Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 38 > Chapter 12 > Article 3 - Property and Casualty, Financial Guaranty, and Mortgage Guaranty Insurers

• Acceptable collateral: means :
  
  (a) cash, cash equivalents, letters of credit, or direct obligations of, or securities that are fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the government of the United States, an agency of the United States, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation in respect to securities lending transactions, repurchase transactions, and reverse repurchase transactions and for the purpose of calculating counterparty exposure amount; and
  
  (b) sovereign debt rated 1 by the SVO or an equivalent rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization recognized by the SVO as to foreign securities lending transactions. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Accident and health insurance: means protection that provides payment of benefits for covered sickness or accidental injury, excluding credit insurance, disability insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and long-term care insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Accident and health insurer: means a licensed life or health insurer or health service corporation whose insurance premiums and required statutory reserves for accident and health insurance are at least ninety-five percent of total premium consideration or total statutory required reserves, respectively. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Admitted assets: means assets of an insurer considered admitted on the most recent statutory financial statement of the insurer filed with the department pursuant to § 38-13-80. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Affiliate: means , in respect to a person, another person that, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the person. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Alien insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of a country other than the United States of America, its states, commonwealths, territories, or insular possessions. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Annuity: means each contract or agreement to make periodic payments, whether in fixed or variable dollar amounts, or both, at specified intervals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Asset-backed security: means a security or other instrument, excluding a mutual fund, evidencing an interest in or the right to receive payments from or payable from distributions on an asset, a pool of assets, or specifically divisible cash flows that are transferred legally to a trust or another special purpose bankruptcy-remote business entity, on the following conditions:
  
  (a) the trust or other business entity is established for the sole purpose of acquiring specific types of assets or rights to cash flows, issuing securities and other instruments representing an interest in or right to receive cash flows from those assets or rights, and engaging in activities required to service the assets or rights and any credit enhancement or support features held by the trust or other business entity; and
  
  (b) the sole assets of the trust or other business entity are interest bearing obligations or other contractual obligations representing the right to receive payment from the cash flows from the assets or rights. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Audiologist: means an individual licensed by the State Board of Examiners in Speech Pathology and Audiology as an audiologist. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Business entity: means a sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, association, general or limited partnership, joint stock company, joint venture, mutual fund, bank, trust, real estate investment trust, joint tenancy, or other similar form of business organization, whether organized for-profit or not-for-profit. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Capital and surplus: means the sum of the capital and surplus of the insurer required to be shown on the statutory financial statement of the insurer filed most recently with the director. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Cash equivalents: means highly rated, highly liquid, and readily marketable obligations that are convertible readily into known amounts of cash without penalty and have a remaining term to maturity of one year or less. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Casualty insurance: means each insurance against legal liability of the insured for bodily injury to or death of another person, including workers' compensation insurance, and for damages to or loss or destruction of the property of another person; medical payments insurance when written in conjunction with insurance covering liability for the deaths or bodily injuries of another person; guaranteeing the fidelity of a person holding a position of public or private trust; loss of or damage to property caused by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, fraud, or unlawful taking or secretion of property owned by or entrusted to the insured; loss of or damage to property of the insured resulting from the explosion of or damage to a fired or unfired boiler or other pressure vessel, engine, turbine, compressor, pump, wheel, or an apparatus generating, transmitting, or using electric power, and machinery or equipment connected with any of them; loss resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to merchants or another person extending credit. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Class one bond mutual fund: means a mutual fund that is qualified for investment using the bond class one reserve factor of the SVO procedures manual. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Class one money market mutual fund: means a money market mutual fund that is qualified for investment using the bond class one reserve factor of the SVO procedures manual. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Commission: means the State Commission for Hearing Aid Specialists. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Control: means the possession, directly or indirectly, by a person of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of another person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Counterparty: means the business entity that is the other party to an investment practices transaction with the insurer or, as to a securities lending transaction, the custodian bank or agent, if any, acting on behalf of the insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• counterparty exposure amount: means for an over-the-counter derivative instrument:
  
  (i) not entered into pursuant to a written master agreement that provides for netting of payments owed by the respective parties:
  
  (A) the market value of the over-the-counter derivative instrument if the liquidation of the derivative instrument would result in a final cash payment to the insurer; or
  
  (B) zero if the liquidation of the derivative instrument would not result in a final cash payment to the insurer; and
  
  (ii) entered into pursuant to a written master agreement that provides for netting of payments owed by the respective parties, if the domiciliary jurisdiction of the counterparty is either within the United States or within a foreign jurisdiction listed as eligible for netting in the SVO procedures manual, the greater of:
  
  (A) zero; and
  
  (B) the net sum payable to the insurer in connection with all derivative instruments subject to the written master agreement upon their liquidation if the counterparty defaults pursuant to the master agreement, assuming there are no conditions precedent to the obligations of the counterparty to make the payment and no setoff of amounts payable pursuant to any other instrument or agreement. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• derivative instrument: includes options, warrants not attached to another financial instrument purchased by the insurer, caps, floors, collars, swaps, forwards, futures, and other substantially similar agreements, options, or instruments, or a series or combination of any of them. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Derivative transaction: means a transaction involving the use of one or more derivative instruments. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• directly: when used in connection with an obligation, means that the designated obligor is primarily liable on the instrument representing the obligation. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Dollar roll transaction: means two simultaneous transactions with different settlement dates no more than ninety-six days apart, so that in the transaction with the earlier settlement date an insurer sells to a counterparty, and in the other transaction the insurer is obligated to purchase from the same counterparty, substantially similar securities of the following types:
  
  (a) asset-backed securities issued, assumed, or guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or their respective successors; and
  
  (b) other asset-backed securities referred to in Section 106 of Title I of the Secondary Mortgage Market Enhancement Act of 1984 (15 U. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Domestic insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Domestic jurisdiction: means the United States, Canada, or a state, province, or political subdivision of them. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Equity interest: means any of the following that are not rated credit instruments:
  
  (a) common stock;
  
  (b) preferred stock;
  
  (c) trust certificate;
  
  (d) equity investment in an investment company other than a money market mutual fund or a class one bond mutual fund;
  
  (e) investment in a common trust fund of a bank regulated by a federal or state agency;
  
  (f) an ownership interest in minerals, oil, or gas, the rights to which have been separated from the underlying fee interest in the real estate where the minerals, oil, or gas are located;
  
  (g) instruments which are mandatorily, or at the option of the issuer, convertible to equity;
  
  (h) limited partnership interests and those general partnership interests authorized by § 38-12-60(A)(4);
  
  (i) member interests in limited liability companies;
  
  (j) warrants or other rights to acquire equity interests that are created by the owner or issuer of the equity to be acquired; or
  
  (k) instruments that would be rated credit instruments except for the provisions of item (73)(b). See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Foreign currency: means a currency other than that of a domestic jurisdiction. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Foreign jurisdiction: means a jurisdiction other than a domestic jurisdiction. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Future: includes an insurance future. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Government money market mutual fund: means a money market mutual fund that at all times:
  
  (a) invests only in obligations issued, guaranteed, or insured by the federal government of the United States or collateralized repurchase agreements composed of these obligations; and
  
  (b) qualifies for investment without a reserve pursuant to the SVO procedures manual. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Hearing aid: means an acceptable wearable instrument or device designated or offered to aid or compensate for impaired human hearing and parts, attachments, or accessories, including earmold, but excluding batteries and cords. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Hearing aid specialist: means an individual licensed under this chapter to engage in the practice of specializing in hearing aids. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Hedging transaction: means a derivative transaction that is entered into and maintained to reduce the:
  
  (a) risk of a change in the value, yield, price, cash flow, or quantity of assets or liabilities, or a portfolio of assets or liabilities or both, that an insurer has acquired or incurred or anticipates acquiring or incurring; or
  
  (b) currency exchange rate risk related to assets or liabilities, or a portfolio of assets or liabilities, or both of them, that an insurer has acquired or incurred or anticipates acquiring or incurring. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Income generation transaction: means a derivative transaction that is intended to generate income or enhance return. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance company: means an "insurer". See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Investment affiliate: means a subsidiary of an insurer or a direct or indirect subsidiary of the insurer's parent company (parent) that is engaged or organized to engage exclusively in the ownership and management of assets authorized as investments for the insurer, if the affiliate agrees to limit its investment in any asset so that its investments will not cause the amount of the total investment of the insurer to exceed the investment limitations or avoid other provisions of this chapter applicable to the insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Investment practices: means transactions of the types described in Sections 38-12-280, 38-12-300, 38-12-490, and 38-12-510. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means a license issued by the department under this chapter to hearing aid specialists. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited liability company: means a business organization, excluding partnerships and ordinary business corporations, organized or operating pursuant to the laws of the United States or a state of the United States that limits the personal liability of investors to the equity investment of the investor in the business entity. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Market value: means :
  
  (a) the amount of cash or a letter of credit; or
  
  (b) the price of a security or derivative instrument on any date obtained from a generally recognized source or the most recent quotation from the source or, to the extent no generally recognized source exists, the price for the security or derivative instrument as determined pursuant to the terms of the instrument or in good faith by the parties to a transaction, plus accrued but unpaid income on the security or derivative instrument to the extent that income is not included in the price as of the date that market value is determined. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan: means an obligation secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, trust deed, or other consensual lien on real estate. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Multilateral development bank: means an international development organization of which the United States is a member. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• NAIC: means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Obligation: means a bond, note, debenture, trust certificate including an equipment trust certificate, production payment, negotiable bank certificate of deposit, bankers' acceptance, asset-backed security, credit tenant loan, loan secured by financing a net lease or net leases, and other evidence of indebtedness for the payment of money, or participations, certificates, or other evidences of an interest in any of them, whether constituting a general obligation of the issuer or payable only out of certain revenues or certain funds pledged or otherwise dedicated for payment. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Option: includes an insurance futures option. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Over-the-counter derivative instrument: means a derivative instrument entered into with a counterparty other than through a qualified exchange or futures exchange or cleared through a qualified clearinghouse. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, a business entity, a multilateral development bank, or a government or quasi-governmental body, such as a political subdivision or a government sponsored enterprise. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Policyholder obligations: means those liabilities of the insurer to or for its policyholders arising out of its policies and to its creditors and includes the liabilities required to be included in the insurer's annual statement including, but not limited to, the unearned premium reserve, reserves required by applicable mortality or morbidity tables, and claim or loss reserves including incurred but not reported claims. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Potential exposure: means :
  
  (a) the amount of initial margin required for a futures position; or
  
  (b) as to swaps, collars, and forwards, one-half of one percent times the notional amount times the square root of the remaining years to maturity. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Practice of specializing in hearing aids: means the measurement of human hearing by an audiometer and by other established means solely for fitting, making selections, adaptations, or sale of hearing aids. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Qualified bank: means :
  
  (a) a national bank, state-chartered bank, or trust company that is at all times capitalized adequately as determined by standards adopted by United States banking regulators and that is either regulated by state banking laws or is a member of the Federal Reserve System; or
  
  (b) a bank or trust company incorporated or organized pursuant to the laws of a country other than the United States that is regulated as a bank or trust company by that country's government or an agency of it and that is at all times capitalized adequately as determined by the standards adopted by international banking authorities. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Qualified exchange: means :
  
  (a) a securities exchange registered as a national securities exchange, or a securities market regulated pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• real estate: includes the leasehold estate only if it has an unexpired term, including renewal options exercisable at the option of the lessee, extending beyond the scheduled maturity date of the obligation that is secured by a mortgage on the leasehold estate by a period equal to at least twenty percent of the original term of the obligation or ten years, whichever is greater. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Replication transaction: means a derivative transaction or combination of derivative transactions that is entered into separately or in conjunction with other permissible investments held or acquired by the insurer in order to replicate the investment characteristics of otherwise permissible investments or operate as a substitute for cash market transactions, or for both reasons. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Repurchase transaction: means a transaction in which an insurer purchases securities from a counterparty that is obligated to repurchase the purchased securities or equivalent securities from the insurer at a specified price, within a specified period of time or upon demand. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Reverse repurchase transaction: means a transaction in which an insurer sells securities to a qualified bank or a qualified business entity or a bank or a business entity whose obligations with respect to the transaction are guaranteed by a qualified bank or a qualified business entity and the insurer is obligated to repurchase the sold securities or equivalent securities from the bank or business entity at a specified price, within a specified period of time or upon demand. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• sale: means the transfer of title or of the right to use by lease, bailment, or other contract, excluding wholesale transactions with distributors or specialists. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Secured location: means the contiguous real estate owned by one person. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Securities lending transaction: means a transaction in which securities are loaned by an insurer or its custodian bank or agent to a qualified bank or a qualified business entity or a bank or a business entity whose obligations with respect to the transaction are guaranteed by a qualified bank or a qualified business entity that is obligated to return the loaned securities or equivalent securities to the insurer, its custodian bank, or agent, within a specified period of time or upon demand. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Sell: means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• SVO: means the Securities Valuation Office of the NAIC or any successor office established by the NAIC. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Temporary permit: means a permit issued while the applicant is in training to become a licensed hearing aid specialist. See South Carolina Code 40-25-20
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or the termination of a producer's authority to transact insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Underlying interest: means the assets, liabilities, or other interests, or a combination of them, underlying a derivative instrument such as any one or more securities, currencies, rates, indices, commodities, or derivative instruments that are or relate to investments or investment practices that an insurer is permitted to acquire or engage in pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
• Unrestricted surplus: means the amount by which total admitted assets exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the insurer's required liabilities. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30