Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 38.2 > Chapter 14 > Article 1 - General Provisions.

• Admitted assets: means , for purposes of the limitations and standards imposed by Articles 1 and 2 of this chapter, the amount thereof as permitted to be reported on the statutory financial statement of the insurer most recently required to be filed with the Commission pursuant to §§ Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Annuities: means all agreements to make periodic payments in specified or calculable sums pursuant to the terms of a contract for a stated period of time or for the life of the person or persons specified in the contract. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• 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: shall be deemed to include "variable annuity" and "modified guaranteed annuity" and shall be deemed to include a contract under which a lump sum cash settlement is an alternative to the option of periodic payments. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• Business entity: means a corporation, association, partnership, joint venture, trust, church, or religious body. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Cap: means an agreement obligating the seller to make payments to the buyer, with each payment based on the amount by which a reference price or level or the performance or value of one or more underlying interests exceeds a predetermined number, sometimes called the strike rate or strike price. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Date of investment: means the date on which funds are disbursed for an investment. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Derivative instrument: means an agreement, instrument, or a series or combination thereof (i) to make or take delivery of, or assume or relinquish, a specified amount of one or more underlying interests or to make a cash settlement in lieu thereof or (ii) that has a price, performance, value, or cash flow based primarily upon the actual or expected price, level, performance, value, or cash flow of one or more underlying interests. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Derivative transaction: means a transaction involving the use of one or more derivative instruments. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• 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.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• fixed charges: includes contingent interest payments. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Floor: means an agreement obligating the seller to make payments to the buyer in which each payment is based on the amount by which a predetermined number, sometimes called the floor rate or price, exceeds a reference price, a level, or the performance or value of one or more underlying interests. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Future: means an agreement, traded on a qualified exchange or qualified foreign exchange, to make or take delivery of, or effect a cash settlement based on the actual or expected price, level, performance or value of, one or more underlying interests and includes an insurance future. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Hedging transaction: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401

• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Insurance future: means a future relating to an index or pool that is based on insurance-related items. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Insurance futures option: means an option on an insurance future. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• insurance policies: shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and suretyship. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Insurer: means a company licensed pursuant to Chapter 10 (§ Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Life insurance: includes policies that also provide (i) endowment benefits; (ii) additional benefits incidental to a loss in the event of death, dismemberment, or loss by accident or accidental means; (iii) additional benefits to safeguard the contract from lapse or to provide a special surrender value, a special benefit or an annuity, in the event of total and permanent disability of the insured; and (iv) optional modes of settlement of proceeds. See Virginia Code 38.2-102
• Lower grade obligations: means obligations which (i) are rated four, five, or six by the Securities Valuation Office of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or (ii) if not rated by the Securities Valuation Office, are rated in an equivalent grade by a national rating agency recognized by the Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Medium grade obligations: means obligations which (i) are rated three by the Securities Valuation Office of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or (ii) if not rated by the Securities Valuation office, are rated in an equivalent grade by a national rating agency recognized by the Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Minimum capital and surplus: means the minimum surplus to policyholders, or minimum net worth, a particular insurer must have to obtain and maintain its license to transact business in this Commonwealth pursuant to the applicable provisions of this title. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Obligation: means a bond, debenture, note or other evidence of indebtedness. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Option: includes an insurance futures option. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Over-the-counter derivative instrument: means a derivative instrument that is entered into with a business entity other than through a qualified exchange or qualified foreign exchange or that is cleared other than through a qualified clearinghouse. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• 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.
• Qualified clearinghouse: means a clearinghouse for, and that is subject to the rules of, a qualified exchange or a qualified foreign exchange, which clearinghouse provides clearing services, including acting as a counterparty to each of the parties to a transaction such that the parties no longer have credit risk as to each other. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• Qualified exchange: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401

• Qualified foreign exchange: means a foreign exchange, board of trade, or contract market located outside the United States:

  1. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401

• rates: means any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Replication transaction: means a derivative transaction that is intended to replicate the performance of one or more assets that an insurer is authorized to acquire under this chapter. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
• 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 any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Surplus to policyholders: means the excess of total admitted assets over the liabilities of an insurer, and shall be the sum of all capital and surplus accounts, including any voluntary reserves, minus any impairment of all capital and surplus accounts. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Warrant: means an instrument that gives the holder the right to purchase an underlying financial instrument at a given price and time or at a series of prices and times outlined in the warrant agreement. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401