SEC Grants Relief to Life Insurance Company; Allows Filing of Non-GAAP Financial Reports

The SEC granted no-action relief to a stock life insurance company (the "Company") to file audited financial statements in accordance with statutory accounting principles ("SAP") in place of generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). The relief relates to the "satisfaction of the financial information required by Form S-1" for registration statement filings as to certain annuity contracts.

The SEC provided the insurance company with regulatory relief under Reg S-X Rule 3-13 ("Filing of other financial statements in certain cases") from having to file financial statements in accordance with GAAP for annuity contracts that are either (i) standalone index-linked annuities, or (ii) combination annuities that offer variable and registered index-linked options. The company requested the relief stating that investors in these contracts are concerned with assessing the Company's capacity to meet its contractual obligations. The Company argued that SAP financial statements would provide investors with an adequate representation of the Company's solvency and its ability to satisfy its obligations.

The SEC concluded that the insurance company may instead file financial statements in these S-1 registration statements in accordance with SAP.