New York Passes Life Settlement Bill
The New York state Assembly’s Insurance Committee passed a life settlements bill today, which would regulate the market for the first time in the state.
A 7131, sponsored by committee Chairman Joe Morelle, will now proceed to the Assembly Codes Committee, where amendments proposed by the settlement industry are expected to be addressed.
The bill, drafted by the New York State Insurance Department, had hardly been out in March when it encountered resistance from Doug Head, executive director of the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA).
He has previously objected provisions in the bill that would allow insureds to choose which state can regulate settlements. That would conflict with other states’ laws which call for settlements to be regulated by the state where the insured lives.
Russel Dorsett, co-managing director of life settlement broker Veris Settlement Partners, said he’s troubled by a provision in the New York bill that would require names and addresses of all intermediaries who participate in a transaction to be disclosed. That would allow “upstream parties” such as banks and providers to know “downstream” players such as producers. He said that could hurt brokers because “the banks would love to bypass everybody.”
“Mandating the names and addresses of anybody who touched that transaction, that’s silly,” Dorsett said.
If New York is to enact a bill this year, time is short because there are 13 legislative days left to do so, according to several members of the life settlement market.
Source: Bill
