This section shall be known as the “Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Individual Deferred
Annuities”.
1. This section does not apply to any reinsurance, group annuity purchased under a
retirement plan or plan of deferred compensation established or maintained by an employer,
including a partnership or sole proprietorship, or by an employee organization, or by
both, other than a plan providing individual retirement accounts or individual retirement
annuities under section 408 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, as now or hereafter
amended, premium deposit fund, variable annuity, investment annuity, immediate annuity,
any deferred annuity contract after annuity payments have commenced, or reversionary
annuity, nor to any contract which is delivered outside this state through an agent or other
representative of the company issuing the contract.
2. a. Inthecaseofcontractsissuedonoraftertheoperativedateofthissectionasdefined
in subsection 11, no contract of annuity, except as stated in subsection 1, shall be delivered
or issued for delivery in this state unless it contains in substance the following provisions, or
corresponding provisions that in the opinion of the commissioner are at least as favorable to
the contract holder, upon cessation of payment of considerations under the contract:
(1) Thatuponcessationofpaymentofconsiderationsunderacontractoruponthewritten
request of the contract owner, the company shall grant a paid-up annuity benefit on a plan
stipulated in the contract of such value as is specified in subsections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.
(2) If a contract provides for a lump sum settlement at maturity, or at any other time, that
uponsurrenderofthecontractatorpriortothecommencementofanyannuitypayments, the
companyshallpayinlieuofapaid-upannuitybenefitacashsurrenderbenefitofsuchamount
as is specified in subsections 4, 5, 7, and 9. The company may reserve the right to defer the
payment of such cash surrender benefit for a period not to exceed six months after demand
therefore with surrender of the contract after making written request and receiving written
approval of the commissioner. The request shall address the necessity and equitability to all
policyholders of the deferral.
(3) A statement of the mortality table, if any, and interest rates used in calculating any
minimum paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits that are guaranteed under the
contract, together with sufficient information to determine the amounts of such benefits.
(4) A statement that any paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits that may be
available under the contract are not less than the minimum benefits required by any statute
of the state in which the contract is delivered and an explanation of the manner in which such
benefits are altered by the existence of any additional amounts credited by the company to
the contract, any indebtedness to the company on the contract or any prior withdrawals from
or partial surrenders of the contract.
b. Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection 2, any deferred annuity contract
may provide that if no considerations have been received under a contract for a period of two
full years and the portion of the paid-up annuity benefit at maturity on the plan stipulated in
the contract arising from considerations paid prior to such period would be less than twenty
dollars monthly, the company may at its option terminate such contract by payment in cash
of the then present value of such portion of the paid-up annuity benefit, calculated on the
basis of the mortality table, if any, and interest rate specified in the contract for determining
the paid-up annuity benefit, and by such payment shall be relieved of any further obligation
under such contract.
3. The minimum values as specified in subsections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 of any paid-up annuity,
cash surrender, or death benefits available under an annuity contract shall be based upon
minimum nonforfeiture amounts as defined in this section.
a. (1) The minimum nonforfeiture amount at any time at or prior to the commencement
of any annuity payments shall be equal to an accumulation up to such time at rates of interest
as indicated in paragraph “b” of the net considerations, as hereinafter defined, paid prior to
such time, decreased by the sum of all of the following:
(a) Any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract accumulated at rates
of interest as indicated in paragraph “b”.
(b) An annual contract charge of fifty dollars, accumulated at rates of interest as indicated
in paragraph “b”.
(c) The amount of any indebtedness to the company on the contract, including interest
due and accrued.
(2) The net considerations for a given contract year used to define the minimum
nonforfeiture amount shall be an amount equal to eighty-seven and one-half percent of the
gross considerations credited to the contract during the contract year.
b. (1) The interest rate used in determining minimum nonforfeiture amounts shall be an
annual rate of interest determined as the lesser of three percent per annum and all of the
following, which shall be specified in the contract if the interest rate will be reset:
(a) The five-year constant maturity treasury rate reported by the federal reserve as
of a date, or average over a period, rounded to the nearest one-twentieth of one percent,
specified in the contract no longer than fifteen months prior to the contract issue date or
redetermination date under subparagraph division (d).
(b) The result of subparagraph division (a) shall be reduced by one hundred twenty-five
basis points.
(c) The resulting interest guarantee shall not be less than fifteen hundredths percent.
(d) The interest rate shall apply for an initial period and may be redetermined for
additional periods. The redetermination date, basis, and period, if any, shall be stated in the
contract. The basis is the date or average over a specified period that produces the value of
the five-year constant maturity treasury rate to be used at each redetermination date.
(2) During the period or term that a contract provides substantive participation in
an equity indexed benefit, it may increase the reduction described in subparagraph (1),
subparagraph division (b), by up to an additional one hundred basis points to reflect the
value of the equity index benefit. The present value at the contract issue date and at each
redetermination date thereafter of the additional reduction shall not exceed the market value
of the benefit. The commissioner may require a demonstration that the present value of the
reduction does not exceed the market value of the benefit. Lacking such a demonstration
that is acceptable to the commissioner, the commissioner may disallow or limit the additional
reduction.
(3) The commissioner may adopt rules to implement the provisions of subparagraph
(1), subparagraph division (d), and to provide for further adjustments to the calculation of
minimum nonforfeiture amounts for contracts that provide substantive participation in an
equity index benefit and for other contracts that the commissioner determines adjustments
are justified.
4. Any paid-up annuity benefit available under a contract shall be such that its present
value on the date annuity payments are to commence is at least equal to the minimum
nonforfeiture amount on that date. Such present value shall be computed using the mortality
table, if any, and the interest rate specified in the contract for determining the minimum
paid-up annuity benefits guaranteed in the contract.
5. For contracts which provide cash surrender benefits, such cash surrender benefits
available prior to maturity shall not be less than the present value as of the date of surrender
of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit which would be provided
under the contract at maturity arising from considerations paid prior to the time of cash
surrender reduced by the amount appropriate to reflect any prior withdrawals from or
partial surrenders of the contract, such present value being calculated on the basis of an
interest rate not more than one percent higher than the interest rate specified in the contract
for accumulating the net considerations to determine such maturity value, decreased by
the amount of any indebtedness to the company on the contract, including interest due
and accrued, and increased by any existing additional amounts credited by the company
to the contract. In no event shall any cash surrender benefit be less than the minimum
nonforfeiture amount at that time. The death benefit under such contracts shall be at least
equal to the cash surrender benefit.
6. For contracts which do not provide cash surrender benefits, the present value of any
paid-up annuity benefit available as a nonforfeiture option at any time prior to maturity shall
not be less than the present value of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity
benefit provided under the contract arising from considerations paid prior to the time the
contract is surrendered in exchange for or changed to, a deferred paid-up annuity, such
present value being calculated for the period prior to the maturity date on the basis of the
interest rate specified in the contract for accumulating the net considerations to determine
such maturity value, and increased by any existing additional amounts credited by the
company to the contract. For contracts which do not provide any death benefits prior to the
commencement of any annuity payments, such present values shall be calculated on the
basis of such interest rate and the mortality table specified in the contract for determining the
maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit. However, in no event shall the present value
of a paid-up annuity benefit be less than the minimum nonforfeiture amount at that time.
7. For the purpose of determining the benefits calculated under subsections 5 and 6, in the
case of annuity contracts under which an election may be made to have annuity payments
commence at optional maturity dates, the maturity date shall be deemed to be the latest date
for which election shall be permitted by the contract, but shall not be deemed to be later than
the anniversary of the contract next following the annuitant’s seventieth birthday or the tenth
anniversary of the contract, whichever is later.
8. Any contract which does not provide cash surrender benefits or does not provide death
benefits at least equal to the minimum nonforfeiture amount prior to the commencement of
any annuity payments shall include a statement in a prominent place in the contract that such
benefits are not provided.
9. Any paid-up annuity, cash surrender or death benefits available at any time, other
than on the contract anniversary under any contract with fixed scheduled considerations,
shall be calculated with allowance for the lapse of time and the payment of any scheduled
considerations beyond the beginning of the contract year in which cessation of payment of
considerations under the contract occurs.
10. a. Foranycontractwhichprovides, withinthesamecontractbyriderorsupplemental
contract provision, both annuity benefits and life insurance benefits that are in excess of
the greater of cash surrender benefits or a return of the gross considerations with interest,
the minimum nonforfeiture benefits shall be equal to the sum of the minimum nonforfeiture
benefits for the annuity portion and the minimum nonforfeiture benefits, if any, for the life
insurance portion computed as if each portion were a separate contract. Notwithstanding
the provisions of subsections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9, additional benefits shall be disregarded in
ascertaining the minimum nonforfeiture amounts, paid-up annuity, cash surrender and death
benefits that may be required by this section, if the additional benefits are payable:
(1) In the event of total and permanent disability.
(2) As reversionary annuity or deferred reversionary annuity benefits.
(3) As other policy benefits additional to life insurance, endowment, and annuity benefits,
and considerations for all such additional benefits.
b. The inclusion of such additional benefits shall not be required in any paid-up benefits,
unless such additional benefits separately would require minimum nonforfeiture amounts,
paid-up annuity, cash surrender and death benefits.
11. AfterJuly1, 2003, acompanymayelecteithertoapplytheprovisionsofthissectionas
it existed prior to July 1, 2003, or to apply the provisions of this section as amended by 2003
Iowa Acts, ch. 91, §8 – 10, to annuity contracts on a contract form-by-form basis before July
1, 2005. In all other instances, this section shall become operative with respect to annuity
contracts issued by the company two years after July 1, 2003.