2014 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 36. Insurance
§36-1655. Standards.

(a) Transactions with Affiliates. Material transactions by registered insurers with their affiliates shall be subject to the provisions of Section 1604 of this title. The board of directors will be charged with exercising that degree of care which a prudent person would have exercised under similar circumstances. Material transactions shall be subject to the following standards:

(1)the terms shall be fair and reasonable;

(2)charges or fees for services performed shall be reasonable;

(3)expenses incurred and payment received shall be allocated to the insurer in conformity with customary insurance accounting practices consistently applied;

(4)the books, accounts and records of each party to all such transactions shall be so maintained as to clearly and accurately disclose the precise nature and details of the transaction including such accounting information as is necessary to support the reasonableness of the charges or fees to the respective parties; and

(5)the insurer's surplus as regards policyholders following any dividends or distributions to shareholder affiliates shall be reasonable in relation to the insurer's outstanding liabilities and adequate to meet its financial needs.

(b) Insurance Commissioner's Approval Required.

(1)The prior written approval of the Commissioner shall be required for the following transactions between a domestic insurer and its affiliates: sales, guarantees, purchases, exchanges, loans or extensions of credit or investments which, based upon an annual aggregate, involve more than three percent (3%) of the insurer's admitted assets or twenty-five percent (25%) of the insurer's surplus as regards policyholders, whichever is less, as of the latest statutory financial statement filed with the Commissioner; provided, however, that the Commissioner must either approve or disapprove within thirty (30) days after receiving written notification from the insurer of the proposed transaction and failure to disapprove the proposed transaction within thirty (30) days shall constitute approval of the transaction;

(2)The prior written approval of the Commissioner shall be required for any transactions between a domestic insurer and its affiliates where the insurer is found by the Commissioner to be in unsound condition or in such condition as to render its further transaction of insurance in Oklahoma hazardous to its policyholders or to the people of Oklahoma; provided, however, that the Commissioner must either approve or disapprove within ninety (90) days after written notification by the insurer and failure to disapprove the proposed transaction within ninety (90) days shall constitute approval of the transaction;

(3)The following transactions involving a domestic insurer and any person in its holding company system may not be entered into unless the insurer has notified the Commissioner in writing of its intention to enter into such transaction at least thirty (30) days prior thereto, or such shorter period as the Commissioner may permit, and the Commissioner has not disapproved it within such period.

(i)loans or extensions of credit to any person who is not an affiliate, where the insurer makes such loans or extensions of credit with the agreement or understanding that the proceeds of such transactions, in whole or in substantial part, are to be used to make loans or extensions of credit to, to purchase assets of, or to make investments in, any affiliate of the insurer making such loans or extensions of credit provided such transactions are equal to or exceed: (a) with respect to nonlife insurers, the lesser of three percent (3%) of the insurer's admitted assets or twenty-five percent (25%) of surplus as regards policyholders; (b) with respect to life insurers, three percent (3%) of the insurer's admitted assets; each as of the 31st day of December next preceding;

(ii)reinsurance agreements or modifications thereto in which the reinsurance premium or a change in the insurer's liabilities equals or exceeds five percent (5%) of the insurer's surplus as regards policyholders, as of the 31st day of December next preceding, including those agreements which may require as consideration the transfer of assets from an insurer to a nonaffiliate, if an agreement or understanding exists between the insurer and nonaffiliate that any portion of such assets will be transferred to one or more affiliates of the insurer;

(iii)all management agreements, service contracts and all cost-sharing arrangements; and

(4)The Insurance Commissioner shall promulgate reasonable rules and regulations governing the form and content of the notice required pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.

(c) Nothing in this section shall supersede approvals granted under other sections of this title or transactions occurring prior to the effective date of this section.

(d) Adequacy of Surplus. For purposes of Section 1651 et seq. of this title, in determining whether an insurer's surplus as regards policyholders is reasonable in relation to the insurer's outstanding liabilities and adequate to its financial needs, the following factors, among others, shall be considered:

(1)the size of the insurer as measured by its assets, capital and surplus, reserves, premium writing, insurance in force and other appropriate criteria;

(2)the extent to which the insurer's business is diversified among the several lines of insurance;

(3)the number and size of risks insured in each line of business;

(4)the extent of the geographical dispersion of the insurer's insured risks;

(5)the nature and extent of the insurer's reinsurance program;

(6)the quality, diversification, and liquidity of the insurer's investment portfolio;

(7)the recent past and projected future trend in the size of the insurer's investment portfolio;

(8)the surplus as regards policyholders maintained by other comparable insurers;

(9)the adequacy of the insurer's reserves;

(10)the quality and liquidity of investments in subsidiaries made pursuant to Section 1652 of this title. The Commissioner may treat any such investment as a disallowed asset for purposes of determining the adequacy of surplus as regards policyholders whenever in his judgment such investment so warrants; and

(11)the quality of the insurer's earnings and the extent to which the reported earnings include extraordinary items.

(e) Dividends and Other Distributions. No insurer subject to registration under Section 1654 of this title shall pay any extraordinary dividend or make any other extraordinary distribution to its shareholders until (i) thirty (30) days after the Commissioner has received notice of the declaration thereof and has not within such period disapproved such payment, or (ii) the Commissioner shall have approved such payment within such thirty-day period.

For purposes of this section, an extraordinary dividend or distribution includes any dividend or distribution of cash or other property, whose fair market value together with that of other dividends or distributions made within the preceding twelve months exceeds the greater of (i) ten percent (10%) of such insurer's surplus as regards policyholders as of the 31st day of December next preceding, or (ii) the net gain from operations of such insurer, if such insurer is a life insurer, or the net income, if such insurer is not a life insurer, not including realized capital gains, for the twelve-month period ending the 31st day of December next preceding, but shall not include pro rata distributions of any class of the insurer's own securities.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an insurer may declare an extraordinary dividend or distribution which is conditional upon the Commissioner's approval thereof, and such a declaration shall confer no rights upon shareholders until (i) the Commissioner has approved the payment of such dividend or distribution or (ii) the Commissioner has not disapproved such payment within the thirty-day period referred to above.

Added by Laws 1970, c. 166, § 5, emerg. eff. April 9, 1970. Amended by Laws 1988, c. 94, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1988; Laws 1992, c. 178, § 5, eff. Sept. 1, 1992; Laws 1995, c. 86, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1995; Laws 2005, c. 129, § 13, eff. Nov. 1, 2005.