NY Circular Letter on Bonus Recapture
Circular Letter 8 (2010) dated June 29, 2010 and posted yesterday on the NY Insurance Department website, clarifies that as a result of amendments to §4223(c)(1), made at the time provisions relating to indexed annuities were added, recapture of bonuses on fixed annuities or fixed accounts of variable annuities, are not permitted. Note that this is based on statutory language, added in 2008, to the effect that the death benefit for contracts with cash surrender benefits may not be less than the actual accumulation amount. This is not a position being established by circular letter. Some companies may have already been advised of this statutory prohibition by post-approval review.
One thing that I really appreciate about this Circular Letter is that it is quite explicit about what is expected of insurers. Contracts/ Certificates issued prior to October 5, 2008 were not subject to the prohibition and no action need be taken. “However, in accordance with Insurance Law §3103, any contract or certificate issued on or after October 5, 2008 shall be enforceable as if it conformed to the law. Accordingly, to prevent any confusion, every insurer must endorse any annuity contract or certificate issued on or after October 5, 2008 to remove any death benefit bonus recapture provisions or in the case of a fixed and variable annuity contract or certificate be endorsed to provide that the recapture will not be applied to the fixed account portion of the contract.” Further, the Circular Letter explicitly states that an insurer does not have to endorse contracts/certificates on which the recapture period has already expired.
The Department indicates that companies must make restitution for any recaptures from contracts issued after October 5, 2008 and that if that is done the Department does not intent to take further action against a company.
From my perspective, this very clear explanation of what is expected in each of these scenarios is almost as important as the substantive announcement of the statutory rule. However, there is one “elephant in the room” issue left unresolved. That is how this relates to variable annuity contracts that have guaranteed living benefit riders that have yet to be analyzed by the Department for the §4240(d) exemption.
Because a determination that a guaranteed living benefit exceeds the §4240(d) 3% limit, and would therefore be subject to §4223, the nonforfeiture law, that determination would also mean that this rule on recapture of bonuses would apply to the variable annuity or variable portion of a combined product. Of course, in the face of such a finding, this bonus recapture is likely to be the easiest of many issues to resolve. But, it once again highlights the need for resolution, once and for all, of §4240(d)’s application to variable annuities with guarantee features.
Again, I applaud the Life Bureau for the clarity of this Circular Letter and hope we continue to see guidance of this type in the future. The effort made to analyze and set forth all the scenarios, and the steps required of companies in each, will make it much easier for insurers doing business in New York to be sure they are in compliance with regulatory mandates.
