In February of last year, we reported on limitations placed on inforce illustrations for John Hancock Performance universal life policies. At that time, the carrier announced a “temporary” situation, saying they were unable to provide current inforce illustrations because “regulatory standards that govern illustration practices . . . prevent us from illustrating currently payable amounts based on our current non-guaranteed elements.”

In that report, we mentioned that in the past, the inability to provide inforce ledgers was often a precursor to a cost of insurance (COI) increase. It appears as if it was for John Hancock.

On January 18th, The Life Settlements Report, a trade publication, reported that John Hancock will be raising the cost of insurance (COI) on 1,700 Performance policies. The publication cited a representative of the New York Department of Financial Services, who confirmed that the carrier had provided “voluntary” notice to the regulatory body.

In September of 2017, we reported on a regulation approved in New York state that required carriers to notify the department “at least 120 days prior to an adverse change in non-guaranteed elements of an in-force life insurance policy.” Though the regulation has not gone into effect, the agency spokesman did confirm that the carrier provided notice, according to the earlier report.

Our New York City office was told that John Hancock is “expecting to have illustration availability in early 2018.” We manage approximately 200 of the 1,700 policies affected and as soon as we receive the information and analyze it, we will report on the size of the cost increase.