Life Insurance & Annuities

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The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin recently held that a beneficiary of a trust has standing to sue the life insurance carrier to collect policy benefits on an accidental death policy. 

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Read More Trust Beneficiary Has Standing To Sue Life Insurance Carrier To Collect Policy Benefits

The New York Insurance Department issued proposed Regulation No. 192 (11 NYCRR) (the “Proposed Regulation”) establishing minimum reserve and nonforfeiture standards for preneed life insurance policies (i.e. policies that provide a prearrangement agreement for goods and services to be provided upon the death of the insured). …
Read More New York Issues Proposed Regulation to establish Minimum Standards for Determining Reserve Liabilities and Nonforfeiture Values for Preneed Life Insurance

Last month, the New York Insurance Department’s Office of General Counsel issued Opinion No. 09-06-11 (the “Opinion”) which prohibits contingent annuity contracts on the grounds that such contracts constitute an impermissible form of financial guaranty insurance. …
Read More N.Y. Insurance Department Issues Opinion Prohibiting Contingent Annuity Contracts

This updates our January 28, 2009 posting.  Earlier this year, American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (“American Equity”), together with a coalition of insurance companies and independent marketing organizations, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “Court”) seeking to overturn Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Rule 151A which classified certain indexed annuities, previously regulated as insurance, as securities, thus subjecting them to federal, rather than state, regulation. 

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Read More D.C. Circuit Remands Rule 151A Back to the SEC

The UK Financial Services Authority published Policy Statement PS09/13 on 24 July 2009 confirming that proprietary life insurance companies will no longer be able to use their with-profit funds to meet future compensation and redress payments. …
Read More UK: Financial Services Authority Announces Changes to With-Profits Rules

In Washington, DC, two new laws were enacted this month that will impact insurance coverage eligibility in same-sex marriages performed out-of-state.  The Jury and Marriage Amendment Act of 2009, effective July 6, 2009, provides that “marriages legally entered into in another jurisdiction between two persons of the same sex shall be recognized as a marriage in the District.” 

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Read More New District of Columbia Laws to Impact Insurance Coverage Eligibility for Same-Sex Marriages Performed Out of State

The Financial Services Authority has published a consultation paper (CP09/18) in connection with the distribution of retail investments (including life products but excluding pure protection products: see below) – known as its retail distribution review (RDR). 

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Read More UK: Financial Services Authority to Abolish Commission Payment Structures

On June 15, 2009, five trade associations (the American Council of Life Insurers, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, National Fraternal Congress of America, and the Life Insurance Council), which together represent the majority of the U.S. life insurance industry’s carriers and sales force, issued a joint statement (the “Statement”) supporting “responsibly crafted optional federal insurance regulation, with continued viable state regulation.” …
Read More Life Insurance Trade Associations Issue Joint Statement Supporting Optional Federal Regulation

On June 4, 2009, Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Tom Price (R-GA) introduced H.R. 2733, the Indexed Annuities and Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009 (the “Bill”), in the U.S. House of Representatives.  If adopted, the Bill would nullify Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 151A which sought to classify indexed annuities as securities and subject them to federal regulation. …
Read More House of Representatives Introduces Bill to Nullify SEC Rule Regulating Indexed Annuities as Securities

Recently, the United States Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) has announced that certain life insurers that have acquired banks and thrifts are eligible to receive assistance from the Capital Purchase Program, a sub-program of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. 

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Read More United States Treasury Department to Offer Financial Assistance to Life Insurers