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Western Reserve Life and IMSA

Millions of Americans trust and depend on life insurance products for financial security. That's why ethical conduct in the marketplace is crucial for an individual company and for the industry as a whole. To help maintain high standards of marketplace behavior, the life insurance industry established the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association (IMSA). Western Reserve Life became a founding member of IMSA on April 1, 1998.

What is IMSA?

IMSA is a voluntary membership organization whose purpose is to promote high ethical standards in the advertising, sales, and service of individual life insurance and annuities by its members. Through its Principles and Code of Ethical Market Conduct, IMSA encourages its member companies to develop and implement policies and procedures to promote sound market conduct practices.

IMSA Principles of Ethical Market Conduct
  1. To conduct business according to high standards of honesty and fairness and to render that service to its customers, which, in the same circumstances, it would apply to or demand for itself.
  2. To provide competent and customer-focused sales and service.
  3. To engage in active and fair competition.
  4. To provide advertising and sales materials that are clear as to purpose and honest and fair as to content.
  5. To provide for fair and expeditious handling of customer complaints and disputes.
  6. To maintain a system of supervision and review that is reasonably designed to achieve compliance with these Principles of Ethical Market Conduct.

What does Western Reserve Life's membership in IMSA mean to the consumer?

IMSA standards help assure a consumer that Western Reserve Life continues our commitment to honesty, fairness, and integrity in all of our customer contacts involving the sale and servicing of individual life insurance and annuities. As part of that commitment, WRL carefully monitors the sales process, our employees, and representatives on a regular basis. Additionally, WRL has developed policies and procedures to assure that our customers receive the information necessary to make decisions about purchasing and/or replacing policies. WRL also maintains a system to respond expeditiously to customer concerns and complaints.

How did Western Reserve Life become a member of IMSA?

Western Reserve Life became a member of IMSA by adopting IMSA's Principles and Code and by implementing policies and procedures to meet its rigorous standards. To demonstrate our commitment to these standards, we first examined our systems and programs to promote and maintain ethical behavior in the marketplace. After that, Western Reserve Life underwent an assessment by an outside, independent examiner certified to assess that we had met IMSA standards. To retain its IMSA membership, WRL must repeat this process every three years.

For more information on IMSA, check out IMSA's Web site at www.imsaethics.org.