05/17/2012 02:38 AM

Conflict of Interest  |  Controlled Business  |  Covenant Not to Sue
Individual Non-Disclosure  |  Agency Non-Disclosure

RMA Makes Changes to the Conflict of Interest Process
Farmers Mutual Hail would like to notify all agents of the revisions that the Risk Management Agency (RMA) made to the Conflict of Interest (COI) process beginning with the 2009 reinsurance year. The updated process now requires all MPCI writing agents to complete and submit a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement prior to the earliest applicable acreage reporting date each year, regardless of whether or not they have a conflict.

As outlined in bulletin MGR-08-001, RMA requires all licensed and appointed MPCI agents to complete a COI form for each Approved Insurance Provider (AIP) that they write business with. To comply with these requirements, FMH will need all agents who are currently licensed, appointed, and writing MPCI with FMH to complete and submit a COI form to us by their earliest applicable acreage reporting date.  To ensure that the form has been completed timely FMH will require and will prompt each eCrop user, after each reinsurance year’s crop roll. to complete a COI form upon signing in.  Once the form is completed and validated (email from FMH webmaster opened and link clicked on) you will not be prompted for this form again until the next reinsurance year.

One significant procedural change that began with the 2009 reinsurance year is that any relative’s MPCI policy written through the discloser’s agency will require a mandatory APH and claim review in the event of a loss. In addition, RMA has stated that it will be the responsibility of the AIP to determine if an elective mandatory APH and claim review should be completed in the event of loss when reviewing all business, financial, legal and familial policyholder relationships that are disclosed through this process. Previous to these revisions, mandatory APH and claim reviews were confined to an individual directly associated with the federal crop insurance program (agent, adjuster, AIP employee, etc.).

RMA reminds us in their bulletin that any changes to the COI Disclosure Statement submitted to an Approved Insurance Provider (AIP) for a given reinsurance year, must be reported by the discloser to the AIP within 15 days of entering into a relationship that requires disclosure (i.e. business, financial, legal, or familial relationships with an MPCI policyholder).

Farmers Mutual Hail would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance with this requirement. Please contact Cindi Anderson at 800-247-5248, ext. 533 with any questions.

 


PLEASE NOTE: All MPCI writing agents are required to complete
and submit a Confict of Interest Disclosure Statement.

Controlled Business Compliance Certification
To cover the 2010 reinsurance year, beginning July 1, 2009 and ended June 30, 2010.

On May 22, 2008, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) became law. Section 12005, "Controlled Business Insurance," of the 2008 Farm Bill amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act by adding a new section 508(a)(10), which states:

  1. PROHIBITION - No individual (including a subagent) may receive directly, or indirectly through an entity, any compensation (including any commission, profit sharing, bonus, or any other direct or indirect benefit) for the sale or service of a policy or plan or plan of insurance offered under this title if ?

    1. the individual has a substantial beneficial interest, or a member of the individual's immediate family has a substantial beneficial interest, in the policy or plan of insurance; and

    2. the total compensation to be paid to the individual with respect to the sale or service of the policies or plans of insurance that meet the condition described in clause (i) exceeds 30 percent or the percentage specified in State law, whichever is less, of the total of all compensation received directly or indirectly by the individual for the sale or service of all policies and plans of insurance offered under this title for the reinsurance year.

  2. REPORTING.- Not later than 90 days after the annual settlement date of the reinsurance year, any individual that received directly or indirectly any compensation for the service or sale of any policy or plan of insurance offered under this title in the prior reinsurance year shall certify to applicable approved insurance providers that the compensation that the individual received was in compliance with this paragraph.

  3. SANCTIONS.- The procedural requirements and sanctions prescribed in section 515(h) shall apply to the prosecution of a violation of this paragraph.

  4. APPLICABILITY.-
    1. IN GENERAL.- Sanctions for violations under this paragraph shall only apply to the individuals or entities directly responsible for the certification required under subparagraph (C) or the failure to comply with the requirements of this paragraph.

    2. PROHIBITION.- No sanctions shall apply with respect to the policy or plans of insurance upon which compensation is received, including the reinsurance for those policies or plans.

*DEFINITION OF IMMEDIATE FAMILY - In this paragraph, the term 'immediate family' means an individual's father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, grandparent, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, the spouse of the foregoing, and the individual's spouse.

Please Note: All MPCI writing agents are required to complete and submit the Controlled Business Compliance Certification form.

RMA Requires Covenant Not To Sue

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) issued Manager’s Bulletin MGR-10-012 requiring all agents appointed to write MPCI to annually sign a Covenant Not To Sue (CNTS) form. We are fulfilling this requirement using an online form process. Please click the link below to proceed. Do not send FMH paper forms developed by other crop insurance companies. We are completing this RMA requirement with an environmentally-friendly process.

What Does This Mean?

All agents must sign the Covenant by RMA’s deadline of December 6, 2010. You are required to complete this process with each crop insurance company with which you are appointed to write MPCI.

 

For any agent who chooses not to sign the agreement, FMH must terminate your appointment to write MPCI for our company. However, this will not impact your Crop Hail appointment.

Farmers Mutual Hail would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance with this requirement. If you have questions, please contact Production Support at 800-532-1581 or send an email to productionsupport@fmh.com.





 



RMA Releases New Non-Disclosure Statements
Farmers Mutual Hail would like to inform all agents and agency owners that the Risk Management Agency (RMA) has made revisions to the Non-Disclosure Statement (NDS) process that protects personally indentifiable information (Individual Non-Disclosure and Annual Certification). On January 5, 2009, RMA issued Managers Bulletin MGR-09-001 concerning Non-Disclosure Statements.

What Does This Mean?
RMA has implemented a two-step requirement with regard to the security of federal crop insurance policyholder information. The first step requires that ALL EMPLOYEES of an AIP affiliate, who have access to protected information or personally identifiable information on any MPCI policyholder will need to sign and submit an Individual Non-Disclosure Statement (NDS) by March 2, 2009. While, an individual only needs to sign and submit the form once, they do need to be aware that each AIP that they are doing business with will need a signed NDS form. Any employee of an affiliate that has not signed an NDS form cannot be granted access to any protected or personally identifiable information for any policyholder. The AIP affiliate (or MPCI agency) must maintain a copy of all NDS forms and have them available upon request.  Any new employee hired after March 2, 2009 must sign and submit a NDS form if the individual will have access to MPCI PII.






RMA Releases New Non-Disclosure Statements
Farmers Mutual Hail would like to inform all agents and agency owners that the Risk Management Agency (RMA) has made revisions to the Non-Disclosure Statement (NDS) process that protects personally indentifiable information (Individual Non-Disclosure and Annual Certification). On January 5, 2009, RMA issued Managers Bulletin MGR-09-001 concerning Non-Disclosure Statements.


IMPORTANT - Annual Certification for Agency Owners and Vendors!
The second step in the NDS two step process requires that by April 1 of each year, an owner/officer of the AIP affiliate (MPCI agency or vendors) must sign the additional Annual Certification that attests to the fact that all employees of the affiliate with access to protected or personally identifiable information have signed an Individual NDS form.

From this point forward, this will be an annual requirement each April 1.

Note: Internet Explorer - versions 6.0 and higher or Mozilla Firefox - version 2.0 and higher are required when completing NDS forms.

























footerimages_08
© Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa. All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer | Privacy Statement