STATE OF NEW YORK
INSURANCE DEPARTMENT
25 BEAVER STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004
Circular Letter No. 17 (1998)
July 23, 1998 |
| TO: |
All insurers organized, registered, accredited or
licensed to do an insurance business in New York State (including all licensed life
insurers, fraternal benefit societies, savings bank life insurance departments, accredited
life reinsurers, property/casualty insurers, co-operative property/casualty insurers,
financial guaranty insurers, mortgage guaranty insurers, reciprocal insurers, accident and
health insurers, Article 43 Corporations, Public Health Law Article 44 health maintenance
organizations, title insurers, the State Insurance Fund, and accredited property/casualty
reinsurers; all hereinafter referred to as "insurers") |
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| RE: |
Holocaust Victims Insurance Act of 1998 |
CHAPTER 259 OF THE LAWS OF 1998 added
Article 27 (entitled "Holocaust Victims Insurance Act of 1998") to the New York
Insurance Law. The Act provides insurance claims assistance to Holocaust victims (defined
as "any person, claimant, or the estate, heir, legatee, descendent, survivor,
beneficiary, or other such successor-in-interest of such person") who lost their
lives or property as a result of discriminatory laws, policies or actions during the
period between January 1, 1929 and December 31, 1945 in areas under Nazi influence.
Chapter 259, signed into law on July 8, 1998, became effective immediately. The affected
insurance policies include, but are not limited to, any form of life, accident and health,
annuities, property, casualty, education or dowry insurance (Section 2701(c)).
In approving Chapter 259, Governor Pataki stated:
New York State
has led the Nation in its efforts to ensure a just resolution of Holocaust victims'
unresolved legitimate claims. The New York State Holocaust Claims Processing Office has
served as an advocate for claimants since it opened in September 1997, assisting them to
recover assets deposited in Swiss banks prior to and during World War II and to recover
monies never paid in connection with insurance policies issued by European insurance
companies during the same period.
* * *
While the bill
establishes an important framework by which New York State can assist in the resolution of
these claims, it is important to acknowledge the global context of this issue, involving,
as it does, Holocaust victims and their heirs, insurers and regulators in several
different countries and jurisdictions. My administration has been actively involved in the
efforts to address this issue in a comprehensive fashion through the creation of an
international body that would be empowered to evaluate and resolve outstanding claims.
On April 8,
1998 at the offices of the New York State Insurance Department, a Memorandum of Intent was
executed by the Superintendent of Insurance, other insurance regulators in the United
States, worldwide Jewish organizations and insurance companies. The memorandum
contemplates the establishment of such an independent international commission, with its
members drawn from the United States and European regulators, European insurance companies
and non-governmental Jewish and Holocaust survivor organizations. To date, forty-seven
states and the District of Columbia have signed the Memorandum of Intent.
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In
recognition of the provisions of Chapter 259 and the initiatives described above, your
attention is directed to new Section 2705(a) of the Insurance Law, which provides that
each insurer shall file or cause its holding company to file with the Superintendent of
Insurance, no later than November 5, 1998, a report setting forth the
insurer’s plan ("Plan") for complying with the provisions of Article 27.
The Plan must include, but not be limited to, the procedures for obtaining the information
that is specifically required by Section 2705(b)(1) through (8) and for the handling by
the insurer of Holocaust victims’ claims pursuant to the requirements of Section
2703(a). Pursuant to Section 2705(c), the Plan must be certified and affirmed under oath
as being true and not misleading and as containing the most accurate information available
at the time of such report's submission, by the chief executive officer (or comparable
officer) of the responding entity.
In addition to
the foregoing, each insurer is required by Section 2705(b) to report or cause its holding
company to report to the Superintendent, no later than January 30, 1999 and annually
thereafter for each of the succeeding ten years, the following information:
- whether the insurer is a member of a holding company system which included any insurer,
other member, subsidiary or division in each case whether a licensee or not, that could
possibly be expected to have issued an insurance policy to a Holocaust victim between
January 1, 1920 and December 31, 1945 and a list of each such entity;
- the approximate number and the total value of all such insurance policies which remain
unpaid or were paid to, or expropriated by, a government located in areas under Nazi
influence that was not the named beneficiary of such policies;
- the attempts made by the insurer to locate beneficiaries of any insurance policies for
which no claim of benefits was made;
- the number of claims filed by persons who allege or have alleged that they are Holocaust
victims and whether each such claim has been paid or payment has been denied;
- a summary of the length of time for the processing and disposition of such a claim; and
- any additional information which may be requested by the Superintendent pursuant to
Section 2705(b)(4) and (6).
Although a
Department regulation will be issued later this year providing filing specifications for
the reports to be filed pursuant to Section 2705(b) of the Insurance Law, the report
containing the Plan which you are required to file pursuant to Section 2705(a) will be
unaffected by the issuance of such regulation and, as stated above, must be filed no later
than November 5, 1998. Failure to file reports as required by Section 2705(a) and (b) will
subject violators to, inter alia, the penalties specified in Section 2707.
For your
convenience, the Insurance Department website at www.ins.state.ny.us will provide the COMPLETE TEXT OF CHAPTER 259.
Reports filed
pursuant to Article 27 of the New York Insurance Law should be addressed to:
Mr. Stephen P. Maluk
Assistant Director of Policy
Executive Bureau
New York State Insurance Department
25 Beaver Street
New York, New York 10004
Telephone (212) 480-2299
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Very truly yours,
(SIGNED)
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BONNIE STEINGART
Deputy Superintendent &
General Counsel |
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