The legal minimum standard for valuation of life insurance contracts issued before the first day of January 1926 shall be the method and basis of valuation heretofore applied by the insurer in the valuation of such contracts, and for life insurance contracts issued on or after this date shall be the American experience table of mortality, with interest at the rate of three and one-half percent a year; or any other basis not producing a lower net value; provided, however, that the insurer may provide for not more than one-year preliminary term insurance by incorporating in the contracts a clause plainly showing that the first year's insurance under such policies is term insurance.
Except as otherwise provided in Paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5) of Subsection B of this section and in Subsections C, D and E of this section for group annuity and pure endowment contracts, the legal minimum standard for the valuation of annuities shall be the American experience table of mortality, with interest at the rate of five percent a year for group annuity and pure endowment contracts and four percent a year for other annuities.
I = .03 + W (R1 - .03) + W/2 (R2 - .09);
I = .03 + W (R - .03)
where R1 is the lesser of R and .09, R2 is the greater of R and .09, R is the reference interest rate defined in Subsection D of this section, and W is the weighting factor defined in Subsection C of this section;
Guarantee Duration (Years) | Weighting Factors |
10 or less | .50 |
More than 10, but not more than 20 | .45 |
More than 20 | .35 |
For life insurance, the guarantee duration is the maximum number of years the life insurance can remain in force on a basis guaranteed in the policy or under options to convert to plans of life insurance with premium rates or nonforfeiture values or both that are guaranteed in the original policy;
.80
Guarantee Duration (Years) | Weighting Factor for Plan Type | ||
A | B | C | |
5 or less: | .80 | .60 | .50 |
More than 5, but not more than 10: | .75 | .60 | .50 |
More than 10, but not more than 20: | .65 | .50 | .45 |
More than 20: | .45 | .35 | .35 |
Plan Type | ||
A | B | C |
.15 | .25 | .05 |
Plan Type | ||
A | B | C |
.05 | .05 | .05 |
Plan Type A: At any time, policyholder may withdraw funds only: with an adjustment to reflect changes in interest rates or asset values since receipt of the funds by the insurer; or without such adjustment but in installments over five years or more; or as an immediate life annuity; or no withdrawal permitted.
Plan Type B: Before expiration of the interest rate guarantee, policyholder may withdraw funds only: with an adjustment to reflect changes in interest rates or asset values since receipt of the funds by the insurer; or without such adjustment but in installments over five years or more; or no withdrawal permitted. At the end of interest rate guarantee, funds may be withdrawn without such adjustment in a single sum or installments over less than five years.
Plan Type C: Policyholder may withdraw funds before expiration of interest rate guarantee in a single sum or installments over less than five years either: without adjustment to reflect changes in interest rates or asset values since receipt of the funds by the insurer; or subject only to a fixed surrender charge stipulated in the contract as a percentage of the fund.
Provided that for any life insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 1985 for which the contract premium in the first policy year exceeds that of the second year and for which no comparable additional benefit is provided in the first year for such excess and that provides an endowment benefit or a cash surrender value or a combination thereof in an amount greater than such excess premium, the reserve according to the commissioners reserve valuation method as of any policy anniversary occurring on or before the assumed ending date defined herein as the first policy anniversary on which the sum of any endowment benefit and any cash surrender value then available is greater than such excess premium shall, except as otherwise provided in Subparagraph (f) of this paragraph, be the greater of the reserve as of such policy anniversary calculated as described previously in this paragraph and the reserve as of such policy anniversary calculated as previously described in this paragraph, but with: the value defined in Subparagraph (a) of this paragraph being reduced by fifteen percent of the amount of such excess first year premium; all present values of benefits and premiums being determined without reference to premiums or benefits provided for by the policy after the assumed ending date; the policy being assumed to mature on such date as an endowment; and the cash surrender value provided on such date being considered as an endowment benefit. In making the above comparison the mortality and interest bases stated in Paragraphs (1), (3), (4) and (5) of Subsection B of this section and in Subsections C and D of this section shall be used.
Reserves according to the commissioners reserve valuation method for:
Any such insurer that at any time adopts any standard of valuation producing greater aggregate reserves than those calculated according to the minimum standard provided by the Standard Valuation Law may, with the approval of the superintendent, adopt any lower standard of valuation, but not lower than the minimum herein provided; but, for the purpose of this section, the holding of additional reserves previously determined by a qualified actuary to be necessary to render the opinion required by Section 59A-8A-4 NMSA 1978 shall not be deemed to be the adoption of a higher standard of valuation;
Provided that for any life insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 1985 for which the gross premium in the first policy year exceeds that of the second year and for which no comparable additional benefit is provided in the first year for such excess and that provides an endowment benefit or a cash surrender value or a combination thereof in an amount greater than such excess premium, the foregoing provisions of Subparagraph (f) of this paragraph shall be applied as if the method actually used in calculating the reserve for such policy were the method previously described in this paragraph ignoring the unnumbered paragraph immediately following Subparagraph (b) of this paragraph. The minimum reserve at each policy anniversary of such a policy shall be the greater of the minimum reserve calculated in accordance with the method previously described in this paragraph, including the unnumbered paragraph immediately following Subparagraph (b), and the minimum reserve calculated in accordance with Subparagraph (f) of this paragraph; and
Reserves according to the commissioners annuity reserve method for benefits under annuity or pure endowment contracts, excluding any disability and accidental death benefits in such contracts, shall be the greatest of the respective excesses of the present values, at the date of valuation, of the future guaranteed benefits, including guaranteed nonforfeiture benefits, provided for by such contracts at the end of each respective contract year, over the present value, at the date of valuation, of any future valuation considerations derived from future gross considerations, required by the terms of such contract, that become payable prior to the end of such respective contract year. The future guaranteed benefits shall be determined by using the mortality table, if any, and the interest rate or rates, specified in such contracts for determining guaranteed benefits. The valuation considerations are the portions of the respective gross considerations applied under the terms of such contracts to determine nonforfeiture values.
NMS § 59A-8A-6