2010 Wyoming Statutes
Title 26 - Insurance Code
Chapter 7 - Investments

CHAPTER 7 - INVESTMENTS

 

26-7-101. Scope of chapter.

 

Except as to W.S. 26-7-116, this chapter applies to domestic insurers only.

 

26-7-102. Definitions of terms used in chapter; determination of net earnings.

 

 

(a) As used in this chapter:

 

(i) "Fixed charges" means interest on funded and unfunded debt amortization of debt discount and rentals for leased properties;

 

(ii) "Institution" means corporations, joint-stock associations and business trusts;

 

(iii) "Net earnings available for fixed charges" means net income after deducting operating and maintenance expenses, taxes, other than federal and state income taxes, depreciation and depletion, but excluding extraordinary nonrecurring items of income or expense appearing in the regular financial statements of the institutions involved;

 

(iv) "Obligations" means bonds, debentures, notes or other evidences of indebtedness.

 

(b) If net earnings are determined in reliance upon consolidated earnings statements of parent and subsidiary institutions, those net earnings shall be determined after provision for income taxes of subsidiaries and after proper allowance for minority stock interest if any. The required coverage of fixed charges shall be computed on a basis including fixed charges and preferred dividends of subsidiaries other than those payable by the subsidiaries to the parent corporation or to any other of the subsidiaries, except that if the minority common stock interest in the subsidiary corporation is substantial, the fixed charges and preferred dividends may be apportioned in accordance with regulations the commissioner prescribes.

 

26-7-103. Eligible investments.

 

 

(a) Insurers shall invest in or lend their funds on the security of and shall hold as invested assets only eligible investments prescribed in this chapter.

 

(b) Any particular investment held by an insurer on January 1, 1968, which was a legal investment at the time it was made, and which the insurer was legally entitled to possess immediately prior to that date, is an eligible investment.

 

(c) Eligibility of an investment is determined as of the date of its making or acquisition, except as stated in subsection (b) of this section.

 

(d) Any investment limitation based upon the amount of the insurer's assets or particular funds relates to those assets or funds as shown by the insurer's annual statement as of December 31 immediately preceding the date of the insurer's acquisition of the investment, or as shown by a current financial statement resulting from merger of another insurer, bulk reinsurance or change in capitalization.

 

(e) An insurer authorized to transact insurance in a foreign country may make investments, in aggregate amount not exceeding its deposit and reserve obligations incurred in that country, in securities of or in that country possessing characteristics and of a quality similar to like investments in the United States.

 

26-7-104. General qualifications for investments.

 

(a) No security or investment, other than property acquired under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xiii), is eligible for acquisition unless it is interest bearing or interest accruing or dividend or income paying, is not then in default and the insurer is entitled to receive for its exclusive account and benefit the interest or income accruing thereon. Any stock which has the ability to appreciate in value shall be considered to be income paying for purposes of this subsection.

 

(b) No security or investment is eligible for purchase at a price above its market value.

 

(c) Nothing in this chapter prohibits an insurer from acquiring other or additional securities or property if received as a dividend or as a lawful distribution of assets, or under a lawful and bona fide agreement of bulk reinsurance, merger or consolidation. Any investment so acquired which is not otherwise eligible under this chapter shall be disposed of pursuant to W.S. 26-7-112 if real property, or pursuant to W.S. 26-7-113 if personal property or securities.

 

26-7-105. Investment authorization; record.

 

 

(a) No insurer shall make any investment or loan, other than a policy loan or an annuity contract loan of a life insurer, unless the investment or loan is authorized by the insurer's board of directors or by a committee authorized by the board and charged with the supervision or making of the investment or loan. The minutes of any such committee shall be recorded and regular reports of the committee shall be submitted to the board of directors.

 

(b) The insurer shall maintain a full record of each investment, showing, among other pertinent information, the name of any officer, director or principal stockholder of the insurer having any interest in the securities, loan or property constituting the investment, or in the person in whose behalf the investment is made, and the nature of the interest.

 

26-7-106. Diversification of and limits on investments.

 

 

(a) An insurer shall invest in or hold as admitted assets only categories of investments within applicable limits as follows:

 

(i) No insurer shall have at any time any combination of investments in or loans upon the security of the obligations, property or securities of any one (1) person, institution, corporation or municipal corporation aggregating an amount exceeding five percent (5%) of the insurer's assets, except this does not apply to general obligations of the United States of America or of any state or include policy loans made under W.S. 26-7-108;

 

(ii) No insurer shall invest in or hold at any time more than ten percent (10%) of the outstanding voting stock of any corporation, except with respect to voting rights of preference stock during default of dividends, except this does not apply to stock of an insurer's subsidiary acquired under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vii) or (xiv), or to controlling stock of an insurer acquired under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vi);

 

(iii) An insurer, other than a title insurer, shall invest and maintain invested funds not less in amount than the minimum paid-in capital stock required under this code of a domestic stock insurer transacting like kinds of insurance, only in cash and the securities provided under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(i) and 26-7-107(a)(xii);

 

(iv) A life insurer shall also invest and keep invested its funds, in an amount not less than the reserves under its life insurance policies and annuity contracts in force, in cash or the securities or investments allowed under this chapter, other than in common stocks, insurance stocks and stocks of the insurer's subsidiaries;

 

(v) No life insurer shall invest and have invested at any time in aggregate amount more than seven percent (7%) of its assets in all stocks under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(iv), (v), (vi) and (viii), except this does not apply to stock of a controlled or subsidiary corporation under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vi), (vii) and (xiv);

 

(vi) No insurer shall have invested at any time more than sixty-five percent (65%) of its assets in obligations secured by mortgage, trust deed, contract of purchase or other similar encumbrance of real property;

 

(vii) No insurer shall have invested at any time more than seven percent (7%) of its assets in either improvement district obligations or equipment trust certificates;

 

(viii) Investments in real property are limited as provided in W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xiii); and

 

(ix) Other specific limits apply as stated in the sections dealing with other kinds of investments.

 

26-7-107. Authorized investments.

 

(a) An insurer may invest in:

 

(i) Bonds or other evidences of indebtedness, not in default as to principal or interest, which are valid and legally authorized obligations issued, assumed or guaranteed by the United States or Canada or by any state, territory, possession or province thereof, or by any county, city, town, village, municipality or other political subdivision or public instrumentality of one (1) or more of the governmental units specified, if, by statutory or other legal requirements applicable thereto, the obligations are payable as to both principal and interest from:

 

(A) Taxes levied or required to be levied upon all taxable property or all taxable income within the jurisdiction of the governmental unit; or

 

(B) Adequate special revenues pledged or otherwise appropriated or by law required to be provided for that payment, but not including any obligation payable solely out of special assessments on properties benefited by local improvements unless adequate security is evidenced by the ratio of assessment to the value of the property or the obligation is additionally secured by an adequate guaranty fund required by law.

 

(ii) The obligations and stock if stated, issued, assumed or guaranteed by the following agencies of the United States government, or in which that government is a participant, whether or not it guarantees the obligations:

 

(A) Commodity credit corporation;

 

(B) Federal intermediate credit banks;

 

(C) Federal land banks;

 

(D) Banks for cooperatives;

 

(E) Federal home loan banks, and stock thereof;

 

(F) Federal national mortgage association and stock thereof when acquired in connection with sale of mortgage loans to the association;

 

(G) International bank for reconstruction and development;

 

(H) Inter-American development bank;

 

(J) Any other similar agency of, or participated in by, the United States government and of similar financial quality.

 

(iii) Obligations other than those eligible for investment under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xii) if they are issued, assumed or guaranteed by any solvent institution created or existing under the laws of the United States or Canada or of any state, district, territory or province thereof, and are qualified under any of the following:

 

(A) Obligations which are secured by adequate collateral security and bear fixed interest if during each of any three (3), including the last two (2), of the five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding the date of the insurer's acquisition, the net earnings of the issuing, assuming or guaranteeing institution available for its fixed charges, as defined in W.S. 26-7-102, have been not less than one and one-fourth (1 1/4) times the total of its fixed charges for that year. In determining the adequacy of collateral security not more than one-third (1/3) of the total value of the required collateral shall consist of stock other than stock meeting the requirements of W.S. 26-7-107(a)(iv);

 

(B) Fixed interest-bearing obligations, other than those described in subparagraph (a)(iii)(A) of this section, if the net earnings of the issuing, assuming or guaranteeing institution available for its fixed charges for a period of five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding the date of the insurer's acquisition have averaged per year not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) times its average annual fixed charges applicable to that period and if during the last year of that period the net earnings have been not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) times its fixed charges for that year;

 

(C) Adjustment, income or other contingent interest obligations if the net earnings of the issuing, assuming or guaranteeing institution available for its fixed charges for a period of five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding the date of the insurer's acquisition have averaged per year not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) times the sum of its average annual fixed charges and its average annual maximum contingent interest applicable to that period and if during each of the last two (2) years of that period the net earnings have been not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) times the sum of its fixed charges and maximum contingent interest for each year.

 

(iv) Preferred or guaranteed stocks or shares of any solvent institution existing under the laws of the United States or of Canada, or of any state or province thereof, if all of the prior obligations and prior preferred stocks, if any, of the institution at the date of the insurer's acquisition of the investment are eligible as investments under this chapter and if the net earnings of the institution available for its fixed charges during each of the last two (2) years have been, and during each of the last five (5) years have averaged, not less than one and one-half (1 1/2) times the sum of its average annual fixed charges, if any, its average annual maximum contingent interest, if any, and its average annual preferred dividend requirements. For the purposes of this paragraph the computation shall refer to the fiscal years immediately preceding the date of the insurer's acquisition of the investment, and the term "preferred dividend requirement" means cumulative or noncumulative dividends, whether paid or not;

 

(v) Nonassessable common stocks, other than insurance stocks, of any solvent corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United States or Canada, or of any state or province thereof, if the corporation has had net earnings available for dividends on its stock in each of the five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding the insurer's investment therein. If the issuing corporation has not been in legal existence for the whole of the five (5) fiscal years but was formed as a consolidation or merger of two (2) or more businesses of which at least one (1) was in operation on a date five (5) years prior to the investment, the test of eligibility of its common stock under this paragraph shall be based upon consolidated pro forma statements of the predecessor or constituent institutions;

 

(vi) Stocks of other solvent insurers formed under the laws of this or another state, which stocks meet the applicable requirements of W.S. 26-7-107(a)(iv) and 26-7-107(a)(v). With the commissioner's advance written consent an insurer may acquire and hold the controlling interest in the outstanding voting stock of another stock insurer formed under the laws of this or another state, which stocks are limited as to amount as provided in W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vii). The commissioner shall not give his consent to any such acquisition if he finds it is not in the best interests of the insurers involved or of their policyholders or stockholders, or that the acquisition would materially tend to result in any monopoly in the insurance business;

 

(vii) Stock of a subsidiary insurance corporation it forms. All of the insurer's investments under this paragraph, together with its investments in insurance stocks under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vi), shall not at any time exceed the amount of the investing insurer's surplus, if a life insurer, or its surplus to policyholders if other than a life insurer;

 

(viii) A bank's common trust fund as defined in section 584 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1954;

 

(ix) The securities of any open-end management type investment company or investment trust registered with the federal securities and exchange commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as from time to time amended, if the investment company or trust has assets of not less than twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) on the date of the insurer's investment;

 

(x) Equipment trust obligations or certificates adequately secured and evidencing an interest in transportation equipment, wholly or in part within the United States of America, which obligations or certificates carry the right to receive determined portions of rental, purchase or other fixed obligatory payments to be made for the use or purchase of the transportation equipment;

 

(xi) Share accounts, savings accounts of savings and loan associations or building and loan associations or in the savings accounts of banks;

 

(xii) First liens upon improved real property located in this or any other state or in Canada, subject to the following conditions:

 

(A) For liens on single family residence property the amount loaned shall not exceed seventy-five percent (75%) of the fair value of the property, and the loan shall be amortized within not more than thirty (30) years by payment of installments thereon at regular intervals not less frequent than every three (3) months;

 

(B) For liens on other improved real property the amount loaned shall not exceed sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of the fair value of the property;

 

(C) No loan shall be made or acquired by the insurer unless the fair value of the property has been determined, for the purposes of the loan, by a qualified independent appraiser;

 

(D) In applying the limitations provided in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph, the amount in which the loan is guaranteed by the administrator of veteran's affairs or insured by the federal housing administration or other United States or Canadian government agency may be excluded from the amount of the loan;

 

(E) Insurance not less comprehensive than fire and extended coverage shall be carried on the improvements on the property in an amount not less than the insurable value of the improvements, or the amount of the loan, whichever is less, and the policy evidencing the insurance endorsed to show the interest of the mortgagee. "Improved real property" means all farm lands used for tillage, crop, other than timber, or pasture, and all real property on which permanent improvements, installations or structures suitable for residence or construction of residences, or for commercial or industrial use, are situated;

 

(F) Subparagraphs (A), (B) and (C) of this paragraph do not apply to purchase money mortgages taken by the insurer upon sale of property theretofore owned by it and covering the real property. No such mortgage shall be for an amount exceeding the original unpaid balance of the purchase price.

 

(xiii) Real property as follows:

 

(A) The land and the buildings thereon occupied by it as its principal office and any other real property necessary in the transaction of its business, provided the amount so invested and apportioned as to space actually so occupied shall not aggregate more than fifteen percent (15%) of the insurer's assets;

 

(B) Acquired in satisfaction of loans, mortgages, liens, judgments, decrees or debts previously owing to the insurer in the course of its business;

 

(C) Acquired in part payment of the consideration of the sale of other real property it owns, if the transaction effects a net reduction in the insurer's investments in real property;

 

(D) Acquired by gift or devise or through merger, consolidation or bulk reinsurance of another insurer under this code;

 

(E) The seller's interest in real property subject to an agreement of purchase or sale, but the sum invested in the seller's interest shall not exceed two-thirds (2/3) of the fair value of the property;

 

(F) Improved real property, or any interest therein acquired or held by purchase, lease or otherwise, other than real property to be used primarily for agricultural, ranch, mining, development of oil or mineral resources, recreational, amusement, hotel, motel or club purposes, acquired as an investment for the production of income or acquired to be improved or developed for such investment purposes pursuant to an existing program therefor. The insurer may hold, improve, develop, maintain, manage, lease, sell and convey real property it acquires under this provision. An insurer shall not have at any time invested in real property under this subparagraph an amount exceeding fifteen percent (15%) of its assets. An investment in any single parcel of real estate acquired under this subparagraph after March 1, 1975, shall not exceed four percent (4%) of the company's assets;

 

(G) Additional real property and equipment incident to real property, if necessary or convenient for the purpose of enhancing the sale or other value of real property previously acquired or held under subparagraphs (B), (C), (D) or (F) of this paragraph. The real property and equipment shall be included, together with the real property for the enhancement of which it was acquired, for the purpose of applicable investment limits, and is subject to disposal at the same time and under the same conditions applying to the enhanced real property under W.S. 26-7-112;

 

(H) All real property owned by the insurer under this section, except as to seller's interest specified in subparagraph (E) of this paragraph, shall not at any time exceed thirty percent (30%) of the insurer's assets.

 

(xiv) Common stock, preferred stock, debt obligations, and other securities of one (1) or more subsidiary business corporations formed under the laws of this state and necessary and incidental to the insurer's insurance business or to the administration of any of its investments. The amount of the investment is governed by W.S. 26-44-102(b);

 

(xv) Nonassessable common stocks, other than insurance stocks, of any solvent corporation organized and existing under the laws of any foreign country, any such investment to be subject to the limitations of W.S. 26-7-106. At any one time, the aggregate amount of foreign investments shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the insurer's admitted assets.

 

26-7-108. Policy loans.

 

A life insurer may lend to its policyholder upon pledge of the policy as collateral security any sum not exceeding the cash surrender value of the policy, or may lend against pledge or assignment of any of its supplementary contracts or other contracts or obligations if the loan is adequately secured by the pledge or assignment. Loans so made are eligible investments of the insurer.

 

26-7-109. Collateral loans.

 

An insurer may lend and thereby invest its funds upon the pledge of securities eligible for investment under this chapter. As of the date made, no such loan shall exceed in amount ninety percent (90%) of the market value of the collateral pledged. The amount loaned shall be included pro rata in determining the maximum percentage of funds permitted under this chapter to be invested in the categories of securities so pledged.

 

26-7-110. Miscellaneous loans and investments.

 

(a) An insurer may make loans or investments not otherwise expressly permitted under this chapter, in aggregate amounts not over five percent (5%) of the insurer's assets and not over one percent (1%) of those assets as to any one loan or investment, if the loan or investment fulfills the requirements of W.S. 26-7-103 and otherwise qualifies as a sound investment. No such loan or investment shall be represented by:

 

(i) Any item excluded under W.S. 26-6-102 or any loan or investment otherwise expressly prohibited;

 

(ii) Agents' balances or amounts advanced to or owing by agents, except as to policy loans, mortgage loans and collateral loans otherwise authorized under this chapter;

 

(iii) Any category of loans or investments expressly eligible under any other provisions of this chapter;

 

(iv) Any asset theretofore acquired or held by the insurer under any other category of loans or investments eligible under this chapter.

 

(b) An insurer may make loans to industrial development corporations under the laws of this state in an amount not exceeding the limits set forth in W.S. 17-11-106(b)(iii).

 

(c) The insurer shall keep a separate record of all loans and investments made under this section.

 

26-7-111. Security interest in chattels.

 

 

(a) In connection with a mortgage loan on the security of real property designed and used primarily for residential purposes only, which mortgage loan was acquired pursuant to W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xii), an insurer may lend or invest an amount, not exceeding twenty percent (20%) of the amount loaned on or invested in the real property mortgage, on the security of chattels, to be amortized by regular payments within a term of not more than five (5) years, and representing a first and prior lien, except for taxes not then delinquent, on personal property constituting durable equipment and owned by the mortgagor and kept and used in the mortgaged premises.

 

(b) For the purposes of this section, "durable equipment" includes only mechanical refrigerators, air conditioning equipment, mechanical laundering machines, heating and cooking stoves and ranges, and in the case of apartment houses, motels and hotels, room furniture and furnishings also.

 

(c) Prior to the acquisition of a chattel mortgage under this section, items of property to be included therein shall be separately appraised by a qualified appraiser and the fair market value thereof determined. No chattel loan shall exceed in amount the same ratio of loan to the value of the property as is applicable to the companion loan on the real property.

 

(d) This section does not prohibit an insurer from taking liens on personal property as additional security for any investment otherwise eligible under this chapter.

 

26-7-112. Security interest in chattels; time limit for disposal.

 

 

(a) Except as stated in subsection (b) of this section, the insurer shall dispose of real property acquired under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xiii)(A) within five (5) years after it ceases to be necessary to the insurer in the transaction of its business and real property acquired under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xiii)(B), (C) and (D) within five (5) years after the date of acquisition.

 

(b) Upon satisfactory proof that the insurer's interests will suffer materially by the forced sale of real property, the commissioner, by order, may grant a reasonable extension of the period within which the insurer shall dispose of any particular parcel of real property, unless the insurer elects to hold the real property as an investment for income purposes under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(xiii)(F), in which case thereafter the real property is deemed to have been acquired at a cost equal to its book value at the time of the election and to be held under and subject to that subparagraph.

 

26-7-113. Disposal of ineligible investments; time limit for disposal.

 

Any personal property or securities lawfully acquired by an insurer which it could not otherwise have invested in or loaned its funds upon at the time of the acquisition, shall be disposed of within three (3) years from date of acquisition unless within that period the security becomes an eligible investment, except that any security or personal property acquired under any agreement of bulk reinsurance, merger or consolidation may be retained for a longer period if so provided in the plan for reinsurance, merger or consolidation as the commissioner approves under chapter 24 of this code. Upon the insurer's application and proof that forced sale of any such property or security would materially injure its interests, the commissioner may extend the disposal period for an additional reasonable time.

 

26-7-114. Disposal of ineligible investments; failure to dispose; disposal of ineligible investments unlawfully acquired.

 

 

(a) Any real property, personal property or securities lawfully acquired and held by an insurer after expiration of the period for disposal thereof or any extension of that period as provided in W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vi) or 26-7-107(a)(vii), shall not be allowed as an insurer's asset.

 

(b) An insurer shall immediately dispose of any ineligible investment unlawfully acquired. The commissioner shall suspend or revoke the insurer's certificate of authority if the insurer fails to dispose of the investment within any reasonable time the commissioner, by order, specifies.

 

26-7-115. Prohibited investments; securities underwriting prohibited.

 

 

(a) In addition to investments excluded pursuant to other provisions of this code, an insurer shall not invest in or lend its funds upon the security of:

 

(i) Issued shares of its own capital stock, except for the purpose of mutualization under W.S. 26-24-143;

 

(ii) Securities issued by any corporation or enterprise the controlling interest of which is or after the insurer's acquisition will be held by the insurer or any combination of the insurer and the insurer's directors, officers, parent corporation, subsidiaries or controlling stockholders and the spouses and children of any of them. Investments in controlled insurance corporations or subsidiaries under W.S. 26-7-107(a)(vi), (vii) or (xiv) are not subject to this provision;

 

(iii) Any note or other evidence of indebtedness of any director, officer, employee or controlling stockholder of the insurer or of the spouse or child of any of them, except as to policy loans authorized under W.S. 26-7-108.

 

(b) No insurer shall underwrite or participate in the underwriting of an offering of securities or property by any other person.

 

26-7-116. Investments of foreign insurers.

 

The investment portfolio of a foreign or alien insurer shall be as permitted by the laws of its domicile if of a quality substantially equal to that required under this chapter for similar funds of like domestic insurers. In determining the relative quality and value of the investment portfolio of a foreign or alien insurer, the commissioner, for purposes of comparison, may apply the provisions of this code regulating investments of domestic insurers and valuation of those insurers. If the commissioner determines that the investment portfolio of a foreign or alien insurer is not of a quality substantially equal to that required under this chapter for similar funds of like domestic insurers, he may refuse to continue or may suspend or revoke an insurer's certificate of authority in accordance with W.S. 26-3-115.