New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and US regulators have now turned the gaze to products sold by insurance companies that help customers enhance their financial statements, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
Spitzer’s office and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began looking into the issue separately, but they have discussed sharing information and resources, the Journal reported.
While New York state investigators are preparing to issue subpoenas as soon as this week to several large insurance companies, the SEC is conducting an industry-wide investigation into whether insurance companies may have helped customers improperly smooth their earnings by selling them financial-engineering products designed to look like insurance but in actuality are loans in disguise.