(a) Every insurer subject to this Article shall at all times have and maintain free and unencumbered reserve assets equal to an amount that is the total of its policyholder-related liabilities and its required minimum capital and minimum surplus and shall not pledge, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber those reserve assets. The Commissioner, upon application made to the Commissioner, may issue a written order approving the pledging, hypothecation, or encumbrance of any of the assets of an insurer not otherwise prohibited upon a finding that the pledging, hypothecation, or encumbrance will not adversely affect the insurer’s solvency.

(b) Every insurer shall file, along with any statement filed under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-2-165, a statement sworn to by the chief executive officer of the insurer that: (i) Title to assets in an amount equal to the policyholder-related liabilities and minimum required capital and minimum required surplus of the insurer that are not pledged, hypothecated, or otherwise encumbered is vested in the insurer; (ii) the only assets of the insurer that are pledged, hypothecated, or otherwise encumbered are as identified and reported in the sworn statement and no other assets of the insurer are pledged, hypothecated, or otherwise encumbered; and (iii) the terms and provisions of the transaction of the pledge, hypothecation, or encumbrance are as reported in the sworn statement.

(c) Any person that accepts a pledge, hypothecation, or encumbrance of any asset of an insurer, as security for a debt or other obligation of the insurer, not in accordance with this Article, is deemed to have accepted the asset subject to a superior, preferential, and automatically perfected lien in favor of claimants: Provided, that said lien does not apply to the assets of an insurer in a delinquency proceeding under Article 30 of this Chapter if the Commissioner or the court, whichever is appropriate, approves the pledge, hypothecation, or encumbrance of the assets.

(d) In the event of the liquidation of any insurer subject to this Article, claimants of the insurer shall have a prior and preferential claim against all assets of the insurer except those that have been pledged, hypothecated, or encumbered in accordance with this Article. Subject to Article 30 of this Chapter, all claimants have equal status; and their prior and preferential claims are superior to any claim or cause of action against the insurer by any other person. (1985, c. 327, s. 1; 1989, c. 452, s. 4; 1991, c. 681, s. 30.3; 1993, c. 504, s. 10; 2002-187, s. 2.9.)