33-2-1111. Registration of insurers — requisites — termination. (1) (a) An insurer authorized to do business in this state that is a member of an insurance holding company system shall register with the commissioner, except that a foreign insurer subject to disclosure requirements and standards adopted by statute or regulation in the jurisdiction of its domicile that are substantially similar to those contained in this section is not required to register.

Ask an insurance law question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Montana Code 33-2-1111

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • 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.
  • Enterprise risk: means any activity, circumstance, event, or series of events involving one or more affiliates of an insurer that, if not remedied promptly, is likely to have a material adverse effect on the financial condition or liquidity of the insurer or its insurance holding company system as a whole. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • Group capital calculation instructions: means the group capital calculation instructions as adopted by the NAIC and as amended by the NAIC from time to time in accordance with the procedures adopted by the NAIC. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • Groupwide supervisor: means the regulatory official authorized to engage in conducting and coordinating groupwide supervision activities who is determined or acknowledged by the commissioner under 33-2-1140 to have sufficient significant contacts with the internationally active insurance group. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • Insurance holding company system: means two or more affiliated persons, one or more of which is an insurer. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • Insurer: has the meaning provided in 33-1-201, except that the term does not include agencies, authorities, or instrumentalities of the United States, its possessions and territories, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or a state or political subdivision of a state. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • 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.
  • NAIC: means the national association of insurance commissioners. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • NAIC liquidity stress test framework: means a separate NAIC publication that includes a history of the NAIC's development of regulatory liquidity stress testing, the scope criteria applicable for a specific data year, and the liquidity stress test instructions and reporting templates for a specific data year, the scope criteria, instructions, and reporting template as adopted by the NAIC and as amended by the NAIC from time to time in accordance with the procedures adopted by the NAIC. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Person: means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, any similar entity, or any combination of the foregoing acting in concert. See Montana Code 33-2-1101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(b)Any insurer subject to registration under this section shall register within 15 days after becoming subject to registration, unless the commissioner for good cause extends the time for registration.

(c)The commissioner may require any authorized insurer that is a member of a holding company system that is not subject to registration under this section to furnish a copy of the registration statement or other information filed by the insurance company with the insurance regulatory authority in the jurisdiction where the company is domiciled.

(2)An insurer subject to registration shall file with the commissioner, on or before April 30 each year, a registration statement on a form provided by the commissioner that must contain current information about:

(a)the capital structure, general financial condition, ownership, and management of the insurer and any person controlling the insurer;

(b)the identity and relationship of every member of the insurance holding company system;

(c)transactions currently outstanding or that occurred during the last calendar year between the insurer and its affiliates and the following agreements that are in force:

(i)loans, other investments, or purchases, sales, or exchanges of securities of the affiliates by the insurer or of the insurer by its affiliates;

(ii)purchases, sales, or exchanges of assets;

(iii)transactions not in the ordinary course of business;

(iv)guaranties or undertakings for the benefit of an affiliate that result in an actual contingent exposure of the insurer’s assets to liability, other than insurance contracts entered into in the ordinary course of the insurer’s business;

(v)management and service contracts and cost-sharing arrangements;

(vi)reinsurance agreements;

(vii)dividends and other distributions to shareholders; and

(viii)consolidated tax allocation agreements;

(d)a pledge of the insurer’s stock, including stock of a subsidiary or controlling affiliate for a loan made to a member of the insurance holding company system;

(e)if requested by the commissioner, financial statements of or within an insurance holding company system, including all affiliates, which may include annual audited financial statements filed with the U.S. securities and exchange commission pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the most recently filed parent corporation financial statements filed with the U.S. securities and exchange commission;

(f)statements that the insurer’s board of directors is responsible for and oversees corporate governance and internal controls and that the insurer’s officers or senior management have approved, have implemented, and continue to maintain and monitor corporate governance and internal control procedures;

(g)all matters concerning transactions between registered insurers and any affiliates as may be included from time to time in registration forms adopted or approved by the commissioner; and

(h)any other information required by the commissioner by rule.

(3)A registration statement must contain a summary outlining each item in the current registration statement that represents a change from the prior registration statement.

(4)Information need not be disclosed on the registration statement filed pursuant to subsection (2) if the information is not material for the purposes of this section. Unless the commissioner by rule or order provides otherwise, sales, purchases, exchanges, loans or extensions of credit, or investments involving 1/2 of 1% or less of an insurer’s admitted assets as of the prior December 31 are not material for purposes of this section. The definition of materiality provided in this subsection does not apply for purposes of the group capital calculation of the liquidity stress test framework.

(5)A person within an insurance holding company system subject to registration shall provide complete and accurate information to an insurer if the information is reasonably necessary to enable the insurer to comply with Title 33, chapter 2, part 11.

(6)Each registered insurer shall keep current the information required to be disclosed in its registration statement by reporting all material changes or additions on amendment forms provided by the commissioner within 15 days after the end of the month in which the registered insurer learns of each change or addition.

(7)(a) The ultimate controlling person of every insurer subject to registration under this section shall also file an annual enterprise risk report. The report must identify the material risks within the insurance holding company system that could pose enterprise risk to the insurer to the best of the controlling person’s knowledge and belief. The report must be filed with the lead state commissioner of the insurance holding company system, as determined by the procedures within the financial analysis handbook adopted by rule of the commissioner.

(b)Except as provided in this section, the ultimate controlling person of every insurer subject to registration shall concurrently file with the registration an annual group capital calculation as directed by the lead state commissioner. The report must be completed in accordance with the NAIC group capital calculation instructions, which may permit the lead state commissioner to allow a controlling person that is not the ultimate controlling person to file the group capital calculation. The report must be filed with the lead state commissioner of the insurance holding company system as determined by the commissioner in accordance with the procedures within the financial analysis handbook adopted by the NAIC. Insurance holding company systems described below are exempt from filing the group capital calculation:

(i)an insurance holding company system that has only one insurer within its holding company structure, that only writes business and is only licensed in its domestic state, and assumes no business from any other insurer;

(ii)an insurance holding company system that is required to perform a group capital calculation specified by the United States federal reserve board. The lead state commissioner shall request the calculation from the federal reserve board under the terms of information-sharing agreements in effect. If the federal reserve board cannot share the calculation with the lead state commissioner, the insurance holding company system is not exempt from the group capital calculation filing.

(iii)an insurance holding company system whose non-U.S. groupwide supervisor is located within a reciprocal jurisdiction as described in 33-2-1216 that recognizes the U.S. state regulatory approach to group supervision and group capital;

(iv)an insurance holding company system:

(A)that provides information to the lead state that meets the requirements for accreditation under the NAIC financial standards and accreditation program, either directly or indirectly through the groupwide supervisor, who has determined such information is satisfactory to allow the lead state to comply with the NAIC group supervision approach, as detailed in the NAIC financial analysis handbook; and

(B)whose non-U.S. groupwide supervisor that is not in a reciprocal jurisdiction recognizes and accepts, as specified by the commissioner in regulation, the group capital calculation as the worldwide group capital assessment for U.S. insurance groups who operate in that jurisdiction;

(v)notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (7)(b)(iii) and (7)(b)(iv), a lead state commissioner shall require the group capital calculation for U.S. operations of any non-U.S. based insurance holding company system where, after any necessary consultation with other supervisors or officials, it is deemed appropriate by the lead state commissioner for prudential oversight and solvency monitoring purposes or for ensuring the competitiveness of the insurance marketplace;

(vi)notwithstanding the exemptions from filing the group capital calculation stated in subsections (7)(b)(i) through (7)(b)(iv), the lead state commissioner has the discretion to exempt the ultimate controlling person from filing the annual group capital calculation or to accept a limited group capital filing or report in accordance with criteria as specified by the commissioner in regulation;

(vii)if the lead state commissioner determines that an insurance holding company system no longer meets one or more of the requirements for an exemption from filing the group capital calculation under this section, the insurance holding company system shall file the group capital calculation at the next annual filing date unless given an extension by the lead state commissioner based on reasonable grounds shown;

(c)The ultimate controlling person of every insurer subject to registration and also scoped into the NAIC liquidity stress test framework shall file the results of a specific year’s liquidity stress test. The filing must be made to the lead state insurance commissioner of the insurance holding company system as determined by the procedures within the financial analysis handbook adopted by the NAIC:

(i)The NAIC liquidity stress test framework includes scope criteria applicable to a specific data year. These scope criteria are reviewed at least annually by the financial stability task force or its successor. Any change to the NAIC liquidity stress test framework or to the data year for which the scope criteria are to be measured are effective on January 1 of the year following the calendar year when such changes are adopted. Insurers meeting at least one threshold of the scope criteria are considered scoped into the NAIC liquidity stress test framework for the specified data year unless the lead state insurance commissioner, in consultation with the NAIC financial stability task force or its successor, determines the insurer should not be scoped into the framework for that data year. Similarly, insurers that do not trigger at least one threshold of the scope criteria are considered scoped out of the NAIC liquidity stress test framework for the specified data year, unless the lead state insurance commissioner, in consultation with the NAIC financial stability task force or its successor, determines the insurer should be scoped into the framework for that data year.

(ii)Regulators wish to avoid having insurers scoped in and out of the NAIC liquidity stress test framework on a frequent basis. The lead state insurance commissioner, in consultation with the financial stability task force or its successor, will assess this concern as part of the determination for an insurer.

(iii)The performance of, and filing of the results from, a specific year’s liquidity stress test must comply with the NAIC liquidity stress test framework’s instructions and reporting templates for that year and any lead state insurance commissioner determinations, in conjunction with the financial stability task force or its successor, provided within the framework.

(8)The commissioner shall terminate the registration of any insurer that demonstrates that the insurer no longer is a member of an insurance holding company system.

(9)The commissioner may require or allow two or more affiliated insurers subject to registration under this section to file a consolidated registration statement or consolidated reports amending their consolidated registration statement or their individual registration statements.

(10)The commissioner may allow an insurer that is authorized to do business in this state and that is part of an insurance holding company system to register on behalf of any affiliated insurer which is required to register under subsection (1) and to file all information and material required to be filed under this section.