New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 11 - INSURANCE
Chapter III - Policy and Certificate Provisions
Subchapter A - Life, Accident and Health Insurance
Part 54 - Variable Life Insurance
Section 54.1 - Definitions
Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
Wherever used in this Part, the following terms shall have the respective meanings set forth or indicated in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) Separate account or separate accounts means an account or accounts established pursuant to section 4240 of the Insurance Law, or pursuant to the corresponding section of the insurance law of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer.
(b) General account means all assets of the insurer, other than assets in separate accounts established pursuant to section 4240 of the Insurance Law, or pursuant to the corresponding section of the insurance law of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer, whether or not for variable life insurance.
(c) Special contingent reserve fund means a fund established pursuant to section 4240 (b) of the Insurance Law.
(d) Net investment return means the rate of investment return to be applied to the benefit base.
(e) Variable life insurance policy means any individual policy which provides for life insurance, the amount or duration of which varies according to the investment experience of any separate account or accounts established and maintained by the insurer with respect to such policy, pursuant to section 4240 of the Insurance Law, or pursuant to the corresponding section of the insurance law of the state of domicile of a foreign or alien insurer.
(f) Variable death benefit means the amount of the death benefit, other than incidental insurance benefits, payable under a variable life insurance policy, dependent on the investment experience of the separate account, and, at the option of the insurer, dependent upon the charging of more favorable mortality and expense charges, if any, than as guaranteed in the contract, which the insurer would have to pay in the absence of any minimum death benefit.
(g) Minimum death benefit means the amount of the guaranteed death benefit, other than incidental insurance benefits, payable under a variable life insurance policy regardless of the investment experience of the separate account if there are no outstanding policy loans, partial withdrawals or partial surrenders.
(h) Incidental insurance benefit means an insurance benefit, in a variable life insurance policy, other than the variable death benefit and the minimum death benefit, and includes, but is not limited to, accidental death and dismemberment benefits, disability benefits, guaranteed insurability options, family income, or term riders.
(i) Benefit base means the amount, specified by the terms of the variable life insurance policy, which is equal to the policy value, and to which the net investment return is applied to determine policy benefits.
(j) Assumed investment rate means the rate of investment return which would be required to be credited to a variable life insurance policy, after deduction of charges for taxes, investment expenses, and mortality and expense guarantees to maintain the variable death benefit equal at all times to the amount of death benefit, other than incidental insurance benefits, which would be payable under the plan of insurance if the death benefit did not vary according to the investment experience of the separate account.
(k) Policy processing day means the day on which charges authorized in the policy are deducted from the policy value.
(l) Scheduled premium policy means any variable life insurance policy under which both the amount and timing of premium payments are fixed by the insurer.
(m) Flexible premium policy means any variable life insurance policy other than a scheduled premium policy as specified in subdivision (l) of this section.
(n) Affiliate of an insurer means any person, directly or indirectly, controlling, controlled by, or under common control with such insurer; any person who regularly furnishes investment advice to such insurer with respect to its separate accounts for which a specific fee or commission is charged; or any director, officer, partner or employee of any such insurer, controlling or controlled person, or person providing investment advice or any member of the immediate family of such person.
(o) Agent means any person, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity which is licensed by this State as a life insurance agent or broker.
(p) Superintendent means the Insurance Superintendent of New York.
(q) Control (including the terms controlling, controlled by and under common control with) means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. Control shall be presumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing more than 10 percent of the voting securities of any other person. This presumption may be rebutted by a showing made to the satisfaction of the superintendent that control does not exist in fact. The superintendent may determine, after furnishing all persons in interest notice and opportunity to be heard and making specific findings of fact to support such determination, that control exists in fact, notwithstanding the absence of a presumption to that effect.
(r) May is permissive.
(s) Shall is mandatory.
(t) Person means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, trust or fund.
(u) Policy value means the amount, specified by the terms of the variable life insurance policy, to which separately identified mortality, expense or other charges are made.
(v) Cash surrender value means the policy value less any policy-defined surrender charge.
(w) Net cash surrender value means the cash surrender value less any amounts outstanding as policy loans and loan interest.
(x) General account life insurance policy means any life insurance policy other than a variable life insurance policy as specified in subdivision (e) of this section.
(y) Private placement variable life insurance policy means any variable life insurance policy that:
[FN*] 17 Code of Federal Regulations section 230.501(a) (revised on April 1, 2011), published by U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20401.
[FN**] 15 United States Code section 80 a - 2(a)(51) (revised on February 1, 2010), published by Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
