[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 109 (Monday, June 8, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31238-31243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15077]
[[Page 31238]]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Rel. No. IC-23233; File No. 812-11100]
Investors Mark Series Fund, Inc., et al.; Notice of Application
June 1, 1998.
AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission (the ``Commission'').
ACTION: Notice of Application for an order pursuant to Section 6(c) of
the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``1940 Act'').
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SUMMARY OF APPLICATION: Applicants seek an order pursuant to Section
6(c) of the 1940 Act for exemptions from the provisions of Sections
9(a), 13(a), 15(a) and 15(b) of the 1940 Act and Rules 6e-2(b)(15) and
6e-3(T)(b)(15) thereunder to the extent necessary to permit shares of
any current or future series of the Investors Mark Series Fund, Inc.
(the ``Fund'') and shares of any other investment company that is
designed to fund variable insurance products and for which Investors
Mark Advisors, LLC (the ``Adviser''), or any of its affiliates, may
serve now or in the future, as investment adviser, administrator,
manager, principal underwriter or sponsor (the Fund and such other
investment companies referred to collectively as the ``Insurance
Products Funds'') to be offered and sold to, and held by variable
annuity and variable life insurance separate accounts of both
affiliated and unaffiliated life insurance companies (``Participating
Insurance Companies''), qualified pension and retirement plans outside
of the separate account context (``Qualified Plans'' or ``Plans''), and
the Adviser or any of its affiliates.
APPLICANTS: Investors Mark Series Fund, Inc. and Investors Mark
Advisors, LLC.
FILING DATE: The application was filed on April 3, 1998.
HEARING OR NOTIFICATION OF HEARING: An order granting the application
will be issued unless the Commission orders a hearing. Interested
persons may request a hearing on this application by writing to the
Secretary of the Commission and serving Applicants with a copy of the
request, in person or by mail. Hearing requests must be received by the
Commission by 5:30 p.m. on June 26, 1998, and should be accompanied by
proof of service on the Applicants in the form of an affidavit or, for
lawyers, a certificate of service. Hearing requests should state the
nature of the requester's interest, the reason for the request and the
issues contested. Persons who wish to be notified of a hearing may
request notification by writing to the Secretary of the Commission.
ADDRESS: Secretary, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: 450 Fifth
Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. Applicants, c/o Blazzard, Grodd &
Hasenauer, P.C., 943 Post Road East, Westport, Connecticut 06880,
Attention: Raymond A. O'Hara III, Esq.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan M. Olson, Attorney, or Kevin M.
Kirchoff, Branch Chief, Office of Insurance Products, Division of
Investment Management, at (202) 942-0670.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following is a summary of the
application. The complete application is available for a fee from the
Public Reference Branch of the Commission, 450 Fifth Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20549 (202-942-8090).
Applicants' Representations
1. The Adviser, a Delaware limited liability company, is registered
as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and
serves as the investment adviser for the Fund.
2. The Fund, an open-end management investment company, is a
Maryland corporation. The Fund consists of ten series, nine of which
are currently offered. The Fund may in the future issue shares of
additional series.
3. Shares of the Fund are offered to separate accounts of
Participating Insurance Companies to serve as investment vehicles for
variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts (including
single premium, scheduled premium, modified single premium and flexible
premium contracts) (collectively, ``Variable Contracts''). These
separate accounts either will be registered as investment companies
under the 1940 Act or will be exempt from such registration.
4. The Participating Insurance Companies will establish their own
separate accounts and design their own Variable Contracts. Each
Participating Insurance Company will have the legal obligation of
satisfying all applicable requirements under the federal securities
laws. The role of the Insurance Products Funds will be limited to that
of offering their shares to separate accounts of Participating
Insurance Companies and to Qualified Plans and fulfilling the
conditions set forth in the application and described later in this
notice. Each Participating Insurance Company will enter into a fund
participation agreement with the Insurance Products Fund in which the
Participating Insurance Company invests.
Applicants' Legal Analysis
1. Applicants request that the Commission issue an order under
Section 6(c) of the 1940 Act granting exemptions from Sections 9(a),
13(a), 15(a) and 15(b) thereof and Rules 6e-2(b)(15) and 6e-3(T)(b)(15)
thereunder, to the extent necessary to permit shares of the Insurance
Products Funds to be offered and sold to, and held by: (a) variable
annuity and variable life insurance separate accounts of the same life
insurance company or of any affiliated life insurance company (``mixed
funding''); (b) separate accounts of unaffiliated life insurance
companies (including both variable annuity and variable life separate
accounts) (``shared funding''); (c) qualified pension and retirement
plans outside the separate account context; and (d) the Adviser or any
of its affiliates (representing seed money investments in the Insurance
Products Funds).
2. In connection with the funding of scheduled premium variable
life insurance contracts issued through a separate account registered
under the 1940 Act as a unit investment trust, Rule 6e-2(b)(15)
provides partial exemptions from Section 9(a), 13(a), 15(a) and 15(b)
of the 1940 Act. These exemptions are available only where all of the
assets of the separate account consist of the shares of one or more
registered management investment companies which offer their shares
exclusively to variable life insurance separate accounts of the life
insurer or any affiliated life insurance company. Therefore, the relief
granted by Rule 6e-2(b)(15) is not available if the scheduled premium
variable life insurance separate account owns shares of a management
investment company that also offers its shares to a variable annuity
separate account of the same insurance company or an affiliated
insurance company. The relief granted by Rule 6e-2(b)(15) is not
available if the scheduled premium variable life insurance separate
account owns shares of an underlying management investment company that
also offers its shares to a variable annuity account of the same
insurance company or an affiliated insurance company or to separate
accounts funding variable contracts of one or more unaffiliated life
insurance companies. The relief granted by Rule 6e-2(b)(15) also is not
available if the shares of the Insurance Products Funds also are sold
to Qualified Plans.
3. In connection with the funding of flexible premium variable life
insurance
[[Page 31239]]
contracts issued through a separate account registered under the 1940
Act as a unit investment trust, Rule 6e-3(T)(b)(15) provides partial
exemptions from Sections 9(a), 13(a), and 15(a) and 15(b) of the 1940
Act. These exemptions are available only where all of the assets of the
separate account consist of the shares of one or more registered
management investment companies which offer their shares exclusively to
separate accounts of the life insurer, or of any affiliated life
insurance company, offering either scheduled premium variable life
insurance contracts or flexible premium variable life insurance
contracts, or both; or which also offer their shares to variable
annuity separate accounts of the life insurer or of an affiliated life
insurance company. Therefore, the exemptions provided by Rule 6e-
3(T)(b)(15) are available if the underlying fund is engaged in mixed
funding, but are not available if the fund is engaged in shared funding
or if the fund sell its shares to Qualified Plans.
4. Applicants state that the current tax law permits the Insurance
Products Funds to increase their asset base through the sale of shares
to Plans. Section 817(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended (the ``Code''), imposes certain diversification standards on
the underlying assets of Variable Contracts. The Code provides that
such contracts shall not be treated as an annuity contract or life
insurance contract for any period (and any subsequent period) during
which the investments are not adequately diversified in accordance with
regulations prescribed by the Treasury Department. Treasury regulations
provide that, to meet the diversification requirements, all of the
beneficial interests in an investment company must be held by the
segregated asset accounts of one or more insurance companies. The
regulations do contain exceptions to this requirement, however, one of
which permits shares of an investment company to be held by the trustee
of a qualified pension or retirement plan without adversely affecting
the ability of shares in the same investment company also to be held by
the separate accounts of insurance companies in connection with their
variable annuity and variable life contracts (Treas. Reg. Sec. 1.817.-
5(f)(3)(iii)).
5. Applicants state that the promulgation of Rules 6e-2 and 6e-3(T)
preceded the issuance of these Treasury regulations. Applicants assert
that, given the then current tax law, the sale of shares of the same
underlying fund to separate accounts and to Plans could not have been
envisioned at the time of the adoption of Rules 6e-2(b)(15) and 6e-
3(T)(b)(15).
6. Applicants request relief for a class or classes of persons and
transactions consisting of Participating Insurance Companies and their
scheduled premium variable life insurance separate accounts and
flexible premium variable life insurance separate accounts (and, to the
extent necessary, any investment adviser, principal underwriter and
depositor of such separate accounts) investing in any of the Insurance
Products Funds.
7. Section 6(c) authorizes the Commission to grant exemptions from
the provisions of the 1940 Act, and rules thereunder, if and to the
extent that an exemption is necessary or appropriate in the public
interest and consistent with the protection of investors and the
purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the 1940 Act.
Applicants assert that the requested exemptions are appropriate in the
public interest and consistent with the protection of investors and the
purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the 1940 Act.
Disqualification
8. Section 9(a)(3) of the 1940 Act provides that it is unlawful for
any company to act as investment adviser to or principal underwriter of
any registered open-end investment company if an affiliated person of
that company is subject to a disqualification enumerated in Sections
9(a) (1) or (2). Rules 6e-2(b)(15) (i) and (ii), and 6e-3(T)(b)(15) (i)
and (ii) provide partial exemptions from Section 9(a) under certain
circumstances, subject to the limitations on mixed and shared funding.
These exemptions limit the application of eligibility restrictions to
affiliated individuals or companies that directly participate in the
management or administration of the underlying investment company.
9. Applicants state that the relief from Section 9(a) provided by
Rules 6e-2(b)(15) and 6e-3(T)(b)(15), in effect, limits the amount of
monitoring necessary to ensure compliance with Section 9 to that which
is appropriate in light of the policy and purposes of Section 9.
Applicants assert that it is not necessary for the protection of
investors or the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions
of the 1940 Act to apply the provisions of Section 9(a) to the many
individuals who do not directly participate in the administration or
management of the Insurance Products Funds, who are employed by the
various unaffiliated insurance companies (or affiliated companies of
Participating Insurance Companies) that may utilize the Insurance
Products Funds as the funding medium for Variable Contracts. Applicants
do not expect the Participating Insurance Companies to play any role in
the management or administration of the Insurance Products Funds.
Applicants assert, therefore, that applying the restrictions of Section
9(a) to individuals employed by Participating Insurance Companies
serves no regulatory purpose.
10. Applicants state that the relief requested should not be
affected by the proposed sale of Insurance Products Funds to Qualified
Plans because the Plans are not investment companies and will not be
deemed affiliates solely by virtue of their shareholdings.
Pass-Through Voting
11. Applicants submit that rule 6e-2(b)(15)(iii) and 6e-
3(T)(b)(15)(iii) assume the existence of a ``pass-through voting''
requirement with respect to management investment company shares held
by a separate account. Applicants state that Rule 6e-2(b)(15)(iii) and
Rule 6e-3(T)(b)(15)(iii) provide exemptions from the pass-through
voting requirements is limited situations, assuming the limitations on
mixed and shared funding imposed by the 1940 Act and the rules
thereunder are observed. More specifically, Rules 6e-2(b)(15)(iii)(A)
and 6e-3(T)(b)(15)(iii)(A) provide that the insurance company may
disregard the voting instructions of its contract owners in connection
with the voting of shares of an underlying investment company if such
instructions would require such shares to be voted to cause an
underlying investment company to make, or refrain from making, certain
investments which would result in changes in the sub classification or
investment objectives of such company, or to approve or disapprove any
contract between an investment company and its investment adviser, when
required to do so by an insurance regulatory authority. In addition,
Rules 6e-2(b)(15)(iii)(B) and 6e-3(T)(b)(15)(iii)(B) provide that an
insurance company may disregard contract owners' voting instructions
with regard to changes initiated by the contract owners in the
investment company's investment policies, principal underwriter or
investment adviser, provided that disregarding such voting instructions
is based on specific good faith determinations.
12. Shares of the Insurance Products Funds sold to Qualified Plans
will be held by the trustees of such Plans as required by Section
403(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(``ERISA''). Section 403(a)
[[Page 31240]]
also provides that the trustees must have exclusive authority and
discretion to manage and control the Plan with two exceptions: (a) when
the Qualified Plan expressly provides that the trustees are subject to
the direction of a named fiduciary who is not a trustee, in which case
the trustees are subject to proper directions made in accordance with
the terms of the Plan and not contrary to ERISA; and (b) when the
authority to manage, acquire or dispose of assets of the Qualified Plan
is delegated to one or more investment managers pursuant to Section
402(c)(3) of ERISA. Unless one of the two exceptions stated in Section
403(a) applies, the Qualified Plan trustees have exclusive authority
and responsibility for voting proxies. Where a named fiduciary appoints
an investment manager, the investment manager has the responsibility to
vote the shares held unless the right to vote such shares is reserved
to the trustees or the named fiduciary. The Qualified Plans may have
their trustees or other fiduciaries exercise voting rights attributable
to investment securities held by the Qualified Plans in their
discretion. Where a Qualified Plan does not provide Qualified Plan
participants with the right to give voting instructions, Applicants
state that they do not see any potential for irreconcilable material
conflicts of interest between or among Variable Contract holders and
Plan participants with respect to voting of the respective Insurance
Products Fund's shares. Accordingly, Applicants note that, unlike the
case with insurance company separate accounts, the issue of the
resolution of material irreconcilable conflicts with respect to voting
is not present with respect to Qualified Plans since the Plans are not
entitled to pass-through voting privileges. Even if a Qualified Plan
were to hold a controlling interest in an Insurance Products Fund, the
Applicants do not believe that such control would disadvantage other
investors in such Insurance Products Fund to any greater extent than is
the case when any institutional shareholder holds a majority of the
voting securities of any open-end management investment company. In
this regard, the Applicants submit that investment in an Insurance
Products Fund by a Qualified Plan will not create any of the voting
complications occasioned by mixed funding or shared funding.
13. Applicants state that some of the Qualified Plans may provide
for the trustee(s), an investment adviser(s) or another named fiduciary
to exercise voting rights in accordance with instructions from
Qualified Plan participants. Applicants state that, in such cases, the
purchase of shares by such Qualified Plans does not present any
complications not otherwise occasioned by mixed or shared funding.
Conflicts of Interest
14. Applicants state that no increased conflict of interest would
be presented by the granting of the requested relief. Applicants submit
that share funding does not present any issues that do not already
exist where a single insurance company is licensed to do business in
several states. In this regard, Applicants note that when different
Participating Insurance Companies are domiciled in different states, it
is possible that the state insurance regulatory body in a state in
which one Participating Insurance Company is domiciled could require
action that is inconsistent with the requirements of other insurance
regulators in one or more other states in which other Participating
Insurance Companies are domiciled. The possibility, however, is no
different or greater than exists when a single insurer and its
affiliates offer their insurance products in several states, as is
currently permitted.
15. Applicants state that affiliation does not reduce the
potential, if any exists, for differences in state regulatory
requirements. In any event, the conditions set forth in the application
and later in this notice (which are adapted from the conditions
included in Rule 6e-3(T)(b)(15)) are designed to safeguard against any
adverse effects that differences among state regulatory requirements
may produce. If a particular state insurance regulator's decision
conflicts with the majority of other state regulators, the affected
insurer may be required to withdraw its separate account's investment
in the relevant Insurance Products Funds.
16. Applicants also assert that affiliation does not eliminate the
potential, if any exists, for divergent judgments as to when a
Participating Insurance Company could disregard Variable Contract owner
voting instructions. The potential for disagreement is limited by the
requirements that disregarding voting instructions be reasonable and
based on specified good faith determinations. However, if the
Participating Insurance Company's decision to disregard Variable
Contract owner voting instructions represents a minority position or
would preclude a majority vote approving a particular change, such
Participating Insurance Company may be required, at the election of the
relevant Insurance Products Fund, to withdraw its separate account's
investment in that Insurance Products Fund and no charge or penalty
will be imposed upon the Variable Contract owners as a result of such
withdrawal.
17. Applicants submit that there is no reason why the investment
policies of an Insurance Products Fund with mixed funding would or
should be materially different from what those policies would or should
be if such Insurance Products Fund or series thereof funded only
variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts. In this regard,
Applicants note that a fund's adviser is legally obligated to manage
the fund in accordance with the fund's investment objectives, policies
and restrictions as well as any guidelines established by the fund's
Board. Applicants submit that no one investment strategy can be
identified as appropriate to a particular insurance product or to a
Plan. Each pool of variable annuity and variable life insurance
contract owners is composed of individuals of diverse financial status,
age, insurance and investment goals. A fund supporting even one type of
insurance product must accommodate these diverse factors in order to
attract and retain purchasers. Applicants submit that permitting mixed
and shared funding will provide economic support for the continuation
of the Insurance Products Funds. In addition, permitting mixed and
shared funding also will facilitate the establishment of additional
series of Insurance Products Funds serving diverse goals.
18. As noted above, Section 817(h) of the Code imposes certain
diversification standards on the underlying assets of variable annuity
contracts and variable life insurance contracts held in the portfolios
of management investment companies. Treasury Regulation Sec. 1.817-
5(f)(3)(iii), which established diversification requirements for such
portfolios, specifically permits, among other things, ``qualified
pension or retirement plans'' and insurance company separate accounts
to share the same underlying investment company. Therefore, Applicants
assert that neither the Code, nor the Treasury regulations, nor the
revenue rulings thereunder present any inherent conflicts of interest
if the Qualified Plans, variable annuity separate accounts, and
variable life insurance separate accounts all invest in the same
management investment company.
19. While there are differences in the manner in which
distributions are taxed for variable annuity contracts, variable life
insurance contracts and Plans, Applicants state that the tax
consequences do not raise any conflicts
[[Page 31241]]
of interest. When distributions are to be made, and the separate
account of the Participating Insurance Company or Qualified Plan cannot
net purchase payments to make the distributions, the separate account
or Qualified Plan will redeem shares of the Insurance Products Funds at
their respective net asset values. The Qualified Plan will then make
distributions in accordance with the terms of the Plan and the
Participating Insurance Company will make distributions in accordance
with the terms of the Variable Contract.
20. Applicants submit that the ability of the Insurance Products
Funds to sell their respective shares directly to Qualified Plans does
not create a ``senior security,'' as such term is defined under Section
18(g) of the 1940 Act, with respect to any Variable Contract owner as
opposed to a participant under a Qualified Plan. As noted above,
regardless of the rights and benefits of participants under the
Qualified Plans, or Variable Contract owners under their Variable
Contracts, the Qualified Plans and the separate accounts of
Participating Insurance Companies have rights only with respect to
their respective shares of the Insurance Products Funds. They can
redeem such shares at their net asset value. No shareholder of any of
the Insurance Products Funds has any preference over any other
shareholder with respect to distribution of assets or payments of
dividends.
21. Applicants assert that there are no conflicts between the
Variable Contract owners and the Plan participants with respect to
state insurance commissioners' veto powers over investment objectives.
The basic premise of shareholder voting is that not all shareholders
may agree with a particular proposal. While time-consuming, complex
transactions may be undertaken to accomplish redemptions and transfers
by separate accounts, trustees of Qualified Plans can quickly redeem
shares from Insurance Products Funds and reinvest in other funding
vehicles without the same regulatory impediments or, as in the case
with most Qualified Plans, even hold cash or other liquid assets
pending suitable alternative investment. Applicants maintain that even
if there should arise issues where the interests of Variable Contract
owners and the interests of participants in Plans are in conflict, the
issues can be almost immediately resolved because the trustees of the
Plans can, on their own, redeem shares out of the Insurance Products
Funds.
22. Applicants submit that mixed and shared funding should provide
benefits to Variable Contract owners by eliminating a significant
portion of the costs of establishing and administering separate funds.
Participating Insurance Companies will benefit not only from the
investment and administrative expertise of the Adviser and the
subadvisers, but also from the cost efficiencies and investment
flexibility afforded by a larger pool of assets. Mixed and shared
funding also would permit a greater amount of assets available for
investment by the Insurance Products Funds, thereby promoting economies
of scale, by permitting increased safety through greater
diversification and by making the addition of new series more feasible.
Therefore, making the Insurance Products Funds available for mixed and
shared funding will encourage more insurance companies to offer
Variable Contracts, and this should result in increased competition
with respect to both Variable Contract design and pricing, which can be
expected to result in more product variation and lower charges.
23. Applicants assert that there is no significant legal impediment
to permitting mixed and shared funding. Separate accounts organized as
unit investment trusts historically have been employed to accumulate
shares of mutual funds which have not been affiliated with the
depositor or sponsor of the separate account. Applicants do not believe
that mixed and shared funding, and sales to Qualified Plans, will have
any adverse federal income tax consequences.
Applicants' Conditions
Applicants have consented to the following conditions:
1. A majority of each Insurance Products Fund's Board of Trustees
or Directors (each, a ``Board'') shall consist of persons who are not
``interested persons'' thereof, as defined by Section 2(a)(19) of the
1940 Act and the rules thereunder and as modified by any applicable
orders of the Commission, except that if this condition is not met by
reason of the death, disqualification, or bona fide resignation of any
Board member, then the operation of this condition shall be suspended:
(a) for a period of 45 days, if the vacancy or vacancies may be filled
by the Board; (b) for a period of 60 days, if a vote of shareholders is
required to fill the vacancy or vacancies; or (c) for such longer
period as the Commission may prescribe by order upon application.
2. Each Insurance Products Fund's Board will monitor the fund for
the existence of any material irreconcilable conflict between and among
the interests of the Variable Contract owners of all separate accounts
and of Plan participants and Qualified Plans investing in the Insurance
Products Funds, and determine what action, if any, should be taken in
response to such conflicts. A material irreconcilable conflict may
arise for a variety of reasons, including:
(a) an action by any state insurance regulatory authority;
(b) a change in applicable federal or state insurance, tax, or
securities laws or regulations, or a public ruling, private letter
ruling, no-action or interpretive letter, or any similar action by
insurance, tax, or securities regulatory authorities;
(c) an administrative or judicial decision in any relevant
proceeding;
(d) the manner in which the investments of the funds are being
managed;
(e) a difference in voting instructions given by variable annuity
contract owners, variable life insurance contract owners and trustees
of the Plans;
(f) a decision by a Participating Insurance Company to disregard
the voting instructions of Variable Contract owners; or
(g) if applicable, a decision by a Qualified Plan to disregard the
voting instructions of Plan participants.
3. The Adviser (or any other investment adviser of an Insurance
Products Fund), any Participating Insurance Company and any Qualified
Plan that executes a fund participation agreement upon becoming an
owner of 10% or more of the assets of an Insurance Products Fund
(collectively, ``Participants'') will report any potential or existing
conflicts to the Board of any relevant Insurance Products Fund.
Participants will be obligated to assist the appropriate Board in
carrying out its responsibilities under these conditions by providing
the Board with all information reasonably necessary for the Board to
consider any issues raised. This responsibility includes, but is not
limited to, an obligation by each Participating Insurance Company to
inform the Board whenever Variable Contract owner voting instructions
are disregarded and, if pass-through voting is applicable, an
obligation by each Qualified Plan to inform the Board whenever it has
determined to disregard Plan participant voting instructions.
The responsibility to report such information and conflicts and to
assist the Boards will be contractual obligations of all Participating
Insurance Companies and Qualified Plans investing in the Insurance
Products Funds under their respective agreements governing
participation in
[[Page 31242]]
the Insurance Products Funds, and such agreements shall provide that
these responsibilities will be carried out with a view only to the
interests of Variable Contract owners and, if applicable, Plan
participants.
4. If a majority of an Insurance Products Fund's Board members, or
a majority of the disinterested Board members, determine that a
material irreconcilable conflict exists, the relevant Participating
Insurance Companies and Qualified Plans, at their expense and to the
extent reasonable practicable (as determined by a majority of the
disinterested Board members), shall take whatever steps are necessary
to remedy or eliminate the material irreconcilable conflict. Such steps
could include: (a) Withdrawing the assets allocable to some or all of
the separate accounts from the Insurance Products Fund or any of its
series and reinvesting such assets in a different investment medium,
which may include another series of the Insurance Products Fund or
another Insurance Products Fund; (b) in the case of Participating
Insurance Companies, submitting the question as to whether such
segregation should be implemented to a vote of all affected Variable
Contract owners and, as appropriate, segregating the assets of any
appropriate group (i.e., variable annuity or variable life insurance
contract owners of one or more Participating Insurance Companies) that
votes in favor of such segregation, or offering to the affected
Variable Contract owners the option of making such a change; and (c)
establishing a new registered management investment company or managed
separate account. If a material irreconcilable conflict arises because
of a decision by a Participating Insurance Company to disregard
Variable Contract owner voting instructions, and this decision
represents a minority position or would preclude a majority vote, the
Participating Insurance Company may be required, at the election of the
Insurance Products Fund, to withdraw its separate account's investment
in such fund, and no charge or penalty will be imposed as a result of
such withdrawal. If a material irreconcilable conflict arises because
of a Qualified Plan's decision to disregard Plan participant voting
instructions, if applicable, and that decision represents a minority
position or would preclude a majority vote, the Qualified Plan may be
required, at the election of the Insurance Products Fund, to withdraw
its investment in such fund, and no charge or penalty will be imposed
as a result of such withdrawal. The responsibility to take remedial
action in the event of a Board determination of a material
irreconcilable conflict and to bear the cost of such remedial action
shall be a contractual obligation of all Participating Insurance
Companies and Qualified Plans under their agreements governing
participation in the Insurance Products Funds and these
responsibilities shall be carried out with a view only to the interests
of the Variable Contract owners and, as applicable, Plan participants.
For purposes of Condition 4, a majority of the disinterested members of
the applicable Board shall determine whether or not any proposed action
adequately remedies any material irreconcilable conflict, but in no
event will an Insurance Products Fund or the Adviser (or any other
investment adviser of the Insurance Products Funds) be required to
establish a new funding medium for any Variable Contract. No
Participating Insurance Company shall be required by Condition 4 to
establish a new funding medium for any Variable Contract if a majority
of Variable Contract owners materially affected by the material
irreconcilable conflict vote to decline such offer. No Qualified Plan
shall be required by Condition 4 to establish a new funding medium for
such Qualified Plan if: (a) A majority of Plan participants materially
and adversely affected by the material irreconcilable conflict vote to
decline such offer; or (b) pursuant to governing plan documents and
applicable law, the Plan makes such decision without Plan participant
vote.
5. Participants will be informed promptly in writing of a Board's
determination of the existence of an irreconcilable material conflict
and its implications.
6. Participating Insurance Companies will provide pass-through
voting privileges to all Variable Contract owners so long as the
Commission continues to interpret the 1940 Act as requiring pass-
through voting privileges for Variable Contract owners. Accordingly,
such Participating Insurance Companies, where applicable, will vote
shares of the Insurance Products Fund held in their separate accounts
in a manner consistent with voting instructions timely received from
Variable Contract owners. In addition, each Participating Insurance
Company will vote shares of the Insurance Products Fund held in its
separate accounts for which it has not received timely voting
instructions from contract owners, as well as shares it owns, in the
same proportions as those shares for which it has received voting
instructions. Participating Insurance Companies will be responsible for
assuring that each of their separate accounts investing in an Insurance
Products Fund calculates voting privileges in a manner consistent with
all other Participating Insurance Companies. The obligation to vote an
Insurance Products Fund's shares and calculate voting privileges in a
manner consistent with all other separate accounts investing in the
Insurance Products Fund will be a contractual obligation of all
Participating Insurance Companies under the agreements governing
participation in the Insurance Products Fund. Each Plan will vote as
required by applicable law and governing Plan documents.
7. As long as the Commission continues to interpret the Act as
requiring pass-through voting privileges for Variable Contract owners,
the Adviser (or any of its affiliates) will vote is shares of any
series of any Insurance Products Fund in the same proportion as all
Variable Contract owners having voting rights with respect to that
series; provided, however, that the Adviser (or any of its affiliates)
shall vote its shares in such other manner as may be required by the
Commission or its staff.
8. All reports of potential or existing conflicts received by a
Board, and all Board action with regard to: (a) determining the
existence of a conflict; (b) notifying Participants of a conflict; and
(c) determining whether any proposed action adequately remedies a
conflict, will be properly recorded in the minutes of the meetings of
the appropriate Board or other appropriate records. Such minutes or
other records shall be made available to the Commission upon request.
9. Each Insurance Products Fund will notify all Participating
Insurance Companies that separate account prospectus disclosure
regarding potential risks of mixed and shared funding may be
appropriate. Each Insurance Products Fund shall disclose in its
prospectus that: (a) its shares may be offered to insurance company
separate accounts that fund both variable annuity and variable life
insurance contracts, and to Qualified Plans; (b) differences in tax
treatment or other considerations may cause the interests of various
Variable Contract owners participating in the Insurance Products Fund
and the interests of Qualified Plans investing in the Insurance
Products Fund to conflict; and (c) the Board will monitor the Insurance
Products Fund for any material conflicts and determine what action, if
any, should be taken.
10. Each Insurance Products Fund will comply with all provisions of
the
[[Page 31243]]
1940 Act requiring voting by shareholders (for these purposes, the
persons having a voting interest in the shares of the Insurance
Products Funds). In particular, each such Insurance Products Fund
either will provide for annual shareholder meetings (except insofar as
the Commission may interpret Section 16 of the 1940 Act not to require
such meetings) or comply with Section 16(c) of the 1940 Act (although
none of the Insurance Products Funds shall be one of the trusts
described in Section 16(c) of the 1940 Act), as well as with Section
16(a) of the 1940 Act and, if and when applicable, Section 16(b) of the
1940 Act. Further, each Insurance Products Fund will act in accordance
with the Commission's interpretation of the requirements of Section
16(a) with respect to periodic elections of Board members and with
whatever rules the Commission may promulgate with respect thereto.
11. If and to the extent that Rule 6e-2 or Rule 6e-3(T) under the
1940 Act is amended, or Rule 6e-3 under the 1940 Act is adopted, to
provide exemptive relief from any provision of the 1940 Act, or the
rules promulgated thereunder, with respect to mixed or shared funding,
on terms and conditions materially different from any exemptions
granted in the order requested in the application, then the Insurance
Products Funds and/or the Participants, as appropriate, shall take such
steps as may be necessary to comply with Rule 6e-2 or Rule 6e-3(T), as
amended, or proposed Rule 6e-3 as adopted, to the extent such Rules are
applicable.
12. The Participants, at least annually, shall submit to each Board
such reports, materials or data as each Board may reasonably request so
that such Boards may fully carry out the obligations imposed upon them
by the conditions stated in the application. Such reports, materials
and data shall be submitted more frequently if deemed appropriate by
the Boards. The obligations of the Participants to provide these
reports, materials and data upon reasonable request of a Board shall be
a contractual obligation of all Participants under the agreements
governing their participation in the Insurance Products Funds.
13. If a Qualified Plan or Plan participant shareholder should
become a owner of 10% or more of the assets of an Insurance Products
Fund, such Plan will execute a participation agreement with such fund
which includes the conditions set forth herein to the extent
applicable. A Qualified Plan or Plan participant will execute an
application containing an acknowledgment of this condition upon such
Plan's initial purchase of the shares of any Insurance Products Fund.
Conclusion
For the reasons summarized above, Applicants assert that the
requested exemptions are appropriate in the public interest and
consistent with the protection of investors and the purposes fairly
intended by the policy and provisions of the 1940 Act.
For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management,
pursuant to delegated authority.
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-15077 Filed 6-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M