Chris Pyne: Yes. Thanks, Ryan. It’s Chris. We’re constantly looking at different ways to kind of make sure we can grow in the most logical and profitable way possible. So it’s really — consider it just our active underwriting and pricing approach. We’re very thoughtful. We have tremendous data. We use it all the time to be as sharp as we possibly can. We recognize trends are early, and that goes into, what I would consider business as usual, in terms of thinking about price at the case level, thinking about price in different segments where we see opportunity. So it is a competitive world. We have growth expectations that we’re really excited about. We’re certain we can deliver, and we’ll continue to kind of take that active approach to the process.
Ryan Krueger: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Wilma Burdis from Raymond James. Your line is open.
Rick McKenney: Good morning, Wilma.
Operator: Wilma, your line is open.
Wilma Burdis: Good morning. You guys touched on it, but I would like to confirm if $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion of annual capital generation is a good run rate beyond ’24? Is there some risk to that level if disability results normalize?
Steve Zabel: Yes. This is Steve, I can take that. I think that’s a good planning assumption. Obviously, over time, we like the franchise to continue to grow at some grade that would be reflected. But I think that’s a good run rate. And that would anticipate for 2024, the group disability loss ratio to stay in the low-60s. Our planning assumptions for capital generation and for our GAAP earnings expectations would be consistent.
Wilma Burdis: Okay. Thank you. And then you have provided a new data point that LTC reserves are peaking in 10-years. That’s sooner than I expected, especially on the group side. And it’s a very good data point, because it implies that we’re a lot closer to knowing how reserves will develop than I initially anticipated. Could you talk about, is this an average across the block? And if so, is there a different peak reserving time line for the individual versus group blocks?
Steve Zabel: Yes. So it would be an aggregate view of the total reserve. And just due to the age of the blocks, you would logically think that the individual will peak sooner than the group. I would say though the magnitude of the reserves that we carry on those two are a bit different, just because of the relative size of the relative rich and some benefits for our group business versus our individual business. So there’s a lot of weighted averaging going on. But in aggregate, that’s when it’s going to be.
Wilma Burdis: Thank you.
Steve Zabel: Thanks, Wilma.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Josh Shanker from Bank of America. Your line is open.
Josh Shanker: Yes, hi there. Sorry, one last transaction question. Apologies — but you mentioned that in a number of years and things lined up properly, the interest rate situation is changing. Do you think there were unique circumstances on the ground that allowed a transaction to come together? Or are you currently seeing appetite that people are discussing wanting to do transactions the matter of finding the right one for you?
Rick McKenney: Yes. So I wouldn’t want to speculate. I don’t know what was going on, particularly on the ground with that transaction. I can look at it just as you can from a far and say that it’s a positive development for the industry and for people that are looking to do something on that front. And I would just say we have had very consistent dialogue, very consistent outreach expectations parsing. So I don’t think our world has necessarily changed as a result of that. But I think it’s good for the world to see that these transactions can happen, and we’ll continue to pursue such a transaction.
Josh Shanker: Okay, my other questions were asked. Thank you very much.
Rick McKenney: Thanks, Josh.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Hughes from Truist. Your line is open.
Mark Hughes: Yes, thank you. Just one quick one. Anything nonrecurring in the recoveries? Recoveries have been very strong. We’ve heard from other companies that social security administration has been kind of stingy in their payouts. I know that’s only a part of your recovery story. But is that something that should be sustainable?
Steve Zabel: Yes. I can answer that, Mark. So I would say that if you go back really several years, we have seen a continued improvement in the performance of recoveries within our group disability block. And so what we’re seeing in the more recent history is just a continuation of that. And so I would not view the performance in the fourth quarter as being in any way unique or non-sustainable. And that’s why we feel pretty comfortable giving guidance going into next year, that we’ll be able to maintain those levels of benefit ratios, that not only to the market dynamics that Chris spoke to around pricing, but also just around our operational excellence and being able to maintain that level of performance.
Mark Hughes: And I’ll maybe throw in one more, the Colonial sales are pretty strong this quarter, up 12%. You talked about high single digits. Was there an unusual boost or easy comp this quarter?
Timothy Arnold: Yes. Thank you for the question. This is Tim. I would say that comps are not that easy, although they weren’t extremely challenging either. But we feel good about where we landed the quarter end. Frankly, the year, we think the market is growing in the 4% to 6% range, and we came out at the top end of that range. We really like our strategy. We think we have the tools and technology to help our agents, brokers and clients achieve their goals. We grew our sales leadership team by 8% last year. And on the third quarter call, I mentioned that we are strengthening our offering in the large case commercial market. And while we still have a little bit of work to do there, we’re really pleased that we saw a fourth quarter growth rate in the 500-plus life market of 36%.
So really just focused on consistency of execution and broad-based adoption of those differentiating tools and technology that we have in our portfolio. As we look forward, a couple of the leading indicators we watch are new recruits and sales productivity from those new agents in the 2023 in total. Recruiting was up 23% and new agent sales were up 18%. Since all you’ve been sneaking in one last question. I’ll answer a question you didn’t ask. But we saw really strong growth on the Unum BB side of 10.2% last year. We’re excited about the opportunities we have to cross-sell into the group block and to take advantage of those technology solutions that Chris mentioned earlier and grow that book as well.
Mark Hughes: Appreciate it. Thank you.
