INSURANCE : Met Life Ordered to Use Bonuses for Legal Reserves

Florida ordered Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to set aside end-of-year bonuses as reserves to cover likely fines for deceptive sales practices. Florida insurance counsel Dan Sumner said he expects fines imposed by various states to amount to “multiple millions of dollars.” New York-based Met Life described the order as “ridiculous.” Separately, California has launched an investigation of the firm’s sales practices, making it at least the seventh state to conduct such an inquiry, Sumner said. California is also one of six states on a multi-state task force formed last week under the auspices of the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners to coordinate investigative data on Met Life.