2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 33. Insurance and Insurance Companies › Chapter 2. Regulation of Insurance Companies › Part 11. Affiliation and Merger -- Holding Company Systems -- Own Risk and Solvency Assessment › 33-2-1113. Transactions with affiliates -- standards

33-2-1113. Transactions with affiliates -- standards.
(1) Material transactions by registered insurers with their affiliates are subject to the following standards:
(a) The terms must be fair and reasonable.
(b) Charges or fees for services performed must be reasonable.
(c) Expenses incurred and payments received must be allocated to the insurer in conformity with customary insurance accounting practices consistently applied.
(d) The books, accounts, and records of each party must clearly and accurately disclose the precise nature and details of the transactions, including any accounting information necessary to support the reasonableness of the charges or fees to the respective parties.
(e) The insurer's surplus as regards policyholders following any dividends or distributions to shareholder affiliates must be reasonable in relation to the insurer's outstanding liabilities and adequate to its financial needs.
(2) (a) The following transactions involving a domestic insurer and a person in its holding company system, including amendments or modifications to affiliate agreements previously filed under this section, may not be entered into unless the insurer has notified the commissioner in writing of its intention to enter into a transaction within at least 30 days prior to the transaction, or a shorter period as the commissioner may permit, and the commissioner does not disapprove the transaction:
(i) sales, purchases, exchanges, loans or extensions of credit, guaranties, or investments if, as of the prior December 31, the transactions are equal to or exceed:
(A) with respect to insurers other than life insurers, the lesser of 3% of the insurer's admitted assets or 25% of its surplus as regards policyholders; and
(B) with respect to life insurers, 3% of the insurer's admitted assets;
(ii) loans or extensions of credit to a person who is not an affiliate if the insurer makes the loans or extensions of credit with the agreement or understanding that the proceeds of the 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 an affiliate of the insurer making the loans or extensions of credit if the transactions, as of the prior December 31, are equal to or exceed:
(A) with respect to insurers other than life insurers, the lesser of 3% of the insurer's admitted assets or 25% of its surplus as regards policyholders;
(B) with respect to life insurers, 3% of the insurer's admitted assets;
(iii) reinsurance agreements or modifications to reinsurance agreements, including:
(A) reinsurance pooling agreements;
(B) agreements in which the reinsurance premium or a change in the insurer's liabilities, or the projected reinsurance premium or a change in the insurer's liabilities in any of the next 3 years, equals or exceeds 5% of the insurer's surplus regarding policyholders as of the prior December 31; and
(C) those agreements that 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 a portion of the assets will be transferred to one or more affiliates of the insurer;
(iv) all management agreements, service contracts, tax allocation agreements, guarantees, and cost-sharing arrangements;
(v) direct or indirect acquisitions or investments in a person that controls the insurer or in an affiliate of the insurer in an amount that, together with its present holdings in such investments, exceeds 2.5% of the insurer's surplus to policyholders; and
(vi) any material transactions, specified by rule, that the commissioner determines may adversely affect the interests of the insurer's policyholders.
(b) Nothing in this subsection (2) is considered to authorize or permit a transaction that, in the case of an insurer that is not a member of the same holding company system, would otherwise be contrary to law.
(3) A domestic insurer may not enter into a transaction that is part of a plan or series of like transactions with a person within the holding company system if the purpose of those separate transactions is to avoid the statutory threshold amount review. If the commissioner determines that the separate transactions were entered into over a 12-month period for the purpose of evading review, the commissioner may exercise authority under 33-2-1120.
(4) The commissioner, in reviewing a transaction pursuant to subsection (2), shall consider whether the transaction complies with the standards set forth in subsection (1) and whether the transaction may adversely affect the interests of a policyholder.
(5) The commissioner must be notified within 30 days of an investment by a domestic insurer in a corporation if the total investment in the corporation by the insurance holding company system exceeds 10% of the corporation's voting securities.
(6) For purposes of this section, in determining whether an insurer's surplus as regards policyholders is reasonable in relation to the insurer's outstanding liabilities and adequate to the insurer's financial needs, the following factors, among others, must be considered:
(a) the size of the insurer as measured by its assets, capital and surplus, reserves, premium writings, insurance in force, and other appropriate criteria;
(b) the extent to which the insurer's business is diversified among the several lines of insurance;
(c) the number and size of risks insured in each line of business;
(d) the extent of the geographical dispersion of the insurer's insured risks;
(e) the nature and extent of the insurer's reinsurance program;
(f) the quality, diversification, and liquidity of the insurer's investment portfolio;
(g) the recent past and projected future trend in the size of the insurer's surplus as regards policyholders;
(h) the surplus as regards policyholders maintained by other comparable insurers;
(i) the adequacy of the insurer's reserves;
(j) the quality and liquidity of investments in affiliates made pursuant to 33-2-1104 and 33-2-1105. The commissioner may treat any investment as a disallowed asset for purposes of determining the adequacy of surplus as regards policyholders whenever in the commissioner's judgment the investment so warrants.
History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 64, L. 1971; R.C.M. 1947, 40-5513(a), (b); amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 620, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 451, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 29, Ch. 370, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 14, Ch. 9, L. 2017; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 62, L. 2019.