subsidiaries may take the form of dividends, operating and investment management fees, and/or interest payments on loans from the parent to a subsidiary. Restrictions under applicable state insurance laws limit the amount of dividends that can be paid to a parent company from its insurance subsidiaries in any 12-month period without prior approval by regulatory authorities. For life insurance companies domiciled in the U.S., that limitation generally equals, depending on the state of domicile, either ten percent of an insurer's statutory surplus with respect to policyholders as of the preceding year end or the statutory net gain from operations, excluding realized investment gains and losses, of the preceding year. The payment of dividends to a parent company from a life insurance subsidiary is generally further limited to the amount of unassigned funds. Certain of our domestic insurance subsidiaries cede blocks of business to Northwind Reinsurance Company (Northwind Re) and Fairwind Insurance Company (Fairwind), both of which are affiliated captive reinsurance subsidiaries domiciled in the United States with Unum Group as the ultimate parent. The ability of Northwind Re and Fairwind to pay dividends to their respective parent companies will depend on their satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements and on the performance of the business reinsured by Northwind Re and Fairwind. The ability of Unum Group and certain of its intermediate holding company subsidiaries to continue to receive dividends from their insurance subsidiaries also depends on additional factors such as RBC ratios and capital adequacy and/or solvency requirements, funding growth objectives at an affiliate level, and maintaining appropriate capital adequacy ratios to support desired ratings. The RBC ratios for our U.S. insurance subsidiaries at December 31, 2019 are in line with our expectations and are significantly above the level that would require state regulatory action. Unum Group and/or certain of its intermediate holding company subsidiaries may also receive dividends from our U.K. subsidiaries, the payment of which may be subject to applicable insurance company regulations and capital guidance in the U.K. Unum Limited is subject to the requirements of Solvency II, an EU directive, which prescribes capital requirements and risk management standards for the European insurance industry. Our European holding company is also subject to the Solvency II requirements relevant to insurance holding companies, while its subsidiaries (the Unum European Economic Area (EEA) Group), which includes Unum Limited, are subject to group supervision under Solvency II. The Unum EEA Group received approval from the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority to use its own internal model for calculating regulatory capital and also received approval for certain associated regulatory permissions including transitional relief as the Solvency II capital regime continues to be implemented. There are currently no indications that capital requirements for the Unum EEA Group will change as a result of the U.K.'s exit from the EU, but economic conditions may in the near term cause volatility in our solvency ratios. The payment of dividends to the parent company from our subsidiaries also requires the approval of the individual subsidiary's board of directors. The amount available during 2019 for the payment of ordinary dividends from Unum Group's traditional U.S. insurance subsidiaries, which excludes our captive reinsurers, was approximately $995 million, of which $956.1 million was declared and paid. The amount available during 2019 from Unum Limited was approximately £140 million, of which £25.0 million was declared and paid to one of our U.K. holding companies. During 2019, Northwind Re paid dividends of $52.8 million to Northwind Holdings. Fairwind paid no dividends during 2019. During 2020, we intend to maintain a level of capital in our insurance subsidiaries above the applicable capital adequacy requirements and minimum solvency margins. Although we may not utilize the entire amount of available dividends, based on applicable restrictions under current law, approximately $1,035 million is available, without prior approval by regulatory authorities, during 2020 for the payment of dividends from Unum Group's traditional U.S. insurance subsidiaries, which excludes our captive reinsurers. Approximately £180 million is available for the payment of dividends from Unum Limited during 2020, subject to regulatory approval. Insurance regulatory restrictions do not limit the amount of dividends available for distribution from non-insurance subsidiaries except where the non- insurance subsidiaries are held directly or indirectly by an insurance subsidiary and only indirectly by Unum Group. 83