Source: https://surplusmanual.lockelord.com/eligibility/mississippi/
Timestamp: 2020-02-24 10:25:09
Document Index: 208810823

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 83', '§ 83', '§ 83', '§ 83', '§ 83', '§ 83']

Mississippi - Surplus Lines
Mississippi maintains a list of eligible surplus lines insurers (see Other Comments section #1).
Mississippi does have a Surplus Lines Association (see Other Comments section #3).
Mississippi does not have an Export List.
Mississippi does not have an industrial insured exemption but has adopted the NRRA exempt commercial purchaser exemption.
Surplus lines tax: 4%, plus 0.25% stamping fee, payable by broker or agent (see Other Comments section #4).
Mississippi has adopted NIMA (HB 785) Effective: June 13, 2011, but subsequently submitted notice of withdrawal from NIMA in April 2012.
Mississippi does not allow domestic surplus lines insurers in the state.
Filing or Other Renewal Fee: $500 due May 1.
Annual Statement/Report: certified.
Application: executed by company’s U.S. representative, if alien.
Alien insurers must have capital and surplus meeting the same requirements as foreign insurers and have a trust fund of the greater of: $5.4 million or 30% of U.S. surplus lines gross liabilities, excluding aviation, wet marine and transportation liabilities, not to exceed $60 million. §§ 83-21-17(1)(e)(i)-(ii). An alien insurer must also be listed on the NAIC Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers. § 83-21-17(1)(h). Effective July 21, 2011, listing on the NAIC list is sufficient; no additional requirements need be met.
A foreign insurer is eligible if the insurer has capital and surplus (or its equivalent under the laws of its domiciliary jurisdiction) equal to the greater of: the capital and surplus required of a company licensed to do business in Mississippi or $15 million. §§ 83-21-17(1)(a)(i) – (ii). The insurance commissioner may waive these minimum capital and surplus requirements and a nonadmitted insurer may become eligible if the commissioner makes an affirmative finding of acceptability after considering: quality of management, capital and surplus of a parent company, company underwriting profit and investment trends, market availability, and company record and reputation within the industry. § 83-21-17(1)(b). The commissioner may not make a finding of acceptability if the insurer’s capital and surplus is under $4.5 million. § 83-21-17(1)(6).
Mississippi eligibility list available at http://www.mid.ms.gov/licapp/download_list.aspx.
Select “Company List” from the scroll down menu “Choose Company List to Download” then select “Surplus Lines – Alien” or “Surplus Lines – Foreign” from the scroll down menu “Choose License Type.”
In order to be eligible, a foreign insurance company must not be designated as a regulatory priority company by the NAIC.
Contact information for the Mississippi Surplus Lines Association is as follows:
Peggy Dronet, Executive Director
Flowood, MS 39232-3018
Tel.: (601) 713-1111
Fax.: (601) 713-1122
Website: www.msla.org
Mississippi requires the surplus lines agent to collect a nonadmitted policy fee for any and all risks on real property and contents in Mississippi. This fee is effective on all nonadmitted real property and contents, for policies effective January 1, 2008 and after. However, as of July 1, 2014, residential earthquake and residential flood risks are exempt from the nonadmitted policy fee. § 83-34-47(1).
Mississippi has eliminated the affidavit requirement and instead requires a surplus lines insurance producer to execute a form when any policy of insurance or certificate of insurance is procured under the authority of the producer’s license. The form must set forth facts in complete detail as to what was done to place the insurance and showing that the producer, after diligent effort, was unable to procure from a licensed company or companies the full amount of insurance required to protect the property, liability, or risk desired to be insured. This form must be maintained on file with the surplus lines insurance producer and may be subject to review by the Mississippi Commissioner of Insurance.
Every insurance contract procured and delivered must have stamped upon it in bold ten-point type, and bear the name of the agent who procured it, the following:“NOTE: This insurance policy is issued pursuant to Mississippi law covering surplus lines insurance. The company issuing the policy is not licensed by the State of Mississippi, but is authorized to do business in Mississippi as a nonadmitted company. The policy is not protected by the Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association in the event of the insurer’s insolvency.”
In 2015, the Mississippi Department of Insurance issued Bulletin 2015-5, which amends due diligence search guidance that was provided in Bulletin 2012-4. Bulletin 2015-5 signifies a shift in policy that previously required retail agents to carry a surplus lines license even if placing insurance through a licensed surplus lines producer. The bulletin prescribes a new Retail Insurance Producer Nonadmitted Insurance Form (Attachment A in the new bulletin) for transactions where the retail producer, not licensed as a surplus lines broker, is able to perform the due diligence search before placing a policy through a licensed surplus lines broker.
The Mississippi Legislature enacted legislation in 2017 eliminating the requirement that a diligent search of the admitted market be made before placing insurance with a surplus lines producer thus making Mississippi the fourth state to eliminate the diligent search requirement, joining Louisiana, Virginia and Wisconsin. The legislation also decreases from two to one the number of fire and casualty companies that a producer must be regularly commissioned to represent in order to obtain a surplus lines license and expands the necessary items that must be included in the acknowledgment provided to the insured for personal lines surplus lines policies including that coverage may or may not be available in the admitted market that may “provide greater protection with more regulatory oversight” and that losses shall not be paid by the Guaranty Association in the event of an insolvency. This Legislation applies to surplus lines policies that are quoted or bound on or after July 1, 2017.