Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

(Unaudited)

(Dollars In Thousands, Except Share and Per Share Data)

  

The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial statements and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X and, therefore, do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. These interim statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in the AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. (“AmTrust” or the “Company”) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 , previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 29, 2016. The balance sheet at December 31, 2015 has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements.

 

These interim consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim period and all such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. The results of operations for the interim period are not necessarily indicative, if annualized, of those to be expected for the full year. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

The Company implemented a two-for-one stock split on February 2, 2016. As a result, the Company retrospectively adjusted all share and per share amounts in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements to apply the effect of the stock split for all periods presented.

 

A detailed description of the Company’s significant accounting policies and management judgments is located in the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015 , included in the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC.

 

All significant inter-company transactions and accounts have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements.

 

To facilitate period-to-period comparisons, certain reclassifications have been made to prior period consolidated financial statement amounts to conform to current period presentation.

Correction of an Immaterial Error

The Company identified an immaterial error related to its classification on the consolidated statement of cash flows for purchases and sales of securities sold but not yet purchased, at fair value. The Company determined that in prior periods reported, these amounts were improperly reflected as changes in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in cash flow from operating activities instead of securities sold but not yet purchased, at fair value, in cash flow from investing activities. The Company reviewed the impact of this error on the prior periods and determined that the error was not material to the prior period consolidated financial statements. The Company has corrected the consolidated statement of cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2015 by presenting this amount separately within investing activities and decreasing the changes in accrued expenses and other current liabilities within operating activities. The impact of the error decreased the Company's net cash provided by operating activities by $15,456 and increased the Company's cash flows from investing activities by an equivalent amount for the period ended June 30, 2015.

 

With the exception of those discussed below, there have been no recent accounting pronouncements or changes in accounting pronouncements during the six months ended June 30, 2016 , as compared to those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 , that are of significance, or potential significance, to the Company.

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") completed its Financial Instruments—Credit Losses project by issuing Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-13,  Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326) . The new guidance requires organizations to measure all expected credit losses for financial instruments held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. The new guidance affects loans, debt securities, trade receivables, net investments in leases, off-balance-sheet credit exposures, reinsurance receivables, and any other financial assets not excluded from the scope that have the contractual right to receive cash. The new guidance is effective for fiscal years,

and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In March 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ASU 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting, which simplified several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or a liability, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations , which improves the operability and understandability of the implementation guidance on principal versus agent considerations by clarifying that 1) an entity determines whether it is a principal or an agent for each specific good or service promised to the customer; 2) an entity determines the nature of each specific good or service; 3) when another party is involved in providing goods or services to a customer, an entity that is a principal obtains control of (a) a good or another asset from the other party that it then transfers to the customer, (b) a right to a service that will be performed by another party, which gives the entity the ability to direct that party to provide the service to the customer on the entity's behalf, or (c) a good or service from the other party that is combines with other goods or services to provide the specific good or service to the customer; and 4) the purpose of the indicators in paragraph 606-10-55-39 in Topic 606 is to support or assist in the assessment of control. The effective date and transition requirement for this ASU are the same as the effective date and transition requirements of ASU 2014-09, which were deferred to the quarter ending March 31, 2018 by ASU 2015-14. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-06, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Contingent Put and Call Options in Debt Instruments , which clarifies the requirements for assessing whether contingent call (put) options that can accelerate the payment of principal on debt instruments are clearly and closely related to their debt hosts. An entity performing the assessment under the amended guidance in this ASU is required to assess the embedded call (put) options solely in accordance with the four-step decision sequence prescribed by Topic 815. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those fiscal years. This ASU should be applied on a modified retrospective basis. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-05, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Effect of Derivative Contract Novations on Existing Hedge Accounting Relationships , which clarifies that a change in the counterparty to a derivative instrument that has been designated as a hedging instrument under Topic 815 does not, in and of itself, require designation of that hedging relationship provided that all other hedge accounting criteria continue to be met. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) , which requires a lessee to recognize a right of use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for leases with terms longer than 12 months. Leases will be classified as either finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the income statement. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. A modified retrospective transition approach is required for lessees for capital and operating leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements, with certain practical expedients available. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities , which address certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of financial instruments. Specifically, the guidance (a) requires equity investments to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in earnings. However, an entity may choose to measure equity investments that do not have readily determinable fair value at cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulted from observable price changes in orderly transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer, (b) simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment, (c) eliminates the requirement to disclose the methods and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value that is required to be disclosed for financial instruments measured at amortized cost, (d) requires the use of the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes, (e) requires an entity to present separately in other comprehensive income the portion of the total change in fair value of a liability resulting from a change in  the instrument-specific credit risk

when the entity has elected to measure the liability at fair value in accordance with the fair value option, (f) requires separate presentation of financial assets and liabilities by measurement category and form on the balance sheet or the notes to the financial statements, and (g) clarifies that the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to an available for sale security should be evaluated with other deferred tax assets. The updated guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on its results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-16, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments , which requires that an acquirer in a business combination transaction recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The ASU requires that the acquirer record, in the same period's financial statements, the effect on earnings of changes in depreciation, amortization, or other income effects, if any, as a result of the change to the provisional amounts, calculated as if the accounting had been completed at the acquisition date. It also requires an entity to present separately on the face of the income statement or disclose in the notes to the financial statements the portion of the amount recorded in current-period earnings by line item that would have been recorded in previous reporting periods if the adjustment to the provisional amounts had been recognized as of the acquisition date. The updated guidance was effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and should be applied prospectively to adjustments to provisional amounts that occur after the effective date of this ASU with earlier application permitted for financial statements that have not been issued. The Company elected to early adopt this ASU on September 30, 2015. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In May 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-09, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Disclosure about Short-Duration Contracts , which provides certain new and additional disclosure requirements about the liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expenses associated with short-duration contracts as defined in Topic 944. Pursuant to the updated guidance, all insurance entities that issue short-duration contracts are required to disclose, among other things, incurred and paid claims development information, a reconciliation of such information to the aggregate carrying amount of the liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expenses, and significant changes in methodologies and assumptions used to calculate the liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expenses, including the reasons for the change and the effects on the financial statements. The updated guidance was effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and should be applied retrospectively by providing comparative disclosures for each period presented, except for those requirements that apply only to the current period. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In May 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-07, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure for Investments in Certain Entities That Calculate Net Asset Value per Share (or Its Equivalent) , which provides guidance that removes the requirement to categorize within the fair value hierarchy all investments for which fair value is measured using the net asset value per share practical expedient, and limits certain disclosure requirements only to investments for which the entity elects to measure the fair value using that practical expedient. The updated guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and should be applied retrospectively for all periods presented. The Company adopted this ASU on January 1, 2016. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-05, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer's Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement , which provides guidance to determine whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, then the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The updated guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and can be adopted either prospectively to all arrangements entered into or materially modified after the effective date, or retrospectively. The Company adopted this ASU on January 1, 2016. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs , which provides updated guidance to clarify the required presentation of debt issuance costs. The amended guidance requires that debt issuance costs be presented in the balance sheet as a direct reduction from the carrying amount of the recognized debt liability, consistent with the treatment of debt discounts. Amortization of debt issuance costs is to be reported as interest expense. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the updated guidance. The Company adopted this ASU on January 1, 2016. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-02, Consolidation (Topic 810): Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis , which provides amended guidance on a reporting entity's evaluation whether to consolidate certain legal entities. Specifically, the amendments will modify the evaluation of whether limited partnerships and similar legal entities are variable interest entities ("VIEs") or voting entities, eliminate the presumption that a general partner should consolidate a limited partnership, affect the consolidation analysis of reporting entities with interests in VIEs, particularly those that have fee arrangements and related party relationships, and provide a scope exception from consolidation guidance for reporting entities with interests in legal entities that are required to comply with or operate in accordance with requirements that are similar to those in Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 for registered money market funds. The Company adopted this ASU on January 1, 2016. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

 

(a) Available-for-Sale Securities

 

The cost or amortized cost, gross unrealized gains and losses, and estimated fair value of fixed maturities and equity securities classified as available-for-sale as of June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 , are presented below:

Investments in foreign government securities include securities issued by national entities as well as instruments that are unconditionally guaranteed by such entities. As of June 30, 2016 , the Company's foreign government securities were issued or guaranteed primarily by governments in Europe, Canada and Mexico.

Proceeds from the sale of investments in available-for-sale securities during the three months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 were approximately $797,529 and $270,324 , respectively. Proceeds from the sale of investments in available-for-sale securities during the six months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 were approximately $1,000,265 and $572,570 , respectively.

A summary of the Company’s available-for-sale fixed maturities as of June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 , by contractual maturity, is shown below. Expected maturities may differ from contractual maturities because borrowers may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties.