(a) An insurer shall comply with the following requirements for performing a comparison of a policy, annuity contract, or retained asset account against the Death Master File: (1) An insurer that has engaged in asymmetric conduct shall compare all in-force policies, annuity contracts, and retained asset accounts and policies that have lapsed from the date it first used the Death Master File to July 1, 2020, against the complete Death Master File to identify potential matches of its insureds. (2) An insurer that has not engaged in asymmetric conduct shall compare all in-force policies, annuity contracts, and retained asset accounts and policies that have lapsed on or after January 1, 2019, against the complete Death Master File to identify potential matches of its insureds. (3) If an insurer meets one of the following criteria on July 1, 2020, the insurer is not required to conduct the comparison specified in paragraph (1) or (2) for any in-force policies: (A) The insurer has entered into a regulatory settlement agreement with the department regarding claims handling practices and the use of the Death Master File. (B) The insurer has received a targeted market conduct examination report issued by an insurance regulator for a multistate examination regarding claims handling practices and the use of the Death Master File, and the report did not find violations of law. (4) After an initial review as specified in paragraph (1) or (2), or if an insurer is exempted from paragraphs (1) and (2) pursuant to paragraph (3), an insurer shall compare all in-force policies, annuity contracts, and retained asset accounts and policies that have lapsed within the last 18 months against any updates to the Death Master File at least semiannually to identify potential matches of its insureds. If the insurer conducts a Death Master File search for policies, annuities, or retained asset accounts more frequently than semiannually, the insurer shall conduct a Death Master File search of all policies, annuities, or retained asset accounts with the same frequency. (5) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), within six months of acquisition of a policy or annuity contract from another insurer, the acquiring insurer shall compare all newly acquired policies and annuity contracts that were not searched by the previous insurer against the complete Death Master File to identify potential matches of its insureds and annuitants. (B) Upon acquisition of a policy or annuity contract from another insurer, if the previous insurer has already conducted a search of the newly acquired policies and annuity contracts using the complete Death Master File, the acquiring insurer shall compare all newly acquired policies and annuity contracts using all of the Death Master File updates since the time the previous insurer conducted the complete search to identify potential matches of its insureds and annuitants. (6) In addition to accounting for exact matches of names, social security numbers, individual taxpayer identification numbers, and dates of birth of insureds, an insurer also shall conduct the comparisons required under this section following reasonable procedures that account for all of the following: (A) Common nicknames, initials used in lieu of a first or middle name, use of a middle name, compound first and middle names, and interchanged first and middle names. (B) Compound last names, surname given at birth or married names, and hyphens, blank spaces or apostrophes in last names. (C) Transposition of the month and date numerals in the date of birth. (D) Incomplete social security number or individual taxpayer identification number. (E) Common data entry errors that account for transposed numbers. (7) Upon identifying a potential match pursuant to this section, an insurer shall promptly make reasonable good faith efforts to validate the match by confirming the death of an insured. (b) (1) Upon receipt of information establishing knowledge of death of an insu
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