In addition to the requirements of Rules
69O-150.104 and
69O-150.105, F.A.C.,
advertisements of indeterminate value life and annuity contracts as defined in
Section 627.8015(1),
F.S., shall be subject to the following requirements:
(1) Advertisements containing a rate to be
earned, including interest rates, rates of return, or any other designation of
earnings performance, are prohibited unless all limitations and conditions
which affect the rate of return ultimately realized by the
policyholder/certificateholder or annuitant are disclosed prominently with
equal emphasis to describe the interest rate or rate of return. The disclosure
shall include:
(a) Premium expense charges, if
any;
(b) Administrative charges, if
any;
(c) The full surrender charge,
year by year; and,
(d) Any policy
fees;
(e) Free withdrawal
provisions or bail-outs, if any;
(f) Market value adjustment, if
any;
(g) Participation rates, if
any;
(h) Any other provisions which
affect the rate of return ultimately realized by the
policyholder/certificateholder or annuitant, and how the return is
affected;
(i) Guaranteed minimum
interest rate during the accumulation period, if any;
(j) Guaranteed minimum interest rate during
the annuitization period, if any.
(2) Advertisements of indeterminate life
policies and annuities which have multiple fund crediting rates established by
the insurer shall also disclose that if an interest rate is disclosed for any
fund in the contract, the interest rate for any other funds shall be disclosued
with equal emphasis.
(3) An
advertisement shall not refer to an annuity as a CD annuity.
(4) All variable life and annuity
advertisements shall clearly disclose whether the insured may realize positive
or negative returns on the principal, including a potential loss of the
original principal contribution.
(5) Any depiction comparing the returns
possible under a specific contract to alternative financial vehicles, whether
charts, graphs, or other methods, must compare the information in a comparable
fashion. As an example, if comparing to an annually taxable investment, the
indeterminate value life and annuity comparison shall also reflect the impact
of all contract charges and illustrate the after-tax surrender value for all
time points illustrated for the annually taxable investment. This does not
prohibit the use of generic comparisons of a tax deferred return to a non-tax
deferred account if used in an institutional advertisement.
(6) For annuities with a rate declared by the
insurer to be applied to any or all of an account value held within the
contract, the term "yield" shall only be used to reflect the net ultimate
return to the policyholder/certificateholder or annuitant after all contract
charges and deductions have been made. The term shall not be used to reflect
the gross credited rate of interest to a fund.
(7)
(a)
Illustrations of policy or contract values shall clearly indicate whether the
values are at the end of the year or the beginning of the year shown.
(b) All ages shown shall be for the same time
point as the associated values.
(c)
Policy or contract values may be indicated only if guaranteed values are also
shown.
(d) The guaranteed values
illustrated may only be those values explicitly guaranteed in the
contract.