MetLifeSettlementAgreement 1
MetLifeSettlementAgreement 1
RECITALS
WHEREAS, the Departments have regulatory jurisdiction over the insurance industry in
their respective states, including the authority to conduct market conduct examinations;
WHEREAS, based upon the information gathered to date, the Departments have
identified concerns regarding:
A. The adequacy of the Company’s policies and procedures to ensure that life
insurance and endowment policies, annuities, “Retained Asset Accounts”
(hereafter defined) and other funds are either timely paid out to “Beneficiaries”
(hereafter defined), or timely reported or remitted in accordance with the
“Unclaimed Property Laws” and the “Insurance Laws” (hereafter defined);
B. The Company’s historical use of the DMF to terminate payment under annuity
contracts in the “payout” phase to annuitants who have died, but not attempt to
locate Beneficiaries to pay out the death benefit under annuity contracts or life
policies issued by the Company;
C. The adequacy of the Company’s policies and procedures to ensure that the
financial benefits due under matured annuity contracts are paid to annuitants or
reported and remitted in accordance with the Unclaimed Property Laws and the
Insurance Laws;
D. The adequacy of the Company’s policies and procedures to ensure that assets held
in the Company’s Retained Asset Accounts are paid to Beneficiaries or
“Accountholders” (hereafter defined) or reported and remitted in accordance with
the Unclaimed Property Laws, when the Accountholder is listed as deceased on
the DMF, or, alternatively, the Accountholder has not initiated a financial or
administrative action with respect to the Retained Asset Account for an extended
period of time;
WHEREAS, the Company has cooperated with the Departments in the course of the
Multi-State Examination by making its books and records available for examination, and its
personnel and agents available to assist as requested by the Departments, and MetLife represents
that at all times relevant to this Agreement, the Company and its officers, directors, employees,
agents and representatives acted in good faith and in a manner they believed to be in the best
interest of the Company’s policyholders;
WHEREAS, MetLife represents that it has policies and procedures to ensure the
payment of valid claims to Beneficiaries or, in the event that the Company’s search identifies no
living Beneficiary, to report and remit unclaimed proceeds to the appropriate states in accordance
with state Unclaimed Property Laws;
WHEREAS, MetLife represents that in the 1980’s and 1990’s it undertook a national
campaign called the Family Reunion program, pursuant to which in excess of one million policy
owners were reunited with the Company;
WHEREAS, in 2007, the Company matched substantially all of its individual life
policies for which it had electronic records, including policies in in-force, terminated and non-
forfeiture status against the DMF and identified over $50 million in death benefits, which were
paid to Beneficiaries and over $30 million in unclaimed benefits which have been or will be
reported and remitted to the appropriate states in accordance with the Unclaimed Property Laws;
1. Defined Terms. Those capitalized terms in this Agreement not otherwise defined in the text
shall have the following meanings:
f. “Date of Death Notice” means the date the Company first has notice of the
Date of Death of an Insured, Accountholder, Annuity Contract Holder, or
annuitant. For purposes of this Agreement and subject to Schedule B hereto,
notice shall include, but not be limited to information provided in the DMF or
an equivalent database containing the same information as the DMF, or any
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other source or record maintained or located in the Company’s records.
g. “Effective Date” means the date this Agreement has been executed by the
Company, each of the Departments of Insurance of California, Florida, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Dakota, (the “Lead States”) and the
Departments of at least Fourteen (14) additional states.
h. “Insurance Laws” means the Insurance Laws, Rules and Regulations in effect
in each of the Signatory States.
l. “Maturity Date” means the date in an Annuity Contract that annuity payments
are scheduled to begin, unless the records of the Company indicate that the
Maturity Date has been extended in accordance with the terms of the Annuity
Contract, or the Annuity Contract Owner has taken action with respect to the
Annuity Contract that is inconsistent with a desire to annuitize. For purposes
hereof, “action in respect to the Annuity Contract that is inconsistent with a
desire to annuitize” shall mean a partial annuitization, a partial withdrawal of
contract value (including required minimum distributions or systematic
withdrawals, unless such distributions or withdrawals remain uncashed, and
partial exchanges of the Annuity Contract for another annuity contract),
termination or surrender of the Annuity Contract, payment of all death benefits
due, or payment of additional purchase payments.
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n. “Exception” means an event described in subparagraphs i. – iii. below:
ii. for Annuities that have reached their Maturity Date: (a) there is no
benefit due and payable on the Maturity Date and/or (b) the full value
of any benefits due and payable upon the Maturity Date has in fact
been remitted to the Beneficiary or reported and remitted as
Unclaimed Property to the affected state(s);
iii. for Retained Asset Accounts: (a) the Accountholder has taken
affirmative action in respect to the Retained Asset Account that is
inconsistent with abandonment (automatic financial or administrative
transactions, other than automated deposits or withdrawals prearranged
by the account owner, and/or the non-receipt by the Company of
returned mail shall not constitute “affirmative action” for this purpose,
except to the extent where the affected state specifically recognizes
that such activity is sufficient to prevent property from being presumed
abandoned); or (b) the full value of the Retained Asset Account has in
fact been remitted to the Beneficiary or reported and remitted as
Unclaimed Property to the affected state(s);
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Company’s Insured, Accountholder, Annuity Contract Owner or annuitant has
been reported to be dead. A Thorough Search shall include any methodology
believed likely to locate a Beneficiary. A Thorough Search will be completed
the earlier of when (1) a Beneficiary has been located, or (2) the following
steps, at a minimum, have been performed:
i. The Company has used its best efforts to identify the Beneficiary and
determine a current address for the Beneficiary based upon the
Company’s records, including but not limited to internal databases;
ii. The Company has made two (2) attempts to contact the Beneficiary in
writing at the address contained in Company’s records or at the
address determined in (i) above; provided that, if such writing is
returned as undeliverable, the Company will not be required to send
any additional mailings to that address and will within thirty (30) days
update the address using online search or locator tools, including but
not limited to the DMF Update File, Lexis Nexis, Accurint or other
comparable databases;
iv. In the event that no response has been received to the attempted
contacts described above, the Company shall attempt to contact the
Beneficiary at the most current e-mail address, if any;
v. Send a third and final letter to the Beneficiary at the most current
address available to the Company via certified mail; provided,
however, that, subject to contrary state law requirements, such letter
may be sent by first class mail if, at some point prior to sending it, the
Company has accessed a commercially available database service,
which is used to update addresses in order to check for a more current
address for the Beneficiary.
The Company may use any other methodology believed likely to locate a
Beneficiary approved by a Signatory State or that can be demonstrated by the
Company to provide equivalent or better results than the Thorough Search. If the
value of a policy, contract, or account is de minimis (defined as $100.00 or less),
the Company may satisfy its obligations to conduct a Thorough Search by making
at least one (1) attempt to contact the Beneficiary or Beneficiaries by mail at the
address indicated in the Company’s records, or, if the Company’s records do not
identify a Beneficiary and address, may report and remit the funds to the affected
state(s) as Unclaimed Property.
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r. “Unclaimed Property” means property subject to the Unclaimed Property
Laws.
2. Business Reforms. The Company agrees that within sixty (60) days from the Effective Date
of this Agreement, the Company shall adopt the following policies and procedures:
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c. For the sole purpose of this Agreement, the Company, within the time period in
Schedule B, shall implement policies and procedures establishing a DMF listing
as prima facie proof of death and requiring the Company to initiate its death
claims process and conduct a Thorough Search for Beneficiaries in accordance
with Section 2(b) of this Agreement. Nothing herein is intended nor shall be
deemed to determine the requirements for establishing proof of death for any
other purpose, or to confer any rights on any party other than the Company and
the Signatory States.
d. Utilize the DMF on all of its Life Insurance Policy, Annuity Contract, and
Retained Asset Account product lines using the comparison methodologies set
forth in Section 2(a) of this Agreement.
ii. the Company shall immediately commence a Thorough Search for the
Annuity Contract Owner if the letters described in subparagraph i. are
returned as undeliverable;
g. Ensure that all Retained Asset Accounts are monitored for inactivity and each is
notified that the failure of an Accountholder to make a withdrawal from the
account or to respond to communications from the Company may cause the
account to be declared dormant and subject to escheat based on the last
documented contact with the Accountholder or the Accountholder’s authorized
representative, subject to Schedule B.
h. The value of the Retained Asset Account(s) shall be the value of the account as
of the date the property is paid to the party determined to be the owner of the
account or reported and remitted to the affected state(s).
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under this section and instead shall remit the proceeds to the affected State(s)
within three (3) or five (5) years from the Date of Death as is appropriate.
l. The Company shall not deduct or charge the Beneficiaries, either directly or
indirectly through or by any person or company, for any fees or costs as part of
the Thorough Search.
m. The Company shall comply with the Unclaimed Property Audit Agreement.
Nothing in this Agreement shall abrogate the obligations of the Company under
the Unclaimed Property Audit Agreement.
n. To the extent that Company has previously purged or archived any data from
any of its administrative systems related to any lapsed, terminated or expired
policies, which was purged on or after January 1, 1986, that are within the scope
of the Unclaimed Property Laws, the Insurance Laws or this Agreement,
Company shall take reasonable steps to restore or recover such data so that it
may be subjected to the comparisons specified in Section 2a of this Agreement.
p. To the extent that any laws, rules, or regulations are adopted by any Signatory
State, or a regulatory agency of a Signatory State that conflict with any of the
terms and conditions of this Agreement, then the application of those affected
terms and conditions shall be superseded by such laws, rules or regulations as it
applies to that Signatory State, provided that all other unaffected terms and
conditions of the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
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3. Regulatory Oversight. Each of the Signatory States shall maintain independent regulatory
oversight over the Company’s compliance with the terms of this Agreement and in
furtherance thereof, the Company agrees to the following:
a. For a period of thirty-six (36) months following the Effective Date, the
Company shall provide to the Lead States quarterly reports on the
implementation and execution of the requirements of this Agreement. Each
quarterly report shall be delivered to each of the Departments within forty-five
(45) days following the end of the calendar quarter. Copies of these reports will
also be made available to a Signatory State’s designated examiner, upon
reasonable request, to allow it to assist the Departments in monitoring
compliance with the requirements of this Agreement.
b. Thirty-Nine (39) months following the Effective Date the Lead States shall
conduct a Multi-State Examination of Company’s compliance with the
requirements of this Agreement. The Lead States shall provide a report
summarizing the results of that examination to Company and Signatory States.
The examination shall be performed with the cost of the examination to be
borne by Company in accordance with the Lead States respective laws.
c. The reasonable costs and expenses of the Signatory States related to the
monitoring of Company’s compliance with the Agreement, including the costs
and expenses of conducting any reviews or examinations required by the
Agreement, as well as participating in any meetings, presentations or
discussions with Company, shall be borne by Company.
d. The monitoring of Company for compliance with the terms of this Agreement
constitutes an ongoing examination by each of the Signatory States pursuant to
each of their respective laws. Consistent with applicable law, each Signatory
State shall accord confidential treatment to the work papers, recorded
information, documents, copies of work papers, and documents produced by,
obtained by or disclosed by Company.
e. This Agreement does not impair, restrict, suspend, or disqualify Company from
engaging in any lawful business in any state, and this Agreement shall not
impair or disqualify Company from engaging in any lawful business in any
jurisdiction, based upon, or arising out of, the Multi-State Examination
regarding any alleged act or omission of Company, unless Company breaches
the terms of this Agreement.
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Date or the receipt of the allocation from the Lead States, which will extinguish the
Company’s financial obligations incurred by the Signatory States arising out of the Multi-
State Examination, except as set forth in paragraph 3(c), above. The Payment shall be in
addition to the Company’s obligation to reimburse the Illinois Department of Insurance
for reasonable third-party expenses, including expenses for consultants, incurred in
connection with the Department’s role in the Multi-State Examination.
5. Miscellaneous.
a. The Parties agree that this Agreement is not intended to and shall not confer any
rights upon any other person or entity and shall not be used for any other
purpose. Nor shall the Agreement be deemed to create any intended or
incidental third party beneficiaries, and the matters herein shall remain within
the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the Departments.
b. The Parties agree that this Agreement contains the entire agreement between
them with regard to Company’s settlement practices and procedures and policy
administration relating to the Company’s matching of its administrative records
against the DMF and that there are no other understandings or agreements,
verbal or otherwise, between the Parties, except as set forth herein. There have
been no representations not set forth herein that any Party has relied upon in
entering into this Agreement.
c. Neither this Agreement, nor any act performed or document executed pursuant
to or in furtherance of this Agreement, is now or may be deemed in the future to
be an admission of or evidence of liability or any wrongdoing by Company with
respect to the subject matter of the Multi-State Examination.
d. Each of the Signatory States agrees to release the Company from all claims,
demands, interest, penalties, actions or causes of action that each of them may
have by reason of any matter, cause or thing whatsoever, regarding or relating
to the Multi-State Examination; provided, however, that nothing herein is
intended to release the Company from (1) any cost or expense incurred pursuant
to paragraph 3c. and 4, above, or (2) any claim to enforce this Agreement in
accordance with paragraph 6, below; and provided further, that nothing herein
shall preclude the Lead States from conducting subsequent Multi-State
Examinations to assess the Company’s compliance with the Agreement.
e. No later than five years following the Effective Date, the Lead States will
complete the Multi-State Examination with a final review concerning the
Company’s compliance with the Agreement. If that review confirms that the
Company has fulfilled its obligations under the Agreement, the Multi-State
Examination will be closed. The Agreement will terminate eight years
following the Effective Date (the “Termination Date”), contingent upon closure
of the Multi-State Examination and the Company’s submission of its
prospective policies and procedures for DMF matching and beneficiary
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outreach to be used after the termination date. This submission shall be made to
the Lead States six (6) calendar months prior to the Termination Date.
f. The Parties represent and warrant that the person executing this Agreement on
behalf of each Party has the legal authority to bind the Party to the terms of this
Agreement.
6. Enforcement. The failure to comply with any provision of this Agreement shall
constitute a breach of the Agreement, a violation of an Order of the Departments and a
violation of Company’s Agreement with the Departments, and shall subject Company to
such administrative and enforcement actions and penalties as each Signatory State deems
appropriate, consistent with each Signatory State’s respective laws.
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Lead States Signature Page
BY:___________________________ BY:____________________________
BY:____________________________ BY:____________________________
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SCHEDULE A
RULES FOR IDENTIFYING DEATH MATCHES
Category 1: Exact Social Security Number Match occurs when the Social Security
Number contained in the data found in the Company’s records matches exactly to the
Social Security Number contained in the DMF.
a. “First Name” “Nick Names:” “JIM” and “JAMES.” the Company utilizes
the pd Nickname database from Peacock Data, Inc. as well as publicly
available lists of names and nicknames to identify matching First Names
where a nickname is used on one or both sides of the match.
g. Data entry mistakes with a maximum difference of one character for last
name with at least eight (8) characters in length: “MACHIAVELLI” and
“MACHIAVELI.”
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h. Married Female “Last Name” Variations: A fuzzy “Last Name” match
will be considered to have been made even though the data does not match
on the last name of a female, if the “Date of Birth” and “Social Security
Number” match exactly and the First Name matches exactly or in
accordance with the Fuzzy Match Criteria listed herein.
i. NOTE: “03/27/1949” and “03/27/1950” are not a match under Rule 3(a)i.
ii. Only one (1) entry mistake per full date is allowable: “03/27/1945” and
“03/28/1946” are not a match.
d. If the Company’s First and Last Name match, either exactly or in accordance
with the Fuzzy Match Criteria listed herein, and the identified Social Security
Number matches exactly against the DMF, then the Date of Birth will be a
fuzzy match if the Date of Birth is within two (2) years (either before or after)
the DMF listed Date of Birth.
a. Two (2) Social Security Numbers with a maximum of two (2) digits in
difference, any number position: “123456789” and “123466781.”
c. If a Social Security Number is less than nine (9) digits in length (with a
minimum of seven (7) digits) and is entirely embedded within the other Social
Security Number: “12345678” and “012345678.”
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Other Matches and Mismatches
Notwithstanding the fact that a policy is listed as a match in accordance with the
foregoing rules, there will not be a reportable match if the Company is able to produce
competent evidence to establish that the unique biological individual identified in the
Company’s data is not the same as a unique biological individual identified on the DMF
or such individual is not dead.
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SCHEDULE B
The Company shall commence the monthly matches required by Paragraph 2(a)
of this Agreement as soon as practicable, but in any event within the time frames required
by this schedule, as noted below.
The Company will commence quarterly DMF matches against the records for its
Life Insurance Policies, Retained Asset Accounts and Annuity Contracts as of the end of
the first quarter of 2012. Upon completion of each quarterly match, the Company shall
commence a Thorough Search as promptly as practicable. In any event, the Thorough
Search shall be completed within one (1) year from the Date of Death Notice and subject
to the provisions of Section 2(b).
The Company will commence monthly DMF matches against the records for its
Life Insurance Policies, Retained Asset Accounts and Annuity Contracts by no later than
the first quarter of 2013.
The provisions described in paragraph 2(f) will apply to Maturity Dates following
the Effective Date, and will take effect following [September 30, 2012]. The provisions
described in paragraph 2(f) will not apply to Annuity Contracts held within ERISA or
other tax-qualified plans, Individual Retirement Annuities, or Annuity Contracts held in
Individual Retirement Accounts.
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