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Reinsurance Regulation

CONNECTICUT REVISES FINANCIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

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The Connecticut Insurance Department has issued two Bulletins revising certain financial reporting requirements for certain insurers.  Bulletin FS-4AR-14 (November 25, 2014) revises the annual financial filing requirements for accredited reinsurers, requiring the submission of an annual statement that complies with the NAIC’s Annual Statement Instruction Manual, an actuarial opinion and management discussion and analysis, a copy of the reinsurer’s annual independent audit report as of December 31, 2014 and a list of insurers domiciled in Connecticut ceding business to the accredited reinsurer as of December 31, 2014.  Bulletin FS-4C-14 (November 24, 2014) requires that all captive insurance companies domiciled in or, in the case of a branch captive insurance company, licensed in Connecticut, file annual financial statements verified under oath by two executive officers.  The annual financial statements must be certified by an independent public accountant and must include certain actuarial certifications.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO CAPTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY ACT OF 2004

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The Council and Mayor of the District of Columbia have approved enacting amendments to the Captive Insurance Company Act of 2004 to, in part, strike references to segregated accounts; clarify certain statutory requirements for protected cell captive insurers and protected cells; confirm the confidentiality of capital insurers’ license application materials and clarify when they may be shared; and permit the Commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking to extend or waive the requirement to conduct a financial examination of captive insurers every 5 years upon the satisfaction of specified criteria. The amendments will take effect following a 30-day period of congressional review and will be cited as the “Captive Insurance Company Amendment Act of 2014.” D.C. Act 20-497 (Dec. 8, 2014).

This post written by Renee Schimkat.

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NAIC APPROVES SEVEN FOREIGN COUNTRIES AS QUALIFIED JURISDICTIONS FOR REINSURANCE COLLATERAL REDUCTION REQUIREMENTS AND ANNOUNCES ACTION ON INSURANCE PRIORITIES

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At its December 11, 2014 meeting, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) approved seven foreign countries as Qualified Jurisdictions so that reinsurers licensed and domiciled in those jurisdictions will be eligible for reinsurance collateral reduction requirements under NAIC’s Credit for Reinsurance Model Law. Four of those jurisdictions – Bermuda, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, were previously on NAIC’s list of Conditional Qualified Jurisdictions. Effective January 1, 2015, these four, along with Japan, Ireland and France, will be full Qualified Jurisdictions subject to a 5-year term, after which they will be re-evaluated under the provisions of the Qualified Jurisdiction Process.

NAIC also adopted the Revised Insurance Holding System Regulatory Act and Actuarial Guideline 48. The Act, in part, updates the model to clarify the group-wide supervisor for a defined class of internationally active insurance groups. AG 48 establishes national standards regarding certain captive reinsurance transactions and includes regulation of the types of assets held in a backing insurer’s statutory reserve. AG 48 takes effect in 2015. NAIC issued a news release on its actions, which can be found here.

This post written by Renee Schimkat.

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UNITED STATES TAX COURT RULES ON CAPTIVE INSURANCE ARRANGEMENT

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In 2003 and 2004, the Internal Revenue Service disallowed deductions taken by SHI Group, a subsidiary of the Swedish company Securitas AB, for insurance expenses related to a captive insurance arrangement established by Securitas AB. SHI Group, which maintained an office in California, petitioned the disallowance of these deductions in the United States Tax Court. The Internal Revenue Code permits deductions for insurance premiums as business expenses. Although the insurance premiums may be deductible, amounts placed in reserve as self-insurance are not and can only be deducted at the time the loss for which the reserve was established is actually incurred. While neither the Code nor the regulations define insurance, courts have looked primarily to four critieria in deciding whether an arrangement constitutes insurance for income tax purposes: (1) the arrangement must involve insurable risks; (2) the arrangement must shift the risk of loss to the insurer; (3) the insurer must distribute the risk of loss to the insurer; and (4) the arrangement must be insurance in the commonly accepted sense. Based on the complicated facts before it, the Tax Court determined that the captive arrangement at issue constituted insurance, allowing deductions for the related expenses. Securitas Holding, Inc. v. Commissioner, No. 21206-10, T.C. Memo 2014-225 (U.S.T.C. Oct. 29, 2014).

This post written by Leonor Lagomasino.

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATION REGARDING CREDIT FOR REINSURANCE SIGNED INTO LAW

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On September 16, 2014, Assembly Bill No. 2734 (“AB 2734”) was signed into law. AB 2734 authorizes trusteed surplus to be reduced to not less than 30% of the assuming insurer’s liabilities attributable to reinsurance ceded by United States ceding insurers covered by the trust if the Insurance Commissioner expressly finds that appropriate circumstances justify a lower level of minimum required trusteed surplus. AB 2734 also reduces the period during which the Insurance Commissioner is prohibited from taking final action on an application for certification as a reinsurer from 90 days to 30 days after posting the required notice concerning receipt of the certification application.

This post written by Kelly A. Cruz-Brown.

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