MIB’s New Security Alert Certification Provides Tools to Help Industry

MIB Group, Inc. is extending its MIB Security Alert Services to provide additional tools for the insurance industry to meet legal obligations under such federal laws as the USA PATRIOT Act. MIB’s new Security Alert Certification will be introduced in two parts beginning in June.

Under federal legislation, U.S. and Canadian firms are prohibited under penalty of law from doing business with “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons” included in the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) lists. These individuals include foreign agents, terrorists and narcotics traffickers.

In the insurance industry, this prohibition affects all brokers, agents, insurance companies and their reinsurers. Severe criminal penalties—including fines of up to $1 million and 12 years in prison—can be imposed on businesses and individuals, including company officers. In addition, civil penalties can apply.

The New MIB Security Alert Certification builds on the Basic Security Alert Service, introduced earlier this year, incorporates the OFAC and OSFI lists into the MIB Checking Services. Whenever an MIB member company initiates an MIB check, these lists are automatically searched, using a unique, time-tested name search capability. If an applicant’s name is similar to a name on the list, the insurer receives an alert.

The new MIB Security Alert Certification will consist of two elements. The first element consists of a sweep of names on a company’s book of business. These can include the names of applicants for insurance, policy owners, claimants, beneficiaries or any other names submitted by the company. The second consists of transactional alerts that can be done on an individual basis, as needed.

This will provide insurers with a one-time assurance that, as of the date of the sweep, those names were checked against the lists of “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons”.

The second element of the Security Alert Certification will be the delivery of a transactional security alert. These transactional alerts can be performed for individual names and will permit both member and non-member companies of MIB to perform due diligence when dealing with transactions involving claims, annuities, changes in beneficiaries, etc.