CIGNA CORP | 2013 | FY |

Note 13 – Variable Interest Entities

When the Company becomes involved with a variable interest entity and when the nature of the Company's involvement with the entity changes, in order to determine if the Company is the primary beneficiary and must consolidate the entity, it evaluates:

• the structure and purpose of the entity;
• the risks and rewards created by and shared through the entity; and
• the entity's participants' ability to direct its activities, receive its benefits and absorb its losses. Participants include the entity's sponsors, equity holders, guarantors, creditors and servicers.

In the normal course of its investing activities, the Company makes passive investments in securities that are issued by variable interest entities for which the Company is not the sponsor or manager. These investments are predominantly asset-backed securities primarily collateralized by foreign bank obligations or mortgage-backed securities. The asset-backed securities largely represent fixed-rate debt securities issued by trusts that hold perpetual floating-rate subordinated notes issued by foreign banks. The mortgage-backed securities represent senior interests in pools of commercial or residential mortgages created and held by special-purpose entities to provide investors with diversified exposure to these assets. The Company owns senior securities issued by several entities and receives fixed-rate cash flows from the underlying assets in the pools.

To provide certain services to its Medicare Advantage customers, the Company contracts with independent physician associations (IPAs) that are variable interest entities. Physicians provide health care services to the Medicare Advantage customers and the Company provides medical management and administrative services to the IPAs.

The Company is not the primary beneficiary and does not consolidate these entities because either:

• it had no power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the entities' economic performance; or
• it had neither the right to receive benefits nor the obligation to absorb losses that could be significant to these variable interest entities.

The Company has not provided, and does not intend to provide, financial support to these entities that it is not contractually required to provide. The Company performs ongoing qualitative analyses of its involvement with these variable interest entities to determine if consolidation is required. The Company's maximum potential exposure to loss related to the investment entities is limited to the carrying amount of its investment reported in fixed maturities and equity securities, and its aggregate ownership interest is insignificant relative to the total principal amount issued by these entities. The Company's maximum exposure to loss related to the IPA arrangements is limited to the liability for incurred but not reported claims for the Company's Medicare Advantage customers. These liabilities are not material and are generally secured by deposits maintained by the IPAs.

us-gaap:ConsolidationVariableInterestEntityPolicy