MetLife says 30 jurisdictions are auditing unpaid benefits

MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, said more than 30 U.S. jurisdictions are auditing its practices in a review of whether the industry is holding unclaimed funds owed to policyholders, beneficiaries or states. The audits may lead to more payments to beneficiaries, administrative penalties or changes in procedures, New York- based MetLife said today in its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “The company is not currently able to estimate the reasonably possible amount of any such additional payments or the reasonably possible cost of any such changes in procedures, but it is possible that such costs may be substantial,” MetLife said. State regulators are intensifying a probe into unpaid benefits after Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in May that insurers may be keeping at least $1 billion in unclaimed funds. MetLife and No. 2 Prudential Financial Inc. are among nine firms subpoenaed in June as part of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's probe, a person familiar with the matter has said. AIG's Reserves American International Group Inc., the insurer majority owned by the U.S. Treasury Department, added $100 million to reserves for death claims at its life insurance unit in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The company has changed its claims process to use information, including data from the Social Security Administration, to determine when insured people die. “Our practices in that area are currently, and have been, completely consistent with all the applicable legal requirements and all of the historical industry standards,” Jay Wintrob, chief executive officer of the SunAmerica life unit, said today on a call with analysts. AIG has received regulators' inquiries into claims settlement practices, the New York-based company said in the filing. --Bloomberg News--