NY DFS Updates Insurance Regulation 213 to Incorporate 2026 Valuation Manual

Key Takeaways

• The New York Department of Financial Services has issued the Eighth Amendment to Insurance Regulation 213 (11 NYCRR 103), replacing the 2025 Valuation Manual reference with the 2026 Valuation Manual published by the NAIC.
• This update affects life insurers subject to Principle-Based Reserving requirements in New York and requires compliance teams to align actuarial reserve calculations with the updated manual immediately upon effectiveness.

Deep Dive

This amendment is a technical but consequential update to New York's Principle-Based Reserving (PBR) framework, which governs how life insurers calculate statutory reserves for life insurance and annuity products. The sole substantive change is updating the incorporated-by-reference document from the 2025 Valuation Manual to the 2026 Valuation Manual, published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). While the amendment text itself is brief, the underlying 2026 Valuation Manual may contain material changes to mortality tables, reserve methodologies, valuation interest rates, or other actuarial assumptions that insurers must now apply.

For compliance and actuarial teams at New York-licensed or domiciled life insurers, this means a direct obligation to review the full content of the 2026 Valuation Manual (available via the NAIC website) to identify any changes from the 2025 version that could affect reserve adequacy, financial reporting, and regulatory filings. Teams should not assume this is a purely administrative update; even minor revisions to valuation tables or methodology can have material impacts on reserve levels and capital requirements.

The regulation takes effect upon publication of the Notice of Adoption in the State Register, following a prior public notice period that began May 27, 2026, and was signed by Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow on August 12, 2026. Given the regulation's near-term effective date, insurers should prioritize a gap analysis between the 2025 and 2026 Valuation Manuals as a matter of urgency.

Recommended actions include: (1) obtaining and reviewing the full 2026 Valuation Manual immediately; (2) coordinating with appointed actuaries to assess reserve recalculation needs; (3) updating internal valuation policies and procedures to reference the 2026 Manual; (4) confirming reporting systems and models reflect any updated assumptions; and (5) documenting the transition for audit and regulatory examination purposes. Failure to adopt the updated manual in a timely manner could result in regulatory findings, reserve restatements, or examination issues, particularly given DFS's active oversight of PBR compliance.

Source: New York Department of Financial Services