New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer hammered out one last contingent commission settlement before leaving the state attorney general post.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, responded to Spitzer’s concerns about its group insurance sales practices by agreeing to pay $2.5 million in fines and $16.5 million in refunds to customers.
Metropolitan Life, a unit of MetLife Inc., New York, also agreed to stop paying contingent commissions to brokers who participate in the purchase of group life insurance, group disability insurance, group long term care insurance and other group products, according to officials in the New York attorney general’s office.
Metropolitan Life “will provide full disclosure of broker compensation to employers at every stage of the insurance purchasing and renewal process,” officials say in a statement.
The Metropolitan Life settlement and other recently announced settlements are part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of bid rigging and steering in the insurance industry, officials say.