Former President and CEO Robert Pollock and former Executive Vice President and CFO Philip Camacho had been placed on administrative leave by the Assurant board after each received a "Wells notice" from SEC staff in connection with an investigation of so-called finite insurance products.
Finite insurance was used by some insurers to inflate quarterly earnings or camouflage losses -- until the SEC began to investigate. They were called "finite" because there was a minimum potential for losses as money simply moved back and forth from one company to another.
According to Assurant, it is cooperating with the SEC in its investigation and has formed a special committee of non-management directors to continue reviewing the matter and recommend appropriate actions to the board.