La. Admin. Code tit. 37 § XIII-8509

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section XIII-8509 - Nonforfeiture

A. Minimum Cash Surrender Values for Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Policies

1. Minimum cash surrender values for flexible premium universal life insurance policies shall be determined separately for the basic policy and any benefits and riders for which premiums are paid separately. The following requirements pertain to a basic policy and any benefits and riders for which premiums are not paid separately.

2. The minimum cash surrender value (before adjustment for indebtedness and dividend credits) available on a date as of which interest is credited to the policy shall be equal to the accumulation to that date as of which interest is credited to the policy shall be equal to the accumulation to that date of the premiums paid minus the accumulations to that date of:

a. the benefit charges;

b. the averaged administrative expense charges for the first policy year and any insurance increase years;

c. actual administrative expense charges for other years;

d. initial and additional acquisition expense charges not exceeding the initial or additional expense allowances, respectively;

e. any service charges actually made (excluding charges for cash surrender or election of a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit); and

f. any deductions made for partial withdrawals; all accumulations being at the actual rate or rates of interest at which interest credits have been made unconditionally to the policy (or have been made conditionally, but for which the conditions have since been met), and minus any unamortized unused initial and additional expense allowances.

3. Interest on the premiums and on all charges referred to in §8509. A.2 a-f shall be accumulated from and to such dates as are consistent with the manner in which interest is credited in determining the policy value.

4. The benefit charges shall include the charges made for mortality and any charges made for riders or supplementary benefits for which premiums are not paid separately. If benefit charges are substantially level by duration and develop low or no cash values, then the commissioner shall have the right to require higher cash values unless the insurer provides adequate justification that the cash values are appropriate in relation to the policy's other characteristics.⁴

5. The administrative expense charges shall include charges per premium payment, charges per dollar of premium paid, periodic charges per thousand dollars of insurance, periodic per policy charges, and any other charges permitted by the policy to be imposed without regard to the policyowner's request for services.

6. The averaged administrative expense charges for any year shall be those which would have been imposed in that year if the charge rate or rates for each transaction or period within the year had been equal to the arithmetic average of the corresponding charge rates which the policy states will be imposed in policy years 2 through 20 in determining the policy value.

7. The initial acquisition expense charges shall be the excess of the expense charges, other than service charges actually made in the first policy year over the averaged administrative expense charges for that year. Additional acquisition expense charges shall be the excess of the expense charges, other than service charges, actually made in an insurance-increase year over the averaged administrative expense charges for that year. An insurance-increase year shall be the year beginning on the date of increase in the amount of insurance by policyowner request (or by the terms of the policy).

8. Service charges shall include charges permitted by the policy to be imposed as the result of a policyowner's request for a service by the insurer (such as the furnishing of future benefit illustrations) or of special transactions.

9. The initial expense allowance shall be the allowance provided by [Items (ii), (iii) and (iv) of Section 5] or by [Items (ii) and (iii) of Section 5-c(l)], as applicable, of the Standard Non-Forfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980 for a fixed premium, fixed benefit endowment policy with a face amount equal to the initial face amount of the flexible premium universal life insurance policy, with level premiums paid annually until the highest attained age at which a premium may be paid under the flexible premium universal life insurance policy, and maturing on the latest maturity date permitted under the policy, if any, otherwise at the highest age in the valuation mortality table. The unused initial expense allowance shall be the excess, if any, of the initial expense allowance over the initial acquisition expense charges, as defined above.

10. If the amount of insurance is subsequently increased upon request of the policyowner (or by the terms of the policy), an additional expense allowance and an unused additional expense allowance shall be determined on a basis consistent with the above and with [Section 5-c(5) of the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980, using the face amount and the latest maturity date permitted at that time under the policy.

11. The unamortized unused initial expense allowance during the policy year beginning on the policy anniversary at age x + t (where "x" is the same issue age) shall be the unused initial expense allowance multiplied by:

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where:

ä_x + t and ä_x + t and ä_x are present values of an annuity of one per year payable on policy anniversaries beginning at ages x + t and x, respectively, and continuing until the highest attained age at which a premium may be paid under the policy, both on the mortality and interest bases guaranteed in the policy. An unamortized unused additional expense allowance shall be the unused additional expense allowance multiplied by a similar ratio of annuities, with ä_x replaced by an annuity beginning on the date as of which the additional expense allowance was determined.

⁴Because this product is still developing, it is recommended that benefit charges not be restricted and regulatory treatment of cash values be limited to that contained in this Section for several reasons.

First, further restrictions would limit the development of the product.

Second, added restrictions would discourage insurers from reducing non-guaranteed current benefit charges because such reductions could require reduced future benefit charges that could be financially unsound for the insurer.

Third, market pressures will encourage insurers to limit benefit charges.

B. Minimum Cash Surrender Values for Fixed Premium Universal Life Insurance Policies

1. For fixed premium universal life insurance policies, the minimum cash surrender values shall be determined separately for the basic policy and any benefits and riders for which premiums are paid separately. The following requirements pertain to a basic policy and any benefits and riders for which premiums are not paid separately.

a. The minimum cash surrender value (before adjustment for indebtedness and dividend credits) available on a date as of which interest is credited to the policy shall be equal to:

((A)-(B)-(C)-(D))

where:

(A) is the present value of all future guaranteed benefits.

(B) is the present value of future adjusted premiums. The adjusted premiums are calculated as described in (Sections 5 and 5-a or in Paragraph (1) of Section 5-c], as applicable, of the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980. If Section 5-c, Paragraph (1) is applicable, the nonforfeiture net level premium is equal to the quantity:

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where:

PVFB is the present value of a benefits guaranteed at issue assuming future premiums are paid by the policyowner and all guarantees contained in the policy or declared by the insurer.

ä_x is the present value of an annuity of one per year payable on policy anniversaries beginning at age x and continuing until the highest attained age at which a premium may be paid under the policy.

(C) is the present value of any quantities analogous to the nonforfeiture net level premium which arise because of guarantees declared by the insurer after the issue date of the policy. a_x shall be replaced by an annuity beginning on the date as of which the declaration became effective and payable until the end of the period covered by the declaration.

(D) is the sum of any quantities analogous to (B) which arise because of structural changes⁵ in the policy.

b. Future guaranteed benefits are determined by:

i. projecting the policy value taking into account future premiums, if any, and using all guarantees of interest, mortality, expense deductions, etc., contained in the policy or declared by the insurer; and

ii. taking into account any benefits guaranteed in the policy or by declaration which do not depend on the policy value.

c. All present values shall be determined using:

i. an interest rate (or rates) specified by the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980 for policies issued in the same year; and

ii. the mortality rates specified by the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980 for policies issued in the same year or contained in such other table as may be approved by the commissioner for this purpose.

⁵See Footnote 3 (§8507)

C. Minimum Paid-Up Nonforfeiture Benefits

1. If a universal life insurance policy provides for the optional election of a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit, it shall be such that its present value shall be at least equal to the cash surrender value provided for by the policy on the effective date of the election. The present value shall be based on mortality and interest standards at least as favorable to the policyowner as:

a. in the case of a flexible premium universal life insurance policy, the mortality and interest basis guaranteed in the policy for determining the policy value; or

b. in the case of fixed premium policy the mortality and interest standards permitted for paid-up nonforfeiture benefits by the Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance, as amended in 1980. In lieu of the paid-up nonforfeiture benefit, the insurer may substitute, upon proper request not later than 60 days after the due date of the premium in default, an actuarially equivalent alternative paid-up nonforfeiture benefit which provides a greater amount or longer period of death benefits, or, if applicable, a greater amount or earlier payment of endowment benefits.

La. Admin. Code tit. 37, § XIII-8509

Promulgated by the Department of Insurance, Commissioner of Insurance, LR 11:690 (July 1985).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with Title 22, Section 2 and Title 36, Section 682 of the Insurance Laws of the State of Louisiana.