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Mortgage-backed securities are complex investments which include thousands of mortgage loans of potentially varying quality, where the buyer typically relies on assurances that the loans have been carefully screened and are not too risky.
An investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Office found that the descriptions of these mortgage-backed securities to investors failed to accurately disclose the true characteristics of many of the underlying mortgages, and that due diligence to remove poor quality loans from the investments was not adequately performed.
RBS was aware of the misrepresentations but failed to correct them. This resulted in millions in losses to CalPERS and CalSTRS.
“RBS decided to mislead California’s pension funds in order to line its own pockets – plain and simple,” said Attorney General Becerra.
He said the settlement returns to the pension funds, which hardworking Californians rely on upon retirement, money that RBS wrongfully took from them.
The settlement with RBS is the latest action by the California Department of Justice to recover losses suffered during the financial crisis and to hold accountable the institutions that contributed to it.
To date, the Attorney General's Office has recovered more than $1 billion for California’s public pension funds.
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SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Tawny Tesconi has been hired as the interim executive director for Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
Tesconi is a Sonoma County native with strong ties to the local agriculture industry. As a student, she was active in both 4-H and FFA, living on a small family farm in west county. Today, she lives on the same family farm with her husband.
"The board and I are excited to bring Tawny onto the Farm Bureau team," said Steve Dutton, president of Sonoma County Farm Bureau. "With Tawny being born and raised in Sonoma County and having extensive experience working in the county, we felt like she would be a great fit. We're looking forward to her positive leadership directing Farm Bureau for the near future."
Tesconi had a successful 30 year-career in fair management and public service, and in December of 2015 she retired as director of general services of Sonoma County to start her fair services company Tesconi Event And Management Solutions.
Prior to working as the general services director, she was the Sonoma County Fair manager for eight years.
Under her leadership, the Sonoma County Fair underwent an extensive branding process for the event facility, expanded racing and started a foundation to build the $3 million Ag Education Center, Richard & Saralee's Barn.
During her career in the fair industry, Tesconi also served as the CEO of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, CEO of the Calaveras County Fair and assistant manager at the Solano County Fair.
In 2007, Tesconi received the Spirit of Sonoma Award, nominated by Sonoma County Farm Bureau for her commitment and passion for local agriculture.
She is a past president of the Western Fairs Association and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2012. She is also a past president and current treasurer of the Petaluma Rotary Club.
Tesconi holds a bachelor's degree in managerial economics from University of California, Davis. She was a graduate of the 1987 class of the WFA Management Training Program and has her Certified Fair Executive Standing from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions.
"As a longtime Sonoma County agriculturalist, I have always appreciated the work that Sonoma County Farm Bureau does for its members. Farm Bureau is the voice of agriculture in our county and our local farmers are cutting edge on issues such as labor, sustainability and marketing,” she said. “I am excited to be part of such a highly regarded, dynamic organization and look forward to working with the dedicated board and staff at Sonoma County Farm Bureau."
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He’s requested insurers provide relief from detailed home inventories and follow the lead of other insurers providing up to 100 percent of contents (personal property) coverage limits without a detailed inventory.
"These families have endured unimaginable loss and pain," said Jones. "I'm asking insurers to ease their burden by providing up to 100 percent payment for contents coverage without the onerous requirement of a detailed home inventory, so they may get on with rebuilding their lives."
The notice, issued on Thursday to insurers, comes after the department held a claims workshop in Santa Rosa on Dec. 9 and heard from several hundred policyholders that they were burdened with insurer requirements for detailed home inventories in order to receive payment for personal property coverage.
The notice, does point out that the department is aware and applauds the efforts of some insurers that have gone above and beyond the Voluntary Expedited Claims Handling Procedures and have made significant efforts to accommodate insured by offering, in some cases, up to 100 percent contents limits payment without an inventory.
While Jones applauds these efforts to put insured first, he is requesting all other insurers follow suit by providing similar accommodations and is asking insurers to notify the department by Jan. 8 whether they will comply.
Those insurers offering an amount less than 100 percent should allow policyholders the ability to recover additional benefits, if the policyholder subsequently completes a full inventory.
The department advises policyholders already working with a claims adjuster to develop a settlement plan that best serves their needs, which may include taking the time to complete a home inventory.
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State Farm agreed to a settlement of $250,000 and Aflac agreed to a settlement of $350,000.
"State Farm and Aflac have stepped up and done the right thing for policyholders," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I urge other life insurers to follow the lead of the 30 other companies that have agreed to change their practices to benefit their policyholders and to use the Death Master File database to search for life insurance policyholders."
Insurance Commissioners for California, North Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have led the national investigation into life insurers' use of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File database, which came about after it was discovered life insurers used the database to their benefit to identify deceased annuity holders so they could stop making payments to them, but failed to use the database to identify deceased policyholders so that benefit could be paid to their beneficiaries.
The practice violated California's Unfair Insurance Practices Act and similar laws in other states.
To date, state insurance regulators have either reached settlements or concluded the investigation of 30 of the top 40 companies, constituting 80 percent of the total life insurance market, based on market share.
As a result life insurers have paid more than $8.7 billion to life insurance beneficiaries nationwide and more than $890 million to California beneficiaries, alone.
To amplify efforts to match beneficiaries with life insurance policies, the California Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC, launched the Life Insurance Policy Locator which has matched 583 beneficiaries in California with lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities-totaling over $11 million returned to consumers.
The NAIC reported 8,210 beneficiaries nationwide have been matched with $92.5 million since the tool's launch last November.
The Life Insurance Policy Locator can be found at https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome.