Note 3 - Investments - Continued Variable Interest Entities As of December 31, 2019, the carrying amount of our variable interest entity investments that are not consolidated in our financial statements was $675.1 million, comprised of $58.4 million of tax credit partnerships and $616.7 million of private equity partnerships. At December 31, 2018, the carrying amount of our variable interest entity investments that are not consolidated in our financial statements was $575.3 million, comprised of $91.5 million of tax credit partnerships and $483.8 million of private equity partnerships. These variable interest entity investments are reported as other long-term investments in our consolidated balance sheets. We invest in variable interests issued by variable interest entities. These investments include tax credit partnerships, private equity partnerships, and special purpose entities. For those variable interests that are not consolidated in our financial statements, we are not the primary beneficiary because we have neither the power to direct the activities that are most significant to economic performance nor the responsibility to absorb a majority of the expected losses. The determination of whether we are the primary beneficiary is performed at the time of our initial investment and at the date of each subsequent reporting period. At December 31, 2019, we had commitments of $98.7 million to fund private placement fixed maturity securities, the amount of which may or may not be funded.  We held no fixed maturity securities as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, for which a portion of an other-than-temporary impairment was recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income. While determining other-than-temporary impairments is a judgmental area, we utilize a formal, well-defined, and disciplined process to monitor and evaluate our fixed income investment portfolio, supported by issuer specific research and documentation as of the end of each period. The process results in a thorough evaluation of problem investments and the recording of losses on a timely basis for investments determined to have an other- than-temporary impairment. In determining when a decline in fair value below amortized cost of a fixed maturity security is other than temporary, we evaluate the following factors: As of December 31, 2019, we held 109 individual investment-grade fixed maturity securities and 38 individual below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities that were in an unrealized loss position, of which 19 investment-grade fixed maturity securities and 24 below-investment-grade fixed maturity securities had been in an unrealized loss position continuously for over one year. NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - Continued Unum Group and Subsidiaries • Any other key measures for the related security • Changes in fair value subsequent to the balance sheet date • Adverse changes in estimated cash flows for securitized investments • Bid and offering prices and the level of trading activity • Rating agency and governmental actions • Market conditions • Relevant industry conditions and trends relative to their historical cycles • The valuation of the security's underlying collateral • Current and future business prospects and trends of earnings • The time period during which there has been a significant decline in value • The significance of the decline in value • Whether the security is current as to principal and interest payments • Whether we intend to sell the security or will be required to sell the security before the recovery of its amortized cost basis • Whether we expect to recover the entire amortized cost basis of the security 139