普登 (UNM) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Christa, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Unum Group First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Matt Royal, Head of Investor Relations. Matt, you may begin your conference.

謝謝你的支持。我叫克里斯塔，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 Unum 集團 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係主管馬特·羅亞爾（Matt Royal）。馬特，你可以開始你的會議了。

Thank you, Christa, and good morning to everyone. Welcome to Unum Group's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call.

謝謝你，克里斯塔，祝大家早安。歡迎參加 Unum Group 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。

Please note that today's call may include forward-looking statements and actual results, which are subject to risks and uncertainties may differ materially, and we are not obligated to update any of these statements. Please refer to our earnings release and our periodic filings with the SEC for a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected results.

請注意，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述和實際結果，這些陳述和實際結果受到風險和不確定性的影響可能會存在重大差異，我們沒有義務更新任何這些陳述。請參閱我們的收益發布以及我們向 SEC 定期提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與預期結果不同的因素的描述。

Yesterday afternoon, Unum released our first quarter earnings press release and financial supplement. Those materials may be found on the Investors section of our website, along with a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures and reconciliations of any non-GAAP financial measures included in today's presentation.

昨天下午，Unum 發布了第一季財報和財務補充報告。這些資料可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到，同時還提供了最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的演示以及今天演示中包含的任何非 GAAP 財務衡量標準的調整表。

References made today to core operations, sales and premium, including Unum International, are presented on a constant currency basis. Participating in this morning's conference call are Unum's President and CEO, Rick McKenney; Chief Financial Officer, Steve Zabel; Tim Arnold, who heads our Colonial Life and voluntary benefit lines; Chris Pyne for Group Benefits; and Mark Till, CEO of Unum International.

今天提到的核心業務、銷售額和溢價（包括 Unum International）均以固定匯率計算。參加今天上午的電話會議的有 Unum 總裁兼執行長 Rick McKenney；財務長 Steve Zabel；阿諾德 (Tim Arnold)，我們的殖民地生活和自願福利計畫負責人；克里斯·派恩 (Chris Pyne) 負責團體福利；和 Unum International 執行長 Mark Till。

Now I'll turn the call over to Rick.

現在我將把電話轉給里克。

Thank you, Matt. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We're excited to discuss our exceptional first quarter results with you, which reflect a strong start to the year and a continuation of the success achieved over the past several years.

謝謝你，馬特。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。我們很高興與您討論我們出色的第一季業績，這反映了今年的強勁開局以及過去幾年所取得成功的延續。

At our outlook meeting in January, we laid out our expectations and plans to continue our momentum through 2024, including our ability to maintain industry-leading margins, grow our top line at a higher rate and build further capital flexibility, including eliminating needs for our Closed Block.

在1 月的展望會議上，我們提出了我們的期望和計劃，以在2024 年繼續保持這一勢頭，包括我們保持行業領先的利潤率、以更高的速度增長我們的收入並建立進一步的資本靈活性的能力，包括消除對我們的封閉塊。

Our first quarter results show our ability to execute on these plans with a 13.6% growth in EPS to $2.12 per share, a record level of earnings for the company. $350 million of statutory earnings, 6.6% increase in core operations premium growth and capital metrics well in excess of our targets.

我們第一季的業績顯示我們有能力執行這些計劃，每股收益成長 13.6%，達到每股 2.12 美元，創公司獲利歷史新高。法定收益達 3.5 億美元，核心營運溢價成長 6.6%，資本指標遠超我們的目標。

Coupled with our team's strong performance, the market backdrop and economic environment continues to be favorable and supportive of our business. The first quarter concluded on a positive note for the economy with job growth surpassing expectations in March and a steady rise in wages. This was evident in our existing client base, as we observe sustained natural growth that played an ongoing role in our success, although at more typical levels.

加上我們團隊的強勁表現，市場背景和經濟環境繼續對我們的業務有利和支持。第一季經濟呈現正向態勢，三月就業成長超出預期，薪資穩定上漲。這在我們現有的客戶群中顯而易見，因為我們觀察到持續的自然成長對我們的成功發揮了持續的作用，儘管是在更典型的水平上。

Our offerings, which are a part of an employer's holistic employment package in attracting and retaining talent also have the important role of providing critical protections for their employees. Our connection with these employers has been amplified through our digital interactions with clients and our unparalleled ability to provide quality services, including leave administration, which is playing an important role for them.

我們的產品是雇主吸引和留住人才的整體就業方案的一部分，在為員工提供關鍵保護方面也發揮著重要作用。透過與客戶的數位互動以及提供優質服務（包括休假管理）的無與倫比的能力，我們與這些雇主的聯繫得到了加強，這對他們發揮著重要作用。

In addition to the labor market, interest rates have been in our favor and consensus has shifted towards the higher for longer scenario. With treasury yields up approximately 70 basis points so far this year, current rate levels are beneficial to both our core lines of business as we continue to invest new money above our portfolio yield, but also for long-term care.

除了勞動市場之外，利率也對我們有利，共識已轉向長期較高的利率。今年迄今為止，國債殖利率已上漲約 70 個基點，目前的利率水準對我們的核心業務有利，因為我們將繼續投資高於投資組合收益率的新資金，而且也有利於長期照護。

We continue to find ways to derisk the block through our hedging strategy and repositioning, 2 levers we further utilized in the first quarter. Together, this macro backdrop aids us in, steadily and consistently, building on our solid foundation and delivering profitable growth and strong returns across all of our businesses.

我們繼續尋找透過對沖策略和重新定位來消除區塊風險的方法，這是我們在第一季進一步利用的兩個槓桿。總而言之，這一宏觀背景幫助我們穩步、持續地建立堅實的基礎，並在我們的所有業務中實現盈利增長和強勁回報。

Looking across the franchise, there were numerous bright spots to highlight in the first quarter. First, our group products in Unum US, our deeply integrated solutions such as HR Connect and Total Leave continue to improve the operations of our employer clients. We continue to see attractive margins across our product sets based on the consistency of our pricing discipline and our aligned goals of helping employees get back to work.

縱觀整個系列，第一季有許多亮點值得關注。首先，我們在 Unum US 的集團產品、HR Connect 和 Total Leave 等深度整合的解決方案不斷改善我們雇主客戶的營運。基於我們定價規則的一致性和幫助員工重返工作崗位的一致目標，我們繼續看到我們的產品組合具有有吸引力的利潤。

Our products and services are resonating with our customers, as shown by total group product persistency exceeding 90% with long-term disability at 93%, a level we haven't seen in over 10 years. Group sales where we see the most price competition performed better than expectations in the quarter, and are expected to meet our expectations for the year. These results underscore the value our employers, employees and their families find in our products and services.

我們的產品和服務引起了客戶的共鳴，集團總產品持久性超過 90%，長期殘疾率為 93%，這是我們 10 多年來從未見過的水平。我們認為價格競爭最激烈的集團銷售在本季的表現優於預期，預計將達到我們今年的預期。這些結果強調了我們的雇主、員工及其家人在我們的產品和服務中發現的價值。

Also within our U.S. business, our supplementary and voluntary lines, including voluntary benefits, multi-life individual disability and dental and vision continue to produce very strong levels of both top line and bottom line growth at 7.6% and 11.8%, respectively. While these lines of business receive less attention, they generate high levels of cash and complement our group offering well as employers look to expand their benefit offerings and attract and retain talent in a highly competitive market.

同樣在我們的美國業務中，我們的補充和自願險種，包括自願福利、多重生命個人殘疾以及牙科和視力險，繼續實現非常強勁的收入和利潤增長，分別達到 7.6% 和 11.8%。雖然這些業務線受到的關注較少，但它們會產生大量現金，並補充我們的集團產品，因為雇主希望擴大其福利產品並在競爭激烈的市場中吸引和留住人才。

Shifting to Colonial Life. Margins continue to be excellent with an ROE of nearly 20%. Since the pandemic, which impacted Colonial's distribution model, growth has been the main focus for this segment. And in the quarter, we saw premiums increase by just over 4%. While we're encouraged by the premium growth, sales in the first quarter did not meet our expectations.

轉向殖民地生活。利潤率持續保持出色，淨資產收益率 (ROE) 接近 20%。自從疫情影響 Colonial 的分銷模式以來，成長一直是該細分市場的主要關注點。在本季度，我們看到保費增加了 4% 多一點。儘管我們對保費成長感到鼓舞，但第一季的銷售額並未達到我們的預期。

Despite this, we maintain optimism regarding our ongoing differentiation through services like Gathr as well as the productivity of our agents. These factors support our plans to reach the 5% to 10% sales growth range at our outlook meeting. Rounding out our core segments, our International business is operating at full strength with robust premium growth of nearly 17%, coming off an excellent sales year last year. And U.K. underlying earnings in the mid- to upper 20 million-pound range.

儘管如此，我們對透過 Gathr 等服務實現的持續差異化以及我們代理的生產力保持樂觀。這些因素支持我們在展望會議上實現 5% 至 10% 的銷售成長範圍的計劃。完善我們的核心業務，我們的國際業務正在全力運營，保費強勁增長近 17%，去年的銷售表現出色。英國的基本收入在 2000 萬英鎊中上。

We continue to see excellent growth momentum in our growing Poland business. And in the U.K., we continue to redefine the broker experience, setting a market-leading standard that is distinctly Unum, and enhancing our relationship management model. Across the company, our commitment to innovation, prudent capital management and shareholder returns remains unwavering. With the Closed Block fully funded, our capital generation model is at full strength as this is expected to be the first year in many years that we do not contribute capital to long-term care.

我們不斷成長的波蘭業務持續呈現出良好的成長動能。在英國，我們繼續重新定義經紀商體驗，制定獨特的 Unum 市場領先標準，並增強我們的關係管理模式。在整個公司範圍內，我們對創新、審慎資本管理和股東回報的承諾仍然堅定不移。隨著封閉區塊資金充足，我們的資本產生模式已充分發揮作用，因為預計今年將是多年來我們第一年不向長期照護提供資金。

Let me remind you that we do not plan to contribute capital to support the long-term care block going forward, given our assumptions and approximately $2.8 billion of protection that we outlined at our outlook meeting. In the first quarter, the strong GAAP margins, I mentioned earlier, highlighted by disability and life translated directly to statutory earnings of $350 million.

讓我提醒您，鑑於我們的假設以及我們在展望會議上概述的約 28 億美元的保護，我們不打算提供資金來支持長期照護業務的發展。我之前提到過，第一季度，殘疾和人壽保險突出顯示了強勁的 GAAP 利潤率，這直接轉化為 3.5 億美元的法定收入。

This supports cash flow available for deployment at a run rate greater than we have seen before. This consistent cash flow generation is supported by our disciplined and long-term focused underwriting approach as well as our sole focus on employee benefits. With these good results, we ended the quarter with holding company liquidity of $1.4 billion and RBC of 440%. This provides additional flexibility as we explore opportunities to grow our core businesses and reduce our Closed Block exposure.

這支援可用於部署的現金流以比我們以前看到的更高的運行率。這種持續的現金流產生得益於我們嚴格的、長期專注的承保方法以及我們對員工福利的唯一關注。憑藉這些良好的業績，本季結束時，我們控股公司的流動性為 14 億美元，RBC 為 440%。這為我們探索發展核心業務和減少封閉區塊風險的機會提供了額外的靈活性。

At the same time, we have steadily increased the pace at which we return capital to shareholders. This quarter, we increased the pace of share repurchases to approximately $500 million per year, double from a year ago. In addition, consistent annual dividend increases are another important part of our capital management. And we're pleased to announce that in recognition of our strong capital position and projections, we will be increasing our shareholder dividend by 15%, starting with a third quarter dividend payment in 2024, and placing our dividend payout ratio right around 20%.

同時，我們穩步加快向股東返還資本的步伐。本季度，我們將股票回購的步伐提高到每年約 5 億美元，是一年前的兩倍。此外，持續增加年股股利是我們資本管理的另一個重要組成部分。我們很高興地宣布，為了認識到我們強大的資本狀況和預測，我們將從 2024 年第三季股利支付開始，將股東股利增加 15%，並將股利支付率控制在 20% 左右。

All in all, the first quarter was a very strong start for our company. We're encouraged by the trends we are seeing in our operations as well as the support we're receiving from the macro environment. All this positions us well to be able to execute on our strategy and reach our financial aspirations throughout 2024 and beyond. Many thanks to our teams that work hard to serve our customers each and every day. I'd like to now hand it over to Steve to provide further insights into our financial strategy and outlook as well as provide insight into the Closed Block. Thank you once again for your attention. Let me turn it over to Steve.

總而言之，第一季對我們公司來說是一個非常強勁的開端。我們對我們在營運中看到的趨勢以及我們從宏觀環境中獲得的支持感到鼓舞。所有這些都使我們能夠在 2024 年及以後執行我們的策略並實現我們的財務目標。非常感謝我們的團隊每天努力為客戶提供服務。我現在想將其交給史蒂夫，以提供有關我們的財務策略和前景的進一步見解，並提供有關封閉區塊的見解。再次感謝您的關注。讓我把它交給史蒂夫。

Great. Thanks, Rick, and good morning, everyone. As Rick described, the first quarter was a very strong start to the year. Before getting into the details, I would like to highlight a few of the key trends that are driving the impressive results across our businesses.

偉大的。謝謝瑞克，大家早安。正如里克所描述的，第一季是今年的一個非常強勁的開端。在詳細介紹之前，我想強調一些推動我們業務取得令人印象深刻業績的關鍵趨勢。

First, from the top line perspective, we're seeing high levels of growth in our core operations with premium growth of 6.6%, bolstered by record levels of persistency in our group lines and nearly 17% premium growth for Unum International. In addition to growth, our margins continue to be robust with group disability, maintaining the exceptional benefit ratio levels produced in 2023.

首先，從營收角度來看，我們的核心業務實現了高水準成長，保費成長了 6.6%，這得益於我們集團產品線創紀錄的持續性水準以及 Unum International 保費成長近 17%。除了成長之外，我們的利潤率在團體殘疾方面繼續保持強勁，維持了 2023 年的卓越福利比率水準。

Group Life and AD&D earnings at levels not seen since pre-pandemic, and long-term care benefits continuing to normalize as expected. Putting it all together, these trends allow us to grow the company's earnings power and further our financial flexibility.

團體人壽和 AD&D 收益達到大流行前以來未見的水平，長期照護福利繼續按預期正常化。總而言之，這些趨勢使我們能夠增強公司的獲利能力並進一步提高我們的財務靈活性。

In the quarter, we grew adjusted operating earnings 9.6% to $514.5 million, leading to after-tax adjusted operating earnings per share of $2.12, representing growth of 13.4%. On the statutory side, after-tax operating income was up 26.9% to $350.5 million, driving further capital strength with RBC and a holding company liquidity well in excess of our targets. While we are only 1 quarter into the year, all of these factors reinforce our confidence in executing against our targets for 2024. Considering that backdrop, I'll now move to the segment financial results. Starting with Unum US. Adjusted operating income increased 23.3% to $385.2 million in the first quarter of 2024, compared to $312.5 million in the first quarter of 2023.

本季，我們調整後營業利潤成長 9.6%，達到 5.145 億美元，稅後調整後每股營業利潤為 2.12 美元，成長 13.4%。在法定方面，稅後營業收入成長了 26.9%，達到 3.505 億美元，進一步推動了加拿大皇家銀行和控股公司流動性的資本實力，遠遠超出了我們的目標。雖然今年才剛進入 1 個季度，但所有這些因素都增強了我們執行 2024 年目標的信心。從 Unum US 開始。 2024 年第一季調整後營業收入成長 23.3%，達到 3.852 億美元，而 2023 年第一季為 3.125 億美元。

Results for all product lines improved year-over-year with our Group Life and AD&D lines seeing the greatest improvement driven by favorable mortality trends, leading to a 68.2% benefit ratio. Natural growth of lives and wages returned to more normal levels of approximately 2%, and along with total group persistency of 92.1%, supported premium growth of 6.1% in Unum US.

所有產品線的表現均逐年改善，其中我們的團體壽險和 AD&D 系列在有利的死亡率趨勢的推動下取得了最大的改善，實現了 68.2% 的受益率。生命和工資的自然增長恢復到約 2% 的正常水平，加上 92.1% 的團體總保費率，支持了 Unum US 6.1% 的保費增長。

Overall, Unum US sales were lower in the first quarter of 2024 by $2.5 million or approximately 1% year-over-year. Group sales increased 2.5% compared to the first quarter of 2023, while sales and supplemental and voluntary lines did not meet our expectations and were down 4%. As Rick mentioned, group sales performed better than expectations in the quarter and are expected to meet our expectations for the year. The group disability line reported another robust quarter with adjusted operating income of $164.8 million, compared to $145.7 million in the first quarter of 2023, with the increase driven by favorable paid incidents.

總體而言，Unum 美國銷售額在 2024 年第一季減少了 250 萬美元，年減約 1%。與 2023 年第一季相比，集團銷售額成長 2.5%，而銷售額以及補充和自願產品線未達到我們的預期，下降了 4%。正如 Rick 所提到的，本季集團銷售表現優於預期，預計將達到我們今年的預期。集團殘障險業務報告又一個強勁的季度，調整後營業收入為 1.648 億美元，而 2023 年第一季為 1.457 億美元，這一增長是由優惠付費事件推動的。

Along with consistently strong performance in recoveries, the group disability benefit ratio was 57.5% in the first quarter, compared to 60% in the first quarter of 2023. Results for Unum US Group Life and AD&D also improved compared to the year ago period with adjusted operating income of $78.8 million for the first quarter of 2024, compared to $40.1 million in the same period a year ago.

除了康復方面持續強勁的表現外，第一季的團體殘障福利比率為 57.5%，而 2023 年第一季為 60%。 2024 年第一季營業收入為7,880 萬美元，而去年同期為4,010 萬美元。

As mentioned, the benefit ratio decreased to 68.2%, compared to 75% in the first quarter of 2023, driven by lower incidents. The favorability experienced in the quarter does not change our expectations of low to mid-70% benefit ratios in the coming few quarters. Adjusted operating earnings for the Unum US supplemental and voluntary lines in the first quarter of 2024 increased to $141.6 million from $126.7 million, an increase of 11.8%. The increase is driven by improved underlying benefits experienced year-over-year across all lines.

如前所述，由於事故減少，受益率下降至 68.2%，而 2023 年第一季為 75%。本季所經歷的優惠並沒有改變我們對未來幾季低至中 70% 的福利比率的預期。 2024 年第一季 Unum US 補充和自願險種的調整後營業利潤從 1.267 億美元增至 1.416 億美元，成長 11.8%。這一增長是由所有產品線逐年改善的基本效益所推動的。

Then moving to Unum International. Adjusted operating income in the first quarter decreased to $37.4 million from $38.4 million in the first quarter of 2023 due to lower benefit from inflation. Adjusted operating income for the Unum UK business decreased in the first quarter to GBP 28.2 million compared to GBP 31 million in the first quarter of 2023.

然後搬到 Unum International。由於通膨收益下降，第一季調整後營業收入從 2023 年第一季的 3,840 萬美元減少至 3,740 萬美元。 Unum 英國業務第一季調整後營業收入下降至 2,820 萬英鎊，而 2023 年第一季為 3,100 萬英鎊。

Unum U.K. earnings grew over 10% after removing the direct inflationary benefits, which were still positive in the first quarter of 2024, but significantly lower year-over-year. Unum UK's underlying earnings strength has continued to grow, and we now expect the business to earn in the mid- to upper GBP 20 million range per quarter as inflation subsides.

在扣除直接通膨收益後，Unum U.K. 的收益增長了 10% 以上，2024 年第一季的收益仍然為正，但同比大幅下降。 Unum UK 的潛在獲利實力持續成長，隨著通膨消退，我們現在預計該業務每季的獲利將在 2,000 萬英鎊中上。

Premium income for our Unum International business segment increased by 16.8% year-over-year, including 15% growth in Unum UK. Similar to other segments, strong persistency in excess of 90% in both Unum UK and Poland helped to offset decreased sales in the quarter. Next, adjusted operating income for the Colonial Life segment increased to $113.7 million in the first quarter compared to $93.9 million in the first quarter of 2023.

我們的 Unum 國際業務部門的保費收入年增 16.8%，其中 Unum UK 的保費收入成長 15%。與其他細分市場類似，Unum 英國和波蘭超過 90% 的強勁持久性有助於抵消本季銷售額的下降。接下來，Colonial Life 部門調整後的第一季營業收入增至 1.137 億美元，而 2023 年第一季為 9,390 萬美元。

Premium income of $446.9 million grew at a healthy rate of 4.1%, compared to a full year 2023 growth rate of 1.4%. Premium growth was driven by higher prior period sales and persistency of 78.4% or 110 basis points greater than the year ago period. Sales in the first quarter of $103 million decreased 3.6% from prior year. In the Closed Block segment, adjusted operating income of $24.3 million was higher than last quarter's results of $21.3 million with relatively consistent LTC claims experience. Earnings were below our expectations due to alternative assets yielding 6.3% in the first quarter on an annualized basis, compared to our long-term expectations of 8% to 10%. Since inception, our diversified alternative portfolio has achieved returns that match our long-term projections, but can be volatile period to period.

保費收入達到 4.469 億美元，健康成長率為 4.1%，而 2023 年全年成長率為 1.4%。保費成長的推動因素是前期銷售額的增加以及比去年同期成長 78.4% 或 110 個基點的持續性。第一季銷售額為 1.03 億美元，比去年同期下降 3.6%。在封閉區塊領域，調整後營業收入為 2,430 萬美元，高於上季的 2,130 萬美元，LTC 索賠經驗相對穩定。獲利低於我們的預期，是因為第一季另類資產的年化報酬率為 6.3%，而我們的長期預期為 8% 至 10%。自成立以來，我們的多元化另類投資組合已取得與我們的長期預測相符的回報，但可能會隨著時間的推移而波動。

As we discussed in January, we expect LTC incidents to remain elevated in 2024 as the claim inventory normalizes. While LTC incidents experienced in the first quarter was elevated compared to our long-term expectations, we believe the recent trend continues to indicate a pattern of returning to normal inventory levels. The LTC net premium ratio was 93.8% in the first quarter of 2024, higher than the 85.3% result in the same year ago period, due primarily to the assumption update in the third quarter of 2023.

正如我們在 1 月討論的那樣，隨著索賠清單正常化，我們預計 2024 年長期照護事故數量將繼續增加。雖然第一季發生的長期照護事故數量高於我們的長期預期，但我們認為近期趨勢繼續表明庫存水準正在恢復正常。 2024 年第一季的 LTC 淨保費率為 93.8%，高於去年同期的 85.3%，主要是由於 2023 年第三季的假設更新。

Sequentially, the NPR increased 30 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, due primarily to the impact of a large case termination in the first quarter. Finally, we continue to execute on our Closed Block strategy, focusing on creating value, reducing the footprint and increasing predictability of outcomes. As we discussed in January, this includes seeking actuarially justified rate increases.

隨後，NPR 較 2023 年第四季成長了 30 個基點，這主要是由於第一季大案終止的影響。最後，我們繼續執行封閉區塊策略，專注於創造價值、減少足跡並提高結果的可預測性。正如我們在一月份討論的那樣，這包括尋求精算合理的加息。

Since the program refresh in the third quarter of 2023, we have achieved approximately 20% of our target, including approximately 5% in the first quarter of 2024. So then wrapping up my commentary on the segment's financial results, the adjusted operating loss in the Corporate segment was $46.1 million, compared to a $33.5 million loss in the first quarter of 2023, primarily driven by lower allocated net investment income and higher retirement plan expenses.

自2023 年第三季更新計畫以來，我們已經實現了約20% 的目標，其中包括2024 年第一季的約5%。了企業部門虧損 4,610 萬美元，而 2023 年第一季虧損 3,350 萬美元，這主要是由於分配的淨投資收入減少和退休計畫費用增加所致。

Our expectation for the remainder of the year is that losses in the Corporate segment will stay relatively consistent in the mid-$40 million range. And then lastly, the effective tax rate of 20.3% in the first quarter was favorable to our expectation of 21.5% to 22%, driven by onetime amended filings of prior year returns.

我們對今年剩餘時間的預期是，企業部門的虧損將相對穩定地維持在 4,000 萬美元左右。最後，由於上一年申報表的一次性修改，第一季 20.3% 的有效稅率有利於我們 21.5% 至 22% 的預期。

Moving now to investments. We continue to see a good environment for new money yields and risk management. Purchases made in the quarter were again at levels above our earned portfolio yield, which was 4.35% in the first quarter. Total net investment income was $513.5 million in the first quarter, compared to $508.8 million in the prior year, driven primarily by higher asset levels and higher miscellaneous investment income.

現在轉向投資。我們繼續看到新資金收益率和風險管理的良好環境。本季的購買量再次高於我們賺取的投資組合收益率（第一季為 4.35%）。第一季淨投資收益總額為 5.135 億美元，而上年同期為 5.088 億美元，主要是由於資產水準提高和雜項投資收益增加所致。

Miscellaneous investment income increased in the first quarter to $20.8 million compared to $15.8 million a year ago, with income from our alternative assets totaling $20.3 million. In addition, we continued to manage our interest rate risk by expanding our hedge and repositioning programs. Since inception of the program last year, we've entered into $2.7 billion of treasury forwards and repositioned $765 million of assets, including $165 million and $65 million, respectively, in the first quarter of 2024.

第一季雜項投資收入增加至 2,080 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,580 萬美元，其中另類資產收入總計 2,030 萬美元。此外，我們繼續透過擴大對沖和重新定位計劃來管理利率風險。自去年該計畫啟動以來，我們已簽訂了 27 億美元的國債遠期合約，並重新配置了 7.65 億美元的資產，其中 2024 年第一季分別為 1.65 億美元和 6,500 萬美元。

I'll end my commentary this morning with an update on our capital position. As laid out in our outlook call, we project this year to be an inflection point in the free cash flow generation profile of the company. Our outlook for strong statutory earnings with no contributions to LTC is expected to drive significant capital strength and financial flexibility in 2024.

我將在今天早上結束我的評論時介紹我們的資本狀況的最新情況。正如我們在展望電話會議中所述，我們預計今年將成為該公司自由現金流產生狀況的轉折點。我們對強勁法定收益的展望（無需向 LTC 繳款）預計將在 2024 年推動顯著的資本實力和財務靈活性。

Through the first quarter, we're off to a great start. With the strong margins discussed in our GAAP results, leading to statutory after-tax operating income of $350.5 million in the quarter and repositioning -- and positioning us well for our $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion expectation for the year. With these strong statutory earnings, the weighted average risk-based capital ratio for our traditional U.S. insurance companies strengthened further to approximately 440% and holding company liquidity remained robust at $1.4 billion.

在第一季度，我們有了一個好的開始。我們的 GAAP 業績中討論了強勁的利潤率，導致本季度法定稅後營業收入達到 3.505 億美元並進行了重新定位，使我們能夠很好地實現今年 12 億至 14 億美元的預期。憑藉這些強勁的法定盈利，美國傳統保險公司的加權平均風險資本比率進一步增強至 440% 左右，控股公司的流動性保持在 14 億美元的強勁水平。

While both of these metrics are expected to fluctuate throughout the year, we do expect year-end RBC of 415% to 430% and holding company liquidity of greater than $2 billion, both well in excess of our long-term targets, providing us with capital optionality. This optionality already considers our plans to increase shareholder capital return by doubling our share repurchase run rate over 2023 levels to $500 million and increasing our shareholder dividend by 15% effective in the third quarter.

雖然這兩個指標預計全年都會波動，但我們預計年終 RBC 為 415% 至 430%，控股公司流動性超過 20 億美元，兩者都遠遠超過我們的長期目標，為我們提供了資本選擇性。這項選擇已經考慮到我們的計劃，透過將 2023 年的股票回購利率提高一倍至 5 億美元，並將股東股息增加 15%，從而增加股東資本回報，第三季生效。

So then looking ahead, as we progress throughout the year, we will continue to evaluate the best use of our excess capital in line with our priorities. Overall, we are very pleased with our first quarter results. The strong start to the year sets us up well to execute on our strategy and deliver against our financial targets.

因此，展望未來，隨著我們全年的進展，我們將繼續根據我們的優先事項評估過剩資本的最佳利用方式。總的來說，我們對第一季的業績非常滿意。今年的強勁開局使我們能夠很好地執行我們的策略並實現我們的財務目標。

Now I'll turn the call back to Rick for his closing comments, and I look forward to your questions.

現在我將把電話轉回給 Rick，聽取他的結束語，並期待您的提問。

Great. Thank you, Steve. You can certainly hear in our comments the excitement as we wrap the first quarter, business performance, combined with our robust capital strength to set us on a promising trajectory for the year ahead. There are plenty of topics to discuss today.

偉大的。謝謝你，史蒂夫。您當然可以從我們的評論中聽到我們在結束第一季業務表現時的興奮之情，再加上我們強大的資本實力，使我們在未來一年走上充滿希望的軌道。今天有很多話題可以討論。

So with that, let me turn the call over to the questions and turn it over to you, Christa, to facilitate the session.

因此，讓我把電話轉交給問題，然後轉給你，克里斯塔，以促進會議的進行。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Ryan Krueger with KBW.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 KBW 的 Ryan Krueger。

My first question is on the pricing environment in group. It seems like there's some maybe debate within the industry on kind of the competitive environment at this point. And I guess for you specifically, you saw a really favorable persistency. So it seems like that would indicate, I guess, less competition. But I guess, just hoping to get some more perspective on what the competitive environment is like and kind of the debate on the need to give back some level of the outperformance in group disability.

我的第一個問題是關於集團的定價環境。目前，業界似乎存在一些關於競爭環境的爭論。我想對你來說，你會看到一種非常有利的堅持。所以我想這似乎表明競爭減少了。但我想，只是希望對競爭環境是什麼樣的有更多的了解，以及關於是否需要在群體殘疾方面給予一定程度的優異表現的辯論。

Ryan, it's Rick. We're happy to enter into that debate. I think when you think of the competitive environment out there, it is always a competitive market. And so I think I'd start with that. So we've been very consistent on that front. And when we think about competition, we expect on a case-by-case basis, we're going to look at it and look at the fundamentals of it and make our decisions around what our pricing looks like.

瑞安，我是瑞克。我們很高興參與這場辯論。我認為當你想到外面的競爭環境時，它始終是一個競爭激烈的市場。所以我想我應該從這個開始。所以我們在這方面一直都非常一致。當我們考慮競爭時，我們希望根據具體情況，研究它的基本原理，並圍繞我們的定價做出決定。

The discipline that we show has been consistent. I think that's unwavering. I think when you look at our results overall, we're very happy with our sales results that we have coming in on the group side as well as persistency levels, and you bring that together with the pricing and the profitability, it's a pretty powerful mix.

我們表現出的紀律是一致的。我認為這是堅定不移的。我認為，當你審視我們的整體業績時，我們對集團方面的銷售業績以及持久性水平感到非常滿意，並將其與定價和盈利能力結合起來，這是一個非常強大的混合。

But let me turn it over to Chris to talk about maybe some more details on what we're seeing in that competitive space.

但讓我把它交給克里斯來談談我們在這個競爭領域所看到的更多細節。

Yes. Thanks, Rick. Thanks for the question, Ryan. No question. Competitive environment is here to stay. We're used to that and have a lot of respect for the marketplace in that regard. One of the big things that we continue to see is as we address serious challenges that our employer customers are facing, the conversation does move away from price. Price is always important.

是的。謝謝，瑞克。謝謝你的提問，瑞安。沒有問題。競爭環境將持續存在。我們已經習慣了這一點，並且在這方面非常尊重市場。我們繼續看到的一件大事是，當我們解決雇主客戶面臨的嚴峻挑戰時，話題確實不再關注價格。價格始終很重要。

But as we talk about capabilities like addressing leaves to our Total Leave platform and connecting into the HR ecosystem of choice, you heard Rick mentioned, HR Connect. These topics take the conversation away from pure price, and we're able to talk about ways we could help enhance their business. That's happening. And again, the market continues to move in that direction, which is very good for our business.

但當我們談論諸如將休假處理到我們的 Total Leave 平台以及連接到所選 HR 生態系統等功能時，您聽到 Rick 提到了 HR Connect。這些話題使討論不再局限於純粹的價格，我們可以討論如何幫助他們增強業務。這就是正在發生的事情。市場繼續朝這個方向發展，這對我們的業務非常有利。

Couple that with the tradition of strong disciplined underwriting. And we do that both on new business and reacquisition through renewals. That's kind of DNA that we've had deepened in our company. That will continue. And I will give a call out to our claims organization that continues to perform exceptionally well, that put us in this position to have strong returns, so we can have conversations with our customers about how to help them enhance their business rather than just pure price.

再加上嚴格自律的核保傳統。我們在新業務和透過續約重新獲得業務方面都這樣做。這就是我們在公司中加深的 DNA。這將繼續下去。我會讚揚我們的索賠組織繼續表現出色，這使我們能夠獲得豐厚的回報，因此我們可以與客戶討論如何幫助他們增強業務，而不僅僅是純粹的價格。

And then on long-term care, Steve, you mentioned that there's -- I guess, the trend in incidents suggests that there's a -- you're on the path towards returning to normal incidents. Can you give some more color on what you're seeing there?

然後，關於長期護理，史蒂夫，你提到，我想，事件的趨勢表明，你正在恢復正常事件的道路上。你能為你在那裡看到的東西提供更多的色彩嗎？

Yes, Ryan, it's Steve. Yes, I would just really reiterate the messages that we've really been given over the last few quarters where we have been seeing elevated incidents for the last year plus. We did see that start to abate the latter half of last year, although still at elevated levels.

是的，瑞安，我是史蒂夫。是的，我只想重申我們在過去幾季中確實收到的訊息，我們在過去一年多的時間裡看到了事件的增加。我們確實看到去年下半年這種情況開始減弱，儘管仍處於較高水平。

And we really message -- we thought that would continue into 2024 and then abate as we work our way through 2024. And that is really what we saw. Normally in the first quarter, you'll see a little bit higher instance, a little bit higher claim mortality than maybe the other quarters. That is what we saw. Those pretty much netted down to get us to an underwriting margin that we would have expected.

我們確實要傳達這樣的訊息——我們認為這種情況會持續到 2024 年，然後隨著我們努力工作到 2024 年，這種情況會減弱。通常在第一季度，您會看到比其他季度更高的實例、更高的索賠死亡率。這就是我們所看到的。這些費用幾乎使我們達到了預期的承保利潤。

Ryan, I've also talked a little bit about this concept of our overall claim inventory and how that has trended over time and the fact that our claim inventory really trended below that regression line during COVID as we saw lower claim incidents during that time. I would say the regression back to that line continues. The trend is pretty consistent with what we've seen in prior quarters. So our message is pretty much the same.

Ryan，我還談到了我們整體索賠庫存的概念以及隨著時間的推移的趨勢，以及我們的索賠庫存在新冠疫情期間確實低於回歸線的趨勢，因為我們在那段時間看到了較低的索賠事件。我想說，回到那條線的回歸仍在繼續。這一趨勢與我們在前幾個季度看到的情況非常一致。所以我們的訊息幾乎是一樣的。

We think it will still stay elevated for some time in 2024. But I would say we are happy with kind of the trends that we saw in the first quarter. Again, we'll just have to see how it plays out through the remainder of the year.

我們認為，到 2024 年，這一數字仍將在一段時間內保持在較高水平。同樣，我們只需要看看今年剩餘時間的情況如何。

Your next question comes from the line of Elyse Greenspan with Wells Fargo.

你的下一個問題來自愛麗絲‧葛林斯潘與富國銀行的對話。

My first question, maybe a quick one on the Closed Block. When you guys affirm the full year earnings target for that business, are you assuming your alternative investment income will get back to normal expectations for the other 3 quarters of the year?

我的第一個問題，也許是關於封閉街區的一個快速問題。當你們確認該業務的全年獲利目標時，您是否認為今年其他三個季度的另類投資收入將恢復到正常預期？

Yes, Elyse, it's Steve. Good question. And yes, the simplest answer to that is when we set our planning expectations, we set it at that 8% to 10% yield that alternative asset portfolio, we are right around 6.5% in the first quarter, but we do have that incorporated kind of into our thinking around the guidance for the year.

是的，伊麗絲，我是史蒂夫。好問題。是的，最簡單的答案是，當我們設定計劃預期時，我們將另類資產投資組合的收益率設定為8% 到10%，第一季的收益率約為6.5%，但我們確實有這種合併類型進入我們對今年指導的思考。

And then you affirm the 5% to 10% Unum US sales growth target. And you guys did point out that supplementary and voluntary sales didn't meet expectations in the first quarter, how do you see sales trending there over the balance of the 3 quarters when you look to hit the full year target?

然後您確認 Unum 美國銷售成長 5% 到 10% 的目標。你們確實指出，第一季的補充和自願銷售沒有達到預期，當你希望達到全年目標時，你如何看待剩餘三個季度的銷售趨勢？

Yes. Let me talk a little bit about just what are our expectations. And we did talk about, although some of the areas in our business were a little bit slower than we would have expected coming out of the gates. We are looking to make up that over the course of the year. And so we still feel good about where our sales targets are. It's going to take some work to get there.

是的。讓我談談我們的期望是什麼。我們確實討論過，儘管我們業務的某些領域比我們預期的要慢一些。我們希望在這一年裡彌補這一點。因此，我們仍然對我們的銷售目標感到滿意。要到達那裡需要一些工作。

But I wouldn't actually highlight anything in particular underlying that around the voluntary benefits side. I think that's one we kind of work on quarter-by-quarter and getting back to that target is really important to us.

但我實際上不會強調自願福利方面的任何具體內容。我認為這是我們每個季度都在努力的目標，回到這個目標對我們來說非常重要。

Your next question comes from Suneet Kamath with Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Suneet Kamath。

I wanted to start with the group disability benefit ratio. I mean it continues to beat expectations. Can you talk a little bit about the glide path in that ratio to normal. And have the underlying drivers of the better-than-expected benefit ratio sort of changed over the past year? Or is it kind of a continuation of what you saw last year?

我想從團體殘障福利比率開始。我的意思是它繼續超出預期。您能談談與正常比率的下滑路徑嗎？過去一年裡，福利比率好於預期的根本驅動因素是否改變了？還是這是你去年看到的情況的延續？

Yes, this is Steve. I'll start with the answer there and then turn it over to Chris to talk a little bit about pricing in the environment. So how we've addressed group disability is just around -- there's really 2 drivers. One is the underlying claims performance whether it's claims incidence or claims recovery.

是的，這是史蒂夫。我將從那裡的答案開始，然後將其交給克里斯，討論環境中的定價。因此，我們解決群體殘疾問題的方法就在眼前——實際上有兩個驅動因素。一是基本理賠績效，無論是理賠發生率或是理賠追償。

And then the other piece is pricing and what possible or potential pricing actions you take down the line to reflect that performance. So I'll start with performance. We've continued to see really good recovery patterns. That's our claims department working well with both our customers as well as the employers to really get people back to work. That's the shared objective of really what we do as a company.

然後另一部分是定價以及您採取哪些可能或潛在的定價行動來反映該績效。所以我將從性能開始。我們繼續看到非常好的復甦模式。我們的理賠部門與我們的客戶和雇主合作良好，真正讓人們重返工作崗位。這是我們作為一家公司所做的事情的共同目標。

So the recovery trends have been pretty consistent in the first quarter. I'll say incidence was a little favorable from what our expectations might have been in the first quarter. We guided to a benefit ratio that would have been in the low 60s for the year. This quarter was a little bit below that. And I would say that was because of favorable claims incidents.

因此，第一季的復甦趨勢相當一致。我想說的是，第一季的發生率比我們的預期好一些。我們預計今年的福利比率將在 60 左右。本季略低於該水準。我想說這是因為有利的索賠事件。

So do we think that's sustainable? We do. We're seeing sustained trends in both of those areas. I would say we can kind of see backlogs around short-term disability and feel comfortable with the performance of long-term disability block for the remainder of the year. So from just an operating performance perspective, feel good about sticking with the guidance that would be in the low 60s.

那我們認為這是可持續的嗎？我們的確是。我們在這兩個領域都看到了持續的趨勢。我想說，我們可以看到短期殘疾的積壓，並對今年剩餘時間的長期殘疾區塊的表現感到滿意。因此，僅從營運績效的角度來看，堅持 60 左右的指引是件好事。

Then the other piece of that equation, though, is pricing. And would we do anything with pricing to incorporate that level of performance? And maybe Chris, just talk a little bit about how we think about group disability pricing.

然而，這個等式的另一部分是定價。我們會在定價方面採取什麼措施來反映這種性能水準嗎？也許克里斯，請談談我們對團體殘疾人定價的看法。

Yes. Thanks, Steve, and Suneet, for the question. Again, it does get back to capabilities where we're able to talk about -- first, we have a strong disability portfolio, short-term long-term disability as part of our bundle, the insurance coverage, we can extend to our employer customers is phenomenal, and that gives us a lot of flexibility.

是的。謝謝史蒂夫和蘇尼特提出的問題。再次，它確實回到了我們能夠談論的能力——首先，我們擁有強大的殘疾投資組合，短期長期殘疾作為我們捆綁包的一部分，保險範圍，我們可以擴展到我們的雇主客戶數量驚人，這給了我們很大的靈活性。

Couple that with Leave and you start -- and those almost always go together, you're starting to talk about being a critical partner to that employer and their employees, that enables us to have conversations for the long term about how we're really going to be part of the solution to solve this challenging leave topic while giving their employees great cover.

將其與休假結合起來，您就開始 - 這些幾乎總是在一起，您開始談論成為該雇主及其員工的重要合作夥伴，這使我們能夠就我們的真正情況進行長期對話將成為解決這一具有具有挑戰性的休假主題的解決方案的一部分，同時為員工提供良好的保障。

Pricing-wise, people like long-term stability in their price. So you start to talk about how you can maintain this excellent experience through effective claim management and a renewal strategy that keeps prices kind of in check over time. That seems to resonate very well. So it's a combination of bundled portfolio with leave management and long-term stability in pricing that fits very well with our underwriting DNA.

在定價方面，人們喜歡價格的長期穩定。因此，您開始談論如何透過有效的索賠管理和續約策略來維持這種卓越的體驗，以隨著時間的推移控制價格。這似乎引起了很好的共鳴。因此，它是捆綁式投資組合與休假管理和定價長期穩定性的結合，非常適合我們的承保 DNA。

Okay. That makes sense. And then I guess the second one for Rick on long-term care. One of the things that we have observed in the market is just the combination of different types of insurance risks, particularly on the asset-intensive side in order to get risk transfer done.

好的。這就說得通了。然後我猜第二個是針對瑞克的長期照護。我們在市場上觀察到的一件事是不同類型的保險風險的組合，特別是在資產密集方面，以完成風險轉移。

And post your individual IDI risk transfer solution a couple of years ago, I wouldn't think that you would have a ton of that asset-intensive stuff, but just curious if that's the right read or how you think about sort of combining different blocks of business, if you were to do something?

幾年前發布您個人的 IDI 風險轉移解決方案，我不認為您會有大量資產密集型的東西，但只是好奇這是否是正確的閱讀或您如何考慮組合不同的塊生意上，如果你要做某事？

Yes. So you talked about asset intensity in terms of our blocks of business. So the IDI was one that had some of that. We're happy to go through that transaction. Long-term care is clearly our other asset-intensive business, and that's why we made the comments about the current rate environment being good for us. Our team is doing a great job of putting money to work behind that block of business.

是的。您談到了我們業務板塊的資產密集度。所以 IDI 就具有這樣的特點。我們很高興完成這筆交易。長期照護顯然是我們的另一個資產密集型業務，這就是我們評論當前利率環境對我們有利的原因。我們的團隊在為該業務塊投入資金方面做得非常出色。

And then the asset intensity kind of goes down throughout the course of the business. And you think about our group lines of business a little bit on the group disability, although that portfolio has shrunk as the claim inventory has shrunk there as well. And then on the voluntary benefits side, really very little in terms of asset intensity.

然後資產強度在整個業務過程中會下降。你會稍微考慮一下我們集團的業務範圍，即集團殘疾問題，儘管該投資組合隨著索賠庫存的減少而縮小。然後在自願福利方面，就資產強度而言確實很少。

So I think if your question is getting at kind of where we look at -- where that asset -- it is in long-term care when we think about what we're trying to do today and making sure that we're hedging what we're doing there and the overall mix. But we're happy about how it looks between our insurance risks, our asset mix that we have today and then the overall. Steve, do you want to add to that?

所以我認為，如果你的問題是我們關注的地方——該資產在哪裡——當我們思考我們今天要做的事情並確保我們正在對沖什麼時，它就處於長期護理中。混音。但我們對我們的保險風險、我們今天擁有的資產組合以及整體的情況感到滿意。史蒂夫，你想補充嗎？

Yes. I mean, I think you might have been getting at a little bit is just around potential transactions and just different businesses that maybe you could pair up with a long-term care transaction. And I wouldn't put that -- I wouldn't bucket that just in asset-intensive businesses to go with that.

是的。我的意思是，我認為您可能已經了解了一些潛在交易以及可能可以與長期照護交易配對的不同業務。我不會把這一點放在資產密集型企業。

I think counterparties are looking at just risk diversification generally. And so we do have blocks that, I think, would match that criteria with different counterparties.

我認為交易對手普遍只關注風險分散化。因此，我認為我們確實有與不同交易對手符合該標準的區塊。

Your next question comes from the line of Tom Gallagher with Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Tom Gallagher。

A few follow-ups on long-term care. I guess first one is, so I heard, Steve, your comment about long-term care claim trends. If they do remain elevated somewhat throughout the course of the year, is it likely you'd have to strengthen GAAP reserves again in the third quarter review or not necessarily? Does that really just depend on a long-term assumption? And I assume statutory should be pretty bulletproof though, even if there was something adjusted for GAAP. That's my first question.

關於長期照護的一些後續行動。我想第一個是，史蒂夫，我聽到你對長期照護索賠趨勢的評論。如果它們在全年中確實保持在一定水平，那麼您是否有可能必須在第三季度審查中再次加強 GAAP 準備金，或者不一定？這真的只取決於長期假設嗎？我認為法定的應該是非常萬無一失的，即使有一些針對公認會計原則的調整。這是我的第一個問題。

Yes. Tom, I think there are 2 questions in there, but I'll count it as one. Yes, from a GAAP perspective, I think you're thinking about it right. We look at all of our assumption set on an annual basis that's required under LDTI, and we will do that in the third quarter like we normally do.

是的。湯姆，我認為其中有兩個問題，但我將其算作一個。是的，從公認會計準則的角度來看，我認為你的想法是正確的。我們會按照 LDTI 的要求，每年審查我們設定的所有假設，我們將像往常一樣在第三季這樣做。

We look at a pretty long experience set when we set those assumptions and think more long term about them. So we'll take into account the recent elevated claims experience that we've seen, but we will also take into account all the experience that we've seen over the last year. And we did do a pretty comprehensive review last year, but we'll go through that process in the third quarter on a GAAP basis.

當我們設定這些假設並從更長遠的角度思考它們時，我們會考慮相當長的經驗集。因此，我們將考慮我們最近看到的索賠增加的經歷，但我們也會考慮去年我們看到的所有經歷。去年我們確實進行了相當全面的審查，但我們將在第三季根據公認會計準則進行審查。

And then on the statutory side, I would just refer back to some of the discussion that we had as part of our outlook meeting where we do feel like we have quite a bit of margin or a buffer for adverse deviation in our assumption set on a best estimate basis, we talked about the $2.8 billion of protection, which is really the difference between our recorded statutory reserves and kind of our economic view of best estimate along with the excess capital that we have behind the LTC line.

然後在法定方面，我只想回顧一下我們在展望會議上進行的一些討論，我們確實覺得我們有相當多的餘地或緩衝來應對我們在假設上設定的不利偏差。 ，我們談到了28 億美元的保護，這實際上是我們記錄的法定準備金與我們對最佳估計的經濟觀點以及LTC 線背後的超額資本之間的差異。

So we continue to feel pretty good that we got the right buffers there for any deviation in our actual experience or even any deviation in our best estimate. I'd just refer you back to some of the sensitivities that we gave as part of that presentation back in January.

因此，我們仍然感覺非常好，因為我們在那裡獲得了正確的緩衝區，以應對我們實際體驗中的任何偏差，甚至是我們最佳估計中的任何偏差。我只想請您回顧我們在一月份的演講中提出的一些敏感問題。

Got you. And then just for a follow-up. The large case group lapse for long-term care that you had in the quarter that impacted the benefit ratio. Did you lose the group life and disability along with that? Or did the employer just discontinue the LTC coverage?

明白你了。然後只是為了後續行動。您在本季接受的長期照護的大量病例組失效，影響了福利比率。您是否因此失去了集體生活和殘疾？或者雇主剛剛終止了 LTC 保險？

Yes. And just one clarification. It impacted our net premium ratio that was a large group LTC case that terminated did have margin in it. We released that margin basically, and it was buffered into the benefit ratio itself. We did not lose the other coverages. That was specific to the LTC coverage.

是的。只需要澄清一件事。它影響了我們的淨保費率，因為終止的大型團體長期照護保險案例確實有保證金。我們基本上釋放了該保證金，並將其緩衝到福利比率本身。我們沒有失去其他的覆蓋範圍。這是長期照護保險 (LTC) 保險範圍所特有的。

Is there -- just out of curiosity, I mean, to me, that probably is more positive than negative if you have at the group level, employers lapsing LTC coverage, all things considered. Is that kind of -- was that just voluntary? Or is there an effort to do that at Unum?

是否有——只是出於好奇，我的意思是，對我來說，如果在團體層面上，雇主失去長期護理保險，考慮到所有因素，這可能比消極更積極。是不是——這只是自願的？或者 Unum 是否正在努力做到這一點？

Yes. I mean I wouldn't comment on whether it's voluntary or not. We're always talking to our groups about providing value to them through our various products and services. What I would say is it's a reduction of risk in the LTC book, which I think is always a positive thing.

是的。我的意思是我不會評論這是否是自願的。我們總是與我們的團隊討論透過我們的各種產品和服務為他們提供價值。我想說的是，LTC 書中的風險降低了，我認為這始終是一件正面的事情。

Your next question comes from Joel Hurwitz with Dowling & Partners.

您的下一個問題來自 Dowling & Partners 的 Joel Hurwitz。

I wanted to follow up on Ryan's earlier question on persistency. Chris, I heard your commentary on -- though capability is a major driver now with retaining business or getting new business. I guess can you just talk about the persistency of your business with some of those capabilities like HR Connect or the Total Leave product?

我想跟進 Ryan 之前關於持久性的問題。克里斯，我聽到了你的評論——儘管現在能力是保留業務或獲得新業務的主要驅動力。我想您能否談談您的業務透過 HR Connect 或 Total Leave 產品等功能的持久性？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Joel. No question capabilities, again, it changes the conversation in the prospect stage of engaging with an employer. It also changes the relationship over time. So we're consistently talking to customers about what we need for appropriate price up or down.

是的。謝謝你的提問，喬爾。毫無疑問，能力再次改變了與雇主接觸的前景階段的對話。隨著時間的推移，它也會改變這種關係。因此，我們一直在與客戶討論我們需要什麼來適當地提高或降低價格。

But when done in context of lead management or the HR Connect, ecosystem that we're participating in, you can just tell there's a lean to drive toward long-term partnerships. So persistency does increase when you're tied to a capability like HR Connect, that's a mature offering at this point.

但是，當在領導管理或 HR Connect（我們正在參與的生態系統）的背景下完成時，您可以看出有推動長期合作夥伴關係的傾向。因此，當您使用 HR Connect 這樣的功能時，持久性確實會增加，目前這是一個成熟的產品。

We've been partnering with Workday for over 5 years in terms of customers who choose that platform, and other platforms like Workforce Now, multiple years in. So we are seeing that favorable retention. And again, we get excited about the discussion that focuses on what other products can we add to that bundle as well as long-term price stability.

就選擇該平台的客戶而言，我們與 Workday 合作已有 5 年多了，而 Workforce Now 等其他平台也已合作多年。我們再次對討論感到興奮，討論的重點是我們可以在該捆綁包中添加哪些其他產品以及長期價格穩定性。

So I think the theme of your question is spot on without getting into too much detail on specific numbers.

所以我認為你的問題的主題是正確的，沒有對具體數字提供太多細節。

I would just add that, Joel, I think it's Chris is getting. It's multifaceted. So that relationship in all those pieces, pricing, connections, the relationship management, all those things come into play. We're really happy with where the persistency was, like you said, it's the highest levels that we've seen, but it does come back to that ongoing relationship management.

我想補充一點，喬爾，我認為這是克里斯正在得到的。它是多方面的。因此，所有這些方面的關係、定價、聯繫、關係管理，所有這些事情都發揮了作用。我們對持久性感到非常滿意，就像你說的，這是我們所見過的最高水平，但它確實回到了持續的關係管理。

Okay. Makes sense. And then switching over to Colonial Life. Can you talk about what you're seeing from a recruit and productivity standpoint? And maybe provide some more color on the Gathr technology and what gives you the confidence that you can achieve that 5% to 10% sales growth target this year?

好的。說得通。然後切換到殖民地生活。您能從招募和生產力的角度談談您的看法嗎？也許可以提供更多關於 Gathr 技術的信息，是什麼讓您有信心今年能夠實現 5% 到 10% 的銷售增長目標？

Yes. Thanks, Joel. This is Tim Arnold. I appreciate the question. So Rick mentioned this, but I'd like to just reiterate that overall premium growth in the quarter was 4.1% versus 1.4% last year. So we're pleased with that. You mentioned Gathr, just for those who may not be aware of what it is, it's a benefits administration and human capital management platform that we can make available in the small end of the market, especially at no cost to an employer.

是的。謝謝，喬爾。這是提姆·阿諾德。我很欣賞這個問題。 Rick 提到了這一點，但我想重申一下，本季的整體保費成長率為 4.1%，而去年為 1.4%。所以我們對此感到滿意。您提到了 Gathr，對於那些可能不知道它是什麼的人來說，這是一個福利管理和人力資本管理平台，我們可以在小端市場提供該平台，尤其是對雇主免費。

And we've seen independent third-party data that suggests that about 90% of employers with fewer than 100 employees do not have a benefits enabled technology platform. So -- or technology-enabled benefits administration platform. So we're excited about our proprietary offering there. We saw very strong growth in adoption rates of Gathr in the first quarter, continuing the great growth that we saw in 2023.

我們看到的獨立第三方數據表明，大約 90% 員工少於 100 人的雇主沒有支援福利的技術平台。所以——或者說是技術支援的福利管理平台。因此，我們對我們在那裡提供的專有產品感到興奮。我們在第一季看到 Gathr 的採用率出現了非常強勁的成長，延續了我們在 2023 年看到的巨大成長。

Another capability that we have that's resonating in the marketplace currently is our cross-brand solutions. So we're partnering with our peers at Unum US and Colonial Life agents have access to those group employer paid products now. In the quarter, we saw premium from those products to grow at 44%, and we saw a 43% increase in the agents at Colonial Life who are selling Unum Group products. So where we saw the softness in the quarter was on reenrollments of our existing clients. And we think that that's something that's -- that can be addressed and will enable us to get back into the sort of the lower end of that range that we gave at Investor Day.

我們目前在市場上引起共鳴的另一項能力是我們的跨品牌解決方案。因此，我們正在與 Unum US 的同行合作，Colonial Life 代理商現在可以使用這些團體雇主付費產品。在本季度，我們看到這些產品的保費增加了 44%，我們看到 Colonial Life 銷售 Unum Group 產品的代理商數量增加了 43%。因此，我們在本季看到的疲軟之處在於現有客戶的重新註冊。我們認為這是一個可以解決的問題，並使我們能夠回到我們在投資者日給出的範圍的下限。

Your next question comes from the line of Jimmy Bhullar with JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題來自摩根大通的吉米·布拉爾 (Jimmy Bhullar)。

So first, just a question on long-term care along the lines of what's been asked previously as well. But you mentioned elevated incidents, and you had assumed that, but are your reserves right now predicated on an improvement in incidents? Or is the variability in incidents not enough to cause the charge even if it stays around recent levels?

首先，我想問一個關於長期照護的問題，與先前提出的問題類似。但是您提到了事件增多，並且您已經假設了這一點，但是您現在的儲備是否基於事件的改善？或者，即使事件保持在最近的水平附近，事件的變化是否不足以引起指控？

Yes. Jimmy, I'd just go back to the statements I made before. We'll go through our normal process, our annual process in the third quarter. We'll look at all of our assumption sets and we'll look at that over the long term. So I wouldn't comment on kind of any individual trends that we're seeing in a certain quarter.

是的。吉米，我只想回到我之前所做的陳述。我們將在第三季完成正常流程、年度流程。我們將審視所有的假設集，並從長遠來看。因此，我不會評論我們在某個季度看到的任何個人趨勢。

We'll take a long-term view of that when we go through, and we did just go through a pretty comprehensive review back in the third quarter of last year. So we'll take into account what we've been seeing more recently, but I think it's premature to really discuss that.

當我們進行審查時，我們會採取長期的觀點，並且我們在去年第三季度剛剛進行了相當全面的審查。因此，我們將考慮最近所看到的情況，但我認為現在真正討論這一點還為時過早。

Okay. And then on buybacks, I realize you've increased the amount -- a decent amount this year. You're raising the dividend as well. But if we look at your stat income generation, and then holdco liquidity RBC levels, it suggests that you have the flexibility to do more than what you're doing. So is the $500 million sort of the number that you'll do this year, and it's sort of set in stone and you'll review it next year? Or is there a possibility that if your results continue to surprise on the upside that you might revisit that later this year?

好的。然後在回購方面，我意識到你們增加了回購金額——今年的金額相當可觀。您也提高了股息。但如果我們看看你的統計收入產生情況，然後看看控股公司的流動性加拿大皇家銀行水平，這表明你有靈活性，可以做比你正在做的更多的事情。那麼，5 億美元是您今年要做的數字嗎？或者，如果你的結果繼續令人驚訝地向上，你是否有可能在今年晚些時候重新審視這一點？

Yes. It's a good question, Jimmy. And so when you think about the overall capital generation, I think both Steve and I reiterated, very happy with how we started the year, both from a generation perspective.

是的。這是個好問題，吉米。因此，當你考慮整體資本產生時，我認為史蒂夫和我都重申，從一代人的角度來看，我們對今年的開局感到非常滿意。

And I think important different than it's been in previous years is there's not a use that will be going towards long-term care. So what we generate is for us to be using. Right now, we're seeing, as we talked about in our outlook meeting, we're going to see the capital levels grow, particularly in terms of holding company cash, I saw that in the first quarter, and so that's a trend we put out there.

我認為與前幾年不同的是，它不再用於長期護理。所以我們生成的東西是供我們使用的。現在，正如我們在展望會議上談到的那樣，我們將看到資本水平增長，特別是在控股公司現金方面，我在第一季就看到了這一點，所以這是我們的趨勢放在那裡。

We've increased the pace of redeployment of capital to shareholders, and so we're happy about the $500 million. You asked, is that locked in stone. I think capital is something that needs to be managed on a daily basis. And so we'll keep obviously looking at that. But we're very happy with the plans that we have in place and what the execution on the first quarter looks like towards those plans. I'd go back to our uses, we still want to grow. So in terms of growing the business at the rates we have, at the returns we have, that's first and foremost, both from an organic perspective.

我們加快了向股東重新配置資本的步伐，因此我們對 5 億美元感到高興。你問，那是鎖在石頭裡的嗎？我認為資本是日常需要管理的東西。所以我們顯然會繼續關注這一點。但我們對現有的計劃以及第一季的執行情況非常滿意。我會回到我們的用途，我們仍然想要成長。因此，就以我們現有的速度和回報來成長業務而言，這首先是從有機的角度來看。

And then on the M&A side, we've talked about the types of capabilities that we'd like to bring on to continue to grow that core business. So that probably gives you some sense. We're tracking as we had not a lot of different message than we had in the first quarter, but we think about capital, we think about its uses frequently in terms of what it can be. So nothing locked in stone. We're very happy with where we are today.

然後在併購方面，我們討論了我們希望利用哪些能力來繼續發展核心業務。所以這可能會給你一些感覺。我們正在跟踪，因為我們沒有得到與第一季不同的信息，但我們考慮資本，我們經常考慮它的用途。所以沒有什麼是一成不變的。我們對今天的處境非常滿意。

Okay. And then fair to assume that the lapse of the LTC case is a slight headwind for earnings going forward for that division?

好的。那麼，是否可以公平地假設 LTC 案件的失敗對該部門未來的獲利構成輕微的阻力？

Yes. It's immaterial for earnings. It was kind of a large impact in the period, but really not material for ongoing earnings.

是的。這對收入來說無關緊要。這對該時期產生了很大的影響，但對持續獲利來說並不重要。

Your next question comes from the line of Wilma Burdis with Raymond James.

你的下一個問題來自威爾瑪·布迪斯（Wilma Burdis）和雷蒙德·詹姆斯（Raymond James）的路線。

RBC and stat earnings were strong in the quarter. Could you just talk about the capital generation deployment trajectory for the remainder of the year?

加拿大皇家銀行和統計公司的獲利在本季表現強勁。您能否談談今年剩餘時間的資本生成部署軌跡？

Yes, Wilma, this is Steve. I can take that one. I would say very consistent with the ranges that we would have given at Investor Day. We're not really changing our view of that. We are happy that we started off strong, and I would say first quarter results were a little bit above what our expectations would have been.

是的，威爾瑪，這是史蒂夫。我可以接受那個。我想說與我們在投資者日給出的範圍非常一致。我們並沒有真正改變我們對此的看法。我們很高興我們的起步強勁，我想說第一季的業績略高於我們的預期。

But at this point, don't feel like the need to really change any of the guidance for either GAAP earnings trajectories or statutory earnings trajectories or the relevant capital metrics.

但在這一點上，我認為沒有必要真正改變任何關於 GAAP 獲利軌跡或法定獲利軌跡或相關資本指標的指導。

Okay. And is $37 million of earnings in International a good run rate? And talk a little bit about how much that figure was boosted by U.K. inflation benefits and what you're seeing there.

好的。國際業務 3700 萬美元的收益是否算不錯的運行率？並談談英國通膨福利對這一數字的推動程度以及您在那裡看到的情況。

Mark, do you want to talk about that?

馬克，你想談談這個嗎？

Yes, I'll take that. I mean if we look at local currency, then the earnings we produced this year put us in a range of GBP 25 million to GBP 30 million for the quarter, and we think that we can continue to produce in that sort of range. And in terms of the inflation impact, we've seen a reduction of about $5 million or $6 million in the quarter, and it's now largely disappeared. So there's a small amount of inflation that will continue through the year, but largely, it's out of the way now.

是的，我會接受的。我的意思是，如果我們考慮當地貨幣，那麼我們今年產生的收益使我們本季的收益將在 2500 萬英鎊到 3000 萬英鎊之間，我們認為我們可以繼續在這個範圍內生產。就通膨影響而言，我們看到本季減少了約 500 萬或 600 萬美元，現在基本上已經消失了。因此，今年會有少量通膨持續，但現在基本上已經過去了。

Probably the other way to think about that, Wilma, is the performance for the current quarter is probably something that's sustainable because the impact of inflation was pretty minimal.

威爾瑪，也許另一種思考方式是，當前季度的業績可能是可持續的，因為通貨膨脹的影響相當小。

Your next question comes from the line of Mike Ward with Citi.

您的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Mike Ward。

Maybe more for Chris, but just curious about what you're seeing across the key benefits product lines? Trying to think if you have any sense of pricing between different employer sizes.

也許對克里斯來說更多，但只是想知道您在主要優勢產品線中看到了什麼？試著想想你是否對不同規模的雇主之間的定價有任何感覺。

Yes. Thanks, Mike. Good question. I think that the small end of the market price is probably a little less sensitive. When you get into mid and large, there's probably a little bit more of a sharp eye on how price plays. That said, we do feel it across all angles on the market. Everybody is trying to make a good decision.

是的。謝謝，麥克。好問題。我認為小端市場的價格可能不太敏感。當您進入中型和大型企業時，可能會對價格的趨勢更加敏銳。也就是說，我們確實從市場的各個角度感受到了這一點。每個人都在努力做出一個好的決定。

It gets back to view a specific offering and strategy for market segments, small, medium and large. When we bring that to the conversation, it helps us get a fair price. It helps us renew at a fair price. That's consistent across. We just get there in different ways. So again, up market, you're talking heavily about leave management, you're talking heavily about HR Connect.

它回過頭來看看針對小型、中型和大型細分市場的具體產品和策略。當我們將其帶入對話中時，它可以幫助我們獲得公平的價格。它可以幫助我們以合理的價格續訂。這是一致的。我們只是以不同的方式到達那裡。再說一遍，在高端市場，您正在大量談論休假管理，您正在大量談論 HR Connect。

Down market, it's some of the things that Tim talked about in terms of a Gathr type offering where our group insurance shows up, that gets a little bit less price sensitive because you're solving a different problem. And we can do that in a couple of different ways with our My Unum platform, Gathr or connecting with ben admins of choice in that small end of the market.

在下游市場，Tim在我們的團體保險出現的 Gathr 類型產品方面談到了一些事情，這些產品對價格的敏感度稍微低一些，因為你正在解決不同的問題。我們可以透過 My Unum 平台 Gathr 以幾種不同的方式做到這一點，或與該小端市場中選擇的本管理員聯繫。

And then one last one just on the Closed Block termination just because it is a little bit unique. But Steve, your tone sort of suggests that it was one-off. But I guess if you -- could you confirm that? Or should we think about it maybe as like a risk management tool that we hadn't really thought of before for LTC?

最後一個就在封閉區塊終止上，因為它有點獨特。但是史蒂夫，你的語氣有點表明這是一次性的。但我想如果你──你能證實這一點嗎？或者我們應該將其視為我們之前沒有真正為 LTC 考慮過的風險管理工具？

Yes, Mike, I would consider it one-off. Again, we're always talking to our customers across all product lines about the value we can provide to them. And in some of those conversations, the customer just decides they want to move a different way. And so that's what happened with this group.

是的，麥克，我認為這是一次性的。同樣，我們始終與所有產品線的客戶討論我們可以為他們提供的價值。在其中一些對話中，客戶只是決定他們想要採取不同的方法。這就是這個團體所發生的事情。

Your next question comes from the line of Wes Carmichael with Autonomous Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Wes Carmichael 與 Autonomous Research 的合作。

Just wanted to follow up on this group LTC case lots. It sounds like your commentary is positive, but I think it was the driver of the increase in the net premium ratio in the quarter, which I guess implies that it was profitable relative to the overall block. I just want to make sure that I'm thinking about that correctly, Steve, is this a good thing in reducing risk exposure? Or is it a bad thing? Is it the overall block is a little bit worse off overall?

只是想跟進這組 LTC 案件批次。聽起來你的評論是積極的，但我認為這是本季淨保費率增加的驅動因素，我想這意味著它相對於整體而言是有利可圖的。我只是想確保我的想法是正確的，史蒂夫，這對於減少風險敞口來說是一件好事嗎？還是這是一件壞事？是不是整體塊的整體情況有點差？

Yes. I would say you're right. It's positive for risk reduction perspective. There was margin in the case, and so that's why it drove the MPR up to 30 basis points. It does not have a material impact on our go-forward earnings. And I would say we just feel like it's a one-off thing.

是的。我想說你是對的。這對於降低風險的角度來說是正面的。該案有保證金，這就是為什麼它推動 MPR 上升至 30 個基點。它不會對我們的未來收益產生重大影響。我想說的是，我們只是覺得這是一次性的事。

A lot of these group cases are 1/1 effective dates. So HR departments are reassessing kind of their wallet share. And so I'd consider it just a one-off thing.

很多此類群體病例都是 1/1 生效日期。因此，人力資源部門正在重新評估他們的錢包份額。所以我認為這只是一次性的事情。

All right. And just one more on LTC, but you talked about not contributing capital to the Closed Block going forward, and there's $2.8 billion of protection here. But I'm trying to square this away with what's disclosed in new premium rate increase filings for 2024? And I know last year, you previewed that you were going to take some more rate increases, but it looks like you're basically going after doubling the individual LTC policyholders rate for Unum America.

好的。還有一個關於 LTC 的問題，但您談到未來不再向封閉區塊提供資金，這裡有 28 億美元的保護。但我試圖將這一點與 2024 年新的保費上漲申請中披露的內容相一致？我知道去年，您曾預測您將進一步提高利率，但看起來您基本上是在追求將 Unum America 的個人長期照護保險保單持有人利率提高一倍。

So your comments to state regulators said that the experience review that you did last year is kind of driving the need for this additional rate increase. And I'm just trying to square that away with the idea that statutory reserves are significantly redundant.

因此，您對州監管機構的評論表明，您去年所做的經驗審查在某種程度上推動了額外加息的需要。我只是想將這一點與法定準備金明顯多餘的想法相抵消。

Yes. What I'd say, it's a totally different, I guess, construct as far as how those rate increase requests are calculated. You look at really the lifetime benefit ratio to get to the actuarial justified amount that you can ask for. That's much different than our current statutory reserve construct, which has quite a bit of margin in it.

是的。我想說的是，我想，就如何計算這些加息請求而言，這是一個完全不同的結構。您實際上會查看終身福利比率，以獲得您可以要求的精算合理金額。這與我們目前的法定準備金結構有很大不同，後者有相當多的餘裕。

When you look at those rate increases, you're not really able to incorporate what I would say would be the same levels of margin into your assumption set. It is more of the best estimate. I'm not going to really comment on that specific filing, we're not doubling individual rates right now as part of the current program. The focus right now is mostly on the group block of business where we've got the most opportunity there. So I won't comment on that specific filing.

當您查看這些利率上漲時，您實際上無法將我所說的相同保證金水準納入您的假設集中。這更多的是最好的估計。我不會真正評論該具體文件，作為當前計劃的一部分，我們現在不會將個人費率加倍。目前的焦點主要集中在我們擁有最多機會的集團業務領域。所以我不會對該特定文件發表評論。

Your next question comes from the line of Mark Hughes with Truist Securities.

您的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Mark Hughes。

Any theme to mention in the Group Life mortality. It sounds like it was better. Is that a multi-quarter trend or just this quarter?

團體生活死亡率中提到的任何主題。聽起來好像好多了。這是多個季度的趨勢還是只是本季的趨勢？

Yes. No. It is interesting what we've seen over the last couple of quarters in Group Life and AD&D, and in the fourth quarter last year, our loss ratio is just below 70%. This quarter, it was just a little bit above 68%. So both very good quarters and quite a bit below what our expectation would be. I reiterated in my comments, our expectation continues to be in the low 70s.

是的。不。本季度，這一比例僅略高於 68%。因此，這兩個季度都非常好，但遠低於我們的預期。我在評論中重申，我們的預期仍然在 70 左右。

What we saw in the fourth quarter last year was more around favorable performance in our waiver premium part of that business. We consider that more of just kind of a one-off thing that we saw in the fourth quarter and volatility. And that played out in the first quarter where the waiver of premium performance was right at expectations.

我們在去年第四季看到的更多的是我們該業務的豁免保費部分的良好表現。我們認為這更像是我們在第四季度看到的一次性事件和波動。這在第一季就得到了體現，優質業績的豁免符合預期。

I'll say then, if you just look at kind of core mortality, the actual incidence of mortality in the fourth quarter, it was pretty close to our expectations, I would say, and then when we got into the first quarter, it was very favorable to what our expectations would have been. And so that's what's really driving the 68.2% benefit ratio in the first quarter. We, again, think that's just volatility around mortality, and that's why we're giving guidance if you look for the remainder of 2024, we think the loss ratio will be back up in the low 70s. And then that's how we price for it.

那麼我想說，如果你只看核心死亡率，第四季的實際死亡率，我想說，它非常接近我們的預期，然後當我們進入第一季時，它非常符合我們的預期。這就是第一季福利比率達到 68.2% 的真正原因。我們再次認為這只是死亡率的波動，這就是為什麼我們會在 2024 年剩餘時間內提供指導，我們認為損失率將回升至 70 左右。這就是我們定價的方式。

Yes. Was this an easier flu season? I hadn't looked at that data.

是的。這是一個容易流感的季節嗎？我沒有看過那個數據。

It's interesting. You have to kind of look across age categories. I'd say what we saw was probably in the older age think LTC claimants, it was probably a fairly regular flu season, just the mortality that we saw there, but the Group Life block is more in kind of the working age group and just what we saw there was lower mortality. It's a relatively small book as well. So you can have a bit of volatility there.

這真有趣。你必須跨年齡層看待。我想說的是，我們看到的可能是老年長期護理索賠人的情況，這可能是一個相當正常的流感季節，只是我們在那裡看到的死亡率，但團體生活塊更像是工作年齡組，只是我們看到死亡率較低。這也是一本相對較小的書。所以你可能會有一點波動。

Your next question comes from the line of Joshua Shanker with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Joshua Shanker。

A question about long-term history and after periods of notable wage inflation and full employment. Is there an outlook for what happens to volumes and price in this macro backdrop as we look out a few years?

這是一個關於長期歷史以及工資顯著上漲和充分就業時期之後的問題。在我們展望未來幾年的宏觀背景下，成交量和價格是否會改變？

So that's a good one, Josh. I appreciate that to wrap up. I think we're in that period of wage inflation and good employment numbers, I think there's been a lot of discussion here over the last couple of years of that abating, which we have not seen.

所以這是一件好事，喬許。我很感激這個總結。我認為我們正處於薪資上漲和就業數據良好的時期，我認為在過去幾年裡，這裡有很多討論，但我們還沒有看到這種情況的減弱。

I think those 2 are still looking very good. It's been a long time since we've actually seen that. And so when you go back in history and how we come out of that period can be very different. I think probably the latest example that we've seen some of that inflationary type -- at least on the wage side, it would be over a decade that we've seen. But we think the employment picture actually looks good. How benefits are structured today are good for people in that time.

我覺得這兩個看起來還是很不錯的。我們已經很久沒有真正看到這一點了。因此，當你回顧歷史時，我們如何走出那個時期可能會非常不同。我認為這可能是我們看到的一些通貨膨脹類型的最新例子——至少在工資方面，我們已經看到了十多年了。但我們認為就業情況其實看起來不錯。今天的福利結構對當時的人來說是有好處的。

And Chris, I don't know if you'd add anything to that. It's an interesting question. I think we're focused probably a little bit nearer term in terms of what the environment looks like today. But it's a good hypothetical.

克里斯，我不知道你是否願意補充一些內容。這是一個有趣的問題。我認為我們關注的焦點可能是近期的環境。但這是一個很好的假設。

Yes. And I think we see continued interest in the whole kind of talent topic where we need good benefits packages to attract and retain good talent.

是的。我認為我們看到人們對整個人才主題的持續興趣，我們需要良好的福利來吸引和留住優秀人才。

And as long as that persists, our ability to be creative in terms of what we bring, how we present it and how we can enable the employee population to utilize it, that's good for us and our employers as we look forward. So in addition to what Rick was saying, we like the fact that attract and retain is still a major topic.

只要這種情況持續存在，我們就能夠在我們帶來的東西、如何呈現它以及如何讓員工利用它方面發揮創造力，這對我們和我們的雇主都有好處，正如我們所期望的那樣。因此，除了里克所說的之外，我們還喜歡這樣一個事實：吸引和保留仍然是一個主要主題。

I don't mean to be (inaudible) the point, but just trying to learn more. Is there anything that might be learned on a local level that you've seen in different geographies that have had a period of boom or whatnot about what happens to your offer or what happens to the disability opportunity post a period of significant growth?

我並不是想成為（聽不清楚）重點，只是想了解更多。您在不同地區經歷過一段繁榮期，或者在一段顯著增長期後，您的報價會發生什麼變化，或者殘障機會會發生什麼變化，有什麼可以在當地學到的東西嗎？

I think the thing I would say is -- we think about it in terms of what our employers offering and that will kind of flow a little bit with what their attract and retain needs are. And then on the back end, it's claims management and having a superior team who can manage through cycles where there are different kind of economic factors at play in terms of bringing people back to work which is good for everyone.

我想我想說的是——我們會根據雇主提供的服務來考慮，這會與他們吸引和留住人才的需求有所不同。然後在後端，它是索賠管理和擁有一支優秀的團隊，可以管理不同類型的經濟因素在發揮作用的周期，從而使人們重返工作崗位，這對每個人都有好處。

We do a phenomenal job operationally as experts in that space, as we add leave management, we become more important. So I think we're going to continue to have our ability to kind of find the right type of customers to partner with and help them enhance their business through different cycles.

作為該領域的專家，我們在營運方面做得非常出色，隨著我們增加休假管理，我們變得更加重要。因此，我認為我們將繼續有能力找到合適類型的客戶進行合作，並幫助他們在不同的周期中增強業務。

I'd just add to that, Josh. I mean if you look at -- go back within the last 10 years, what we've seen. So we have been in that wage inflation. That's a pretty short-lived type thing. If you go back to just before that, where we saw the exact opposite with what happened as a result of the pandemic, our business model held up very well through that period of time.

我想補充一點，喬許。我的意思是，如果你回顧過去十年，我們所看到的。所以我們一直處於薪資上漲之中。這是一個非常短暫的事情。如果你回到之前，我們看到的情況與疫情造成的情況完全相反，我們的商業模式在那段時間保持得很好。

And so what you're asking and thinking about is when you get into a much more difficult economic situations coming off a good times, where you see higher claims levels, where you see different premium growth. And I think through the last 10 years, we've been able to grow very well through both, which is a very difficult time, one of the worst we've seen in terms of the pandemic, and then coming out of that a very good inflationary period. That's where we sit today.

因此，您所詢問和思考的是，當您在美好時光中陷入更加困難的經濟形勢時，您會看到更高的索賠水平，您會看到不同的保費增長。我認為在過去的十年裡，我們在這兩個時期都取得了很好的發展，這是一個非常困難的時期，是我們在大流行方面見過的最糟糕的時期之一，然後走出這個時期是一個非常困難的時期。這就是我們今天坐的地方。

And I think where we sit today is in a really strong position. The processes are in place. Our product set is really good. The overall structure of the company is good as well. And so I'd leave you on that very optimistic point in terms of what we look to the future, we remain very optimistic.

我認為我們今天所處的位置非常有利。流程已經到位。我們的產品組合真的很好。公司的整體架構也不錯。因此，就我們對未來的展望而言，我想對你們說一個非常樂觀的觀點，我們仍然非常樂觀。

This does conclude our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Rick McKenney for closing comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我現在將把電話轉回給里克·麥肯尼以徵求結束意見。

Great. Thank you. That was a great question to wrap on. I appreciate that, Josh. We want to thank everybody for joining us this morning and your continued interest in Unum. We are very delighted with our first quarter results and optimistic about the outlook for 2024 and beyond. And so with that, let's conclude today's call. We'll look forward to connecting with you all again in the very near future. Please have a wonderful day.

偉大的。謝謝。這是一個很好的問題。我很感激，喬許。我們要感謝大家今天早上加入我們以及你們對 Unum 的持續關注。我們對第一季的業績感到非常滿意，並對 2024 年及以後的前景感到樂觀。那麼，讓我們結束今天的電話會議。我們期待在不久的將來再次與大家聯繫。祝您有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。