Senate Bill No. 463
(By Senators Helmick, Fanning, Kessler and Ross)
____________
[Introduced February 11, 2000; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance.]
____________
A BILL to repeal sections six, ten and fourteen, article eleven-a,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty one, as amended; and to amend and
reenact section nine of said article, relating to the
insurance sales consumer protection act; repeal of provisions
banning solicitation for the sale of insurance to a customer
by an employee of the institution who works in loans, banning
solicitation or sale of insurance to a customer by an employee
who knows the customer has a pending loan or extension
application and banning solicitation or sale of insurance in
a place not conspicuously one where neither a loan nor a
deposit would be made; and removing the requirement that the
written acknowledgment of receipt of disclosures by a customer be maintained in a separate document.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections six, ten and fourteen, article eleven-a, chapter
thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; and that section nine
of said article be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11A. INSURANCE SALES CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT.
§33-11A-9. Disclosures.
(a) A financial institution soliciting the purchase of or
selling insurance, and any person soliciting the purchase of or
selling insurance on the premises of, in connection with a product
offering of, or using a name identifiable with, a financial
institution, shall prominently disclose to customers, in writing,
in clear and concise language, including in any advertisement or
promotional material, and orally during any customer contact, that
insurance offered, recommended, sponsored, or sold:
(1) Is not a deposit;
(2) Is not insured by the federal deposit insurance
corporation or, where applicable, the National Credit Union Share
Insurance Fund;
(3) Is not guaranteed by any insured depository institution;
and
(4) Where appropriate, involves investment risk, including
potential loss of principal.
(b) Any financial institution engaged in the making of loans
or other extensions of credit and the sale of insurance shall
prominently disclose to customers in writing, in clear and concise
language, that the insurance product may be purchased from an agent
or broker of the customer's choice, and the customer's choice of
another insurance provider will not affect the customer's credit
relationship with the person. For purposes of this subsection,
loans and extensions of credit shall not include financing in
connection with the insurance product offered or sold.
(c) Any person required under subsections (a) or (b) of this
section to make disclosures to a customer shall obtain a written
acknowledgment of receipt by the customer of such disclosures,
including the date of receipt and the customer's name, address and
account number, prior to or at the time of any application for
insurance sold by the person. Such acknowledgment shall be in a
separate document.
(d) The commissioner may grant a waiver of the requirements of
this section to any person required to give the disclosures
required by this section solely because that person has a name
identifiable with a financial institution upon a written request by such person demonstrating that his, her or its customers would not
reasonably benefit from, or might in fact be confused by, these
required disclosures.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate provisions of
the current West Virginia law which are preempted by new federal
law relating to financial services reform. The bill also renumbers
the sections affected.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.