Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 8 > Chapter 101 > Subchapter 4 - Investments and Loans

• Admitted assets: means assets permitted to be reported as admitted assets on the annual statutory financial statement of the insurer for the next preceding year or as shown by a current financial statement. See
• Agency: means the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. See
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• appraised value: when used in connection with real estate shall refer to appraisals made or examined and approved by an insurer or its agents. See
• Asset-backed security: means a security or other instrument, excluding a mutual fund, evidencing an interest in, or the right to receive payments from, or payable from distributions on, an admitted asset, a pool of admitted assets, or specifically divisible cash flows which are legally transferred to a trust or another special purpose bankruptcy-remote business entity, on the following conditions:

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• business entity: includes a sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, association, partnership, joint stock company, joint venture, mutual fund, trust, joint tenancy, or other similar form of business organization, whether organized for profit or not for profit. See
• Canada: means Canada, any province of Canada, or any political subdivision of Canada. See
• Cap: means an agreement obligating the seller to make payments to the buyer, with each payment based on the amount by which a reference price or level or the performance or value of one or more underlying interests exceeds a predetermined number, sometimes called the strike rate or strike price. See
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Covered: means that an insurer owns or can immediately acquire, through the exercise of options, warrants, or conversion rights already owned, the underlying interest in order to fulfill or secure its obligations under a call option, cap, or floor it has written or has set aside under a custodial or escrow agreement cash or cash equivalents with a market value equal to the amount required to fulfill its obligations under a put option it has written, in an income generation transaction. See
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Derivative instrument: means an agreement, option, instrument, or a series or combination thereof:

• Derivative transaction: means a transaction involving the use of one or more derivative instruments. See
• Direct: when used in connection with "obligation" means that a designated obligor shall be primarily liable on the instrument representing the obligation. See
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• Domestic jurisdiction: means the United States, any state of the United States, or any political subdivision of any of the foregoing. See
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Equity interest: means any of the following that are not rated credit instruments:

• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Floor: means an agreement obligating the seller to make payments to the buyer in which each payment is based on the amount by which a predetermined number, sometimes called the floor rate or price, exceeds a reference price, level, performance, or value of one or more underlying interests. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Foreign jurisdiction: means a jurisdiction other than a domestic jurisdiction or Canada. See
• Future: means an agreement, traded on a qualified exchange or qualified foreign exchange, to make or take delivery of, or effect a cash settlement based on the actual or expected price, level, performance, or value of, one or more underlying interests. See
• grades: means the standards for potatoes established by the U. See
• Grow: means :

• Grower: means a person who is registered with the Agency to produce hemp crops. See
• Guaranteed: means that the guarantor will perform the obligation of the obligor or will purchase the obligation to the extent of the guaranty. See
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Hedging transaction: means a derivative transaction that is entered into and maintained to reduce:

• Hemp: means the plant Cannabis sativa L. See
• hemp-infused products: means all products with the federally defined tetrahydrocannabinol concentration level for hemp derived from, or made by, processing hemp plants or plant parts, which are prepared in a form available for commercial sale, including cosmetics, personal care products, food intended for animal or human consumption, cloth, cordage, fiber, fuel, paint, paper, construction materials, plastics, and any product containing one or more hemp-derived cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol. See
• Income generation transaction: means a derivative transaction involving the writing of covered call options, covered put options, covered caps, or covered floors that is intended to generate income or enhance return. See
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Listed bond mutual fund: means a mutual fund that at all times qualifies for inclusion on the "bond fund list" within the Purposes and Procedures of the NAIC Investment Analysis Office or any successor publication. See
• Money market mutual fund: means a mutual fund that meets the conditions of 17 C. See
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan: means an obligation secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, trust deed, or other consensual lien on real estate. See
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Mutual fund: means an investment company or, in the case of an investment company that is organized as a series company, an investment company series that, in either case, is registered with the U. See
• NAIC: means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. See
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• obligation: means that a designated obligor shall be primarily liable on the instrument representing the obligation. See
• Option: means an agreement giving the buyer the right to buy or receive (a "call option"), sell or deliver (a "put option"), enter into, extend, or terminate or effect a cash settlement based on the actual or expected price, level, performance, or value of one or more underlying interests. See
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Potential exposure: means the amount determined in accordance with the NAIC Annual Statement Instructions. See
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: includes transporting, aggregating, packaging hemp from a single grower or multiple growers, or manufacturing hemp products or hemp-infused products from hemp concentrate. See
• Processor: means a person who is registered with the Agency to process hemp crops. See
• Qualified bank: means :

• Qualified clearinghouse: means a clearinghouse for, and subject to the rules of, a qualified exchange or a qualified foreign exchange, which provides clearing services, including acting as a counterparty to each of the parties to a transaction, such that the parties no longer have credit risk as to each other. See
• Qualified exchange: means :

• Qualified foreign exchange: means a foreign exchange, board of trade, or contract market located outside the United States, its territories, or possessions:

• Qualified primary credit source: means the credit source to which an insurer looks for payment as to an investment and against which an insurer has a direct claim for full and timely payment, evidenced by a contractual right for which an enforcement action can be brought in a domestic jurisdiction or Canada. See
• Rated credit instrument: means a contractual right to receive cash or another rated credit instrument from another entity, which instrument:

• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein, and pews or slips in places of public worship shall be treated as real estate. See
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets. See
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Shell business entity: means a business entity having no economic substance except as a vehicle for owning interests in assets issued, owned, or previously owned by a person domiciled in a foreign jurisdiction. See
• Special rated credit instrument: means a rated credit instrument that is:

• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• SVO: means the Securities Valuation Office of the NAIC or any successor office established by the NAIC. See
• Swap: means an agreement to exchange or to net payments at one or more times based on the actual or expected price, level, performance, or value of one or more underlying interests. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Underlying interest: means the assets, liabilities, other interests, or a combination thereof underlying a derivative instrument, such as any one or more securities, currencies, rates, indices, commodities, or derivative instruments. See
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Warrant: means an instrument that gives the holder the right to purchase an underlying financial instrument at a given price and time or at a series of prices and times outlined in the warrant agreement. See