2023 New York Laws › ISC - Insurance › Article 11 - Licensing of Insurers › 1102 - Insurer's License Required; Issuance.

§  1102.  Insurer's  license  required; issuance. (a) No person, firm,
association, corporation or joint-stock company shall  do  an  insurance
business  in this state unless authorized by a license in force pursuant
to the provisions of this chapter, or exempted by the provisions of this
chapter  from  such  requirement.   Any   person,   firm,   association,
corporation   or  joint-stock  company  which  transacts  any  insurance
business in this state while not authorized to do so by a license issued
and in force pursuant to this chapter, or exempted by this chapter  from
the  requirement of having such license, shall, in addition to any other
penalty provided by law, forfeit to the people of this state the sum  of
one  thousand  dollars  for  the  first  violation and two thousand five
hundred dollars for each subsequent violation.
(b) No corporation organized under any law of this state shall  do  an
insurance  business  outside this state unless so authorized pursuant to
the provisions of this chapter or exempted by  the  provisions  of  this
chapter from such requirement.
(c)  Every  insurer  organized  prior  to  the  first  day of October,
eighteen hundred ninety-two, as an insurer under any general or  special
law  of  this  state which was doing an insurance business in this state
immediately prior to the first day of January, nineteen hundred forty in
compliance  with  the  insurance  law  then  in  force  and  not  as  an
organization  exempted  therefrom,  shall  be  deemed  licensed to do an
insurance business in this state, subject to this chapter.
(d) Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  subsection  (h)  hereof,  the
superintendent  may  issue  a license to any insurer to do in this state
the kinds of insurance business for  which  such  insurer  is  qualified
under  the  provisions of this chapter and under its charter. Every such
license shall contain the name of the licensee, its home office address,
the state or country under whose laws it was  organized,  the  kinds  of
insurance  business,  as defined in this chapter, which it is authorized
to do in this state, and the term of such  license.  The  superintendent
may  refuse  to  issue or renew any such license if in his judgment such
refusal will best promote the interests of the people of this state.
(e) (1) Before licensing any such corporation organized under  section
one  thousand  two  hundred  one  of  this  chapter, to do any insurance
business, the superintendent shall:
(A) If such corporation be a stock corporation, cause  an  examination
to  be  made  into its affairs in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter; and if it appears from the report upon  such  examination  that
the  amount  of capital and surplus required by law has been paid in and
is possessed by the corporation in cash or in investments  permitted  by
this  chapter  as  minimum  capital  or  minimum surplus to policyholder
investments under section one thousand four hundred two of this chapter,
the superintendent shall file such report in his office and  notify  the
corporation thereof;
(B)  If  such  corporation  be a mutual corporation, require proof (by
statements of at least three incorporators subscribed  and  affirmed  by
such  incorporators  as true under the penalties of perjury, and by such
investigation or examination of the affairs of such  corporation  as  he
may  deem  it  expedient  to  make  pursuant  to  the provisions of this
chapter) that:
(i) the corporation has fully complied with the applicable  provisions
of this chapter,
(ii)  it  has  the  required initial surplus in cash or investments as
prescribed in this chapter,
(iii) it has the required number and amount of bona fide  applications
for insurance as prescribed in this chapter,
(iv) the membership list is genuine, and
(v)  every  member  has  paid  in  cash  the  required  premium on the
insurance applied for and will take the policies as agreed within  sixty
days after a license has been issued to such corporation.
If  the  superintendent  finds  such  proof of the foregoing facts to be
sufficient, he shall file it in his office and  notify  the  corporation
thereof;
(C)  Upon payment of the appropriate fees by such corporation, cause a
copy of its declaration and charter, certified by him, to be  filed  and
recorded  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  county in which such
corporation has its principal office.
(2) The superintendent may refuse a license to any such corporation if
he finds, after notice and hearing, that any  proposed  incorporator  or
director   of   a  stock  corporation,  or  any  director  of  a  mutual
corporation,  has  been  convicted  of  any   crime   involving   fraud,
dishonesty, or like moral turpitude, or is an untrustworthy person. As a
part   of  such  determination,  the  superintendent  is  authorized  to
fingerprint  applicants  for  licensure.  Such  fingerprints  shall   be
submitted  to  the  division  of  criminal  justice services for a state
criminal history record check, as defined in subdivision one of  section
three thousand thirty-five of the education law, and may be submitted to
the  federal  bureau  of  investigation  for a national criminal history
record check.
(3) The corporation, on receiving notice from the superintendent  that
it  has  complied with this subsection, shall thereupon deposit with the
superintendent such monies or securities as may be required by law.
(4)  Upon  compliance  with  this  section  and   any   other   lawful
prerequisites   for   the   issuance   of   an  insurer's  license,  the
superintendent may, pursuant to this section, issue a  license  to  such
corporation  to  do  the  kind  or  kinds  of  business specified in its
charter; provided that this subsection shall not apply  to  co-operative
fire  insurance  companies, fraternal benefit societies, or corporations
organized under article forty-three of this chapter.
(f) Except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter, every license
to do an insurance business shall be issued to a  single  licensee,  who
shall be either an individual or corporation.
(g)  (1)  No  license  to  do  an  insurance business, or to act as an
insurance agent, agency or broker, shall be granted to any person, firm,
association,  corporation,  or  joint-stock  company  proposing  to   do
business  under  a name identical with, or so similar to as to be likely
to deceive or mislead the public, the name of any insurer then  licensed
or authorized to do any kind of insurance business within this state, or
of  any  proposed  domestic  insurance  corporation  whose name has been
approved pursuant to section  one  thousand  two  hundred  one  of  this
chapter within six months preceding the application for such license, or
of  any  domestic corporation, organized but not yet licensed, which has
not  forfeited  its  charter   because   of   non-use;   provided,   the
superintendent  may,  in  his  discretion, upon satisfactory proof of an
appropriate  resolution  of  any  insurance   corporation's   board   of
directors,  grant  a  license  to  do  any  different  kind of insurance
business to another  person,  firm,  association,  joint-stock  company,
insurance  agent,  agency  or broker, or insurance corporation, having a
similar, but not identical, name. Notwithstanding any other provision of
this article, the superintendent may refuse to grant a license to do  an
insurance  business,  or to act as an insurance agent, agency or broker,
to any person, firm, association,  corporation  or  joint-stock  company
proposing  to  do  business  under  a name which is likely to deceive or
mislead the public in this state.
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not  apply  to  a  license
renewal  for a foreign or alien insurer, or to any corporation formed as
part of a plan, approved by the superintendent and  by  the  court,  for
rehabilitation  of  a domestic insurance corporation pursuant to article
seventy-four   of  this  chapter.  A  domestic  corporation,  formed  by
reincorporation, reorganization or consolidation of other  corporations,
or  upon  the sale of the property or franchises of another corporation,
or a corporation acquiring or becoming possessed of all of  the  estate,
property,  rights, privileges and franchises of any other corporation or
corporations by merger, may have a name identical with, or  similar  to,
that  of  any  corporation to whose franchises it has succeeded, if such
other corporation was then licensed to do the business of  insurance  in
this state.
(h)  No  license  to  transact  any kind of insurance business in this
state shall be issued or renewed to any  foreign  or  alien  insurer  or
issued  or  continued  in  effect  to  any  domestic  insurer  which  is
controlled by another state  of  the  United  States  or  by  a  foreign
government  or  by  any  political subdivision of either, or which is an
agency of any such state, government or subdivision,  unless:  (1)  such
insurer  was  so  controlled  or  constituted,  and was authorized to do
business in this state, on or prior to January first,  nineteen  hundred
fifty-six;  or  (2) such insurer is not authorized to transact the kinds
of insurance specified in paragraph one, two or three of subsection  (a)
of  section  one  thousand  one hundred thirteen of this article and the
superintendent determines that:
(A) such insurer does not  receive  a  subsidy  or  other  competitive
advantage,  as  a result of such control or status, that would enable it
to compete unfairly with similarly situated  authorized  insurers  which
are not so controlled or constituted;
(B)  such  insurer  is  not  entitled to claim sovereign immunity as a
result of such control or status, or has waived the sovereign immunity;
(C) the use of such insurer would not be detrimental to the  interests
of the people of this state; and
(D)  such  insurer otherwise satisfies all applicable requirements for
the issuance or renewal of such license.