South Carolina Code 38-12-490. Securities lending, repurchase, reverse repurchase, and dollar roll transactions
(1) the insurer’s board of directors must adopt a written plan that specifies guidelines and objectives regarding such transactions, including:
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-12-490
- 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 - 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
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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
- 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
- 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 - Future: includes an insurance future. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
- Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
- 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
- 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.
- 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 - 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 - 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
- SVO: means the Securities Valuation Office of the NAIC or any successor office established by the NAIC. See South Carolina Code 38-12-30
- 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
(a) a description of how cash may be invested or used for general corporate purposes of the insurer;
(b) operational procedures to manage interest rate risk, counterparty default risk, the conditions under which proceeds from reverse repurchase transactions may be used in the ordinary course of business, and the use of acceptable collateral in a manner that reflects the liquidity needs of the transaction; and
(c) the extent to which the insurer may engage in these transactions;
(2) the insurer must enter into a written agreement for all transactions authorized in this subsection other than dollar roll transactions. The written agreement must:
(a) require each transaction to terminate no more than one year from its inception;
(b) be made with the counterparty, except that for securities lending transactions, the agreement may be:
(i) through a custodian bank that is a qualified bank; or
(ii) with an agent acting on behalf of the insurer if the:
(A) agent or the guarantor of the agent’s obligations pursuant to the agreement is a qualified bank or a qualified business entity; and
(B) agreement with the agent requires the agent to enter into separate agreements with each counterparty that are consistent with the requirements of this subsection and prohibits securities lending transactions pursuant to the agreement with the agent or its affiliates;
(3) cash received in a transaction pursuant to this subsection, if not used by the insurer for its general corporate purposes in accordance with the plan adopted by the board of directors pursuant to item (1), must be invested in accordance with this chapter and in a manner that recognizes the liquidity needs of the transaction. For so long as any transaction pursuant to this subsection remains outstanding, the insurer, its agent, or custodian, either physically or through the book entry systems of the Federal Reserve, Depository Trust Company, or other securities depositories approved by the director, shall maintain:
(a) possession of acceptable collateral for the transaction in at least the amount required pursuant to the provisions of the SVO procedures manual;
(b) a perfected security interest in the acceptable collateral; or
(c) in the case of a foreign jurisdiction, title to or rights of a secured creditor to the acceptable collateral;
(4) the limitations of §§ 38-12-430 and 38-12-500 do not apply to the counterparty exposure created by transactions pursuant to this section. For purposes of calculations made to determine compliance with this item, the insurer’s future obligation to resell securities in the case of a repurchase transaction, or to repurchase securities in the case of a reverse repurchase transaction, must not be counted. An insurer may not enter into a transaction pursuant to this subsection if as a result of and after giving effect to the transaction, the aggregate amount of:
(a) securities then loaned to, sold to, or purchased from any counterparty pursuant to this subsection exceed five percent of its admitted assets. In calculating the amount sold to or purchased from a counterparty under repurchase or reverse repurchase transactions, effect may be given to netting provisions pursuant to a written master agreement; or
(b) all securities then loaned to, sold to, or purchased from all counterparties pursuant to this subsection exceed forty percent of its admitted assets, except this limitation does not apply to a repurchase transaction so long as the borrowing is used to meet operational liquidity requirements resulting from an officially declared catastrophe and subject to a plan approved by the director;
(5) in a dollar roll transaction, the insurer must receive cash in an amount at least equal to the market value of the securities transferred by the insurer in the transaction as of the transaction date.