02-031 C.M.R. ch. 919, § 4 - Duties of Insurers with Respect to Producers

Each insurer shall:

A. Maintain a system of supervision and control to insure compliance with the requirements of this rule that shall include at least the following:

(1) Inform its producers of the requirements of this rule and incorporate the requirements of this rule into all relevant producer training manuals prepared by the insurer;

(2) Provide to each producer a written statement of the company's position with respect to the acceptability of replacements providing guidance to its producer as to the appropriateness of these transactions;

(3) A system to review the appropriateness of each replacement transaction that the producer does not indicate is in accord with Paragraph (2) above;

(4) Procedures to confirm that the requirements of this rule have been met; and

(5) Procedures to detect transactions that are replacements of existing policies or contracts by the existing insurer, but that have not been reported as such by the applicant or producer. Compliance with this rule may include, but shall not be limited to, systematic customer surveys, interviews, confirmation letters, or programs of internal monitoring;

B. Have the capacity to monitor each producer's life insurance policy and annuity contract replacements for that insurer, and shall produce, upon request, and make such records available to the Superintendent. The capacity to monitor shall include the ability to produce records for each producer's:

(1) Life replacements, including financed purchases, as a percentage of the producer's total annual sales for life insurance;

(2) Number of lapses of policies by the producer as a percentage of the producer's total annual sales for life insurance;

(3) Annuity contract replacements as a percentage of the producer's total annual annuity contract sales;

(4) Number of transactions that are unreported replacements of existing policies or contracts by the existing insurer detected by the company's monitoring system as required by Subsection A(5) of this section; and

(5) Replacements, indexed by replacing producer and existing insurer;

C. Require with or as a part of each application for life insurance or an annuity a signed statement by both the applicant and the producer as to whether the applicant has existing policies or contracts;

D. Require with each application for life insurance or an annuity that indicates an existing policy or contract a completed notice regarding replacements as contained in Appendix A;

E. When the applicant has existing policies or contracts, each insurer shall be able to produce copies of any sales material required by Section 3E, the basic illustration and any supplemental illustrations related to the specific policy or contract that is purchased, and the producer's and applicant's signed statements with respect to financing and replacement for at least five (5) years after the termination or expiration of the proposed policy or contract;

F. Ascertain that the sales material and illustrations required by Section 3E of this rule meet the requirements of this rule and are complete and accurate for the proposed policy or contract;

G. If an application does not meet the requirements of this rule, notify the producer and applicant and fulfill the outstanding requirements; and

H. Maintain records in paper, photograph, microprocess, magnetic, mechanical or electronic media or by any process that accurately reproduces the actual document.

Notes

02-031 C.M.R. ch. 919, § 4