NYSID Explains Status of Post Approval Reviews
The Department's 2007 Annual Report to the Legislature had a few paragraphs dedicated to the post-approval review process used by the Life Bureau. The Department confirms what some may have experienced when they explain that a PAR often has 4 phases including development of an endorsement for in-force policies, remediation for non-compliance, submission of a new policy form for use on a going forward basis and finally possible disciplinary action against the company and/or the officer signing the certification. This four-phase process is the explanation provided for the complicated and time-consuming nature of PARs.
The Department also indicates that they are continuing to refine the process to prioritize approved files for post-approval review. The highest priority, the Life Bureau reports, is given to "files with new, innovative or controversial features or files that raise solvency, consumer protection or market competition concerns." They indicate that as of "January 7, 2008, over 1000 of the 3,692 certified approved files had been screened and assigned a priority rating and approximately 170 certified approved files had been assigned for post approval review." (Note that this refers to files, not forms. Each file could contain multiple forms.)
The report does not say how many PAR files had been completed by January 7, 2008 or how many involved which of the four phases of review. As has been indicated here recently, closings appear to be happening more frequently lately, but the ones we've seen have not included all four phases described above. Additional data on the course and ultimate dispositions of PARs would be very helpful for companies analyzing which filing process to use.
