Contracts Providing For Variable Benefits

Contracts Providing For Variable Benefits A. Any variable contract providing benefits payable in variable amounts delivered or issued for delivery in this state shall contain a statement of the essential features of the procedures to be followed by the insurance company in determining the dollar amount of such variable benefits. Any such contract, including a group contract and any certificate issued thereunder, shall state that such dollar amount may vary to reflect investment experience and shall contain on its first page a clear statement to the effect that the benefits thereunder are on a variable basis. B. Illustrations of benefits payable under any contract providing benefits payable in variable amounts shall not include projections of past investment experience into the future or attempted predictions of future investment experience; provided that nothing contained therein is intended to prohibit use of hypothetical assumed rates of return to illustrate possible levels of annuity payments. C. No individual variable annuity contract calling for the payment of periodic stipulated payments shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless it contains in substance the following provisions or provisions which in the opinion of the Commissioner are more favorable to the holders of such contracts: 1. a provision that there shall be a period of grace of 30 days or of one month, within which any stipulated payment to the insurer falling due after the first may be made, during which period of grace the contract shall continue in force. The contract may include a statement of the basis for determining the date as of which and such payment received during the period of grace shall be applied to produce the values under the contract arising therefrom; 2. a provision that, at any time within three (3) years from the date of default, in making periodic stipulated payments to the insurer during the life of the annuitant and unless the cash surrender value has been paid, the contract may be reinstated by the contract, and of all indebtedness to the insurer on the contract for determining the date as of which the amount to cover such overdue payments and indebtedness shall be applied to produce the values under the contract arising therefrom; 3. a provision specifying the options available in the event of default in a periodic stipulated payment. Such options may include an option to surrender the contract for a cash value as determined by the contract, and shall include an option to receive a paid-up annuity if the contract is not surrendered for cash, the amount of such paid-up annuity being determined by applying the value of the contract at the annuity commencement date in accordance with the terms of the contract. D. No individual variable life insurance policy shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless it contains in substance the following provisions or provisions which in the opinion of the Commissioner are more favorable to the holders of suchpolicies: 1. a provision that there shall be a period of grace of 30 days or of one month, within which payment of any premium after the first may be made, during which periodof grace the policy shall continue in force, but if a claim arises under the policy shall continue in force, but if a claim arises under the policy during such period of grace before the overdue premiums or the deferred premiums of the current policy year, if any, are paid, the amount of such premiums, together with interest, may be deducted from any amount payable under the policy in settlement. The policy may contain a statement of the basis for determining any variation in benefits as a result of the paymentof premium during the period of grace. 2. a provisions that the policy will be reinstated at any time within three (3) years from the date of default, unless the cash surrender value has been paid or unless the period of extended insurance has expired upon the application of the insured and the production of evidence of insurability, including good health, satisfactory to the insurer and the payment of an amount not exceeding the greater of 1. All overdue payments andthe payment of any other indebtedness to the insurer upon said policy with interest, or 2. 110% of the increase in cash surrender value resulting from reinstatement. 3. a provision for cash surrender values and paid-up insurance benefits available as non-forfeiture options under the policy in the event of default in a premium payment after premiums have been paid for a specified period. If the policy does not include a table of figures for the options so available, the policy shall provide that the company will furnish at least once in each policy year a statement showing the cash value as of a date no earlier than the prior policy anniversary. The method of computation of cash value and other non-forfeiture benefits, as described either in the policy or in a statement filed with the Commissioner of the jurisdiction in which the policy is delivered, shall be accordance with actuarial procedures that recognize the variable nature of the policy. The method of computation must be such that, if the net investment return credited to the contract at all times from the date of issue should be equal to the assumed investment increment factor if the contract provided for such a factor, or 3½ % if not, with premiums and benefits determined accordingly under the terms of the policy, the resulting cash values and other non-forfeiture benefits would be at least equal to the minimum values required bySection 83-7-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated (Standard Non-Forfeiture Law), for afixed dollar policy with such premiums and benefits. The method of computation may disregard incidental minimum guarantees as to the dollar amounts payable. Incidental minimum guarantees include, for example, but are not to be limited to, a guarantee under a policy which provides for an assumed investment increment factor that the amount payable at death or maturity shall be at least equal to the amount that otherwise would have been payable if the net investment to the contract at all times from the date of issue had been equal to such factor. E. Any variable annuity contract delivered or issue for a delivery in this State shall stipulate the investment increment factors to be used in computing the dollar amount of variable benefits or other variable contractual payments or values thereunder, and may guarantee that expense and/or mortality results shall not adversely affect such dollar amounts. In the case of an individual variable annuity contract under which the expense and mortality results may adversely affect the dollar amount of benefits, the expense and mortality factors shall be stipulated in the contract. In computing the dollar amount of variable benefits or other contractual payments or values under an individual variable annuity contract: 1. The annual net investment increment assumption shall not exceed 5%, except with the approval of the Commissioner, 2. To the extent that the level of benefits may be affected by future mortality results, the mortality factor shall be determined from the Annuity Mortality Table for 1949, Ultimate, or any modifications of that table not having a lower life expectancy at any age, or, if approved by the Commissioner, from another table. “Expense”, as used in this Paragraph, may exclude some or all taxes, as stipulated in the contract. F. Any individual variable life insurance policy delivered or issued for delivery in this State shall stipulate the investment increment factor to be used in computing the dollar amount of variable benefits or other variable contractual payments or values thereunder and shall guarantee that expense and mortality results shall not adversely affect such dollar amounts. G. The reserve liability for variable contracts shall be established pursuant to the requirements of Section 83-7-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, in accordance with actuarial procedures that recognize the variable nature of the benefits provided and any mortality guarantees. H. A company issuing variable life insurance contracts with a stated amount of guaranteed minimum death benefit shall hold in a separate account assets at least equal to the entire reserve for the death benefit (such reserve being determined in accordance with paragraph (7) above), except that additional assets supporting the reserve described in (a) below shall be maintained in the company’s general account. 1. The portion of the reserve in the general account is to provide for the contingency of death occurring when the guaranteed minimum death benefit that wouldhave been paid in the absence of such guarantee. Such additional reserve shall be accumulated from amounts regularly allocated by the company for this purpose and shallbe charged with any excess of the actual death benefits paid by the company on such variable life insurance contracts over the death benefits that would have been payable in the absence of the guaranteed minimum death benefit. 2. In no event, however, may the portion of the reserve maintained in the general account be less than either of the two minimum reserves described in (3) and (4) below. 3. The first minimum reserve equal the aggregate total of the term cost, if any, covering a period of one full year from the valuation date, of the guarantee on each such variable life insurance contract, assuming an immediate one-third depreciation in the current value of the assets of the separate account followed by a net investment return equalto the assumed investment increment factor. 4. The second minimum reserve equals the aggregate total of the “attained age level” reserves on each such variable life insurance contract. The “attained age level” reserve on each such variable life insurance contract shall not be less than zero and shall equal the “residue”, as described in (5) below, of the prior year’s “attained age level” reserve on the contract, with any such “residue” increased or decreased by a payment computed on an attained age basis as described in (6) below. 5. The “residue” of the prior year’s “attained age level” reserve on each such variable life insurance contract shall not be less than zero and shall be determined by adding interest at the valuation interest rate to such prior year’s reserve, deducting the tabular claims based on the “excess”, if any, of the guaranteed minimum death benefit, over the death benefit that would be payable in the absence of such guarantee, and dividing the net result by a tabular probability of survival. The “excess” referred to in theprecedingsentence shall be based on the actual level of death benefits that would have been in effect during the preceding year in the absence of the guarantee, taking appropriate account of the reserve assumptions regarding the distribution of death claims payments over the year. 6. The payment referred to in (4) above shall be computed so that the present value of a level payment of that amount each year over the future premium paying period of the contract is equal to (i) minus (ii) minus (iii), where (i) is the present value of the future guaranteed minimum death benefits, (ii) is the present value of the future death benefits that would be payable in the absence of such guarantee and (iii) is any “residue” as described in (e) above, of the prior year’s “attained age level” reserve on such variable life insurance contract. If the contract is paid- up, the payment shall equal (i) minus (ii) minus (iii). The amounts of future death benefits referred to in (ii) shall be computed assuming a net investment return of the separate account which may differ from the assumed investment increment factor and/or the valuation interest rate but in no event may exceed the maximuminterest rate permitted for the valuation of life insurance contracts. 7. The valuation interest rate and mortality table used in computing the two minimum reserves described in (3) and (4) above shall conform to permissible standards for the valuation of life insurance contracts. In determining such minimum reserves, the company may employ suitable approximations and estimates, including but not limited to groupings and averages.