollars, measured at the 95% confidence level and using a one-month time horizon, was $9 million, representing a hypothetical decline in fair market value of these foreign currency assets from $495 million to $486 million. Our estimated VaR at December 31, 2000 for foreign currency assets not hedged to U.S. dollars, measured at the 95% confidence level and using a one-month time horizon, was $18 million, representing a hypothetical decline in fair market value of these foreign currency assets from $906 million to $888 million. These calculations use historical price volatilities and correlation data at a 95% confidence level. We discuss limitations of VaR models below. Our estimated VaR for foreign exchange forward contracts and currency swaps used to hedge our anticipated exposure to adjusted operating income fluctuations resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates relating to our international operations, measured at the 95% confidence level and using a one-month time horizon, was $45 million at December 31, 2001 and $11 million at December 31, 2000.

Our average monthly Value-at-Risk for foreign currency assets not hedged to U.S. dollars from foreign currency exchange rate movements, measured at the 95% confidence level over a one month time horizon, was $13 million during 2001 and $16 million during 2000.

Derivatives
Derivatives are financial instruments whose values are derived from interest rates, foreign exchange rates, financial indices, or the prices of securities or commodities. Derivative financial instruments may be exchange-traded or contracted in the over-the-counter market and include swaps, futures, options and forward contracts. See Note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a summary of our derivative positions as of December 31, 2001 and 2000. Under insurance statutes, our insurance companies may use derivative financial instruments to hedge actual or anticipated changes in their assets or liabilities, to replicate cash market instruments or for certain income-generating activities. These statutes generally prohibit the use of derivatives for speculative purposes. We use derivative financial instruments to seek to reduce market risk from changes in interest rates or foreign currency exchange rates, and to alter interest rate or foreign currency exposures arising from mismatches between assets and liabilities. In addition, derivatives are used in our securities operations for trading purposes.

Trading Activities

We engage in trading activities primarily in connection with our securities businesses. We maintain trading inventories in various equity and fixed-income securities, foreign exchange instruments and commodities, primarily to facilitate transactions for our clients. Market risk affects the values of our trading inventories through fluctuations in absolute or relative interest rates, credit spreads, foreign currency exchange rates, securities and commodity prices. We seek to use short security positions and forwards, futures, options and other derivatives to limit exposure to interest rate and other market risks. We also trade derivative financial instruments that allow our clients to manage exposure to interest rate, currency and other market risks. Most of our derivative transactions involve exchange-listed contracts and are short-term in duration. We act both as a broker, by selling exchange-listed contracts, and as a dealer, by entering into futures and security transactions as a principal. As a broker, we assume counterparty and credit risks that we seek to mitigate by using margin or other credit enhancements and by establishing trading limits and credit lines. As a dealer, we are subject to market risk as well as counterparty and credit risk. We manage the market risk associated with trading activities through hedging activities and formal policies, risk and position limits, counterparty and credit limits, daily position monitoring, and other forms of risk management.

Value-at-Risk
VaR is one of the tools we use to monitor and manage our exposure to the market risk of our trading activities. We calculate a VaR that encompasses our trading activities using a 95% confidence level. The VaR method incorporates the risk factors to which the market value of our trading activities is exposed, which consist of interest rates, including credit spreads, foreign exchange rates, equity prices and commodity prices, estimates of volatilities from historical data, the sensitivity of our trading activities to changes in those market factors and the correlations of those factors. We regularly test our VaR model by comparing actual adverse results to those estimated by the VaR model with a 95% confidence level over a one-day time horizon. The VaR for our trading activities expressed in terms of adverse changes to fair value at the 95% confidence level over a one-day time horizon was $5 million at December 31, 2001 and $6 million at December 31, 2000. The average daily VaR for our trading activities, expressed in terms of adverse changes to fair value with a 95% confidence level over a one-day time horizon, was $6 million during 2001 and $9 million during 2000. The following table sets forth a breakdown of this VaR by risk component as follows:

Limitations of VaR Models

Although VaR models represent a recognized tool for risk management, they have inherent limitations, including reliance on historical data that may not be indicative of future market conditions or trading patterns. Accordingly, you should not view VaR models as a predictor of future results. We may incur losses that could be materially in excess of the amounts indicated by the models on a particular trading day or over a period of time, and there have been instances when results have fallen outside the values generated by our VaR models. A VaR model does not estimate the greatest possible loss. We use these models together with other risk management tools, including stress testing. The results of these models and analysis thereof are subject to the judgment of our risk management personnel.

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