Death Master Report

5 Overview of Examination Objectives Led by the Insurance Commissioners of California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and North Dakota (“Lead States”),insurance regulators from these state insurance departments launched examinations to review insurers’ practices and procedures, dating back to 1992, related to the following areas: • Unpaid death benefits due under the insurers’ life insurance policies and annuity contracts; • Unpaid proceeds due under matured annuities; • Balances remaining in retained asset accounts on which no recent owner-initiated activity has occurred; • Any efforts made by insurers to locate and pay beneficiaries or contingent payees; and • Potential inconsistencies in how Social Security Administration data identifying deceased individuals, or other similar information, was used by the insurers. Overview of Examination Approach To accomplish these objectives, the examiners sought to collect and review the following written policies and procedures, narrative descriptions and explanations, and data sets: • Written policies and procedures for unclaimed property and its escheatment, and the insurers’ application of those procedures; • Death claim processing manuals and instructions; • Information on a variety of business unit processes related to life insurance, annuities and retained asset accounts obtained through verbal interviews and walk-throughs; • Written policies and procedures and narrative descriptions of the insurers’ use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File database; • Written policies and procedures for returned and undeliverable mail, and uncashed stale-dated checks; • Procedures for maintaining current contact information for insureds, contract owners, and accountholders; III. Examinations