Life Insurers Get Taste of Spitzer Probe

For those in the life insurance industry who thought they could sit on the sidelines and watch New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer go after some big property/casualty heavyweights, think again.

According to reports on Friday, MetLife and other group life insurers are part of Spitzer’s crackdown in the insurance industry.

MetLife (MET), which was initially subpoenaed by Spitzer in June for information about compensation agreements with brokers and consultants, reported today that it has received three more subpoenas since the initial one hit its desks.

The second subpoena broadened the scope of Spitzer’s inquiry into fee agreements, while two more recent subpoenas inquired whether the company has knowledge of or has been a player in reported bid-rigging, the firm said in a release Friday afternoon.

MetLife today issued the following statement, noting, “As previously disclosed, MetLife received a subpoena from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York seeking information regarding certain compensation agreements between insurance brokers and MetLife. MetLife has since received a second subpoena broadening the scope of that inquiry. More recently, MetLife received two subpoenas, which included a set of interrogatories, seeking information regarding whether MetLife has provided or is aware of the provision of ‘fictitious’ or ‘inflated’ bids.

“MetLife continues to fully cooperate with these inquiries and is responding to the subpoenas.”

The MetLife companies serve individuals in approximately 13 million households in the U.S. and provide benefits to 37 million employees and family members through their plan sponsors. Outside the U.S., the MetLife companies serve approximately 8 million customers through direct insurance operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan and Uruguay.