Guidance Date: 12/5/2019

Guidance Regarding Regulation 195 – SERFF Required for Policy Form, Rate, and Compensation Filings made to the Life Bureau

Policy Form, Rate, and Compensation Filings must be made through SERFF starting May 25, 2020.

Regulation 195 (11 NYCRR Part 6) was adopted on November 27, 2019. The regulation requires, among other things, that Policy Form, Rate, and Compensation filings must be submitted to the Department through SERFF. See §6.2(a)(2) and (3) of the regulation. Effective May 25, 2020, the Life Bureau will no longer accept these filings made in paper or any manner other than SERFF, except where an exemption has been granted for a specific submission pursuant to §6.3 of the regulation.

Charitable gift annuity form and rate filings are not subject to this requirement. See §6.2(a)(2) of the regulation.

Guidance for using SERFF can be found in the General SERFF Guidelines for Form Filings: Life Insurers

Exemption Requests

Section 6.3 of Regulation 195 sets forth a process for requesting an exemption for a particular filing. Requests for exemptions must comply with the requirements set forth in §6.3 and should be directed as follows: 

Exemption Requests related to Policy Form Filings should be made to:

Peter A. Dumar, Jr.
Chief Insurance Attorney, Life Bureau
New York State Department of Financial Services
One Commerce Plaza
Albany, New York 12257

Exemption Requests related to Rate or Compensation filings should be made to:

Michael Mazzie
Supervising Actuary, Life Bureau
New York State Department of Financial Services
One Commerce Plaza
Albany, New York 12257

Questions about this guidance should be directed to the Life Bureau.