뉴욕 금융감독원(NY DFS)은 메트라이프 생명보험회사에 대하여 검사를 실시한 결과 13천명의 계약자에게 연금을 지급하지 않은 사실에 대하여 1,975만달러(약 222억원)의 벌금을 부과하고 189백만달러를 계약자에게 소급하여 지급해야한다고 2019년 1월28일 발표하였다. (메트라이프는 이미 123백만달러를 계약자에게 소급하여 지급한 상태이다.)

퇴직자에게 연금을 직접 지급해야하는 부담을  덜고자하는 기업들이 메트라이프 등 몇명 생명보험회사에 기업연금을 이전하였다. 따라서 기존 퇴직연금제도하에서 수급권이 있는 퇴직자들은 이 생명보험회사들의 단체연금 형태로 정기적으로 연금을 받게된다.

그러나, 2017년 메트라이프는 이 수급권자 중 수천명을 찾을 수 없었다고 감독당국에 자진신고하였고, 과소적립된 책임준비금을 510백만달러 더 쌓을 것이라고 2018년 2월에 밝힌 바가 있다.

"이 조치은 그간 메트라이프의 관리업무실패로 피해받은 계약자의 승리이며, 감독당국은 업무개선 요구 등을 통해 계약자를 보호하기 위해 노력하겠다"고 Maria T. Vullo 감독원 수석감독관이 말했다.

출처 : https://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1901282.htm

Press Release

January 28, 2019

Contact: Richard Loconte, 212-709-1691

DFS SUPERINTENDENT VULLO ANNOUNCES THAT METLIFE WILL PAY A $19.75 MILLION FINE AND PROVIDE $189 MILLION IN RESTITUTION TO POLICYHOLDERS FOR FAILURES RELATED TO PENSION BENEFIT TRANSFERS

DFS Examination Revealed Insurer Violated Legal Requirements Governing Its Administration of Group Annuity Contracts, Procedures for Searches Against the Social Security Death Master File, and Variable Annuity Replacement Processes

Insurer Unlawfully Released Reserves on In-Force Annuity Contracts for Its Pension Transfer Business and Failed to Promptly Settle Group Annuity Pension Claims

$123 Million in Restitution Already Paid to Consumers Whose Benefits Were Lost or Delayed

Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo today announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has entered into a consent order with MetLife Insurance Company, under which the insurer will pay a penalty of $19,750,000 for violations of New York Insurance Law stemming from a DFS examination which found that the insurer failed to properly locate and pay benefits to thousands of New York insureds and beneficiaries. As part of the consent order, MetLife will also pay retroactive benefits to policyholders in New York State and elsewhere totaling more than $189 million. The insurer has already paid $123 million of the approximately $189 million to consumers whose group annuity benefits had been lost or delayed, and will pay the remainder going forward.

“Today’s action is a victory for policyholders, whose benefits were not paid due to MetLife’s failures, with the Department taking the necessary action to protect consumers,” Superintendent Vullo said. “The restitution and other corrective actions mandated under this consent order will ensure that consumers are paid the benefits to which they are entitled and that an appropriate fine is paid and procedures put in place to prevent this from happening again. The Department appreciates MetLife’s cooperation in self-reporting its claims issues, resolving these matters, and committing to full restitution to all eligible beneficiaries.”

In addition to the benefits that have already been paid during the course of the DFS examination, MetLife is projected to make the following restitution to consumers:

• $63 million set aside for expected death claims or escheatment based on a Social Security Death Master File process that DFS is requiring the insurer to use to identify life insurance and annuity contract holders who have died or where beneficiaries are unaware that they are entitled to benefits;
• $1.85 million in monthly payments to consumers as the company completes a group annuity remediation process; and
• $1.5 million in restitution to consumers whom the insurer failed to provide with accurate comparisons of fees and expenses when transferring from an existing to a new variable annuity contract.

In today’s consent order, MetLife was cited for violations dating back to 1992 and extending to 2017, including:

• Improperly released reserves for 13,712 group annuity certificates, resulting in a subsequent reserve increase of more than $500 million;
• Failure to adequately search for group annuity certificate holders to whom it owed pension benefits;
• Failure to perform a cross-check against the Social Security Death Master File for group annuitants where a Social Security number was missing or a number was invalid;
• Failure to take reasonable efforts to confirm the death of an insured and timely commence outreach to beneficiaries where it did not have specific information in its administrative systems;
• Failure to research and timely commence outreach where certain variations of an insured’s information existed in its administrative systems;
• Failure to ensure that variable annuity replacement disclosure statements were accurate and compliant with the law; and
• Failure to present consumers with an accurate comparison of the fees and expenses between existing and proposed variable annuity contracts.

In addition to the fine and restitution, MetLife must take the following corrective measures:

• Establish and maintain full statutory reserves for all group pension certificate holders;
• Pay retroactive benefits with interest to already retired group certificate holders or their surviving beneficiaries; and
• Send letters to all group annuity certificate holders no later than 5 years prior to the normal retirement date, including a certified letter around the normal retirement date, and letters at least every five years thereafter until the insurer pays benefits, escheats benefits under the Abandoned Property Law, or definitively determines that it has no payment obligation.

The consent order requires MetLife to retain a third-party servicer that specializes in locating beneficiaries who are due pension benefits and have not been paid. The insurer will be responsible for paying all expenses incurred by the third-party servicer.

The order also mandates that MetLife provide DFS with four detailed remediation plans providing for remediation or restitution to policyholders or their beneficiaries. Under the plans, the insurer will be required to undertake such activities as utilizing an enhanced death database which includes data from sources in addition to the Social Security Death Master File.