Marketing Names have recently become an issue in variable material submissions. If you look to the guidance posted on the Department website in January, you will see the following with respect to marketing names.
Marketing names. If a marketing name is bracketed on the application form to reflect a future change and you do not know what the marketing name may be the Memorandum of Variable Material needs to indicate that any change in the marketing name will be submitted in a revised Memorandum of Variable Material for prior approval.
However, my experience is that it is NOT sufficient to state that if there is a change in the marketing name, a revised Memorandum of Variable Material will be submitted for approval. In fact a file was recently closed when that was exactly what the memorandum stated. The closing letter stated:
Each memorandum of variable material must specifically state the name of each product which may potentially be used with the above applications at this time. (Emphasis added.)
This statement seems totally unnecessary because one and only one marketing name was included in brackets and the required statement from the published guidance regarding future filings if there was a change was included in the SOV. Therefore, no other name could "potentially be used at this time" - or it would undeniably constitute use of an unapproved form! Clearly the company understood this and conveyed their understanding that the approval would cover only the one name provided in brackets on the application. Further the SOV was in full compliance with the published guidance with respect to future filings. But the filing was closed nonetheless and had to be re-submitted with the additional statement that there was no other name that would "potentially be used at this time." It is unclear to me what additional assurance that provides, but I recommend including it to avoid having your file closed!
