A. In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 20-486

  • 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.
  • department: means the department of insurance and financial institutions. See Arizona Laws 20-101
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Insurer: means a person, firm, association or corporation licensed to transact insurance business in this state. See Arizona Laws 20-486
  • Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Reinsurance intermediary: means a reinsurance intermediary broker or a reinsurance intermediary manager. See Arizona Laws 20-486
  • Reinsurance intermediary broker: means a person, other than an officer or employee of the ceding insurer, or a firm, association or corporation that solicits, negotiates or places reinsurance cessions or retrocessions on behalf of a ceding insurer without the authority or power to bind reinsurance on behalf of the insurer. See Arizona Laws 20-486
  • Reinsurance intermediary manager: means a person, firm, association or corporation that has authority to bind or manage all or part of the assumed reinsurance business of a reinsurer, including the management of a separate division, department or underwriting office, and that acts as an agent for the reinsurer whether the reinsurer is known as a reinsurance intermediary manager, a manager or another similar term. See Arizona Laws 20-486
  • Reinsurer: means a person, firm, association or corporation licensed to transact reinsurance business in this state. See Arizona Laws 20-486
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215

1. "Actuary" means a person who is a member in good standing of the American academy of actuaries.

2. "Controlling person" means a person, firm, association or corporation that directly or indirectly has the power to direct or cause to be directed the management, control or activities of the reinsurance intermediary.

3. "Insurer" means a person, firm, association or corporation licensed to transact insurance business in this state.

4. "Licensed producer" means an insurance producer or reinsurance intermediary who is licensed pursuant to this title.

5. "Reinsurance intermediary" means a reinsurance intermediary broker or a reinsurance intermediary manager.

6. "Reinsurance intermediary broker" means a person, other than an officer or employee of the ceding insurer, or a firm, association or corporation that solicits, negotiates or places reinsurance cessions or retrocessions on behalf of a ceding insurer without the authority or power to bind reinsurance on behalf of the insurer.

7. "Reinsurance intermediary manager" means a person, firm, association or corporation that has authority to bind or manage all or part of the assumed reinsurance business of a reinsurer, including the management of a separate division, department or underwriting office, and that acts as an agent for the reinsurer whether the reinsurer is known as a reinsurance intermediary manager, a manager or another similar term. For the purposes of this article, the following persons are not reinsurance intermediary managers:

(a) An employee of the reinsurer.

(b) The United States manager of a United States branch of an alien reinsurer.

(c) An underwriting manager who, pursuant to contract, manages all of the reinsurance operations of the reinsurer, who is under common control with the reinsurer, subject to the holding company regulatory act, and whose compensation is not based on the volume of premiums written.

(d) The manager of a group, association, pool or organization of insurers that engages in joint underwriting or joint reinsurance and that is subject to examination by the insurance director of the state in which the manager’s principal business office is located.

8. "Reinsurer" means a person, firm, association or corporation licensed to transact reinsurance business in this state.

9. "Violation" means the failure of the reinsurance intermediary, insurer or reinsurer for whom the reinsurance intermediary was acting to substantially comply with the provisions of this article.

B. The director may establish and maintain a list of financial institutions as a qualified financial institution if the institution is:

1. Organized, or in the case of a United States office of a foreign banking organization, licensed, under the laws of the United States or any state of the United States.

2. Regulated, supervised and examined by federal or state authorities having regulatory authority over banks and trust companies.

3. Determined by the director to meet the standards of financial condition and standing that are considered necessary and appropriate to regulate the quality of financial institutions whose letters of credit will be acceptable to the director.