We face a wide range of risks, and our continued success depends on our ability to identify and appropriately manage our risk exposures. Discussed below are certain factors that may adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial condition. Any one or more of the following factors may cause our actual results for various financial reporting periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company, including those set forth below or made by us elsewhere, such as in earnings release investor calls, investor conference presentations, or press releases. The risks and uncertainties described below may not be the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.

The general outlook for corporate bond defaults in 2009 is high relative to historical levels. Defaults in our fixed maturity securities, mortgage loan, or short-term investment portfolios will adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Investments are an integral part of our business, and our investments support our policyholder liabilities and shareholders’ equity. Our investment portfolio consists primarily of fixed maturity securities. These securities are issued by both domestic and foreign entities and are backed either by collateral or the credit of the underlying issuer. Factors such as an economic downturn or political change in the country of the issuer, a regulatory change pertaining to the issuer’s industry, a significant deterioration in the cash flows of the issuer, accounting irregularities or fraud committed by the issuer, widening risk spreads, ratings downgrades, a change in the issuer’s marketplace or business prospects, or other events that adversely affect the issuers of these securities may result in the issuer defaulting on its obligations.

Our mortgage loan portfolio has default risk. Events or developments, such as the current economic conditions that could impact the ability of tenants to pay their rents or could limit the availability of refinancing, may have a negative effect on our mortgage loan portfolio. Events or developments that have a negative effect on any particular geographic region or sector may have a greater adverse effect on an investment portfolio to the extent that the portfolio is concentrated in that region or sector.

A default results in the recognition of an other than temporary impairment loss on the investment. A default may also adversely affect our ability to collect principal and interest due to us. The fixed income markets are experiencing a period of extreme volatility and illiquidity which has resulted in credit downgrade events and increased probability of default.

Events that damage our reputation may adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

There are many events which may harm our reputation. Depending on the severity of the damage to our reputation, we may be unable to effectively compete for new products or retain our existing business. Damage to our reputation may also hinder our ability to raise new capital or increase our cost of capital.

A decrease in our financial strength or issuer credit ratings may have an adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, or financial condition.

We compete based in part on the financial strength ratings provided by rating agencies. A downgrade of our financial strength ratings may adversely affect us and could potentially, among other things, adversely affect relationships with distributors of our products and services and retention of our sales force, negatively impact persistency and new sales, and generally adversely affect our ability to compete. A downgrade in the issuer credit rating assigned to Unum Group or a negative outlook statement by a rating agency could have an effect on our ability to raise capital and on our cost of capital.

United Kingdom currency translation risk could materially impact reported operating results.

The functional currency of our U.K. operations is the British pound sterling. Fluctuations in the pound to dollar exchange rate have an effect on our financial results. In periods when the pound weakens, translating pounds into dollars decreases current period results relative to the prior period. In periods when the pound strengthens, translating pounds into dollars increases current period results in relation to the prior period. However, it is important to distinguish between translating and converting foreign currency. Except for a limited number of transactions, we do not actually convert pounds into dollars. As a result, we view foreign currency translation as a financial reporting issue and not a reflection of operations or profitability in the U.K.

Sustained declines in long-term interest rates or the rate of return on pension plan assets may have a negative effect on the funded status of our pension plans and/or increase our pension costs.

The rate of return on pension plan assets is determined based on the fair value of the plan assets at the beginning and end of the measurement period. Declines in long-term interest rates or the fair value of our plan assets may result in a decrease in the funded status of our pension plans and/or increased pension costs, which may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.

The current adverse economic conditions may adversely affect demand for our products or may result in higher disability claims incidence or longer claims duration.

As a large financial institution, we are affected by conditions in the capital markets and the general economy, both in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The adversity experienced in the capital markets and general economy that began in the middle of 2007 and worsened during 2008 may adversely affect our business and results of operations. In particular, factors such as unemployment levels, consumer confidence levels, consumer spending, business investment, government spending, the volatility and strength of the capital markets, and inflation all affect the business and economic environment and, ultimately, the amount and profitability of our businesses. Given the nature of our products, in an economic environment characterized by higher unemployment, lower personal income, reduced consumer spending, and lower corporate earnings and investment, the demand for our products may be adversely affected. In addition, during such periods we may experience higher disability claims incidence, longer disability claims duration, and/or an increase in policy lapses.

Differences between actual claims experience and reserving assumptions may materially adversely affect our results or operations or financial condition.

Reserves, whether calculated under GAAP or statutory accounting principles, do not represent an exact calculation of future benefit liabilities but are instead estimates made by us using actuarial and statistical procedures. There can be no assurance that any such reserves will be sufficient to fund our future liabilities in all circumstances. Future loss development may require reserves to be increased, which would adversely affect earnings in current and future periods. Adjustments to reserve amounts may be required in the event of changes from the assumptions regarding future morbidity (the incidence of claims and the rate of recovery, including the effects thereon of inflation and other societal and economic factors); persistency; mortality; policy benefit offsets, including those for social security; and interest rates used in calculating the reserve amounts.

We and our insurance subsidiaries are subject to extensive supervision and regulation, which may affect the cost or demand for our products or may impact our profitability or growth.

Our insurance company subsidiaries may not be able to obtain or maintain necessary licenses, permits, authorizations, or accreditations, or may be able to do so only at great cost. In addition, we may not be able to comply fully with, or obtain appropriate exemptions from, the wide variety of laws and regulations applicable to insurance companies and insurance holding companies. Failure to comply with or to obtain appropriate exemptions under any applicable laws could result in restrictions on our ability to do business in one or more of the jurisdictions in which we operate and could result in fines and other sanctions, which may have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations.

Because of recent events involving certain financial institutions, including insurance companies, it is possible that there will be heightened oversight of insurers at both the state and federal level. We cannot predict specific proposals that might be adopted, or what impact, if any, such proposals or, if enacted, such laws, could have on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

New programs may be enacted at the state or federal level that will compete with or diminish the need for our products, particularly as it may affect our ability to sell our products through employers or in the workplace.

Congress, as well as foreign, state, and local governments, could enact legislation related to changes in tax laws that could increase our tax costs or affect the desirability of our products to customers.

Most group long-term and short-term disability plans we administer are governed by ERISA. Changes to ERISA enacted by Congress or via judicial interpretations may adversely affect the risk to us of managing employee benefit plans, increase the premiums associated with such plans, and ultimately affect their affordability and our profitability.

Many regulatory and governmental bodies have the authority to review our products and business practices and those of our agents and employees. These regulatory or governmental bodies may bring regulatory or other legal actions against us if, in their view, our practices are improper. These actions can result in substantial fines or restrictions on our business activities and may have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations.

During 2004 and 2005, certain of our insurance subsidiaries entered into settlement agreements with various regulators related to disability claims handling practices. The agreements resulted in changes in our claims handling practices and a process for reassessing certain claims. These and other regulatory examinations or investigations could result in, among other things, changes in business practices, including changes in broker compensation and related disclosure practices, changes in the use and oversight of reinsurance, changes in governance and other oversight procedures, fines, and other administrative action. Such results, singly or in combination, may injure our reputation, cause negative publicity, adversely affect our issuer credit ratings and financial strength ratings, place us at a competitive disadvantage in marketing or administering our products, or impair our ability to sell or retain insurance policies, thereby adversely affecting our business, and potentially materially adversely affecting the results of operations. Determination by regulatory authorities that we have engaged in improper conduct may also adversely affect our defense of various lawsuits.

Our insurance products may be affected by many factors, and changes in any of those factors may adversely affect our profitability.

Disability insurance may be affected by a number of social, economic, governmental, competitive, and other factors. Changes in societal attitudes, such as work ethic, motivation, or stability, can significantly affect the demand for and underwriting results from disability products. Competition in disability insurance has also been markedly affected by the growth of social security, workers’ compensation, and other governmental programs in the workplace.

Both economic and societal factors can affect claim incidence for disability insurance. Claim incidence and claim recovery rates may be influenced by, among other factors, the rate of unemployment and consumer confidence. Claim incidence and claim recovery rates may also be influenced by the emergence of new infectious diseases or illnesses. The relationship between these and other factors and overall incidence is very complex and will vary due to contract design features and the degree of expertise within the insuring organization to price, underwrite, and adjudicate the claims. Within the group disability market, pricing and renewal actions can be taken to react to higher claim rates. However, these actions take time to implement, and there is a risk that the market will not sustain increased prices. In addition, changes in economic and external conditions may not manifest themselves in claims experience for an extended period of time.

The pricing actions available in the individual disability market differ between product classes. Our individual noncancelable disability policies, in which the policy is guaranteed to be renewable through the life of the policy at a fixed premium, do not permit us to adjust premiums on our in-force business due to changes resulting from such factors. Guaranteed renewable contracts that are not noncancelable can be re-priced to reflect adverse experience, but rate changes cannot be implemented as quickly as in the group disability market.

Long-term care insurance can be affected by a number of demographic, medical, economic, governmental, competitive, and other factors. Because long-term care insurance is a relatively new product for the insurance industry and is long-duration in nature, there is not as much historical data as is available for our other products. This creates a level of uncertainty in properly pricing the product and using appropriate assumptions when establishing reserves. Mortality is a critical factor influencing the length of time a claimant receives long-term care benefits. Mortality continues to improve for the general population, and life expectancy has increased. Changes in actual mortality trends relative to assumptions may adversely affect our profitability. Long-term care insurance is guaranteed renewable and can be re-priced to reflect adverse experience, but the re-pricing is subject to regulatory approval which can affect the length of time in which the re-pricing can be implemented, if at all. Due to the long duration of the product, we may be unable to purchase appropriate assets with cash flows and durations such that the timing and/or amount of our investment cash flows may not match those of our maturing liabilities.

Group life insurance may be affected by the characteristics of the employees insured, the amount of insurance employees may elect voluntarily, our risk selection process, our ability to retain employer groups with lower claim incidence rates, the geographical concentration of employees, and mortality rates. Claim incidence may also be influenced by unexpected catastrophic events such as terrorist attacks and natural disasters, which may also affect the availability of reinsurance coverage.

In addition to investment default risk as previously discussed, we are exposed to other risks related to our investment portfolio which may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity. These risks include interest rate and credit spread fluctuations, the contractual terms of derivative contracts, the accuracy of valuations of securities, and the possibility that we might need to sell securities at disadvantageous times.

Fluctuations in interest rates affect our ability to earn the interest rates assumed in our policyholder reserves or reported in previous periods’ net investment income and also affect the fair value of our investment portfolio. A rise in interest rates may increase the net unrealized loss position of our investment portfolio, but may improve our ability to earn higher rates of return on new purchases of fixed income securities. Conversely, a decline in interest rates may decrease the net unrealized loss position of our investment portfolio, but new securities may be purchased at lower rates of return. Our exposure to credit spreads, which is the yield above comparable Treasury securities, primarily relates to market price and cash flow variability associated with changes in credit spreads. A widening of credit spreads may increase the net unrealized loss position of the investment portfolio. Credit spread tightening may reduce net investment income associated with new purchases of fixed income securities.

We use derivative instruments to help us manage interest rate risk. While we use relatively simple over-the-counter instruments, they are complicated contracts. Risks to our results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity include:

We report our fixed maturity securities and certain other financial instruments at market value. During periods of market disruption, it may be difficult to value certain of our securities or to determine other than temporary impairments. Valuations may include inputs and assumptions that are less observable or require greater estimation, resulting in values which may be less than the value at which the investments may ultimately be sold. Further, rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities as reported in our financial statements, and the period to period changes in value could vary significantly. Decreases in value may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We evaluate our investment portfolio for impairments. There can be no assurance that we have accurately assessed the level of impairments taken. Additional impairments may need to be taken in the future, and historical trends may not be indicative of future impairments. Any event reducing the value of our securities other than on a temporary basis may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition.

While we attempt to match our asset cash flows and durations with expected liability cash flows and durations to meet the funding requirements of our business, we may in certain circumstances need to sell investments due to changes in regulatory or capital requirements, changes in tax laws, rating agency decisions, and/or unexpected changes in liquidity needs. Events such as these may force us to sell securities in an unfavorable interest rate or credit environment, with a resulting adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.

We may be required to establish a valuation allowance against our deferred income tax asset.

Factors in our ability to realize a tax benefit from our deferred income tax asset include the performance of our businesses and our ability to generate realized investment gains. If we determine that all or a portion of the deferred income tax asset will not result in a future tax benefit, a valuation allowance must be established with a corresponding charge to net income or other comprehensive income. Such charges may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. The likelihood of recording such a valuation increases during periods of economic downturn.

An assessment by a governing tax authority may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

The calculation of our tax liabilities involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws in a multitude of jurisdictions, both domestic and foreign. The amount of income taxes we pay is subject to ongoing audits in various jurisdictions, and a material assessment by a governing tax authority could affect profitability. Such an assessment may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Our overall risk management program may leave us exposed to unidentified or unanticipated risk, which could negatively affect our business.

We have devoted significant resources to develop our enterprise risk management program, which has the objective of managing our strategic, market, credit, insurance, operations, capital and liquidity, and reputational risks. However, our program may not be comprehensive, and our methods for managing risk may not fully predict future exposures.

Litigation is common in our businesses and may result in significant financial losses and/or harm to our reputation.

The Company and/or its subsidiaries’ directors and officers have been sued in several purported class action and stockholder derivative lawsuits. The outcome of these lawsuits is uncertain, and we are unable to estimate a range of reasonably possible losses. Reserves have not been established for these matters. An adverse outcome in one or more of these actions may, depending on the nature, scope and amount of the ruling, adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition, encourage other litigation, and limit our ability to write new business, particularly if the adverse outcomes negatively impact certain of our ratings.

Unum Group and its insurance subsidiaries, as part of their normal operations in managing claims, are engaged in claim litigation where disputes arise as a result of a denial or termination of benefits. Typically those lawsuits are filed on behalf of a single claimant or policyholder, and in some of these individual actions punitive damages are sought, such as claims alleging bad faith in the handling of insurance claims. For our general claim litigation, we maintain reserves based on experience to satisfy judgments and settlements in the normal course. We expect that the ultimate liability, if any, with respect to general claim litigation, after consideration of the reserves maintained, will not be material to our financial condition. Nevertheless, given the inherent unpredictability of litigation, it is possible that an adverse outcome in certain claim litigation involving punitive damages may, from time to time, have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We are unable to estimate a range of reasonably possible punitive losses.

We need to finance our ongoing operations, and this may not always be possible solely from internal sources of capital and liquidity. If we need to seek external capital, there is the risk that adverse market conditions may significantly affect our access to capital or our cost of capital.

A decrease in demand for our insurance products or an increase in the incidence of new claims or the duration of existing claims could negatively impact our cash flows from operations. Deterioration in the credit market, which could delay our ability to sell our positions in certain of our fixed maturity securities in a timely manner, could also negatively impact our cash flows. Without sufficient liquidity, we could be forced to curtail our operations, and our business may suffer. If our internal sources of liquidity prove to be insufficient, we may be unable to successfully obtain additional financing and capital on favorable terms, or at all, which may adversely affect us.

In the near term, we expect that our need for external financing is small, but changes in our business could increase our need. If our financial results are unfavorable, we may need to increase our capital in order to maintain our credit ratings or satisfy regulatory requirements. Maintaining appropriate levels of statutory surplus, as measured by state insurance regulations, is considered important by state insurance regulatory authorities and the rating agencies that rate insurers’ claims-paying abilities and financial strength. Failure to maintain certain levels of statutory surplus could result in increased regulatory scrutiny, action by state regulatory authorities, or a downgrade by the rating agencies. If the NAIC or state regulators adopt revisions to the RBC formula, or if the FSA revises its capital adequacy requirements and minimum solvency margins, our insurance subsidiaries may require additional capital. Need for additional capital may limit a subsidiary’s ability to distribute funds to the holding company and adversely affect our ability to pay dividends on our common stock and meet our debt and other payment obligations.

Obtaining financing for even a small amount of capital could be complicated in the current market environment. In some cases during the past year, the markets have exerted downward pressure on availability of liquidity and credit capacity for certain issuers. The availability of financing will depend on a variety of factors such as market conditions, the general availability of credit, the overall availability of credit to the financial services industry, our credit ratings and credit capacity, and the possibility that customers or lenders could develop a negative perception of our financial prospects. Similarly, our access to funds may be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions against us. Raising capital in unfavorable market conditions could increase our interest expense or negatively impact our shareholders through increased dilution of their common stock holding in Unum Group.

Competition may adversely affect our market share or profitability.

All of our businesses are highly competitive. We believe that the principal competitive factors affecting our business are integrated product choices, price, quality of customer service and claims management, financial strength, and claims-paying ratings. We compete for new product sales, the retention of existing business, and the ability to attract and retain independent agents and brokers to market our products, all of which affect our profitability. There are many insurance companies which actively compete with us in our lines of business, some of which are larger and have greater financial resources, and there is no assurance that we will be able to compete effectively against such companies in the future.

We are subject to various operational risks resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes or from external events which may damage our market position and reputation and/or adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

We face challenges and risks associated with the development, sale, and retention of product offerings that meet the needs of our targeted markets; maintaining effective underwriting and pricing discipline; continued effective claim management and customer service performance; ongoing expense management; delivering effective technology solutions; continued execution of our capital management strategy; and the successful implementation of operational improvements and strategic growth initiatives. Failure to successfully manage our operational risks may adversely affect our competitiveness, profitability, or financial condition.

Our subsidiaries may be restricted from paying dividends to our holding companies.

Unum Group and certain of its subsidiaries rely on dividends from our insurance and non-insurance company subsidiaries to make dividend payments on our common stock, meet debt payment obligations, and pay our other obligations. Our insurance company subsidiaries are subject to regulatory limitations on the payment of dividends and on other transfers of funds to affiliates. The level of statutory earnings and capital in our insurance subsidiaries could impact their ability to pay dividends or to make other transfers of funds to our holding companies, which could impair our ability to pay our dividends or meet our debt and other payment obligations.

Reinsurance may not be available or affordable, or reinsurers may be unwilling or unable to meet their obligations under our reinsurance contracts, which may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

As part of our overall risk management strategy, we purchase reinsurance for certain risks underwritten by our various businesses. Market conditions beyond our control determine the availability and cost of the reinsurance protection. Any decrease in the amount of reinsurance will increase our risk of loss and any increase in the cost of reinsurance will, absent a decrease in the amount of reinsurance, reduce our results of operations. Accordingly, we may be forced to incur additional expenses for reinsurance or may be unable to obtain sufficient reinsurance on acceptable terms, which may adversely affect our ability to write future business or result in the assumption of more risk with respect to the policies we issue. The collectibility of our reinsurance recoverable is primarily a function of the solvency of the individual reinsurers. The insolvency of a reinsurer or the inability or unwillingness of a reinsurer to comply with the terms of a reinsurance contract may have an adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We have intangible assets such as deferred acquisition costs (DAC), value of business acquired (VOBA), and goodwill. We may be required to accelerate amortization or recognize an impairment, which may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

We defer certain costs incurred in acquiring new business and expense these costs over the life of the related policies. These costs include certain commissions, other agency compensation, selection and policy issue expenses, and field expenses. VOBA represents the present value of future profits recorded in connection with the acquisition of a block of insurance policies. DAC and VOBA are amortized based primarily upon expected future premium income of the related insurance policies. Recoverability testing for DAC and VOBA is performed on an annual basis. Insurance contracts are grouped on a basis consistent with our manner of acquiring, servicing, and measuring profitability of the contracts. If recoverability testing indicates that either DAC and/or VOBA are not recoverable, the deficiency is charged to expense.

Goodwill is not amortized, but on an annual basis we review the carrying amount of goodwill for indications of impairment, considering in that review the financial performance and other relevant factors. In accordance with accounting guidance, we test for impairment at either the operating segment level or one level below. In addition, certain events including, but not limited to, a significant adverse change in legal factors or the business environment, an adverse action by a regulator or rating agency, or unanticipated competition would cause us to review goodwill for impairment more frequently than annually.

Extreme events, including terrorism, can affect the economy in general, our industry, and us specifically.

Events such as epidemics, pandemics, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or other extreme events may materially adversely affect our business, the level of claims, or our results of operations, and in the event of extreme circumstances, our financial condition or viability. Beyond obtaining insurance coverage for our facilities, there are few, if any, commercial options through which to transfer the exposure from extreme events away from us. The continued threat of terrorism could result in increased reinsurance prices and reduced insurance coverage and potentially cause us to retain more risk than we otherwise would retain if we were able to obtain reinsurance at lower prices. In the event of nuclear or bioterrorism attacks, epidemics, or other extreme events, we could face significant costs depending on the government’s actions and the responsiveness of public agencies and other insurers. In addition, we may also be adversely affected if we do not maintain adequate procedures to ensure disaster recovery and business continuity for our facilities and operations in the event of such occurrences.

Changes in accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) or other standard-setting bodies may adversely affect our financial statements.

Our financial statements are subject to the application of generally accepted accounting principles in both the United States and the United Kingdom, which are periodically revised and/or expanded. Accordingly, we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the FASB. Market conditions have prompted accounting standard setters to expose new guidance which further interprets or seeks to revise accounting pronouncements related to financial instruments as well as to issue new standards expanding disclosures. It is possible that future accounting standards we are required to adopt could change the current accounting treatment that we apply to our financial statements and that such changes may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We also face other risks that may adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial condition, including but not limited to:

For additionally information on the risks stated above, please see our 2008 Form 10K on our website or available through the SEC site.