
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991                   TAG: 9104170048
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

REGULATORS SEIZE 2ND INSURANCE FIRM

New York's State Insurance Department announced Tuesday that it had seized control of the beleaguered Executive Life Insurance Co. of New York.

The action followed last week's seizure of a sister company, Executive Life Insurance Co. of California, by California regulators in the biggest insurance failure in U.S. history.

The New York Insurance Department obtained a temporary restraining order from State Supreme Court Justice Marvin Segal in Mineola, N.Y., that keeps Executive Life of New York from making any transaction without regulators' approval, department spokesman Kevin Foley said.

He added that the order "stops them from conducting any business without our approval, including payouts - anything at all."

The department previously had barred the New York company from selling any new life insurance policies or annuities.

The seizure of the company, by itself, does not mean that any customer of Executive Life will lose money.

The department had been examining the finances of the New York company, which is said to be in better condition than its California parent. "The [New York] company is in relatively good shape," Foley said.

New York law provides for a guaranty fund that could be created through assessments on other life insurers, if need be. But such a fund has never been used since the law went into effect in 1985.

by CNB